towels came off again as we climbed into the bed that was still open from us having spent so much time in it earlier.
The next thing I knew, we were kissing again. Slow, passionate kisses that made my heart race and my soul ache to reach his. We only broke apart so he could don a condom. Then we were kissing again as he sank into me.
It was in that moment as I looked up into his eyes and saw so much more than just need that I knew the look in mine was the same. This didn’t just feel like more than sex. It was more than sex.
Chapter 32
DANE
Our last event on the trip to France was the swankiest of them all. Everyone was dressed in their very finest suits and ballgowns. We were in one of the most well-known hotels in Paris, watching as people danced their way across the ballroom and others milled around, making small talk while they mingled with the crowd of very special guests.
Leah stood beside me in an emerald-green gown that made her look like royalty. It had arrived at her room this morning, wrapped in a box with a big golden bow tied around it. Jefferson might not have forgiven her for her outburst, but he’d obviously decided she still needed to look the part this evening.
Chandeliers hung overhead, waiters dressed in tuxedos carried drinks and canapés on silver trays, and a string quartet sat on an elevated platform for their set. Leah’s head was swiveling so much, it was like she was watching a tennis match.
“Enjoying yourself?” I asked, bending my arm with her arm in the crook of it to give her a discreet but reassuring squeeze. “You look like your eyes are about to fall out of your head.”
“That’s because they are,” she said, keeping her voice low enough that people wouldn’t overhear us. “This is like an actual, real-life ball. I’ve never been to one of these and I never thought I’d be invited to one.”
“If you’ve been to one party, you’ve been to them all,” I said, smiling when I glanced down at her. “You fit right in here, though. Have I told you yet that you look absolutely fucking stunning?”
“Yes.” She grinned, jabbing me softly in the ribs with her elbow. “But you can tell me again.”
I bent my head so my mouth was closer to her ear. “You look absolutely fucking stunning.”
“Thank you,” she murmured, resting her head on the side of my arm for just a moment. It was a quiet, intimate moment, but it wasn’t the first of those we’d had today.
Since this event was the last one for the trip, we’d had a few meetings in the morning but we’d had all afternoon free to get ready. Neither of us had felt like we needed all that time, though. Instead of spending all the free time inside, we’d headed out and had hit up all the main tourist attractions that we could fit into one day.
Something had changed between us. I wasn’t sure when or what, but it felt like something had clicked. We were more comfortable with one another than ever but at the same time, everything we did together felt heavier. More serious. Like there was a solid connection between us that made even simple things seem more meaningful.
It was weird as fuck, but weird seemed to be the order of the day when it came to the two of us. Besides, I liked this flavor of weird. I was starting to think of it as our flavor of weird, and not even that was enough to make me rethink all the time we were spending together.
A rush of activity suddenly broke out around the entrance, and I smiled as Leah turned to see what it was about. I can’t wait to see her reaction.
“What’s happening?” she asked, frowning as she pushed herself up on her toes in an attempt to get a better look. When the string quartet stopped playing, a highly energetic song came on through the speakers.
Men and women in even fancier attire than the guests started strutting in to the beat of the music, carrying classic-style cigarette-girl trays around their necks. Instead of tobacco, the trays held demo bottles of Beautiful Moments.
I slid an arm around Leah’s waist, leading her forward toward the woman zeroing in on us. “It’s a surprise pre-release of the fragrance. The people in this room will be the first ones to