Chapter 9 #2
“I’ve spent a lot of time at Le Luxe. And I’ve noticed that some women like to be fully independent and know their man is their equal.
Some like to be taken care of. And then there are some women, like you.
” I feel the corners of my lips quirk up.
“Strong and fully independent. They like letting their hair down. They like knowing they can put their trust in someone else. They’ll run shit all day long but like knowing that every once in a while, they don’t have to. ”
“Yes,” she says eagerly, her wide eyes excited and hopeful. “That’s exactly it. I don’t want to be steamrolled. But it’s nice not having to always be plagued with the thought of what next?”
I hold her against my chest. I savor the warmth of her body and gentle scent of her innocence and purity. How she managed to keep that innocence despite everything she’s been through, I may never know.
“It especially makes sense for someone like you.”
“Like me?”
“Someone who’s wired for service. Sometimes I think you’d run yourself into the ground if I let you.”
“You’re not wrong.”
“I know.”
I run my hand up and down her back. I’ve missed this so much. I wanted her back and never thought I could have her.
And if I’m the one being honest now? A part of me wanted to punish her not just for betraying my family but for leaving me.
“Okay, so as much as I love sitting on your lap and talking to you, and most especially knowing that I can make amends for all this? My body has a mind of its own. I’m feeling nauseous again and think I need a bit of a snack.”
“Gonna be a full-time job keeping you fed?”
I love that little smile. The way her eyes light up and her cheeks turn pink. “You know it.”
I hold her to me. A part of me wishes I could freeze this moment in time. Keep her right here where she’s safe. Keep her right here with me so she doesn’t run.
I wanted Cosette before.
Now, knowing she’s carrying my baby? The power of heaven and hell couldn’t drag her away from me. Cosette is mine in a way she’s never been mine before.
There are so many things I want to do. So many things I want to say. But right now, we need food.
“Something in particular you want? You said protein earlier. I could—”
“No! Oh, God, no,” she says, covering her mouth with her hands. “Stop! Please. Don’t say another word.”
Her pink cheeks have gone suddenly pale and clammy.
“Okay, alright. So. Anything sound good?”
“Carbs. I want carbs. Buttery, flaky, delicious carbs.” She blinks. “The baby wants carbs. Namely… a palmier.”
A flaky, crispy pastry made with layers of butter and sugar and fashioned into the shape of a palm leaf, palmiers are easy enough to come by.
I look out the window at the twinkling lights of the Louvre set against a twilight backdrop. “We could go for a walk.”
“What do you mean?” She sits up. “I thought we had to hide.”
I fill her in and watch the little divot between her brows deepen. “Well of all the low-down, scumbag things—”
“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. “After the 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 toward La Patisserie 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.
“No, they closed four hours ago.”
When the back door opens, we’re greeted with a warm gust of air that smells divine. “If I could bathe in that air, I’d die a happy woman.”
“Monsieur Gerard!” A rosy-cheeked baker greets us with wide-open arms. “And mademoiselle, are these for you?” Reaching behind him, he pulls out a box of still-warm palmiers.
Cosette groans and reaches with two hands pinching at the air. “If my grabby hands are any indication, I think you have your answer. Thank youuuuu.”
I discreetly tuck a wad of bills into his hand. “Thank you.”
“Monsieur,” he says in a low voice. “This is too much. I can’t—”
“I am confident I’ll be calling you again,” I mutter as Cosette tears into a palmier, flakes of pastry littering the ground. She moans in a way that sounds so sexual I need to get her the fuck out of here.
We amble down the street, bathed in moonlight, the twinkling lights of the Louvre our backdrop. It’s stunning and majestic and a little cold, I realize, when she shivers and rubs her free hand on her arm.
“These are even more delicious than I imagined,” she moans.
I shrug out of my jacket and drape it over her shoulders. “Glad you like them and the baby’s happy now. Should’ve gotten you a sweater, too.”
“I was hot at the time,” she says, pulling the jacket around her more tightly. As she looks out over the Louvre, she whispers her thanks. “Thank you, Lyam.”
I don’t ask her for what.
“Oh, look,” she says with that earnest wistfulness I almost forget about. It’s one of the things I like best about Cosette, how excited she gets over the simplest things.
I look to where she points but don’t see anything. “What are we looking at?”
“The moon over the water. Look, it casts a shadow that looks exactly like a dragon.”
We pause by the Seine and I squint my eyes, trying to see what she does. “Are you just giving me shit?”
I love the sound of her giggle. “No. Not this time, anyway.”
I give her a playful smack on her ass.
“You can’t do that, Lyam,” she says in a heated whisper.
“Do what?”
“Smack my butt.”
The hell I can’t. “Why not?”
“I’m pregnant.”
I burst out laughing. God, it feels good to laugh. I haven’t laughed like this in so long, I can’t seem to stop.
“You think because you’re pregnant we can’t do anything kinky?”
“Lyam!” Her cheeks flush pink this time as she covers her mouth and looks around us.
I shake my head. Thayer has given me full details about what exactly I can and cannot do with a pregnant woman, and smacking her ass doesn’t even come close.
“I’ve done my research,” I say with a smile.
“Oh, really?” She pops the rest of the pastry in her mouth. “Maybe I need…a demonstration.”
I pick her up and carry her the rest of the way back.