Nothing Good Gets Away

Chapter 70

The room is massive and comes complete with a king-sized mattress wrapped in white and beige bedding, a fireplace with a lounge couch on one side, an ensuite on the other, and a balcony that gives us the same view of the Eiffel Tower. If I was never allowed to leave this space, I'd be alright with it.

"Is this the same penthouse your parents used to live in?" I ask her.

She laughs a little nervously. "No, um...well, they sort of bought this for me when I moved here for culinary school. Actually, no, I just gave them an excuse to buy a new place. It's not really mine."

It's funny that she still feels the need to defend her wealth as if I could ever think that she's a spoiled brat the way she thinks she is. What's really insane, though, is not that what's mine is hers, but that what's hers is mine. When she insisted on joining our bank account, I never thought I'd see that much money that would belong to me in my life.

"You're cute," I hold her waist and take just two small steps toward the bed behind her, but she stops me with a smirk and a shake of her head.

"Dinner first," she stands on her toes to peck my lips, and I have no choice but to follow her back to the entryway to retrieve our luggage.

To "keep the excitement alive", or so Rowan decided, we take quick separate showers just to freshen up after being on a plane for ten hours. While I change, Rowan slathers her skincare on in place of face makeup, but she does add blush, mascara, and lipstick before she opens her suitcase to find her first outfit.

"Wait right here," she smiles excitedly as she disappears into the grand closet on the other side of the room, holding her whole outfit in her arms.

As I'm told, I sit on the bed and rest back on my elbows to wait for her, laughing when I hear something thump against the door. But in the next minute, she opens the door to show me her long black dress paired with her favorite black pointed-toe heels. Somehow, she looks equally adorable and beyond sexy as she turns around to show me the open back.

"What do you think?"

I inhale a deep breath as I force myself to stand with her. "I think you're making it really hard for me to want to leave."

She has a blush in her smile as she comes closer to me and reaches up to take my face in her hands. "I love you, but we need to eat something that didn't come from an airplane."

Reluctantly so, I agree and watch her stuff her essentials into her white Dior clutch before we find our way through the flat to leave again. Something about it feels terribly normal even though I've never been here before. I guess I can just see us living here permanently easily enough.

"So we have dinner reservations every night this week...except for tonight," she smiles guiltily up at me as we link arms and start walking down the street together, "but, there's an amazing cafe just two blocks down that I used to eat at religiously on my day's off from school."

"I trust you," I release her hand just to drop my arm over her shoulders instead, and she slips her arm around my waist to keep me just as close.

The cafe isn't overcrowded by any means, but just active enough for anyone to assume that it's a popular place for dinner. It's also not too posh, and Rowan already guaranteed that we wouldn't be eating at any restaurants that are too conceded apart from her very favorite. Even then, she promised me that I'll enjoy it and I believe her.

But for now, we step into the cafe and are sat at a vacant table meant for two by the window looking out to the street. The lighting is warm and faint, making the restaurant feel more intimate, though I can imagine that it's bright and vibrant during the day with the wide glass storefront and all.