Chapter 53 Chapter 53
Chapter 53 Chapter 53
Drawing his nose across the length of her shoulder, he planted a long kiss at the curve, and before she could pose a protest—or even think of one— he turned her around to face the ceiling and straddled her thighs.
A look of pure bliss gleamed in his dark eyes that somehow led a strange glow to her own chest.
“I did…” she answered, feeling those butterflies ready to flutter their wings. “…I think.”
“You think?” Tipping his head to a small angle, he asked. “Why not sure?”
“I mean….it feels like I slept enough. But if you look at the time, we barely slept for like…four hours tops.”
“Point!” he agreed, and Noémie saw when a look of regret passed over his face and he dropped back on his side, facing her. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself.” He sounded genuinely apologetic.
Noémie turned on her side to face him, her fingers reaching up to flick some hair out of his forehead. “Neither could I. Because I know you would have stopped if I had told you to.”
She knew it was the truth. Maybe she wouldn’t have believed that three months ago.
But now she did. She believed him. She knew he would never hurt her deliberately.
How everything transpired that night might still be a mystery for her, but she believed there had to be a reason worth contemplating.
It wouldn’t change what had happened, but it might be good to know that the man she had loved and respected for so long was still a good man at heart.
That he always had been.
And she hadn’t made a mistake by falling in love with him three years ago.
Ajax said nothing to uphold her belief. But he didn’t have to either.
His silence was an answer that only people close to him could understand.
And Noémie had started to feel like she wanted to be one of them…
The bubble of her reflections ruptured when he pulled her in for another mind-blowing kiss.
Noémie gave in with ease, letting their lips mould and dance in the perfectly slow and sweet torture that she had grown accustomed to.
With her eyes closed and mind in pure bliss, she purred when he moved his hand down her side and paused only when it sat on the curve of her hip.
His large and wonderful fingers drew faint circles on her bare skin while he deepened the kiss and brought the same hand to feel above the curve of her abdomen.
Something happened when he did that. Her heart almost leapt out of her ribs.
Noémie pulled away briefly to see if he felt that, too.
He most certainly did. Because in the next moment, he was sitting up, and before she could ask what he was doing, he hugged her waist and pressed the most delicate kiss on her bump.
At that moment, Noémie knew in her heart she could never fall out of love with this man.
She never really did.
———
\[A few hours later\]
Outside the old Halest Villa, a white car pulled up, and a woman stepped out. Before she could walk in, however, a man behind the steering wheel called out for her.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked.
The woman sighed, rubbing her temples and pushing some hair behind her ear. “Not really. But I’m gonna go with my instincts, anyway. Let’s see what the whole cry is about.”
The man in the car gave her a nod. “Fine. I’ll be right outside if you need me.”
“Thanks. You’re the best, Neal.”
“Well, what can I say? You do deserve the best,” the man teased, turning on the ignition. “Don’t you, my dear Claudia!”