“It happened. And now we can’t turn back the hands of time.”
—As We Lay (Kelly Price remix)
The sounds of Paris filtered up from the street below. Cars honked their horns.
A man peddling fresh fruits and vegetables from a wooden stand and a woman selling flowers on the corner both called out to passersby.
Their voices blended together in a sing-song chant.
“Pommes de deuxeuros!” Apples for two Euros. “Roses pour dix!” Roses for ten.
The morning had come too soon.
Gabby woke up with her head hanging halfway off the bed. She blinked for a few moments attempting to recall how she got there. She tried to roll over but she couldn’t because Laurent was lying on her back still asleep.
His breathing was soft and shallow. The comfortable weight of his body pressed hers into the mattress. The red checkered bedspread was on the floor and the sheets were twisted between their legs. His left arm was still around her gripping her to him.
Then she remembered it. All of it. The night before hadn’t been a dream.
He felt so warm and good that she didn’t want to move, but she had to go the bathroom. Careful not to wake him, she quietly unwound herself and tiptoed away.
She turned around and looked at him in her bed. She couldn’t believe it had happened.
She showered and came out of the bathroom wrapped in a white towel. Laurent was awake studying her from across the room. She felt herself blushing.
He came over and kissed her on the neck. “Bonjour, cheri.” She couldn’t even answer back.
He breezed past her grinning and she heard the shower running again.
It was 10AM. She had missed at least two meetings and Laurent was supposed to have been on set for filming an hour ago.
The voicemail lights on both of their phones were blinking red. Gabby was sitting on the bed holding hers trying to decide whether or not to playback the messages when Laurent bounced out of the bathroom happy and refreshed with a towel around his waist.
He sat down beside her. “Is everybody looking for us?”
Gabby nodded. She still hadn’t found her voice yet.
“Are you worried about it?” He took the phone out of her hand. “Because I’m not.”
She was worried about it. But then Laurent was tugging her towel open and drawing her back down onto the bed and she wasn’t anymore.
He had so much energy. She still felt weak from the night before, but he wasn’t tired at all as he kissed down her body.
He ringed her bellybutton with his tongue inching down lower and lower until he was kissing the insides of her thighs. Then he found her sweet center. She couldn’t have stopped him if she’d wanted to.
She closed her eyes and rode the waves of pleasure rippling through her body. It was difficult to stay afloat. She was sinking and falling. She ran her fingers through his hair and he buried his face deeper refusing to let go.
She put a pillow over her face and screamed something obscene and unintelligible into it. She would have been embarrassed, but she couldn’t think anymore. Her mind had left her body and was hovering somewhere near the ceiling observing her, powerless.
Laurent pulled the pillow away half smiling.
“Qu’est-ce qui ne vapas?” (What’s wrong?)
The expression on his face as he gazed down at her was cocky and amused and there was something else in his eyes almost like a lion about to go in for the kill. But Gabby couldn’t focus on him. She was still deliriously lost in the exquisite aftershocks of her tremendous orgasm.
When he slipped on a condom and moved inside her she didn’t resist. She was helpless and he liked it. He rolled over pulling her on top of him. She faltered at first then tossed her head and straightened her back locking her legs around his sides.
He gazed up at her guiding her hips with his hands but not moving until she found her own satisfaction. Only then did he take over, winding his body upward with powerful thrusts.
She leaned backwards and put the palms of her hands on the bed matching his rhythm until he exploded with her.
* * * *
They didn’t leave the room all morning and all afternoon.
The only phone call they made was to order brunch from room service.
After a meal of blueberry crepes, bacon, and eggs and something naughty Gabby had thought of to do with the whipped cream topping Laurent was finally tired.
She rested on his chest while he gently traced up and down her spine with his fingers.
“I’m not engaged anymore.” The words came out of her mouth from nowhere.
He paused rubbing her back. “You wanna talk about it?”
“No.”
“Okii.” He continued rubbing.
“Lau?”
“Hmmmm?”
“Is Larry falling in love with Sasha?”
He yawned and exhaled groggily. “Larry always do this. He think he’s in love but he’s not. He’ll get bored with her.”
“When?”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll be through filming by then.”
Gabby wanted to ask more questions, but Laurent was already fast asleep.
She closed her eyes and drifted off with him.