Chapters (45)
- Cover
- Blame Iton Paris
- Copyright Notice
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Book One
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Book Two
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
“It just seemed like the right moment,” he said, with a tiny embarrassed shrug. He still had a happy, eager smile lingering around his mouth, but his hands flexed nervously on my hips. “I like the fact that your family’s around. And a kitchen—well, I mean, a kitchen is the heart of a home, isn’t it?”
I sighed. Americans give Parisians this reputation for romanticism based, I think, on the fact that for most of us romance and reality are separate and conflicting modes of thought. Sébastien’s sense of romance was very grounded in the real.
He nudged my legs with his hips. “So? Will you?”
“I don’t know,” I said. The crazy thing was that I didn’t know. I would have thought my first instinct would have been a definite no, per my antipathy to marriage and ties, but somehow “No” wasn’t what I wanted to say. I had already quit school and was moving to Paris for him, which was proof of something: a guy like Sébastien and a feeling like ours wasn’t something you said “No” to, except by such an unbearable act of emotional cowardice you would regret it all your life.
His face fell, and he eased back a pace.
“I mean, I really don’t know. I’m not saying no,” I added hurriedly. “I mean—this isn’t my only chance, is it? I have to grab you now or never?”
“No. You can think about it.” But the smile had drooped all away.
“I just—we only really met eight months ago. And for nearly four of those months we were on opposite continents.”
“I think those months apart count for something,” he interrupted firmly. “They showed we can stick together, even when things are tough. Those months were hard. And we’re still together.”
“Yes, but I’d just like—I think we should go ahead with my plan to live in Paris with you for a while. I think we should see how that works—if I can really live there, and if we can really live together.”
He blinked a couple of times now himself. “But you’re not moving back to Paris for a couple more weeks.”
“I know.”
“You’re going to make me wait weeks? I thought you wanted to think about it overnight.”
“I kind of wanted to think it over a couple of months. I don’t think two people from different countries should get engaged without seeing if at least one of them can live in the other’s country!”
“But you can live in my country,” he said, confused.