I shamelessly flirted with him and made sure my dress rode up my thighs in the car. He looked. I watched him with a suppressed grin. Project Seduction was in its early stages. I had no idea how it might progress. But hey, he was a healthy guy. He hadn’t had sex in almost five months. It couldn’t be that difficult, could it?
“The dinner at Le Jules Verne is wonderful. You’re going to love it. You’re also going to eat more food in this one meal than you have for every day in the past month combined.”
I snorted. My appetite was returning slowly but it still wasn’t what it had been—not by half.
“There are six courses, and they’ll bring out a different wine for each course.”
“Can’t drink wine yet. Doc said not for another month or so. But you can have mine.”
He helped me out of the car and that sparked an idea. Adam wasn’t a drinker. I’d only seen him drunk once. He seldom drank anything stronger than beer or wine… but if he had enough wine, maybe that would help Project Seduction along.
Adam led us through the crowd that was lining up to get into the big elevators to take them up the tower and I looked straight up, gasping in delight.
We were at the base of the Eiffel Tower! It was a massive structure made of iron yet it actually looked like a delicate, dainty lady. It was lovely. But it was strong and unchanging. We made our way to a private elevator exclusive to restaurant guests and after he showed the operator our reservations, we were ushered inside.
I grabbed his hand and squeezed. “We are on the Eiffel Tower! Holy crap!”
He smiled. “Yep. And you are stunning. My lady in red.” He bent and kissed me on the cheek.
Damn it, I was getting sick of the cheek and forehead kisses. I looked at his handsome profile as we made the slanted climb to the first platform of the tower. My heart squeezed in my chest the way it always did when I just let myself look at him, be in his presence.
Moments like this, alone with him, consumed me—my thoughts, my feelings pulled relentlessly toward him like a sunflower in the sun. It used to scare me, make me wonder if I was obsessed or losing myself. Now, I accepted it. It was comforting. These feelings were reassurances that I was still alive. That cancer and its dubious cure might have eaten away at my body, but never my heart. Adam still owned that.
My throat tightened when he turned his head, most likely detecting my gaze. His dark eyes met mine and he smiled that devastatingly handsome smile and I was lost, finding it hard to catch my breath.
Shit. I was even more gone than the silly little Adam-groupie interns at Draco.
But that made sense, when I thought about it. They all were all dazzled by the exterior—rich, handsome, sure of himself, physically fit. He was the perfect package that made them all atwitter.
What made my heart surge whenever we were together? It was what they didn’t see, what they had no idea existed—the Adam on the inside, who cast that outside Adam, as amazing as he was, into a very dark shadow. The man on the inside eclipsed everything around him. He wasn’t perfect. But in every way that counted, he was perfect for me.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Adam
I was enjoying this immensely. She was like a little girl on Christmas Day, all wide-eyed and full of wonder. And it felt good to see her looking so healthy and—finally—happy. We sat down to dinner and she made a respectable show of eating.
I kept track of every bite that went into her body, coaxed her to eat more than she probably would have on her own. She was too thin, of course. But now, three weeks out of her last chemo treatment, she was at least starting to get some of her color back—to say nothing of a little of her hair. I actually noticed that her eyebrows were starting to slowly grow back in.
She smiled—a lot. And when she smiled so much I couldn’t help but smile along with her.
“So is it true you are giving Kat her dream job of being a playtester?”
“If she makes it through all the HR screening, she’s got the job.”
Emilia’s hand landed on top of mine, our fingers intertwining. “Thank you. It’s been good to have her around.”
I smiled. “It’s been good to have everyone around.”
Her mouth widened. “It’s been good having you around. You are wonderful.”
I tightened my fingers around hers. “I just do what I have to do.”
Her golden-brown eyes seemed to search mine. “Oh…” she swallowed.
“Maybe that didn’t come out right…”
She shook her head. “No, it’s all right.”