To Take a Quiet Breath by Fearne Hill

Author:Fearne Hill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LGBTQIA+, contemporary, France, gay, slow burn, friends to lovers, civil servant, nerd, ex-con, hurt/comfort, illness/disability, family drama
Publisher: NineStar Press, LLC
Published: 2021-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Guillaume

Marcel generously insisted that Simon was an irritating buffoon yet essentially harmless. The idiot part I wholeheartedly agreed with, but the harmless bit? I had my suspicions. He was certainly accomplished at freeloading off Marcel—even Marcel had cottoned on to that. But on more than one occasion, I’d had my doubts regarding a couple of financial transactions Simon had conducted in the name of easing Marcel’s busy lifestyle.

While an apparent genius at juggling the nation’s finances, the daily humdrum of Marcel running his own household accounts had somehow slipped from his grasp and into Simon’s. To be blunt, I wasn’t convinced that all of the money transferred to Simon’s bank account was strictly used to cover the bills. However, not having had a squeaky-clean past myself, I didn’t feel it was something I could raise with Marcel, not until I had evidence anyway.

Once we’d sent Simon off on his wobbly bike ride home, Marcel and I decided to stretch our legs. We wandered around the port, his arm, as ever, tucked cosily into mine.

Marcel declared that Ile de Ré at Christmas, and the port of Saint-Martin in particular, had the atmosphere of a ski resort minus the snow. I had to accept his word for it, but it was certainly festive. It was hard to believe my former prison home was literally less than three hundred yards down the road, shrouded in darkness. Twinkling lights festooned lampposts and boats; on all sides of the cobbled port, restaurants and pop-up stalls plied steaming vin chaud and roast chestnuts to merry locals and tourists. At one point, when Marcel stopped to examine some woollen gloves at a little wooden cabin, he leaned over and planted a warm kiss on my cheek.

“Thank you for making today so bearable,” he said. “Last year, it was only Sabine, Dominic, and me, and incredibly dreary. I vowed never again—I would have joined Lucien at Rossingley if you hadn’t been here. Or faked an asthma attack and cancelled the whole thing.”

“I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else.” I smiled and took his arm again as we continued our snail’s pace. Marcel hummed tunelessly. As we turned up a side street, he spoke again.

“I…I know the…ah, the slowness of the development of our, ah, sexual relationship is probably frustrating for you.” He twisted away from me to peer intently into a shop window. He was either hiding something fairly important about himself or deliberately avoiding my gaze because the window displayed some quite racy ladies’ underwear.

Bringing us to a halt with my hands at his shoulders, I turned him back to face me. The tip of his nose shone red from the cold, his cheeks flushed a delicate pink, and little puffs of air escaped his mouth. Absolutely adorable. Unable to help myself, I leaned in to gently brush his lips against mine, not caring if anyone saw us. I meant every word of what I was about to say.

“Believe it or not, Marcel, I don’t mind.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.