was ready.
She was the love of his life, and he’d been given a second chance with her.
Perhaps that was part of this newfound peace.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
A blue and white teapot called out to her. Ceramic, with a line of blue ivy snaking along the top, it was pretty and artsy at the same time. Her hand darted out, carefully avoiding the mass of kitchen items crowding it on a table at a sidewalk vendor. Grabbing the teapot, she held it in front of her, brandishing it for Michael’s opinion.
“I need this, don’t I?”
They were at the marché aux puces at Porte de Vanves, a massive weekend flea market, spread across many blocks.
He gave her an inquisitive stare. “Didn’t you buy a teapot yesterday at a fancy shop in the Marais?”
Busted.
“I know,” she said with a pout. They’d wandered all over Paris the last few days, seeing museums, stopping at bakeries, popping into shops, strolling along the Seine, and flipping through vintage postcards at the street-side dealers. She stroked the porcelain. “But it is so pretty.”
He shook his head, laughing, and squeezed her shoulder. “I would never have pegged you as such a hoarder.”
“I just like cute little objects. If you came to my flat, you’d see. I have all sorts of little trinkets,” she said, nudging his side, trying to convince him.
“Someday,” he said softly, looking away.
She chose not to press. He hadn’t been to her home yet. His trip was only to last for four days. He’d booked a hotel room, and she’d spent her nights there and the days traveling across the city with him. She understood why he didn’t want to stay at her house. He had been upfront about it.
“I want to make new memories with you,” he’d said. “I hope you understand I just can’t step foot in the place where you lived with your husband. Not yet.”
Her home was rich with history, with the story of her time with another man. She couldn’t fault Michael for not being ready to open the green door to her two-bedroom apartment and walk inside. She didn’t want him to feel like a second choice, because he never felt that way to her, so they’d stayed away, enjoying a little vacation in a hotel room.
She set down the teapot and took his hand, threading her fingers through his. He glanced down at their joined hands and dropped a kiss to her cheek. She shuddered at the sparks that raced through her, even from a little kiss like that. He was so affectionate, and he loved touching her. Holding her hand. Wrapping an arm around her. Planting kisses on her face. Anywhere and everywhere. She loved walking through Paris with him touching her so possessively, as if he was telling all the world that she belonged to him.
“My father and mother used to take me here when I was younger. To this flea market,” she reminisced as they wove through the crowds of shoppers along this stretch of vendors. “They loved to bargain shop. My father would come here to buy tools and skeleton keys and dusty old books. Funny thing is, he never actually used them. We had to donate them all when he passed on.”
“Why did he want them?”
“Honestly, I think he loved to haggle.”
Michael nodded. “Now that makes sense. I’m quite good at haggling. You should see me do it. It’s amazing that Ryan thinks he’s the negotiator for our firm, but it’s really me. I make sure we get the best deals.”
She squeezed his fingers. “Will you haggle for me then? For the teapot?”
He arched an eyebrow, and they stopped, other bargain hunters pushing past them, bumping and nudging in hot pursuit of a deal on corduroy jackets, old costume jewelry, baroque mirrors, and more.
He lowered his mouth to her ear. “Will it turn you on so much that it makes you want to fuck me again?”
She shivered in response. “That’s a silly question. I pretty much always want to with you.”
“But will you want to even more?” he asked, his voice gritty, dirty. He ran his fingers down her arm. Since it was November, she wore a jacket, but goose bumps still rose on her flesh.
She stood on tiptoe and leaned in close to him. “I’m already turned on from the question.”
“Let’s get your teapot,” he said, turning around.
Suddenly, the flea market had become foreplay.
They returned to her teapot seller. “Combien ça coûte?” How much?
“Cinquante euros,” the man barked back. A cigarette dangled between his