Page 178 of Sinful Desires
I nodded, my hand reaching for his. His skin was cold against mine.
“So, I wanted to thank you,Monsieur LeRoy. For the love you poured into your son. Because now, that same love is pouring into me. And if it weren’t for you, I would’ve never known what it felt like to be held by something that deep. To be filled until even the broken parts of me stopped feeling so empty.”
Tears slipped from her eyes, her gaze turning toward me, voice breaking.
“Thank you for being the star that guided me through my darkest nights, Théo.”
My throat closed.
I stood, reaching for her, needing her closer, needing her against me. My mouth found hers, desperate, carved out of grief and something stronger than it.
Devotion.
She melted into me, arms circling my neck.
“Je t’aime, Théo.”
I didn’t get the chance to answer.
A knock echoed against the door, cutting through the moment, and she slipped from my arms just as it creaked open.
Then a familiar face appeared through the gap.
“Salut, Maman.”
Her eyes widened, mouth parting in disbelief before she slipped through the door and shut it behind her.
Then she ran straight into my arms.
“I thought the nurses were hallucinating when they said you were here.” Her voice cracked with joy as she clutched my back. “Oh, Théo?…?this is the best Mother’s Day gift I could have ever dreamed of.”
My arms locked around her before I could think. She was smaller than I remembered. Softer. Her shoulders trembled against mine.
“I didn’t think you’d ever come back here,” she whispered into my chest.
I swallowed hard. “I’m sorry,Maman.”
She pulled back, cupping my face. “It’s okay, you’re here now.”
Her gaze flicked past me, landing on Scarlett. Her eyes softened, smile trembling.
“And who do we have here?”
“That’s—”
The love of my life.
The woman who’d been haunting my sleep for three years.
The girl who had wrecked me and saved me all in the same breath.
My soulmate.
Scarlett stepped in before I could fumble through any of that.
“Scarlett Harper, ma’am,” she said, extending her hand with a slight smile. “Théo’s my bodyguard.”
My mother blinked. She looked at me, then back at Scarlett.Her lips twitched.
