Bound To Love by Sally Clements

Author:Sally Clements
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2014-01-12T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

The flight to Paris was quick and uneventful. Tempest’s spirits rose on exiting Charles De Gaulle airport. She’d wanted so badly to hold onto her anger. When her mother betrayed her, she’d hugged the hurt to her chest for months, refusing to let it go. Jake had tried to talk to her about it, and she’d brushed him off. But the pain in his eyes at hurting her had leaked through her defenses.

He hadn’t meant to hurt her. Just didn’t know how to trust. Maybe it wasn’t fair to judge him for that. Maybe they deserved another chance. The sun beat down on her bare shoulders in the yellow cotton sundress, and even the air smelled different, perfumed by clouds of lavender in the flower beds outside the airport.

Jake hailed a taxi, and opened the door for her.

“You’ve told me nothing,” she teased, eyeing Jake from behind her sunglasses. “Do I even get to know what hotel we’re staying in?”

Jake smiled, rattling off an address to the driver in rapid French.

“You’ll see.”

The car wove expertly through the busy Paris streets, Jake pointing out landmarks as they went. Paris was light and bright, like the happiness welling up inside her. The sun warmed her skin and the sounds and incredible beauty of Paris saturated her senses. She sighed in delight as the Eiffel Tower came into view.

“Have you ever seen it before?” Jake asked. He reached for her hand, and held it on his thigh.

“Once. When I was a child.” She couldn’t take her eyes away from the huge metal structure. “We came to France on holiday and spent one day in Paris. We did all the tourist sights … Notre Dame, a river-trip on the Seine, the Champs-Élysées, but by the time we got to the Eiffel Tower we’d just about run out of time, so I never got to go up it.”

“Don’t worry, Red, you will this visit.”

“Will you have time to come with me?”

Jake had spent the morning on the phone organizing meetings. He was obviously planning to be busy during their three-day stay.

“I know you have to work, I don’t want to distract you.”

“You should have thought of that before you said you’d join me.” The taxi slowed as he whispered in her ear, “Because I’m well and truly distracted, believe me.”

They stopped in front of a Paris townhouse.

“We’re here.”

Tempest climbed out of the taxi in front of a tall white building with beautiful columns and sash windows. The tidy Parisian garden was full of lush camellias and the heavy perfume of roses filled the air. She bent for a moment to breathe in the fragrance of a striped bourbon rose underplanted with clove-scented pinks, in a narrow border next to a glossy green front door.

“My mother’s apartment is on the top floor.” Jake pulled a key from his pocket and opened the door, standing to one side to allow her to pass.

Moments later, she stood gazing at Paris from the floor to ceiling windows as Jake checked the apartment over.

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