Page 103 of Never Too Late
‘It’s fine. You only planned to walk me home and then got dragged into my family drama.’
He gave my hand the gentlest of squeezes to signify that wasn’t how he saw it, or if he did, he didn’t care.
‘Sash, Tomas has to go.’
She turned to him, her pretty face aglow with happiness and excitement, so different from the hurt that had smothered it when we’d first seen her this evening.
‘I’m sorry to leave, but I hope you have a wonderful evening tomorrow and that it’s useful.’
‘It will be! You have no idea!’ She hugged him again, this time without hesitation, then turned the phone so that Benoit could see us both.
‘Bonsoir, Kitty,’ he said warmly. ‘Pap.’ He winked, so much like his godfather, then held up his forefinger and thumb in the shape of a circle. ‘Glad to hear your old flames are coming in useful.’ The tone was teasing. Tomas tilted his head to one side, one eyebrow raised just a smidge, and his godson barked out a laugh.
‘Thank you for that,’ Tomas replied. ‘I will deal with you when I see you.’ The words might have formed a threat but there was nothing but warmth in his voice, and love in his eyes for the young man grinning out from the screen.
Sasha was staring at his godfather, agog.
Tomas and I stepped outside the apartment and I closed the door behind me with a soft click.
‘Thank you.’
‘It really is my pleasure. I’m so sorry she was let down by people she thought were friends. It’s the least I could do.’
I leant back against the door. ‘You didn’t have to do anything, but thank you for caring. It’s so you.’ I reached up and laid my hand against his cheek for a moment. He tilted his head into it a little more before I let my hand drop.
‘I was so pleased she seemed to have made some friends. She was too. I think the idea of living in Paris really appealed to her, but she’s also found it more overwhelming than she expected. And perhaps a bit lonely. Although obviously meeting Benoit has helped with the latter.’
Tomas leant his shoulder against the wall and looked down at me. ‘You know he’s… how do you say? Smitten? With Sasha.’
‘He is?’
‘Totally. Quite pathetic, really. You wouldn’t catch me falling for a girl that hard.’
‘Is that so?’
‘Nope.’
‘Not even Simone Deschamps?’ I teased. His face was close now.
‘I wondered when that might come up,’ he replied, his voice soft with that hint of gravel that manifested when he was tired, or turned on. Right now, it seemed he was a little of both. ‘And considering I’m here with you right now and wouldn’t wish to be anywhere else, I think you have your answer.’
I pushed myself away from the wall, grabbed a fistful of hideously expensive cotton shirt and pulled him towards me, and he let me. The thrill of that control, that allowance, sent a shiver through me. Tomas felt it and I felt his smile as his lips met mine. My hands slid up over the defined chest, slipping under his coat and over the bump of toned trapezoid muscle between his neck and square shoulders, all of it reminding me of his strength. The thought ignited a flame down low in a place that hadn’t even smouldered in a long time, let alone known flames. My hips pressed into his thigh as he pulled me closer. I heard Sash laugh but it was way in the distance, barely registering. Right now, right in this moment, it was just Tomas and me. And it felt incredible.
‘I have to go,’ he whispered in my ear before kissing it and making my knees sink. His arms wrapped tighter. ‘Believe me, I don’t want to.’
‘I can tell,’ I teased.
His laugh was deep and soft and full of promise.
‘I don’t want you to go either.’
‘Tomorrow.’
‘Tomorrow.’
His hands cupped my face, kissed me again softly before sinking back into something far more raw. And then he broke away, shaking his head. ‘If I don’t go now, I never will.’
I didn’t want him to. I knew that now. For all the going slow, not rushing things, right now, I wanted to rush in like the ocean in a storm.
