Michelle gasped, and he followed her gaze. She was pointing at a shop. The windows were lined with glass perfume bottles in all sorts of colors—rich emerald green, bright vibrant gold, and sapphire blue. “Remember I told you about the perfume shop in Montmartre? This is just like it. I wonder if the store moved here?”

He shrugged, not knowing the answer, but remembering the conversation in his apartment perfectly. “They exist solely because they’re pretty,” he said, repeating her words from their chat in his kitchen..

She beamed at him, her smile so inviting, then she tugged him into the stone doorway of the shop. Off in the distance, he heard the click of shoes on the marble floor fading. Someone must have left the cafe and headed out the other end of the passage.

“Admit it. You’re still trying to avoid spending the night with me, aren’t you?” he teased.

“No,” she said, shaking her head, looking him in the eyes. “I want to so much.”

His heart beat faster. “Why were you so resistant then?”

“Because I needed to stay separate from you,” she said, her fingers threading their way through his hair. God, he loved the way she touched him. “To protect my heart.”

He circled his arms around her waist. “And now you no longer need to protect it?”

“I can’t protect it anymore,” she said, tilting her chin up at him, keeping her gaze on his. “It’s too late. I can’t fight this any longer.”

He should be terrified; he should shut down. But he did none of those things. He feathered his hand across her back, sneaking it under her shirt. She arched into him.

“Don’t fight it,” he told her.

“Jack,” she murmured, worry in her tone.

“Don’t protect it. I’ll protect it. I want to,” he said, moving even closer to her, spreading his palm across her smooth skin.

“I don’t know that you can.”

“I don’t either. But I want the chance. I want you. I want all of you,” he said, never looking away. He couldn’t. He was too far gone. His heart thudded painfully, beating out a new rhythm. He half wanted to shout at it to stay cool, but he wanted to embrace it as well. To revel in all that he felt for her. This living, breathing mix of everything he never expected to feel, but was powerless to stop. She had stolen into his life in a random coincidence, and now he was driven with need for her.

“Don’t you realize? You have all of me. I am yours. Completely,” she said, taking her time with every word, and each of them landed deeper and deeper inside him. Hooking into him.

He moved his hands to her cheeks. He held her face and stared into her brown eyes. They were so inviting, so trusting, and he could barely hold back anymore. He felt so much for her. It was bubbling up, overwhelming him, threatening to spill out.