Page 59 of Once Bitten

Chapter Twenty Two

“So, I guess we’ll see you guys, bright and early tomorrow, to sign off on everything, d’accord?” Finn looked around the table for the unanimous agreement, and nodded and closed his file as everyone stood up.

“Kara, I’m going to go catch up with Manu tonight, are you going to be okay on your own?” Larry came up to me as the room emptied.

“Er, yeah, sure, are you coming back to the hotel or...”

“No, he drove here so I’ll just go with him now.”

“Ok, well, let me know if you need anything, have a good night.”

“You too, it’s your last night in Paris.”

“Yeah.” He didn’t need to remind me, I’d been dreading it all day.

Finn and I waited for everyone to leave and then walked together to the elevator. I’d hardly been able to focus all day. Our fingers intertwined even as we stood in silence in the elevator, and I wondered what was going on in his mind.

The car was waiting for us at the curb, and Finn slid in after me.

He pulled me into the crook of his neck, and held me tight, as we watched the chaos of Paris outside our car window whizz by, cocooned in our own little world for the last few hours we’d promised ourselves.

“You tired?” He asked, softly.

“No.”

“What do you want to do tonight?”

“Whatever it is you have planned,” I answered. He chuckled softly.

“No questions?”

“No, not this time, I want to wait for the surprise.”

“Is it possible, I’ve tamed me a greedy guts?” He mock dropped his jaw in shock.

“Yes, I’m yours. Wholly and completely.” I sighed and leaned back against his chest, closing my eyes, trying to memorize the dull thump of his heartbeat.

***

“Ok, I changed my mind, tell me!” I tugged on Finn’s arm, reenergized after a short nap in the car.

Finn’s laugh turned the heads of the other hotel patrons in the hallways as we walked to our rooms.

“You’ll see! You said you wanted it to be a surprise.”

“It’s a woman’s prerogative to...want to know everything right now!”

“Shhhh, sweetheart, you’ll find out soon. So, see you in two hours, ok?” He opened his room and ushered us in, then leading me through the joint door and dropping my laptop bag on the sofa.

“Where are we going? What do I wear? What’s going on?!”

Finn just shrugged as he went back to his room and closed the door behind him.

I kicked off my shoes and decided to take another quick nap, slipping out of my clothes before falling into bed.

A phone call on the hotel phone woke me up about half an hour later.

“Mr. O’Reilly asked that we call you for a wakeup call, and to tell you that, if you haven’t, to take a shower as your surprise will be arriving in half an hour.”