He kissed her, a sweet, tender kiss that stole her breath.“As long as you never leave me again.You are my heart,ma chérie.And without my heart, I would die.”
Oh, my.
“Come home with me.”
She nodded, tears clogging her throat and together they walked back to his home.
Chapter Fourteen
Christien stared blindly at the report in front of him.Acting on a hunch, he had Madelaine’s family investigated more deeply than before, and the report confirmed his hunch was right.
Now what?What should he do with the information?
He shifted his gaze to the window.Two days ago, when Madelaine didn’t return home from work and he realized she wasn’t going to, he’d panicked.
She’d been furious about his deception and rightfully so.He should have told her about the bodyguard, but in truth the thought of telling her never crossed his mind.He had her followed initially to find out more about her and, yes, to determine if she was in league with Lucheux.He’d kept the man on her to ensure her safety.
’Twas an error on his part that he wasn’t honest with her.It was why this information was so disturbing.His gut reaction was to keep it from her, to not upset the balance of her world.But Madelaine would consider it as making a decision without consulting her.She would want to know.
Just as she wants to know who your enemy is?He winced at the damn voice inside his head.Another thing he was keeping from her.He rubbed his eyes with the pads of his thumbs, for the first time in a long while unsure what to do and where to go from here.
Tell her about Lucheux?Not tell her?Now that she understood reincarnation, she might be willing to accept that Lucheux was also reincarnated.Except he wasn’t.He was immortal like Christien.
Good God.The lies of omission kept piling up.
He had to come clean.Tell her everything.Even about himself.
He grabbed his phone and punched in a number.When the rough voice on the other end answered, Christien gave orders to dig deeper.
He left the office and hurried through the crowded club, keeping a keen eye on the wait staff as they expertly maneuvered around the dance floor, balancing drinks and taking orders.Sabine waved to him and he lifted his chin in greeting, making a mental note to give her a raise.Since Madelaine’s accident, he’d spent more and more time with her, leaving Sabine to run the club.It had been his intention all along to step back and let Sabine handle everything.Maybe now would be a good time to put his plan into action.
Stepping on the elevator, he glanced at his watch.Madelaine would have arrived home from work a quarter of an hour ago and would be changing out of her work clothes right now.He briefly thought of joining her in the bedroom and helping her out of those clothes, but he was well aware of how tired she was each night.Giselle was pushing Madelaine far too hard, and his tongue was half-bloody from all the words he’d bit back.He wanted her to quit her job and let him take care of her.
If only she would let him, Christien would make Madelaine’s life much easier.It would be fairly simple to set up a trust for her father and she would have the comfort of knowing he was well taken care of and would never have to leave the home he was comfortable in.But every time he mentioned it, she closed herself off.He admired her pride but sometimes pride got in the way of good sense.
When he stepped off the elevator she was coming down the hallway, her hair piled on top of her head, dressed in baggy sweatpants and an old T-shirt that said Peanut Butter Jelly Time.He smiled at the T-shirt, but wanted to frown at the dark circles under her eyes.
She went up on her toes and kissed him.A sweet, tender kiss of hello he’d looked forward to since she moved in with him several days ago.For centuries he’d lived alone, but surprisingly didn’t find it hard to adjust to living with Madelaine.Each morning was a hardship to get out of bed and each evening he was impatient to get back upstairs.
He put a hand on her waist while the other cupped the back of her head and drew her closer.Her eyes flew open in surprise, but she didn’t hesitate to kiss him back.He walked her backward until she was against the wall and his hips pushed into her pelvis, searching for the sweet release only her body could provide.
Her hands stroked up his back, pulling his shirt out.She wrapped a leg around his hip.His erection slipped easily into the V of her legs.The heat of her surrounded him.
Her fingers skimmed his back, came around to the front, teasing his chest and his nipples.
“You better watch it,” he said between kisses.“We may not get dinner if you keep that up.”
“Who says I’m hungry for dinner?”
He groaned and pulled her T-shirt over her head.She wasn’t wearing a bra and her nipples puckered into sharp points, begging him to take them into his mouth.He obliged, bending to suckle.Madelaine put a hand on either side of his head and arched her back.Her moans drove him on as his hips pumped.
Quickly she unbuttoned his trousers and pulled him out.He gasped when her hand went around him, sliding up his length, then down to cup his bollocks.He surged forward, his eyes drifting closed, every nerve ending on fire.
She slid down the wall and took him in her mouth.Her moist heat surrounded him.Her tongue swirled around his tip and he cried out.Bracing his hands against the wall, he hung his head to watch her lips surround his shaft.The scene below him was so erotic he knew he didn’t have much time left.He was racing toward climax, his bollocks tightening as the pressure built.
He began to pump into her, grunting with each thrust.
“I’m close,ma chérie,” he ground out between clenched teeth.“You should stop.”
