Page 94 of Floored (Frenched 3)
“I know,” he managed, wiping his eyes. “It was hilarious.”
“No, it wasn’t. Oh my God.” My heart refused to calm down. “I want to kill you right now.”
“Ah God, I’m sorry.” He set his whiskey on the table and pushed me onto my back, stretching his long, hard body over mine. “Are you mad?”
His weight felt delicious and warm over me, and I wrapped my legs around him. “No.” I kissed him, feeling a tingle right down to my bare toes. “And I’ll even try it.”
At that, Charlie’s face lit up. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. You make me want to do all sorts of things I’ve never done before.” I narrowed my eyes. “But someday, I will get you back for this. Mark my words.”
He lowered his lips to mine, a soft moan rumbling in his chest. “As long as we have a someday, sweet thing. That’s all that matters.”
“Come on, Erin. We’re going to miss our chance to go up there if you take any more pictures down here.”
“Just one more!” I’d probably taken twenty already, but it was the Eiffel Tower, for heaven’s sake. And the one time I’d been here before, it had been a hazy, rainy summer day. Pretty and all, but today, with snow dusting every surface, darkness falling, lights coming on across the city…the entire scene was a fantasy in black, white, silver, gold, and evergreen.
If only it weren’t so damn cold.
“No. Enough.” Charlie took the camera from me and shoved it into my bag. “Let’s go. We have to do this now if we’re going to make our reservation.” His words puffed out in white wisps as he took my arm and dragged me over toward the entrance at the base of the tower.
“I don’t see why we had to make reservations, anyway. We could have just played it by ear.”
“Hush. Lucas said reservations are necessary at this restaurant.”
“Where is it again?”
“In the Latin Quarter. Apparently it’s where he took Mia on their first date.”
“Really?” That made me happy. When we’d originally planned this trip, we’d been hoping my friends and their husbands could join us, but the timing hadn’t worked out. Mia had said the dates weren’t good for her dad and stepmom to watch the baby, and Coco said Devine Events had a huge wedding this weekend. “I didn’t realize that. OK, then. Let’s do this. I promised Maddie a picture from the top.”
On our way up, I leaned back against him in the elevator. “I kind of wish she could have come with us, don’t you?”
“What? No,” he said firmly. “An eight-year-old does not belong in Paris.”
“But she’d love the sweet shops and the toy stores and the carousels. I saw a flyer for a kids cooking class, too. She’d have been in heaven. Oh!” I looked at him over my shoulder. “Remind me to pick up that little shirt with the frog on it that says la grenouille. It’s at that children’s store on the way back to the hotel.”
Charlie grimaced. “The one for forty euros?”
“Yes. That one.”
When the door opened, we stepped out and even Charlie braced himself in the blustery cold. But the view from the top made me shiver for its sheer beauty. All of Paris, lit up and twinkling. “Oh, it’s so beautiful,” I breathed.
“It is. I like how happy it makes you.”
I looked up and him and smiled. “Let’s take a picture for Maddie!” Opening my bag, I dug around for my camera.
“Why don’t we ask someone else to take it?” Charlie suggested.
“OK.” Scanning the crowd, I looked for someone who might be a good candidate for photographer, but a second later Charlie took the camera out of my hand.
“Here, I found someone. Miss? Would you take our picture?”
I turned around to see who he’d chosen—and spoken English to—just in time to see Mia take the camera and say, “I sure would.”
My mouth fell open, and I gasped. “Oh my God! What are you doing here?” I’d have tackled her except that she backed away, and Charlie was holding on to my wrist. I looked at him. “Hey! She said they couldn’t come on this trip! What is this?”
He dropped to one knee in front of me.
