“Hmm,” he murmured, then stepped closer. “When you’re ready, and not a moment sooner.”
“What if I’m ready now?”
He pressed his lips hard against mine. “You’re not.”
“I’m not?”
He wrapped his arms around my waist as his nose brushed against mine. He shook his head. “No, you’re not.”
Closing my eyes, I asked, “How do you know?”
His fingertips touched my closed eyelids. “Because you won’t have to ask or tell me. It’ll just happen. It will happen, Beauty, and then I’ll have all of you.”
I shivered as I turned my face toward his. “Do you want to start painting now or later?”
He unwound his arms from around my waist as he moved away from me. “Let’s start now, and then I want to show you something.”
Smiling in his direction, I started to remove my top.
He sighed. “This is the best part.”
“It is?” I teased as I undid my pants and pushed them off.
“Yes. When you take off your clothes for me, it shows so much trust and faith. You’re so warm and naked. It makes me so fucking hard that I want to sink deep inside of you and never leave.”
I stood completely bared to him. “Maybe it’s not me who isn’t ready.”
There was a long pause, and before I knew it, his large palms were on my shoulders, his mouth by my ear. “What on earth do you mean by that, Chantel?”
Shivering, I pushed my hips back toward him, so his covered cock was pressing against my ass crack. “Maybe you’re worried if you take me there, you’ll never be able to leave,” I suggested, pushing his desperation and fueling his obsession. I wanted him dark. I enjoyed having him want me as much as his next breath.
“Is that what you think? That I’m scared?”
“I think you’re worried that you won’t ever escape me.”
He chuckled darkly, wrapping a large arm around my waist. He pressed a big palm against my naked mound before pulling my ass tight against his thick shaft.
“When I get inside of you, you will be mine,” he told me, and bit my earlobe.
I reached behind my head to grip the back of his and turned to meet his mouth. “Or maybe you’ll be mine.”
Dropping the journal as though it physically burned me, I look around the silent room. The bedroom is empty except for me, the bed, and the small desk, but right at this moment, I feel like it’s occupied by more.
Taking a deep breath, I stand, moving to the window. I feel like I’m losing my mind. Is it coincidental that I heard the wordminewhile I was in the shower? Did I accidentally flip to that page and subconsciously see it there?
I have no clue, but I spot Phillipe walking down the gravel path toward the lit arbor. That’s when it hits me that I need to get away from here. If I do that, I will lose the story of a lifetime—but if I stay, I might end up losing something much more valuable, like my sanity.
Watching him closely, I notice he’s carrying something in his hand. He’s wearing a long, dark coat, and his hair looks wet.Maybe he washedmefrom him as well.He stops in front of the bench and does something I never would have expected—he drops to one knee and places a single red rose on the bench.
I hold my breath as he reaches forward and runs his fingers over the inscription there.Love looks not with the eyes.Oh, how very appropriate that statement is,I think as I turn away from the heartbreaking moment.
Watching him down there, in what I can only guess is an apology of some sort, I realize I’m not only in danger of losing my sanity but my heart as well. That’s when it occurs to me that I want him, and I want him to bemine.
As Phillipe kneels before the bench and traces the inscription, he closes his eyes and thinks ofher. How very true these words—Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind—seem today,and so be it. He can’t see her anymore, but she’s the one constant on his mind, especially tonight. Tonight, he let her go for just a few moments, and she completely disappeared. She left him, and he let her slip away.
He has to get her back, though. He can hear her humming in his mind, and he can feel her all around him as he kneels there. In the place where she once found such peace, he offers up his apology.
How could I have abandoned us?Even in a moment of selfish pleasure, healwayskeeps her there, involving her somehow, but this time, he let her go. He failed her.
