Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“So you’re going to resign?”
“I already have. I’ve told my publisher, too. And anyway, I’m going to locum. I’ll do a few days here and there, and they can still say I’m a practicing doctor.”
Blood starts to flow around my body again but I don’t know what to say. I don’t know why I ever doubted Zach. He’s never given me any reason to doubt him and now, when I’ve pushed him away, half drowning in my past, he’s pulled me out and done whatever it took to make everything okay. “I love you,” I say. It’s all I can manage to convey how much I appreciate him.
He smiles, and it’s the best thing about being in Paris.
“So, did you bring a case?”
He shrugs. “Just my backpack. I don’t need much and I have to go back to London tomorrow. I have work.”
“So you just came to say good luck?”
“That, and to tell you I love you, and that I’ll be moving to Paris.”
“So this time it’s me with an unexpected houseguest.” I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have turn up on my doorstep unannounced.
“No chance of being snowed in unfortunately,” he says, a devilish twinkle in his eye.
“We can always pretend.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
Thirty-Six
Zach
I’m trying to keep my breathing steady, but it’s not easy being this close to Ellie, my hands on her, her hands on me. I gave up my job to move to Paris in order to save a relationship that’s too precious to lose, only to find Ellie is prepared to overcome her biggest fears to do the same. To know she wants this as much as I do, cements things between us. Not that we were ever casual, but this—now—it’s permanent.
“Thank you for not giving up on me,” she says between rushed kisses as we unbutton and unpeel, strip and pull our clothes from ourselves and each other.
“Thank you for not giving up on us,” I say. “I know how difficult it must have been for you to consider long distance, to trust that you wouldn’t lose yourself.”
We both still. Naked, facing each other, she strokes her palm down my cheek. “I wouldn’t let me.” The corners of her mouth curl up in a half smile. “And you wouldn’t let me.”
She knows me. She trusts me.
“We’re both on the same team.” I cup her face and press my lips to hers, breathing in the familiar scent of sunshine and lilacs.
She nods, rounding her hand over my arse. I lift her up, grab my wallet, and walk us over to the bedroom. This isn’t going to be a quick fuck. I want to take my time with her, like we’re snowed in and have nowhere to be.
I lay her down and brace my arms either side of her head. I take in her deep brown eyes. They’ve lost the glaze of anxiety they had when I first met her and gained a softness that wasn’t there before. Her hands slide up my sides and she bends her knees to rest on either side of my hips.
“We fit,” I say.
“Perfectly,” she replies.
I bend and press a kiss to her neck, just below her ear, and the scent of lilacs drifts over me afresh.
Her fingers scrape the back of my neck and I work my way down, pressing kisses slowly and deliberately over every dip and curve. I need to reintroduce myself to her body and let it know that this time, I’m not going anywhere.
She wiggles beneath me and I press my palm flat across her stomach, smoothing the other one down, down, down, finding her warmth, nestling my fingers into her folds. She tries to arch her back, pressing into my palm, but I keep her in place as I work my fingers into her, my thumb on her clit circling and pressing.
I close my eyes for a long moment, reveling in her sounds. The gasps and the moans, my whispered name on her breath.
It’s been too long.
I shift and she reaches for me. I’m already hard, but the feel of her fingers on my cock pulls the blood from my entire body, as if every drop is fighting to be near her.
“You feel like velvet and stone all in one,” she says and I let my head fall back as she works her fist up my shaft.
Pressure builds in my chest, leaving me breathless, and I capture her wrist before she can move any more. I’m dangerously close to spilling all over her and I need this first bit, the bit before forever, to last a little longer.
“Are you trying to spoil my fun?” she asks.
“Just prolonging it for both of us,” I reply, dropping her wrist and removing my hand from between her legs so that I’m not touching her. I sit back on my knees and blow out a breath.