Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 72692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
As if reading my mind, Thayer places his hand on my knee and gives me a gentle squeeze. My heart swells.
I once feared what Thayer was capable of. I once feared what he’d done. But now, I love who he is. I love knowing that he will protect me no matter the cost, and that our family—our small, growing family—will always be dear to him.
He loves me, and I know with certainty…
I.
Love.
Him.
EPILOGUE
Savannah
Paris.
Is.
Awesome … with Thayer.
God, I thought I loved Paris before, when I could roam the city streets and peruse the bookstores, drink a café au lait with a hot, freshly baked croissant while devouring my latest favorite book. When I could stroll through the art museums and galleries and tour the Louvre, or sit on a park bench and immerse myself in the city and culture and the lilting beauty of the language.
Turns out, it’s even better when I don’t do it all alone, or tag along as the third wheel with my sister and Fabien.
Let me be clear. In no way, shape, or form has Thayer loosened up. If anything, he’s more protective to the point of damn near stifling now that I’m carrying his baby, but now…I like it.
It’s cute how he lifts my mug of steaming hot coffee and blows on it before he hands it to me. The way he sits beside me on the bench and whispers sweet nothings in his native tongue, massages my back in bed where I lay to quell the nausea while reading a book.
The way he rests his hand on my gently swollen abdomen and tells the baby how much he or she is loved.
He has no interest or patience in the art museums but hey, a girl can’t have everything.
Now that my days are filled with companionship and family, my nights with endless lovemaking in the passionate arms of a French lover, I find the words for my romance novel are flying. Who knew this was my genre?
He knows I love Paris, so we visit frequently. The trip from Paris to Corsica’s easy with a private jet, really no different than a quick business excursion.
And holy hell, does he make good on his promise to show me what Le Luxe has to offer.
It’s almost a bit unnerving how easily the danger against us fades. It’s definitely a bit shocking how many people the Gerard brothers have working for them, including a large group of police officers they know well who are absolutely in their pockets and more than happy to compensate them for punishing the man that killed their fellow officer.
The Gerard men, most especially Thayer, are fastidious and hardworking, and incredibly efficient at what they do, which is a whole lot of things I want to know nothing about. Nicolette has promised me that it’s much better not knowing the finer intricacies of their business, and there are times when I totally agree with her. This is one of those times.
When I’m carrying his baby, content in the knowledge that he loves me above all others. That the life that stretches before me is no longer as lonely as I once feared it would be. Not with him by my side.
“What do you think,” Thayer says thoughtfully, playing with my hair in an absentminded way that I find incredibly endearing, “about finishing your degree? You have a few more classes to take, and it would be a shame for you not to follow through.”
“You’d let me go to a big, large university, teeming with people, apart from you?” I tease.
He visibly winces and his eyebrows draw together. “Well, let’s not get carried away.”
I laugh out loud. “Then what did you have in mind?”
“Something… local. Or maybe…online or something?”
I give him a smile and shake my head. “I think that’s an excellent idea. I love that idea. I can actually finish my degree in a few months.”
“Perfect.”
“Why does that matter to you?” I ask him curiously.
He gives me that signature scowl, the one that makes him look daring and reckless, like he should be a swashbuckling pirate. “Because it matters to you.”
Oh. Well, that should’ve been clear enough.
“So you’re not one of those old-fashioned mobsters who thinks his wife is a pretty little trophy to keep on a shelf until he tires of her and decides he needs a younger, newer model? I hear mistresses are quite common…”
Thayer’s dark eyes flash at me with a wicked smile that makes me yelp.
“I think you know me well enough by now to know I am absolutely old-fashioned and painfully loyal.”
“Which means…”
He leans in and kisses my cheek while he whispers in my ear, “That I will be devoted to you until the day I die.”
My heart squeezes. I never knew I wanted — no needed — someone so fiercely protective … until Thayer.