“Obviously I would rather continue with that.”
His tone was so exasperated and dry that she couldn’t help but laugh.
“If it doesn’t impact your driving...” She brushed her fingertips over him.
“It does,” he said.
She felt even more gratified by the admission that she affected him than she could have anticipated. She let that carry her the rest of the way down the mountain and into town. It was important to her that she get a dress from a local designer. It was part of an initiative that she was working on with King Matteo’s assistant.
Livia was a lovely young woman, with large, serious eyes and a surprisingly dry sense of humor. She was extremely organized and efficient, and Violet could see that Matteo took her for granted in the extreme.
But between the two of them they had begun to figure out ways to naturally raise the profile of the country, coinciding with her marriage to Javier.
Acquiring everything from Monte Blanco that they would need for the wedding was part of that.
When Violet and Javier pulled up to the shop, he parked and got out, leaning against the car.
She made her way toward the shop and looked back at him. He was a dashing figure. And she wanted to take his picture.
“I’m putting you on the internet.”
His expression went hard, but he didn’t say anything. And she snapped the shot, him with his arms crossed over his broad chest, a sharp contrast against the sleek black car and the quaint cobbled streets and stone buildings behind him.
And he was beautiful.
“Thank you.” She smiled and then went into the shop.
Immediately she was swept into a current of movement. She was given champagne and several beautiful dresses. It would be difficult to choose. But the dress that she decided on was simple, with floating sheer cape sleeves and a skirt that floated around her legs as she walked.
She took a photo of a detail of the dress on a hanger and took all the information for the bridal store.
Because when all this was over, anyone with a big wedding coming up this year would want a gown from this shop, from this designer.
When she reappeared, Javier was still standing where she had left him. Looking like a particularly sexy statue.
“All right. Now you have to come with me for the rest of this.”
They went through the rest of the city finding items for the wedding. They created a crowd wherever they went. People were in awe to see Javier walking around with the citizens like a regular person. Not that anything about him could be called regular.
“They love you,” she said as they walked into a flower shop.
He looked improbable standing next to displays of baby’s breath, hyacinth and other similarly soft and pastel-colored things.
“They shouldn’t,” he said.
“Why not?”
“Nobody should love a person in a position of power. They should demand respect of him.”
“You have some very hard opinions,” she said, reaching out and brushing her fingertips over the baby’s breath.
“I have to have hard opinions.”
He touched the edge of one of the hyacinth blossoms and she snapped a quick picture. She enjoyed the sight of his masculine hand against that femininity. It made her think of a hot evening spent with him. It made her think of sex. Of the way he touched her between her legs.
As if he were thinking the exact same thing, he looked at her, their eyes clashing. And she felt the impact of it low in her stomach.
“I’m definitely feeling a bit of frustration over having not gotten to finish what we started earlier,” he murmured.