Epilogue
EPILOGUE
‘Noah! Have you seen my pink heels?’
He gives me a sly smile. ‘Last I saw them…’ He winks.
I smother a smile. ‘Right. It’s all coming back to me. Why you insist on serving those petrol-flavoured drinks is beyond me.’
He nuzzles my neck, which doesn’t help matters. We’re already late and now I’m feeling weak at the knees, like my legs might give way under me.
‘Why you kept drinking those supposedly petrol-flavoured drinks is the real question.’
‘Peer pressure.’
He bends and finds my heels kicked under the bed. ‘Hurrah! The princess shall go to the ball.’
‘ Merci .’
I swipe on lip gloss and check my reflection in the mirror.
‘You are beautiful, Anais. Stunningly beautiful.’ It’s been a full calendar year with Noah by my side and still these compliments have the ability to make me melt.
‘ Merci. You’re pretty damn hot yourself.’ He’s dressed in a black suit and is every inch the hero I dreamed he would be. He kisses me and I fall against him, losing track of time again.
‘Oops, lipstick.’
I fix my makeup before dragging him out of the suite.
It’s an important evening for us. The book launch of Chloe’s memoir hosted by Margaret at Shakespeare and Co. A fitting tribute for our author.
In the lobby, Manon is dressed in her hotel uniform, smiling as she serves a guest. ‘Ooh, have fun, won’t you! I can’t wait to officially open suite nineteen for tours tomorrow!’
Manon has made the hotel a success, even without the world knowing suites nineteen and twenty exist. But, as soon as Chloe’s memoir hits the shelves tomorrow, I have a feeling we’re going to be run off our feet and our boutique literary hotel will be filled with bookworms wanting to see where Chloe Boucher and Lily-Louise Toussaint lived and loved.
And where another writer, Anais De la Croix, now lives and loves.
Outside, we wait for our taxi. Noah takes his jacket off like the perfect gentleman and wraps it around me. ‘ Je t’aime ,’ he says.
Stars sparkle in the inky night as Noah hugs me close. I breathe him in and wonder, not for the first time, if the magic of suite nineteen is responsible for bringing us together.
‘ J’e t’aime, Noah .’