Page 42 of Mating of Convenience
Raph looked down at his plate where his crepe was slowly going cold. “I should have told you sooner. I’m an idiot. I was just… I freaked.”
“It’s okay.” Sure, it had been hard and there was still a part of me that was mad at Raph for handling the situation the way he had, keeping everything to himself instead of telling me honestly, but I was willing to forgive him, or at least try, because all I wanted to do just then was to wrap my omega in my arms.
But then Raph spoke up before I could say anything more. “You want to go see the Eiffel Tower after we’re done eating?” he asked, running his thumb over my skin where our hands were joined. “I hear it’s lit up at night. It must be pretty.”
Was he trying to do something romantic for me?
A shiver went down my spine as I realized how much my situation had changed over the last few minutes. I was still in Paris with Raph, but now I didn’t feelstuckhere anymore. If Raph was trying to come on to me, all my bottled up feelings for him that never went away weren’t a problem anymore. Not now that I knew what had really happened.
I was in Paris. With Raph. And I wanted him back.
“I would love to go see the Eiffel Tower with you.”
Raph’s face lit up and I felt like an unspoken understanding had just passed between us. I couldn’t wait to finish our crepes and get out of here with him.
21
Raphael
Iwas not in luck. When we left the restaurant, it was raining. Not heavy rain, but still, not super pleasant, and who knew when the skies would decide to open up andreallydrench us?
Turned out, rain sucked just as much in Paris as it did in Maine.
On our way to the subway, Nathan turned to me. “You want to head back to the hotel instead?”
I’ll admit, it was a tempting suggestion. I could seduce Nathan in a hotel room just as well as I could seduce him in front of the Eiffel Tower, but I felt I owed him this. He’d taken me to the catacombs after all. “Nah,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s just a little water. I don’t mind if you don’t.”
“Okay then.” Nathan gave me a small smile and we continued on our way.
Due to the crappy weather, the Metro was even more crowded than usual. Of course. I grimaced as I squeezed my way into the train car. When we started moving, I bumped into Nathan. “Sorry,” I muttered.
I did want to get closer to him, but not likethis.
“Don’t worry about it.” Nathan grabbed my hand, and I didn’t move to step away. He smelled like rain and like alpha, and even though our ride on the subway wasn’t otherwise comfortable, I was almost a little sad when we had to get off and change trains only a few minutes later.
When we finally emerged from the Metro at the station closest to the Eiffel Tower the rain clouds still hadn’t cleared up. We could already see the tower ahead of us, though.
“Wow,” Nathan said under his breath, holding a hand over his head as if that could shield him from the weather. “I still can’t believe I’m actually here, seeing this in person.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself. Sorry the weather sucks. You know crap like this happens whenever I try to do something romantic.”
Next to me, Nathan lowered his hand and averted his gaze from the tower to focus on me instead. “You know it’s always been enough for me that you’re trying.”
“I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted you to be happy.”
“I know.” Nathan smiled at me, and for a moment, I felt like the rain had stopped. The weather didn’t actually clear up around us, though. It was just that, in light of my alpha’s smile, the drops of water falling on my skin and seeping into my clothes ceased to matter.
And then a strange light caught my attention.
“What’s that?” Nathan turned his head and I followed his gaze.
“Oh wow.” in front of us, the Eiffel Tower had begun to sparkle as if it was getting ready for a night out in one of France’s most popular discotheques. “This is amazing,” I said without thinking, hearing countless cameras snap around me.
Still staring at the tower, Nathan started to laugh. “It really is amazing.”
“What are you laughing at?”
“I don’t know. All of this. It feels so surreal. Being here with you, watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle… I’m a small town boy, I don’t fly first class to Paris to watch the Eiffel Tower light up at night with the omega I love by my side.”
