French Wanker - Victoria Pinder Page 0,23
joined me and started the car, he said like we were still in conversation, “I’m usually pretty reserved. What about you?”
“What about me?”
We made it back to the highway, and I settled in my seat. “What’s your family like?”
My sisters and I were all different, but they were good and had my back if I needed them.
My best friend, Sabrina too, and she’d said next time I fall in love, I should chose a guy who makes my toes curl like Quentin had last night and one who acts like he’s there for my dreams.
Part of me wished it was Quentin I’d bought a dress for. Had I said yes to Marlon because I’d been fucking bored?
That wasn’t good.
None of that mattered now. I was here with a wonderful man. “Well, our parents died a few years ago. So, it’s just me and my sisters.”
“I’m sorry.”
His voice moved me. I looked toward the other lane of highway that had scattered cars and white dotted lines. “It was hard. They died within months of each other, and though I’m an adult, I had this sense I was now an orphan. It’s stupid, I know.”
“How did they pass?”
“My dad had a heart attack. My mom caught pneumonia.” Not that we needed to discuss that.
“That’s hard. But you’re not alone. You have me now.”
I let my shoulders relax in the seat. “Well, I’m happy to be yours.”
His face became more clinical. “And you eat proper to avoid a heart attack?”
Was he a doctor? He sounded like he cared about my health, which was nice. No one else had asked me things like that. “I need to be better. Late nights at the office sometimes aren’t the best for healthy eating.”
He squeezed my thigh. “You must stay healthy. I want to imagine your life as beautiful for as long as I live.”
My life wasn’t that, not like his seemed to be. A vineyard would be sweet and peaceful. I never really knew peace.
One day he’d move on and find some French woman to marry, and I’d go home and maybe never marry. I wasn’t sure I’d find another man to be this intimate with.
And sex was now important in my choosing a mate. It should have always been, but I needed Quentin to show me.
I’d not be melancholy, though. I had a few more days to live in heaven, and I intended to let that last forever.
I scooted closer and pressed my hand to the side of his scruffy cheek. “Quentin, you’re sweet.”
His face looked like I just called him something he hated. “Don’t tell anyone that.”
I kept calling him Mr. Wanker to myself, as he made my body sing for his in a way no normal man had.
I was getting warm and my nipples became perky in my bra. I massaged the back of my neck until I wasn’t on fire. When I was under control, I cleared my throat and asked, “What are your friends like?”
He smiled. “They’re older than me. Calliope used to be my babysitter. She married Nigel, who I vaguely remember as someone always reading. And then there is Simon. He was a practical joker. Nothing bad or anything, but he sounds so responsible now. He’s married to an American, vacationing in Monte Carlo with his children.”
There was more to the story with whoever Simon and Calliope were. I don’t think I ever intentionally visited my babysitters from when I was little. The idea that Quentin was willfully heading toward a family played in my mind. “Children?”
He continued driving me on the endless beautiful road with white dotted lines. “Why, do you not like them?”
I let out a soft sigh. “I mean, I do. I love little kids, but I never quite saw myself as a mother.”
We continued, and I wondered what life would be like if I was actually with Quentin for more than a week. If we’d met back at home, where our lives might actually have a shot at intermixing. But it wasn’t more than a passing thought.
“It’s the circle of life,” he mused.
“I suppose it happens to everyone,” I said. Responsibility was something I was normally good with. At least, the facts and figure types didn’t argue or blame to cover their own mistakes.
I didn’t know much about Quentin, and it seemed crazy to imagine I’d chuck my life in Pittsburgh for a life on a farm. “I’m sure your children will be handsome and sweet.”
“Yours will be wonderful, like you.” He didn’t say anything