Page 271 of The Heart You Kept

“Fuck me,” she whimpers.

He rolls them and his full naked body comes into view, he lifts her legs up over his shoulders and begins to ride her hard.

I push myself closer to the wall, my eyes wide as I watch from the shadows.

“Yes, yes,” he chants as he gets closer.

Deep punishing hits as their skin slaps together.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump….

Adrenaline surges as my grip tightens around the handle of the knife.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

EDWARD

PARIS.

“And this here.” Alora points to the plans. “That needs to be a monumental piece because it’s the first thing you see, so I want that to have a real wow factor.”

“I agree.” Nel studies the plans. “So over on this wall here.”

Their voices drone out. I’m sitting in the meeting about our hotel refurb, but I’m not in the meeting.

Too mesmerized by Alora’s beauty to be able to concentrate on a single word they’re saying.

Her long dark hair is swept up into a casual knot, she has her signature makeup-free face, glowing skin and red lipstick. She’s wearing a black turtleneck woolen dress and boots. So effortlessly chic, she has no idea how beautiful and stylish she is. Honestly, how the hell did I ever get this woman to fall in love with me?

Photographers have started following her and commenting on her fashion sense, they’re calling her a modern-day Audrey Hepburn.

But to me…. She’s mine, the woman who has turned my entire existence up on its head. I can’t go a day without seeing her, I won’t travel unless she can come and I don’t do any after-hour events now unless she can attend alongside me.

Being in Paris this week is the very last thing I have time for, but she needed to come and that means so did I.

After this meeting we’re going saucepan shopping…. Yes you heard me right.

Not a sentence I would have ever imagined coming out of my mouth in a million years. Alora is so excited about our new house and being able to have privacy that the yacht can’t offer us. She’s mapping out furniture room by room and it will be just the two of us in our new home, no cook, no cleaner, no guards inside. Normal is how she wants it, and I have to admit, after spending time alone in her house, I now find myself craving privacy too.

Having her run our house returns me to a simplicity that brings me a great deal of peace. I get it now….

While I read at night, she spends her time scrolling through recipes of things she wants to cook for us and apparently there’s some big kitchen catering place here in Paris that she wants to look at.

With anyone else I would just say buy whatever you want online, but not Alora.

No…it’s all about the tangible experience, touching things with your hands and being lost in the tactile moment. Buying with your heart and not your wallet.

I wish she got to meet my mother.

They are so much alike, glamorous and beautiful with the purest souls.

A heart full of love, the healer of all healers.

Sometimes I look at her and choke up with emotion, she truly is the biggest gift in my life. A love that I never knew I needed.