Page 53 of Own

I added chocolate bars to the list. Dark, milk, and white, then extra milk. Tapping my chin with the pen, I studied the kitchen then Lunchbox. “Done.”

“Good, stay here.” He left the kitchen with the note in hand and headed out to where the guys were. Staying as he’d ordered, I walked over to one of the windows and looked down at the street below.

Paris bustled about its morning. The sunshine after days of misting rain seemed to make it even brighter. So weird to see so much…normalcy.

Hands came to rest on my hips and I leaned back, trusting that he wouldn’t let me fall and I wasn’t disappointed. “Talk to me, Gracie. You look sad.”

“I’m not reallysad.” I turned the words over in my head. “I am, but—it’s hard to explain.”

“Let’s try it this way, then.” He wrapped his arms around me, and the warmth of his embrace just pulled me tighter. “What are you thinking about?”

“It’s so normal outside. People going to work. Going to shops. Just—going about their lives.” I frowned. “That feels like a million years ago to me. It’s only been a few months, but even that feels a lot longer.”

He didn’t say anything for a long moment, just held me while I rested against his chest. The steady thump of his heart helped to erode some of my tension. A part of me wanted to just be one of those people out there. I wanted to return to normalcy.

We’re never going to be normal again. How can we? After everything? And these guys…

The thought slid out of the shadows in my mind and I couldn’t deny it. Wouldn’t even try. They weren’t normal. How could I wantnormalif they weren’t a part of it?

“Gracie?” He framed a dozen questions in my name and I tilted my head back to look up at him. “Come with me for a little while?”

“Anywhere.” Easiest answer ever and he scooped me up. “I can walk,” I reminded him even as he strode out of the kitchen. We didn’t go back to the sitting room where we’d parked it when we arrived. Not that I saw the guys anywhere.

Maybe they’d left?

“I know you can,” he said, but he didn’t slow his stride. “This is faster.”

I snorted a laugh then frowned. “Did you just call me slow?”

His eyes twinkled, it was the first hint of light to slip into them since he’d crashed into the lounge to get me away from O’Rourke. “Absolutely not.”

At the end of the hall that housed some of the bedrooms, he opened one up and then stepped inside where he locked the door. The whole time, he kept his gaze fixed on mine.

“Would now be the time to remind you that I got a lot of sleep in the van last night?” More curious than anything, I studied his expressions. The blinds were closed in here, but there was enough light sneaking in around to keep it from being truly dark.

“If you want,” he said, walking toward the bed while still cradling me. My heart did a little fist bump with my ribs. “Or you can just let me look after you the way I want to.”

At the bed, he set me down and then reached for my shoes. Wreathed in shadow and stormlight, he glanced up at me from his crouch.

“Did I tell you how magnificent you were last night?”

“No…” I said slowly. “Which time? When I was freaking out at the safe house or…”

“At the chateau. At the safe house. Before we got there. After. You’re a grenade with the pin half out, Gracie.”

The air backed up in my lungs and made it difficult to suck in a deeper breath. He set my shoes aside one at a time.

“Is that a good thing?” I frowned. “Cause that sounds dangerous.”

“It’s very good thing,” he murmured, then reached for my shirt and tugged it upward. I raised my arms so he could peel it off. “I’ve always had a thing for explosives.”

My mouth opened then closed, then a snort of laughter escaped me. It was such an undignified sound that I had to clap my hand over my mouth. Lunchbox didn’t help, his eyes were practically dancing.

“You’re beautiful, and you look fragile. Looks can be deceiving. You’re so tiny, it makes me want to build walls around you that no one can breach. You’ve got a hell of an arm on you and nothing about you is glass.”

“No?”

“No,” he said, undoing the bra from the back and I let it slide down my arms. The room was chilly, and my nipples peaked almost immediately but I didn’t think it had anything to do with the cold. No, it was the way his eyes caressed me. “Glass breaks, Gracie. You don’t. You burn.”

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