“Salut,”he said.
“Salut.Was there damage from the storm?”
“Remarkably, no. Much clean-up—please forgive my appearance—but I’m happy. I need to shower, but first,un petit café?”
“Why not.”
She told him all about Oscar and his insistence she reach out to Yves.
“Can you not say you tried, and he didn’t answer?”
“I don’t know why I didn’t think of that,” she said, smiling. “But Oscar’s implied my success with Yves is tied to my chances of getting his old job, which puts me in a real bind.”
“You need a coping strategy,” he said, grinding coffee. “But I see you have cake.”
“I’m three slices in. It’s incredibly good, but it isn’t working.”
He walked toward the dessert … and her. He smelled like hard work.
“Would it help if I stood near you like this, and leaned in, and kissed you, even in my state?”
Marlow stood there, frozen, mouth full of cake. Suddenly her afternoon fantasizing was real.
“Well?”
“It might.”
Her heart was pounding. She swallowed her bite as he stepped closer, leaned in, and kissed her. He took his time. He was not rushing, trying to move to the next inevitable thing. He lingered, stretching the moment, kissing her top lip, then her bottom lip, then seducing them open so he could explore her mouth deeper. It made her knees buckle.
“You are right,” he said, not moving an inch. “It is incredibly good cake.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“This is probably a bad idea,” Marlow said, trying to keep her head clear.
“I don’t think so at all,” said Guillaume, standing so close she could count his eyelashes.
“What do you see in me? We’re very different.”
He laughed. “I have my reasons.”
“Wouldn’t it be good to list them?”
“Wouldn’t it break the moment?”
Get out of this. Now.
But she didn’t move.
“Come, take a shower with me. And then, as you are calling Yves and asking him to do you this favor, you could think of me, and nothing would seem quite so bad.”
She’d be a vile human if she didn’t sort out this romantic triangle nonsense immediately.
“A—thing—happened with Luc,” she blurted.
“Ah.”
“I don’t want to seem like an asshole, because usually I’m not an asshole, but this all sort of … crept up on me. The bestthing to do, I think, is to press pause in the romance department. It’s gotten complicated. And I made things complicated enough in France with the house.”
