Page 148 of Butter My Biscuit

“No,” she whispers. “I’m not going anywhere you’re not. I love you too damn much.”

“I love you too.” I pull her into my arms, and we hold each other. “We’re so lucky.”

“Yeah, we are. Tonight, I just want to be with you. I need hours of uninterrupted time with you.” She almost sounds desperate.

I tap my finger against her cute button nose. “I think I can make that happen. I’ll order us some food. We can sit on the balcony and eat, slide into a bubble bath, then snuggle all night long.”

She tilts her head. “Snuggle?” Then, a grin touches her lips. “I knew you liked it.”

“No, princess, I fuckin’ love it.”

* * *

The next morning, we eat breakfast at a little café on the street. We sit in some wooden chairs with a round table that has a vase of white flowers on top. In front of me is Gracie, and behind her is a busy street, full of tourists and business professionals. The thick leather menus hold one sheet of paper, and inside is a handful of choices.

She orders eggs, and I choose bagels, and we both have coffee. As I meet her eyes, I smile, still needing to pinch myself. When we’re brought another mug of coffee, she wipes her red lips with the cloth napkin in her lap. The sounds of the city surround us, and the temperature is a nice seventy degrees. Right now, I don’t have a care in the world, nowhere else to be but here, in the moment, with her.

“So, how many people have you been with this year?” she asks, pointing at me. “Nothing but truths.”

“Going right in for it today, aren’t ya?” I say, sipping my coffee, savoring the chocolate notes. “Just you. You were the be-all, end-all for me. There was no one else after we were together.”

Her jaw is basically on the sidewalk. “No way.”

I lean and whisper in her ear so only she can hear me, “That’s the truth. Not even Stephanie. We tried to be together, but you broke my dick. The only time I ever … gothardwas when I thought of you.”

She gulps down the bite of eggs she was chewing, then brings her focus to the people walking down the street before turning back to me. “I tried to hook up with someone too. Didn’t work out.”

“Let me guess. At your sister’s wedding,” I say with a smirk.

“Wait, how’d you know that?”

“Just a guess. The weird sexual tension between you and whatever the fuck his name was, it was obvious. I knew immediately. And he knew I knew when I showed up. Almost fucked him up over it.”

She shakes her head. “Jealoooouuuuuus.”

“Only when it comes to you,” I admit.

“Didn’t work out. I thought getting underneath someone else would fix me, but once again, you were right.”

“I know.” For years, I tried to forget how she always made me feel, knowing she was off-limits. We found out the hard way that being without the other is damn near impossible.

After we’re finished eating, our plates are cleared from the table. Then, I pay our check, and we leave.

As she takes my hand and leads me to the Eiffel Tower during the day, she whispers, “I want to remember this moment forever.”

I pull her to me, kissing her in the grass.

When we pull away, she takes her phone from her pocket. “Selfie?”

“Hell yeah.”

I stand behind her and duck down so our heads are close. Then, right before she takes it, I kiss her cheek. She shows me, and it’s cute, and then she hands me her phone. We take pictures together—more memories for us to print and put into our photo albums.

“I’m so glad I don’t have cell service right now,” she admits as we continue our stroll. Our goal is to see Notre-Dame today. “Very happy to have escaped with you. I’m already dreading going home. Can’t even imagine what everyone is sayin’ about us now.”

I squeeze her fingers, bringing her knuckles to my lips as we cross the street. “I’m sure a rumor about you being knocked up will start. Shall we prove them right?”

“Oh, that reminds me of something.”

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