Page 180 of Lovestruck at Sundown
“The museum is closed on Tuesdays.”
“It’s a good thing I know a secret passageway into the museum, then.” He grabbed my hand and started walking.
“What secret passageway?” I walked as fast as I could to match his pace. “William, I don’t want to end up in jail.”
“You won’t,” he promised. “I might. But you’ll be fine.”
“There are entrances to provide expedited access for VIP visitors, and I’m sure you would qualify as such,” I said with a giggle, trying to talk him out of whatever madness he had in mind. “That’s how my dad and I got in last time.”
“No time for VIP tours.” He kept walking with resolute decisiveness, and I had no choice but to follow him. “Trust me.”
“Who even told you about this … secret entrance?” I said between nervous pants. Thank God I was wearing tennis shoes. “We’re going to get caught!”
William ignored me and kept walking past the inner esplanade, slowing his pace as we crossed the Port des Arts arched threshold leading to Pont des Arts. The Louvre’s gate, or something beyond it, was being renovated. Without a second thought, William opened a beige metallic service door to our right and hauled me inside, shutting the door behind him.
“Seems like we’re in,” he whispered with a chuckle, cagingme against the door between his arms.
“You’re insane!” I whispered back.
“Come on.”
Shaking my head with disapproval, I followed him down the passageway. The nerves alone were going to kill me.
The view was blocked since we were walking through what seemed like a provisional service corridor, but from the location, I knew the Jardin de L’Infante was to our left.
We reached the main building, and William smirked over his shoulder at me. “Ready to break into the Louvre?”
“No!”
He laughed without a care in the world, and I covered his mouth with my hand.
“William, this is not one of your action movies where you get away with it and everything turns out okay,” I kept complaining. “We’re going to get—”
He pushed the door open before I could saycaught, and we were inside the Louvre in the Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities in the Denon Wing. It was empty and eerily quiet.
“Shit, shit, shit.”
He pressed a finger against my lips to silence me and shook his head, zipping his mouth with two fingers. I nodded, feeling my heart rate spiking from the adrenaline flooding my bloodstream.
William pressed his lips to my ear and said, “Take me to your painting—the one you love.” I glared at him, his face a breath away from mine. At this moment, I loved and hated him in equal parts. “We don’t have much time.”
Taking a deep breath, I grasped William’s hand, turned left, and hurried past various sculptures, pottery, jewelry, and other archaeological finds, trying my best to block out of my mind thatwe had broken into a museum. And not just any museum … the freaking Louvre! It was a matter of minutes, maybe even seconds, before we would inevitably get caught by security.
We were very close to La Salle desÉtats, a few steps away, and we would see The Mona Lisa and my favorite painting in front of it and get the hell out. I could see ourselves handcuffed with our faces on the floor and William laughing, thinking it was a fun experience.
Twinkling lights glowed brightly from La Salle desÉtats as we approached it. When I finally crossed the entrance to the right, with William behind me, I brought my hands to my mouth, completely in awe of the scene in front of me.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of small electric candles decorated the floor, creating a circular pattern that scattered the farther they got from my favorite Veronese painting.
“What is this?” I turned around, and William grabbed my hands, giving me one of his beautiful smiles that wrinkled the corners of his eyes and melted my insides.
“First of all,” he said, his voice slightly shaking. “They know we’re here, and no one’s coming to arrest us.” He blew a nervous breath to the side that puffed up his cheeks. “And secondly, I’m sure you’d want to tell me all about your favorite painting, but the truth is I looked it up, and after researching more about it, I can see why you love it so much.”
I could feel my breath catching in my chest as I listened to him talk. They knew we were here. He planned this. Of course, he did. No wonder he insisted on going out for a walk earlier when I told him I wanted to take a bath with a shit ton of bubbles and continue reading the thriller on my nightstand. “You can do that once we return,” he said. And as usual, I could never deny him anything.
“There are many symbols and interpretations, but one ofmy favorite ones touches on the mystical significance of the transformation of water into wine as a symbol of spiritual alchemy and inner fulfillment,” William began to explain, his grave, soothing voice pulling me back to the present moment. “And this immediately made me think of you—of us—of how my life turned upside down in the best possible way when I met you. Knowing you pushed me into becoming the person I’ve always wanted to be, and as time goes by, you’ve been an inspiration to maintain myself in a constant state of transformation.
“There isnothingI wouldn’t do for you, nothing I wouldn’t risk or sacrifice to ensure your happiness because it directly translates into mine.” William lifted my hands to his mouth and kissed them, but before he could lower them back, I took his hands to my mouth and kissed them too, feeling my chest swelling with pure bliss.
