Chapter 45
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Elise
A fter the ordeal at the hotel and another round of statements to the police, Luc drove me home and I passed out in my own bed.
When I woke, I was cocooned in his warmth, his arms wrapped around me with one big hand cradling my hip over the sleep shorts I’d slipped back into before dropping into the loving embrace of my mattress. Then he pulled me closer, effectively plastering me to his hard chest and hitching one leg over his hips so we were just about as close as two clothed people could be.
“You’re not asleep?” I’d sort of thought he was since he’d been completely still as I woke.
“No.”
A thrill zipped from my brain all the way to my toes. “Aren’t you tired?”
He made a sound not unlike a hum of satisfaction, but it almost felt like it came from his very firm, and now that I was more fully awake, very bare chest.
Instantly, I leaned back. “You can’t be like that right now.”
Confusion shadowed his gray-green eyes as he searched my face. “Like what?”
“All sexy and alluring. We have things to discuss and…” I inched back, separating us a touch because his nearness and that possessive grip on my thigh was doing things to me. Not the productive, clear thoughts kind.
The slow slide of his smile might as well have been a match lit an inch from a bowl full of lighter fluid.
Who’s leaving lighter fluid sitting around in a bowl? Great question.
I blamed the man with artwork for a face and body who had literally rescued me and was now using me as his own personal blanket.
“And? Elise, mon c?ur , won’t you tell me what you need? Is it really talking?”
His words were grit and fire, and I absolutely wanted to melt. “I—no. I mean, I might need more than one thing.”
He pressed a kiss to my jaw, then my neck.
“Luc, please, talk to me for a minute.”
There was a pathetic little whine to my voice he had to hear, but he backed away and maneuvered both of us so we were now sitting and tragically no longer smashed together in delicious ways.
But this is better. For now. Focus!
“I’m sorry. We do need to talk. But I…” His gaze slipped from my eyes to my lips, then he shook his head as though to clear it. “Let’s talk.”
Ho. Ly. Fire.
We would circle back to all of this. But for now, I took a steadying breath.
“I need to give you this.” I slipped the ring off my finger—the one I’d worn faithfully for what was, in the scheme of things, a heartbeat in time.
He held up his hand, and I dropped it in his palm. His fingers closed over it, and his gray-green eyes pierced me with their intensity.
Nervous energy rolled around in my belly, but I pressed on. “If you’re interested, I think we should keep dating.”
His face split into a charmed smile. “I’m in love with you, so yes, I’m interested.”
A relieved laugh tripped out of me. “Good. Me, too.” I swallowed, then clarified. “I’m in love with you, too. And I want to keep going.”
He reached for me, sliding a hand into my hair. “Good. Because I’m only holding this ring for safekeeping. Unless you’d prefer something else, but otherwise, barring a major change, I intend to give it back to you.”
I bit my lip, but my smile broke through anyway. “You have another fake engagement up your sleeve?”
He moved so quickly, I hardly realized what was happening until I was on my back, and he was leaning over me, his lips brushing mine before he said, “Not fake.”
“I guess we’ll see,” I said, grinning like a madwoman.
Did I want to be engaged to Luc? Right now, no. Honestly, no, because we’d hardly dated. But we’d also been through a kind of trial by fire, and he was the man I wanted. I knew this. He was obviously open to dating, and eventually, marriage.
In some other woman’s story, maybe she’d turn her fake engagement into a real one without stopping the progress, but he knew, and I knew, this was what we needed.
“I’m right with you, mon amour . We’re right with each other. We’ll get there. And now I need only hear what it is you want now. ”
He dipped his head, touching his forehead to mine in a soft, sweet gesture that made my heart absolutely fly.
“You, Luc. Just you.”
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