Chapter Twenty-Nine
GENEVIèVE
We arrived back home late. Extra-late, in fact, since Roux and I had stopped for dinner before making the final leg of the journey to the chateau.
How did it go? Mina had texted me earlier to ask.
Surprisingly well. Details tomorrow, I’d promised.
The hair on the back of my neck stood when we drove past the turnoff to Claudette’s home and the police station in Auberre.
Roux took a hand off the steering wheel to squeeze mine.
I closed my eyes, going from melancholy to grateful. We’d been through so much together, and he’d always stuck by my side.
He did the same when we made the turn for home, near the spot where we’d been attacked, and again when we passed the chapel. I pulled his hand to my lips for a quick kiss, then released it to let him park.
He turned off the engine, but I didn’t move. I just sat, gazing at the chateau. Only a few weeks ago, I’d arrived here, clueless and reeling from another bad breakup. Now, that felt like a lifetime ago. I felt wiser. Tougher. Even more loved — not just by family members, but by a special someone.
A very special someone with stripes and a tail. I grinned at the wall before me.
“Everything okay?” Roux asked softly.
I smiled at him. “Sorry. All good.”
We exited the car and ascended the stairs to the massive front doors.
I looked up, thinking of all the different times and circumstances I’d faced those doors, from skipping through as a child, to greeting guests at one of my grandmother’s huge parties, to entering, crying, after my father’s funeral, and more recently, my grandmother’s.
But the good times outweighed the bad, such as the wedding we’d recently “staged” for Mina and Marius.
So much had changed over the years, but the sense of connection was stronger than ever. To my past, and to all the people we’d welcomed here over the years. And a profound sense of connection to the man I entered with now.
I gripped Roux’s hand and stepped through the doors.
Habit made him steer for the right-hand stairs, but I tugged him toward the hallway behind the left-side stairs — the one leading to the lower story of the east wing, where I lived.
“Do you need anything from your room?” I asked, praying he would say no.
He shook his head, following me.
“Anything from the kitchen?” I asked as we passed it.
Another shake of the head.
A voice called out, and I winced. Damn.
“Well, hello,” Bene said, stepping out of the kitchen with a bowl in his hands.
“Hello, Bene. All good here?” I asked.
He nodded, tilting the bowl at me. “Madame Picard made crème br?lée. You want some?”
“No, thanks. See you in the morning,” I said, towing Roux on.
“Let me guess,” he teased. “You have your own stash of crème br?lée in your room?”
I laughed. “Something even more tempting.”
“There’s only one thing more tempting than crème br?lée,” Bene observed.
“Don’t encourage him,” Roux muttered, but it was too fun to resist.
“Two things,” I shot back. “Chocolate mousse is one.”
“And sex is the other,” Bene filled in without missing a beat. “But not when it’s with Roux. That ranks down under crème br?lée. Way down with asparagus soufflé.”
Roux shot him the finger.
“You’re speaking from experience?” I challenged.
“Hell no,” Bene said. “But I’m sure asparagus fits. You know, all soft and floppy…”
Roux growled under his breath, while I laughed outright.
“Good night, Bene. Enjoy your crème br?lée.”
He sighed and retreated to the kitchen. “Enjoy your asparagus.”
Oh, I planned to. But the hallway stretched on and on, and my room was all the way at the end.
“What?” I asked in response to Roux’s quiet grumble.
“I’ll show him fucking asparagus…”
I stopped and slid my arms around his neck. “I prefer you show me.”
He grumbled, slowly pinning me against the wall. “You know what I mean.”
I did, and he proceeded to debunk Bene’s theory in record time. Before I knew it, I’d wrapped both legs around his waist and was grinding shamelessly against him.
I opened my mouth for a joke, but Roux smothered my words with a kiss. His arms flexed, easily holding me up, and his tongue stroked over mine.
Tigers did not mess around when it came to sex.
I jutted my elbow toward my room.
“Much as I like — er, love this — we should get moving before Bene shows up with more asparagus jokes.”
“Screw Bene,” Roux grumbled, kissing my neck.
I chuckled. “I’d rather screw you. Soon.”
When he scraped his teeth over my skin, I nearly yowled. Suddenly, sex in the semi-public place didn’t seem like an issue.
But Roux pulled away and slowly lowered me. I grabbed his hand and raced toward my door. We burst through and slammed it behind us.
The lower story of the east wing was its own little apartment of four big rooms, arranged in a square.
An old couch and a coffee table stood by the fireplace in the first room.
My queen bed took up a fraction of the second room, facing the windows and kitty-corner to another fireplace.
Mina’s apartment above mirrored mine, though her bedroom faced the back while mine faced the front.
A good thing, because sound carried, even with walls as thick as these.
Usually, that helped reduce the noise I was subjected to from upstairs. Tonight, it was likely to be the other way around.
I stopped, pushing back Roux’s jacket, then tossing it on the couch. He threw mine on top of it, and more layers quickly followed.
It was cold as hell, and I quickly led him to my bedroom.
“Should I light a fire?”
His eyes glowed as he shook his head. “Later. Right now…”
He trailed off, running his hands over my body. Kissing muffled my squeaks of pleasure, but when we finally rid ourselves of our last layers and slid into bed—
“Oh!” I gripped the carved posts of the headboard as Roux kissed his way down to my core.
I’d left on a lamp in the living room, and a slice of dim light spilled into the bedroom.
Just enough to make out a comical hump under the blankets.
Well, it might appear comical. The sensations were heavenly, and my cries rose in pitch.
Roux wrapped his arms around my thighs, drawing me to his mouth.
It was raw. Greedy. And so, so satisfying.
No more sneaking off secretly. No more keeping quiet. This man was mine, and I was his.
And boy, did I let the world know it when he brought me to the first shattering orgasm of the night.
“Shh.” He chuckled, climbing back up my body as I lay panting in the sheets.
“You want Bene to joke about asparagus all week?” I scolded.
“Pretty sure we’ve eliminated that possibility.”
A lock of hair fell over his eyes, giving him a roguish look. Nice to see my straitlaced military guy loosen up for a change.
I grinned up at him, trying very, very hard not to crack more asparagus jokes.
Don’t you dare, he grumbled.
I changed tack, patting the mattress. “What do you think? Comfortable enough?”
“Didn’t really notice. But, yes.” He ran a hand over it. “Seems pretty comfortable.”
I cupped his cheek, growing serious. “Comfortable enough for you to use for a long, long time?”
Sparkles flashed in his amber eyes. “Are you asking me to commit to a mattress?”
I play-smacked him. “I’m asking you to stay. With me. For…” My tongue tangled there. Forever crossed my mind, but I didn’t want to scare him off. “For a while, at least.”
He shook his head. “Not for a while. Forever. Tigers know forever when they find it.” He took a breath, then went on. “Geneviève, you could live in a shack and sleep on the floor, and I would be there with you.”
He paused, searching my eyes. Half afraid, I sensed, that I might say no.
As if.
I wrapped my arms around him as my soul soared off to cloud nine.
“I’m all for forever — as long as it’s with you. If you can take me for that long, I mean.”
When he shook his head, his chin scrubbed my shoulder, making my blood heat. “More like, if you can take me.”
I chuckled. “My dirty mind is listing all the ways I can take you. Starting with this…”
I ran my leg along his and bent my knee outward.
He sniffed along my neck, then growled in my ear. “I like the way you think.”
“I am a genius sometimes.”
His snort tickled my ear. “When you’re not trying to get yourself killed.”
“Other than those times, yes. But let’s not get sidetracked, please.”
“Wouldn’t dare,” he murmured, covering my lips.
We briefly considered, then discarded, the idea of a condom. We both had supernatural immune systems, and the remote possibility of being joined by an adorable baby tiger shifter nine months down the line didn’t qualify as a huge risk in my book.
Soon, I was wrapped around Roux as tightly as the ivy on the stable walls, breathing hard, and very much enjoying digging my fingers into his muscled ass. But missionary position was a little too tame for my mood, and soon, I found myself curling upright.
“Suppose I suggest we switch to all fours?” I panted.
His eyes flashed, and he reared back, making space for me to roll. I came to my knees and wiggled my ass.
He made a choked sound and slid up behind me. “And here I am, trying to be patient.”
I butted against him, spreading my knees. “You might be, but I’m a lost cause.”
“Never,” he swore, and he meant it.
I added that to the long list of things I loved about him.
He crept forward, gripping my hips. I held my breath, my heart revving in anticipation.
When he pushed in — and in, and in — I gasped at the slow, sweet burn.
He paused. “Breathe, Geneviève.”
I shook my head. “Oxygen is overrated.”
He rocked forward, then paused. I lowered my head and rocked back. If he thought I needed time, he was wrong.
No one would ever accuse you of playing for time, he chuckled in my mind, though his voice was strained.
“You can be the patient one in this relationship,” I murmured, then gasped again.
He eased away, then pushed forward. Once…twice…
I waited, tuning in, because sex was like jump rope, double-Dutch style. You had to catch the rhythm before jumping in.