“Have you ever been, Madame?” he asked in a heavy French accent.
“No. This is my first time.”
“You’re not going to the Eiffel Tower alone, are you?”
“I’m meeting someone there.”
“Very good.” He smiled.
As the driver drove down the street, I could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance. The cab stopped as close as he could. After paying him what I owed, I got out of the cab and walked the rest of the way until I was standing in front of the one thing I’ve always dreamed of seeing.
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
My heart leaped into my throat at the sound of his voice. As I slowly turned around in disbelief that it was actually him, I gasped and my eyes filled with tears as he stood there a few feet away from me with his hands in his coat pocket.
“Ian, what are you doing here?”
He never took his eyes off me as he slowly walked to where I was standing. “It’s so good to see you, Rory. I’ve missed you so much,” he said as he cupped my face in his hands.
“How—”
“Shh.” He smiled. “Just let me kiss you first and then I’ll explain everything,” he whispered as he leaned in and brushed his lips against mine.
His lips, his kiss, his hands on my face, were pulling me back in. Suddenly, flashes of memories of the night I left flooded my mind. I pulled away.
“No! I won’t let you do this to me,” I exclaimed as I held up my finger.
“Rory, please listen to me. I need you to listen to me, sweetheart.”
“I’m meeting someone here. In fact, he should be here any second,” I said nervously as I looked around for Andre.
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Andre isn’t coming. He set this up for me; for us.”
My head was in a ball of confusion and I didn’t understand what was going on. My heart was racing at the speed of light and I felt like I was losing my mind.
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I can see you’re really upset. Please calm down, and I promise I’ll explain everything. Please, Rory. I traveled a long way to see you.”
Taking in a deep breath, I stood there and stared at him. He was so handsome and he was pleading with me to hear him out. I started to calm down and nodded my head. “Go ahead and tell me why you’re here.”
“I miss you, and it’s been really hard for me since you left. You’re on my mind every second of every day. I dream about you every night, and I can’t get you out of my f**king head. Everything I do, and everything I see, reminds me of you. I hate it that you’re not at home with me. Since the day you left, I’ve slept in your bed because it smells like you, and I miss your scent. I miss you. I miss us. I miss everything we shared.”
The tears that had filled my eyes started to pour down my face, and I turned away from him. Was he just saying these things to get me back, and then once I went home, would things go back to the way it used to be? “There is no us,” I whispered.
“Please, don’t turn away from me, and please don’t say that. I’m willing to give it all up for you. The company, the house, the money, everything. I’ll walk away from it all just to be with you. You were right. The way I am does have to do with my mother. I can admit that now because I refuse to lose you. I’m just so scared that you’ll leave me like she did. I was afraid to love because I saw what it did, not only to me when she left, but what it did to my dad. I know now that I can’t live that way anymore. I want us to share a home, Rory. I want us to be a couple, and I want to go on dates with you, and travel with you. I want to scream to the world that you’re mine.”
I swear my heart stopped beating. I turned around and he was standing there with tears falling down his face. I ran to him, jumped in his arms, and kissed him like I never had before.
“I missed you too. I missed you so much that it felt like parts of me were dying every day.”
“I know, sweetheart. I felt the same exact way. I love you, Rory Sinclair. I’m in love with you and I have been since the night you laid your head across my lap in the limo. I just couldn’t admit it, and then when you left, reality hit me. You and I are supposed to be together. The both of us were at the right place at the right time. We were destined to meet. I know that now. I’m so sorry for hurting you and saying those awful things to you, and I will spend eternity making it up to you. I love you so much, and I can’t live without you.”
“I love you too, Ian.”
He smiled as we kissed passionately for a few moments and then he broke our embrace. “I was so scared that you were going to turn me down and tell me to go to hell.”
I laughed as I hugged him. “I would never turn you down. I think you better take me back to my apartment. We have some serious making up to do.” I smiled.
“You bet we do, and I don’t want to waste a second of it.”
Ian picked me up and carried me back to his cab. Once we climbed in the back, our lips locked all the way back to the apartment.
****
When we walked into the apartment, I flipped on the lights and looked at the beautiful tree that was sitting in the corner. Ian looked at me and smiled.
“Do you like it?”
“Did you send it?”
“Yes, I did.” He smiled.
“I love it. It’s beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Did you like the roses?”
“Did you send them?”
“Yes.” Ian laughed.
“I loved them.”
“Good. That’s my beginning to being a perfect boyfriend.” He smiled. “Because that’s all I want to be to you.”
“You’re perfect no matter what. Now, you have five seconds to take me to bed.”
“I can do it in one,” he growled as he picked me up and carried me to the bedroom.
Chapter 26
I lay there wrapped in Ian’s arms, the sheets tangled between us, from the best sex we ever had. I was on Cloud Nine and nothing could bring me down. The passion that I felt when we made love was like nothing I’d ever felt before. I lifted my head and looked at Ian’s smiling face.
“I think you need to explain about Andre.”
“I was wondering when you were going to ask me about him. I found out you were here from Adalynn’s assistant. That reminds me, Adalynn and I are going to have quite a talk when we get back because she lied to me about you.”