Retrospective ~TW~

Chapter 18

"Fucking hell. Du wirst mein tod sein (you will be the death of me)." His voice is deep again, the effect on him obvious. I grin a little, not understanding the German but thoroughly enjoying the sounds. "I have decided maus. You are more of a tease. When I see you next, I promise you will regret it."

"Oh I look forward to it Torger." I reply to him with a hint of tease, while simultaneously relishing in the thought of when we see each other again. France couldn't come fast enough. "I love you Toto. Sleep well." 

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The door swings open and Toto walks in, throwing his briefcase on the bed. The daydream from before had caused the remaining time to pass for Toto to get back to the room from his obligations. He walks over to me and spins my chair around. He sits on the edge of the bed and pulls me over in front of him. 

"I missed you maus." He kisses me softly and then leans back again, holding onto the arms of my chair. "What do you say we go for dinner? Just you and me?" He holds a gentle smile, his white dress shirt accentuating his figure perfectly. 

"It's pretty hard to say no to you when you look the way you do." I place my hand on his cheek and admire the calm look on his face. His eyes were glimmering in the Parisian light that was shining through the room. I kiss his cheek quickly and turn back to focus on the work in front of me. "What time are we planning on going out?"

His voice spoke up from behind me. "I have a booking at 7, so you have 2 hours before we need to leave." I smiled and nodded, giving a thumbs up over my shoulder while remaining focuses on the paperwork in front of me. "Maus, come lay with me."

"I have to finish this paperwork." He groans at my response and I look over my shoulder with a smirk. "I have to finish this paperwork so that I am all yours for the rest of the weekend."

"I like the sound of that maus." He chuckles and I spend the next 2 hours finishing my work and getting ready for our date. I slip on a white dress with black heels and leave my hair down to float over my shoulders. When I emerge from the bathroom, Toto smiles and places a gentle kiss upon my lips.

I sit on the couch while he goes into the bathroom briefly. When he exits, he pulls out his phone and aims it at me, I smile assuming he is taking a picture. His white button up shirt was perfectly accentuating his torso and his pants hugged his legs and hips deliciously. He grabs my hand and leads me out the room.

After a quick drive, we pull up at the front of the Eiffel Tower. I look over at Toto who leads me towards the infamous landmark. "What are we doing here?" My voice replicates the confusion of the situation. He wraps his arm over my shoulder and pulls me closer to him.

"I said we are having dinner." He replies and I look over at him, speechless as to what he has just said. After a short elevator ride, we approach the desk in front of us, Toto speaking up loudly over the hustle and bustle of the area around us."The reservation is under Wolff."

A waiter nods and then quickly leads us to the table on the balcony of the tower. Looking over the edge, I appreciate the incredible view we got of Paris. The night was masked by the lights of the city. "This is amazing Toto." I grin at him and he returns it, smiling gently at me. "I love you."

"I love you too maus." He responds and looks down at his hands slowly. He fiddles with the knife and fork in front of him. I know him well enough to understand that this behaviour he did when he was anxious or had something he wanted to say. He looks up and spits out the words he was struggling to portray. "Will you officially be my girlfriend?"

The words shook me to my core. It wasn't that I was exactly surprised to hear the words, it was obvious to me that we were exclusive well before we even knew about it. It was more that he was asking in such a conventional way. "Where is this coming from?"

"I have received strict instructions from Ben and Rose to ask you to be my girlfriend." He laughs at the statement and I join him. Of course Ben and Rose would be the ones to push him into asking such a mundane question. "I know it sounds 'cringe' as you would say. That me being so old will ask such things."

My laughter seeps out easily, and once it settle, I look over at him with hooded eyes. He smirks at me slightly, shielding his nervousness away as though to protect himself from any harm. "Just a little." I smile and then look down at my plate. "Why did Ben and Rose instruct you to ask."

"Because they see how happy you make me, especially after everything and know that if I don't I will lose a good thing. And I don't want to lose you."

My heart skipped a beat at his statement, the words meant more to me than he would ever know. I fight back all emotions to prevent the lone tear that was threatening to escape. "Yes I'll be your girlfriend Toto." He smiles and takes my hand in his, lifting it up to kiss it gently. "Now that I am officially your girlfriend, how do we go about the public?"

My question was not meant to force him to rush out publicly with the relationship. I understood very well the possible implications that racing forward in the public eye could have negative repercussions. The public could scrutinise not only our relationship, but his relationship with Susie prior to her passing. 

His silence stood between us, the fiddling with his thumbs indicating the words that were swirling in his mind. "Never mind, we can talk about that later." I attempt to take back my statement, not wanting to dampen the mood with the heavily loaded question.

"No no maus, I want to discuss it. I don't want to hide you, but I know the media is going to take things the wrong way. I don't want you to be subjected to bullying." I take a sip of the champagne that was placed in front of me and nod my head slowly.

"We can take it slow in public. Not exactly hide our relationship, but not put it on show like we are some 16 year olds making out in the hallway of high school." I reply, offering a compromise to the situation that we are stuck in.

"I like the sound of that maus." The waiter comes over and takes our orders quickly, scurrying off to leave us in peace. I smiled and looked over at the incredible person in front of me. The food arrives quickly and the champagne keeps flowing. Before long, we are both full on the delicious french food and tipsy off the sweet champagne.

We head back to the hotel and walk into our room, light conversation bubbling between us as we head in. He grabs my hips and spins me to face him, my chest landing against his. He captures my lips in a deep kiss, his hands roaming over my body as he holds me closely against him.

"I remember a specific phone conversation a couple weeks ago. Something about making you regret sending me a couple of pictures." His voice has dropped and his eyes are dark. He looks down at me with nothing but desire. 

"It rings a bell Mr Wolff."

"I think I have waited long enough maus."