Page 65 of City of Love

We make our way out of the bar, and I call us a taxi as Luc heads off on his own. It doesn’t take long for us to get back to the flat, and I’m grateful that we miss my parents coming in.

I lead Lydia back to her bedroom, not bothering to turn on the light.

“Come on,chérie,” I say, guiding her through the dark. She stumbles a bit, but I keep a firm grasp on her elbow until I can sit her down on the bed. “Lie down. Let’s get your shoes off, okay? Can I help you?”

Lydia doesn’t answer but just holds one foot up in the air—I figure that counts. I pull her heels off and set them in the closet. Then I pull the blankets up over her. My eyes flit over her face, and the desire to kiss her again comes back so potently that I can’t breathe.

“My dress,” she murmurs, her eyes closed.

“You can change in the morning,” I say quietly. I smooth her hair off her face and press a kiss to her forehead. “Goodnight, sweetheart.”

“Noel?” she says.

“Hmm?”

Her eyes are still closed, and her voice is drowsy as she says, “Tomorrow tell me about nonprofit management. I want to help people, but I would be bad at pickpocketing.”

I smile. “I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. Now go to sleep.”

I go to the kitchen and grab her a glass of water, returning and placing it on her nightstand; I’m not sure how she’ll feel in the morning. Then I watch her for just a few seconds more before stepping out of the room and closing the door behind me.

Chapter 20

Lydia

Hell hath no fury like a woman hungover from a drink that wasn’t supposed to be alcoholic in the first place. If the aforementioned hungover woman also kissed someone while she was drunk, that fury might be even greater.

I pace around my guest room, my head throbbing dully, as I wait for Jade to pick up the phone.

Is it roughly one in the morning in Stone Springs, Wyoming? Yes.

Am I calling anyway? Yes. Yes, I am.

Because this is anemergency. Jade will understand.

I pace for two more seconds before she answers.

“Do you know what time it is here?” she says, though she doesn’t sound groggy, so I don’t think I woke her up.

“I kissed Noel!” I whisper-shout into the phone.

“I can’t hear you when you whisper over the phone, Lyd.”

It was a really loud, emphatic whisper, but whatever. “I kissed Noel,” I say again—louder this time, but still soft enough that no one will overhear.

There’s silence for a second, and then Jade speaks. “Excellent!” she says with a laugh. “That’s—”

“No!” I say, shaking my head. “Not excellent! It was not excellent atall, Jade. It was an accident. I didn’t mean to kiss him.”

“Hmm,” she says. “How does one accidentally kiss someone?”

I sigh, scrubbing my hand over my face and sitting on the bed. “I was drunk,” I say. “We went to this bar and I ordered a virgin Bloody Mary but it was really loud because there were a lot of people so I think the bartender misheard me so he made me the alcoholic version instead and I drank two of them and didn’t have much water with it and then I kissed Noel and now I’m hungover.” The words rush out of me in one breath, and I’m not sure how intelligible they are to Jade.

“Whoa, slow down,” she says, confirming my thoughts. “So you went to a bar.”

“Yes,” I say, nodding.

“And you ordered…”

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