Page 77 of The Charmer

"Back from where?"

I took her hand, leading her to the dining table in the main room.

She gasped. "You went to Café Du Monde!"

I walked up behind her, kissing her bare shoulders and putting an arm around her waist. "Yeah. Wanted to wake you up with a surprise."

She softened against me. "Thanks. This is great."

I didn't like that she'd thought I'd left. It made sense, but I still didn't like it. I was going to bring that up later, though.

I pulled out a chair for her. "Sit down."

She immediately lowered herself onto it and opened the bag of beignets unceremoniously, making me laugh.

"Sorry. I'm like a bull in a china shop when I'm hungry."

"Go ahead, dig in."

She devoured her beignet. I ate two before stopping to breathe. Georgie was on her second one too. I liked watching her do mundane things like this. Was it insane? I wasn't exactly the guy who stopped to smell the flowers, so to speak. Sure, I took everything in stride, unlike Xander and even Chad to some extent. But this was different.

"Now I feel alive," Georgie said, taking a sip of coffee. She grimaced a little.

"Don't like the coffee?"

"It isn’t my favorite in the Quarter."

"What a coincidence. Mine either, but I wanted to be quick. Let’s finish the beignets, and then we can go grab some real coffee."

Her eyes lit up in surprise. "Great. I mean, I only have this outfit, but you know what? Who cares? We’re still officially in Carnival season."

I nodded with a grin. "That's right."

"But let's finish the beignets first."

She ate the third one much slower than the previous ones.

"What are you thinking about?"

She put the beignet back down on the torn paper bag.

"That this is a bit surreal. I can't believe we’re in this place. That you're here with me."

"Which part is harder to believe, that this is a presidential suite or that I didn't leave?"

She sighed, looking straight at me. "You really don't pull punches, huh?"

I rested my arms on the table. "No. I didn't want to push earlier because I didn't think it was the right time, but let's clear the air."

I shifted on the chair so I was facing her, and she did the same. I trapped her legs between mine, pressing my knees to her thighs. "Talk to me."

"Everything last evening was amazing, but unexpected. And I... I'm sorry. I know it's not fair to you to hold you to shitty standards."

I cleared my throat. "Technically speaking, it would be fair considering my... history. But you have to know this is different. It's been different from the very beginning. And believe one thing: I wouldn't just run out on you like that. Not in a million years. I wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

She nodded. "Thanks for saying that. But considering you woke up and went to Café Du Monde to bring beignets, that sort of cleared it up for me."

"Still, I wanted you to hear me say it."

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