Page 49 of Stealing First
‘Welcome home.’ He smiled.
‘Home? You own this place?’ she asked, stepping into a light foyer with wooden herringbone floors and large windows.
‘Yes. I have properties all over the world.’
Of course he did. She should have considered it before. But when they’d been in his house she hadn’t been able to picture him anywhere else.
He slipped his hands into his pockets. ‘Why don’t you take a look out of the window?’
Lily gasped. She felt as if she could touch the Eiffel Tower if she stuck her hand out far enough. Just a handful of trees separated them from the breathtaking landmark.
‘You have a beautiful home.’
It really was. A beautiful blend of modern and classical French design.
She felt his arms wrap around her. ‘Come on, we’ve still got plenty of light left in the day. We’re going out.’
His bedroom was just as exquisite as the rest of the apartment. After a quick shower Lily dressed in a flowing skirt and light jacket. She was just draping her bag across her body when Julian stepped out of his walk-in closet.
She was at a loss for words.
This was what he looked like when he relaxed.
There was just a hint of stubble on his face, long, powerful legs were sheathed in light denim, and a white T-shirt stretched across his chest. The gold ring that pierced his ear was twinkling, as if it held the secret of Julian’s transformation.
It took nothing away from him. This Julian still had that air of danger his suits advertised so flawlessly, except now he looked more human somehow. Not the man who had to shave every say, who had to only wear those suits and workout at precisely the same time each morning because he had to be—had to be—so perfectly disciplined for every moment of his life.
‘Ready to go?’
No, she wasn’t. She didn’t want to leave this apartment at all now. Didn’t want to waste a single moment of this Julian when she knew he would disappear the moment they went back to San Francisco.
‘Where are we going?’ Lily asked.
Maybe she could convince him to make it a short outing...
‘Where do you want to go?’
Her very first thought was the pavement café that held so many great memories. And so that was where they went.
Sitting outside at a wrought-iron table, they were nothing more than a couple having coffee. The Arum deal, Lincoln and Devan all seemed like faraway concerns that couldn’t touch them here.
‘Sunshine,’ Julian said as she reached the end of telling him the story of something that had happened at the café. ‘It’s okay to come back here because it brings you happiness, but you can’t use it to escape to the past. Look forward. You need to create new memories.’
He was right—she did. And she would. With him. Those were the only new memories she really wanted, but she was too afraid to say that. Afraid to break the spell. Because he still hadn’t said that they were done with faking. That this was real. She wanted to believe that it was. It felt real.
‘The future seems a little uncertain right now,’ she admitted.
‘It always will—but you make a plan and you stick to it and all the pieces will fall into place.’
Would one of those pieces be him?
* * *
In those days spent in Paris, creating new memories was exactly what they did. Lily took Julian to all the places she wanted to share with only him, and he did the same for her. They’d be driving for hours, only to realise that they would rather be holed up in his apartment.
On their second day she learned that his French was perfectly fluent and cringed at the thought of her teasing when he’d taken her to that play.
Every single day was perfect. There wasn’t a camera to be found, and that allowed them to carve out precious moments for themselves.