“Tell me about it. We’ll move on this, and soon, but I want to stay here for now. Maybe even until you have the baby. It’s safe, and we have privacy. After everything we’ve been through, I think we need that privacy.”
I love the way her eyes grow heated.
I love the way she moves impossibly closer to me so that we share the same air, the same breath, and my heart slows to meet the beat of hers.
“I think privacy sounds like a fantastic idea,” she says softly. “Afterthe walk. Give me two minutes to freshen up?”
I trace her jaw with my index finger, relishing the way she shivers and looks into my eyes.
“Yeah,” I say softly. “C’mere.” I lace my fingers at the back of her neck and draw her closer to me. I brush my lips against hers. Our foreheads meet briefly as I tighten my grip on her.
“I like that,” she whispers when we pull apart. “I like that a lot.”
“What?”
“Your—the way you touch me. There’s nothing tentative or questioning about it. You just—hold me like you want to. Like I belong to you.” She sighs. “God, Lyam, how I’ve missed that.”
“I missed it too, baby,” I tell her with another kiss. “Now go get ready while I make a call.”
I hang up the phone as she comes out to me.
I whistle, staring at her as I shake my head.
“Oh,staahhhp,” she says with an adorable laugh. “You’re acting like I just changed into a ballgown. All I did was put on some lipstick.”
“Just makes me want to kiss you even more.”
We kiss right there, in the doorway as I lean on my forearm and hold her against me. We move to get our shoes on and I pause by the couch. I lean on the edge of it, hold her to me, and kiss her again.
We kiss by the dining table, in the entryway, and against the doorframe.
We kiss on the elevator, and when we get to the first floor, I tuck her into a doorway and we kiss again there. It’s killing me not to push her up against this wall and fuck her right here, right now. To make her remember who she belongs to.
“I want you so bad,” I whisper in her ear. “You’d better eat that palmier quick.”
“I shall inhale them if it pleases your majesty.” Fuck, I love when she gets all highbrow on me.
“It pleases me very much,” I say with a sigh as I push open the door and head towardLa Pâtisserie Belle Époque.
“What if they’re not open?” she asks with a look that tells me she might cry.
“Oh they’re open.”
“At almost midnight?” she asks incredulously. “None of them are ever open this late.”
“Who do you think I called when you got ready?”
Her brows furrow adorably. “Wait. What?”
“You’ll see.”
“It’s gorgeous here at night. It’s practically built for romantic strolls.”
The Louvre at night is a sight to behold. The famous glass pyramid entrance is lit from within, bright against the dark backdrop of the night sky. Regardless of the time of day, tourists mill around outside taking photographs and posing, but no matter how crowded, nothing detracts from the peaceful calm of the imposing landmark.
“It’s spectacular,” she whispers, shaking her head. Nearby, bright lights flicker in the back of the pastry shop as we walk hand in hand to the back entrance of the store.
“It isn’t open?” she says curiously.
