She blinks. “You have no proof that’s what caused her cancer.”
“Not having proof doesn’t make it any less likely.”
“So let me get this straight.” She takes a step forward again. “You offered me my dream entry job, but lied about the pay so that you could control more of my money. You worked me harder than you had every right to so that you could keep more of that money. And your intent was to make it so that I hated this job so much that I would quit the entire tech field?”
He doesn’t say anything in answer. There isn’t any response to that. Not really.
“This is what’s going to happen,” she says. “You’re going to pay me every cent that’s been given to you that I earned. You’re going to fix that direct deposit problem, now, and you’re going to let me be an intern for anyone but you.”
Meynard goes about as red as a tomato, and splutters trying to get words out, but Chianna isn’t having it. “Also, I’ll be spending as much time with Kris as I want from now on. There isn’t anything that you can do or say about it. And when my birthday comes around, your attitude better be a hell of a lot different or after that day I’m never speaking to you again.”
He starts to walk away, and she calls after him. “I’m moving out. And if I’m lucky, my mother’s spirit will move in and haunt your ass for all that bullshit that you just tried to pull on me.”
Meynard’s shoulders hunch over as he disappears.
All the breath goes out of her as soon as he leaves the room. Then she turns to me and throws herself into my arms. Her feet aren’t touching the floor and everyone is watching, but I don’t care. I kiss her, and she kisses me back.
“I didn’t think that it was possible to love someone so soon, but I do,” she whispers. “I’m falling for you too.”
“I’ll never get tired of that smile.”
Chianna glances behind us at our audience before turning back. “Want to get out of here? I have some ideas about how you can help me smile more.”
“Absolutely.”
I take her hand, and we don’t look back.
Epilogue
Chianna
Six Months Later
I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this view. Leaning against the balcony railing with a cup of coffee, I take in the unique sight of Parisian rooftops, with a peek of the Seine and the Eiffel Tower nearby. How did I get this lucky?
“Morning,” a husky voice says behind me, followed by arms around my waist.
“Good morning,” I say, twisting in Kris’s arms. “You’re already dressed?”
It’s early for him to go to the office, and I was secretly hoping that he’d stay in bed a little longer, so I could surprise him.
“Busy day ahead,” he says with a sigh. “Are you coming in?”
I shrug. “Maybe. We’ll see what happens.”
Kris won the contest of proposals. It wasn’t even really a competition. I was there on the day they were made, and everyone who was in the room knew what the consensus would be before it was officially announced. Even Meynard knew.
So, Kris is the new Vice President of Core Tech in charge of the European expansion. I was already staying with him after moving all my stuff out of my uncle’s apartment. When he asked me to move to Paris with him and help with R&D, be with him, and figure out what I wanted to do with my life and my new trust money, I didn’t even hesitate to say yes.
“Do you have a little time?”
A smirk crosses Kris’s face. “What did you have in mind?”
“My boyfriend fucking me since he was too exhausted last night.” He’s been working so hard that last night he fell asleep in his clothes. I’m proud of him, but I also need him.
“In that case,” he says, “I have some time.”
Kris’s fingers are already at my waist, untying my robe and exposing me to the early morning air. We don’t share this rooftop with anyone. But even if we did, no Parisian would object.
My own hands undo his belt and free his cock from his pants. He’s hard already. Was probably hard as soon as I asked him if he had time. It’s been six months and we still haven’t been able to stop fucking like rabbits. Even more after my body started to get used to the size of him.
But even if I’m too sore, Kris is never short on ways to give me pleasure.
“Inside?”
I shake my head.
“Baby, the condoms are inside.”
“So?”
He looks at me, examining my face in that way he does when he wants to know if I’m being serious. “Are you sure?”
“I am. If something happens…I don’t care.”
The smile on his face is brighter than the morning sun. Kris fits himself against me, and we both groan at the brand new feel of that contact. Hotter. Wetter. A whole different kind of friction as he pushes be back into the railing.
“Holy shit.”
I’ll never get enough of this feeling. Of being filled to the brim and overflowing. Kris reaches deep inside me to a place that makes me see stars, and he knows the moment he hits it because it’s hard for me to keep quiet after that.
Right now I’m seeing stars in broad daylight.
After a night without each other, neither of us has the patience to hold out. Kris fucks me hard and fast, working me with his hips exactly where he knows I love to feel him. One hand reaches down and works my clit, just in time for my orgasm to burn through me and make me scream it to the sky.
If anyone in our neighborhood didn’t know the American couple who have sex all the time, then they sure do now.
But Kris isn’t done. He knows my body better than I do, and one subtle shift of his hips has the pleasure building all over again. I go over the edge a second time before he unleashes himself, taking what he needs and driving into me so hard I think I’m going to have this memory burned into my mind.
When he comes, it’s familiar and different. Heat and the knowledge that we did something new. Together.
We come back to earth in pieces, slowly catching our breath, still connected. “Have I told you that I love you?” Kris asks.
“You have,” I say. “But I always like hearing it.”
His voice is still rough with sex. “I love you. And if I didn’t have to run a company, I would be dragging your ass inside to our bed for a repeat performance.”
I grin. “Well save your energy and don’t work too hard so that you can have a repeat performance when you get home.”
Kris groans and pulls out of me. I can tell he doesn’t want to leave, but there’s a little part of me that likes watching him struggle not to throw me over his shoulder like a cave man.
“You can be sure,” he says. “I’m not falling asleep tonight.”
“I hope not. I’ll be waiting. Already naked.”
“You’re not making this any easier.”
“I’m not trying to.”
He pulls me close one more time, dropping another kiss on my lips. “I love you. I’ll see you tonight.”
“I love you.”