Page 55 of Right With You
Liz patted my shoulder. “It’s your life, Elise. Just want to make sure you’re okay.”
She studied me in a way that made my heart prick. She must’ve known a bit about Callum if she was worried about me—or maybe she’d dealt with women who’d been in bad situations. I loved her for checking on me, even when my supposed fiancé was her almost-fiancé’s best friend.
“I really am okay. I promise.”
She accepted my vow, and Kenny announced they’d leave us to family time. The phrase had an odd kind of wistfulness winding through me as Liz and Kenny left and we found Aurelie and Michele ready to catch up.
“Grand-père was unspeakably rude, Elise. I am so sorry.”
Aurelie clasped my hands and squeezed as though she could imbue me with her sincerity via the touch.
“It’s nothing. I’ll admit I wavered for a minute, but once he started in on education, it actually helped. I’ve made peace with my choices in that regard, and I have no regrets.” It’d hurt to be reminded of my family’s faults, but it’d given me a chance to remind myself I’m not the same woman my mother was. And I was my own person. Whoever couldn’t take me as I was could leave it. Their loss, not mine.
Revisiting that part of my history while the business was struggling had been a good thing. It’d reminded me I’d made choices, and I’d stuck to them. Maybe I’d lose the business. Maybe Callum would prove yet again he was determined to be the worst version of himself and finagle a sale of my company to someone I didn’t even know just to punish me for not doing what he wanted. But in the end, I’d tried.
Even though I’d had a little help, Ihadtried. And I’d made some freaking awesome donuts.
“Wonderful. You’re resilient. That’s a wonderful quality to have in a partner,” Michele said with a beaming smile at me, then shifted it to Luc.
Uncomfortable with any amount of praise for the situation, I shifted awkwardly and moved to finish scrambling the eggs I’d planned to make for dinner. After another minute or two chatting, Aurelie and Michele went off to bed since they were still adjusting to mountain time, and Luc sat at his bar while I cooked our simple dinner. We ate in silence, both drained and fully aware Aurelie or Michele could come out at any time.
And then it was time to go to bed.
We took turns changing and going through our routines for sleep. It hadn’t felt this surreal last night, even before he’d declared he’d sleep on the couch. But now, my heart wouldn’t stop pattering around like an amateur tap dancer and I saw my hand visibly shake when I picked up my ereader.
Luc entered not long after I’d settled in with soft-looking shorts and a T-shirt. I averted my eyes from his legs because it felt oddly intimate seeing them after only ever seeing him in pants. They were muscular and covered in dark hair like his arms and just as attractive as everything else on him.
It also made him seem closer to naked. Technically, he was, right? He was missing feet of material covering those shapely calves and the bottom few inches of his ridiculous quads, not to mention his knees. How had no one warned me how sexy knees could be?
Get a hold of yourself!
“This okay?” he asked, standing on his side of the bed with his hand on the duvet.
“Yes. We can handle it.”
I can handle this.
By now, I knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t try to take advantage of this situation nor would he be upset if I told him I wasn’t okay with it. I truly wasn’t scared of him, and the nerves rattling around inside me were more on thethrilledend of the spectrum. I wasn’t about to delineate that thought, so “We can handle it” it was.
He slipped into bed. I couldn’t even feel the mattress depress because it was some kind of super luxurious king-sized dream, and once he was settled against the pillows, we were still a solid two feet apart.
But then he did it.
That sneaky Frenchman knocked the wind right out of me with one easy move.
He slipped on a pair of thick-framed reading glasses and pulled out a book.
And all my confidence melted into a steamy little pile of swoon.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN
Elise
The man sat and read wearing his glasses for a solid twenty minutes before I lost my mind enough and had to speak.
“I like your glasses. Have you had them long?”
Abrupt and absolutely out of nowhere for him, but the only thing I’d been thinking. Well, that anddon’t look at the beautiful man with his mussed hair and thick frames and the serious notch between his brows while he holds an honest to goodness book or ye shall perishplus a dozen little bookish side quests thanks to the current view.
