Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
I changed too, choosing to wear his clothes instead of my own. They were more comfortable, and they smelled like him. Smelled like romance and rain and the City of Light. I sat across from him, one knee bent with my foot against the seat, his shirt like a baggy dress.
He didn’t usually smoke his cigars around me, and now that I saw him do it, I realized I hadn’t seen him smoke in a while. And when he came home, he didn’t smell like it either. Made me wonder if he’d been trying to cut back on that too.
He let the cloud of smoke escape from his mouth, relaxed in the chair with his arms slightly crossed. He looked out the window and over the dark water to the lights of the buildings across the way, the Eiffel Tower the beacon of the city.
“How are you?”
He took another drag and then released the smoke. “Fucking hungry.”
I could tell he was in a bad mood, and now I knew he was hangry. All it took was one skipped meal, and he was beside himself. The stab wound and almost getting killed was no problem at all. I stayed quiet and drank the wine he’d poured me and let the silence go by, knowing he would be the man I remembered once the food came.
Twenty minutes later, Gerard delivered the meal.
Bastien didn’t even wait until Gerard placed my plate in front of me before he started to eat. It was a steak and potatoes and greens, so he was determined to get his steak tonight, regardless of what went down.
I didn’t mind that he’d dropped his manners. He deserved to eat.
Gerard left, and we ate in silence. I had a bowl of penne pasta with a side salad, as if Bastien had told him to make that specifically. The hot food hit the spot after the crazy night. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was either until I’d walked in the door. My last meal had been at lunchtime, and it was just a cup of soup.
He smoked his cigar between bites, something I’d never seen him do. When he finished inhaling his food, he put out the cigar right on his dinner plate then drank the rest of his glass until there was nothing left.
Life came back into his face, and he looked like the man I knew and loved. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I said. “It was hard seeing him like that, but he’ll be fine. He’s got his brothers and parents and stuff.”
“He’s not your problem.”
“I know he’s not. Now, you’re my problem.” I gave him an affectionate smile before I glanced at the gauze on his arm.
He didn’t smile back, but his eyes softened subtly.
It was a rough day, a day that could have ended quite differently. But it ended in the way that I needed it to end, a final goodbye that wasn’t teary, but kind. “I finally got the closure I’ve been looking for…and that was nice.”
“Good. You deserve peace.”
“Yeah, just wish it could have happened differently.” Without Bastien being stabbed and Adrien… I wasn’t sure what exactly had happened to him.
“We both lived to tell the tale. All that matters.”
“Yeah.” I finished half of my food and left it there, my focus entirely on Bastien now. “I don’t even know how to thank you for what you did. Adrien is my ex-husband, and you still helped him. And you didn’t even make me ask.” It took an extraordinary man to be that secure, to risk his life for a man who used to call me his. But he felt no jealousy. Never showed a single sign of it.
He crossed his arms over his chest fully, and he stared at me hard, almost like he was angry. His eyes were focused with a lethal precision. It was hard to know what he was thinking in that moment, if my words moved him or annoyed him.
“I’m not sure how I can ever show my gratitude.” His love felt unconditional, as if he would truly do anything for me, no matter what it was, even if it was putting his life on the line for an ex who deserved what was coming to him. I would never understand why he’d chosen me to love, when he could have literally any woman he wanted with those devastating blue eyes…but he did.
The silence was heavy, as if whatever he was about to say had enough substance to put a hole in the wall. His eyes were sharp like the knife that had cut his arm, and he seemed to slice straight into my soul. “I know how.”
Bumps formed on my arms as the excitement prickled. After the night we’d had, I expected a quiet evening on the couch, but it looked like he wanted to throw me on the bed and tie my wrists to the headboard.