Page 29 of The Marriage Auction 2: Part 3

I chuckled. “Yes, she is, and what a great story you’ll be able to tell. You ran into Katie Holmes in the Louvre. Won’t your friends be blown away?” I suggested.

“Not if I don’t have a photo with her,” she slumped.

Suddenly, Maia quick-walked down the long corridor toward us. She’d left to use the restroom and was now wild-eyed and smiling like a loon.

“You’re never going to believe who I just saw!” she whispered emphatically. “Katie Holmes!”

Emily spun around and reached for Maia’s arm. “Did you take a selfie with her?” she asked as though the question carried all the weight of the entire world.

This could absolutely backfire in my face after what I’d just told Emily.

“No way! She’s just here enjoying art like the rest of us. I’d never ask someone for a picture if they weren’t at an event specifically for their fans. They’re people, too, ya know.” She looked over her shoulder and lifted her chin. “Oh, and see, she has her daughter, Suri, and some friends with them. How cute. Even celebrities like to go to tourist destinations with their kids just like us regular folks.”

I looped an arm around my intelligent and considerate fiancée and laid a kiss on her temple.

Emily groaned. “My friends will never believe me.” She pouted and I almost caved.

Apparently, Maiadidcave because before I could comment, she’d snapped a quick photo of the actress from across the room. She lifted the phone and showed it to Emily. “There you go. Now you have proof. I’ll text it to you when we leave. Then you can share it. We don’t want to risk ruining her time with her friends and family by alerting the masses.”

Emily grinned and started bouncing around like the teenager she was. “Awesome! Can we go to the Eiffel Tower now? I’m starving,” she groaned.

“Darling, it’s Maia’s birthday, and we have reservations for this evening. A few hours from now. How about we get a snack, head back to the estate and get ready?”

Emily danced around then looped her arm with Christo’s. “You hungry, Uncle C?”

“Always,ma douce.” He patted her hand and they walked ahead. “Alana, I know you had your eye on the macarons downstairs. Shall we?” He wiggled his elbow and Alana smoothly slipped her hand through his arm and strutted by his side.

I hugged Maia and led us slowly through the throngs of tourists. “Are you enjoying your birthday so far?”

She bumped my hip with her own. “How could I not? It started with to-die-for crepes, a walk through a gothic church, something I’d wanted to see my entire life, and already today I’ve seen theMona Lisaand theVenus de Milo.It’s been the best birthday I’ve ever had. Thank you, Rhodes.”

I dipped my head down at the same time she lifted her face up to meet mine. Our lips touched in a brief, but meaningful kiss. “Which was your favorite?”

“Actually, it wasWinged Victory. Those wings are magnificent. Not to mention, it’s so old, being from 190 BCE, but I like that it was suspected to be an offering to the gods. People from that era worked that hard creating something incredible as a tribute or a gift to something they believed in with their whole heart. There’s not a lot of things, if any, I’ve ever believed in so completely.”

“And what about us? Do you not believe in our ability to be happy together?” I swallowed down the sudden lump in my throat at the heavy turn in our conversation.

She smiled prettily and rested her head on my shoulder as we continued walking. “That remains to be seen, but so far, the odds are definitely in your favor.”

I grinned, feeling the weight leave my chest and be replaced with a golden warmth, like the sun shining on my face on a cloudy day. “I’ll take those odds. You ready to go back to the house and rest before dinner?”

Maia stopped and curved her body closer to mine. “Does that mean we might have some private alone time in the bedroom?” She walked her fingers slowly from my stomach up my chest, landing on my nape where she wrapped her cool hand. Then she looked up at me with those stunning doe eyes and licked her lips.

I gritted my teeth and tugged her flat against my chest on a groan. “You’re killing me, you know that?” I tucked my face against her sweet-smelling neck, enjoying the spicy vanilla scent.

She chuckled. “Well, we’ve yet to do the deed, and I was thinking, it’s about time we cross that bridge.”

I ran my hands up and down her back, then allowed myself a handful of her luscious ass, gripping just enough to grind my hardening length against her abdomen. “You’re making me hard in the middle of the Louvre.”

Maia teased the hair at the nape of my neck with her fingers. “Sounds like abigproblem. We should take care of that immediately,” she mocked. “Maybe Alana and Christophe can drag out their time with Emily and we can race back?”

“You little minx,” I dipped my head and took her mouth in a rather indecent public display of affection, tangling tongues with her in the middle of the busiest museum ever.

Eventually I pulled away, glorying in the fact that Maia’s eyes were hazy with desire. “I’ve got good news and bad news, I’m afraid.”

“What’s the bad news?”

“We’re not going to head back separately, because we’ve promised Emily we’re having a family dinner tonight at the Eiffel Tower. She’s also looking forward to getting ready with you and Alana. I don’t want to change plans on her the way her mother does. Right now, she’s becoming the young lady I’d hoped she’d be, and I don’t want to derail that by snatching away time we’d agreed to spend all together.”

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