Page 44 of Enthrall Secrets
Chapter 13
France
IN THE PALM of my hand I carried the delicate twisted seashell back to Danton, my toes sinking into the warm sand. I’d just retrieved it from the ocean bed and it was the prettiest one yet.
After removing my snorkel I held it out for him. “Look at this one.” I placed the shell into his free hand and sat down on the blanket beside him, pulling a bottle of orange juice out of our picnic basket.
“Want one?” I asked.
“Just drank some.” He put his novel down. “Good find, Scarlet.” He swept a towel up and wrapped it around my shoulders to keep me warm.
“I’m going to find a jar and put them all in there. I’ll collect shells from every beach we visit in the world and keep them as memories.”
He carefully laid the shell next to me.
“Do you collect anything?” I asked softly.
“Swim with me?” He gazed toward the water. “Let’s have fun in the ocean.”
I leaped to my feet and he chased after me, both of us splashing and laughing as we dived in. We crashed into each other and I wrapped my legs around his waist and held on tight, the small waves edging us on.
We made love right there in the sea, his body warming mine, his caresses carrying me away into a bliss I’d grown accustomed to.
I had always loved him.
That’s how it felt to be around Danton because he was so incredibly kind and generous in every conceivable way. His enduring strength was always balanced by his boyish sweetness.
Whenever I took a shower, he’d lean on the doorjamb just staring at me with a smile that reached his eyes, before climbing in to join me. Or I’d raise my gaze from a book I was reading and see him staring as though he were trying to take a mental photograph of me.
Since that first BDSM session in the greenhouse three days ago, we’d never mentioned my ominous past again. We didn’t need to. I’d felt as though all those feelings of inadequacy had fallen away and now I was validated.
We were inseparable.
After our daily swim, we’d freshen up and cook dinner together. He’d teach me a new recipe and I was his eager student. He talked endlessly about his childhood and the loneliness he’d sometimes felt being the only son. His sister was estranged from the family, he told me. We really were meant for each other.
As the weeks passed, he seemed determined to educate me in all manner of subjects. We’d settle in the sitting room with a roaring fire and sip brandy and talk about everything from politics to art and even music, which he knew so much about.
During those long evenings he’d even try to teach me how to play chess - like tonight, with the air so still and the moon hanging low in the sky.
He moved his bishop and knocked off mine. “I wish we had more time.”
“We have all the time in the world.”
“You have university to attend.”
“Maybe I won’t go.”
“That’s not an option. Education is everything.”
“I don’t want to leave you.”
He waved that off. “Life is like a game of chess. One should be unpredictable, but keep things simple, all the while observing patterns. Always try to think wisely, and always be kind even when the world treats you unfairly.”
I rested my hands in my lap.
“Scarlet?”
I slipped out of my pleasant daydream, realizing he’d never once mentioned visiting me in the States.
