Read Big Girl Playing in Paris: Big Girl Series Bk4 for Free Online Page B

up the metal skeleton of the tower. The lights of the city below stretched out in every direction. Forgetting her fear, he pressed her nose to the grating and drank in the view until the elevator ground to a halt at the top.
    “Shannon?”
    She turned around to see Julian waiting for her alone on the platform.
    “Julian,” she said, and then the elevator cage door opened and she was in his arms and he was holding her tightly, as tightly as if he never wanted to let go.
    “Julian,” she stammered, “I can’t…” Her heart was torn.
    “Shannon, I don’t care. All that matters is that you’re here now.”
    “I don’t know if I can forgive you,” she blurted out. Julian took her hands in his.
    “You don’t have to. You can hate me forever. Just give me a chance to make it up to you. To show you how much you mean to me.”
    “Another chance?”
    “We have a week left in Paris. Just stay the week. Then decide.”
    “Julian…”
    “Spend tonight with me. Please.”
    Shannon raised her eyebrows. “In a hotel room with the band?”
    “I rented a different room. But first, you have to see this view.”
    Before she could protest, Julian had her by the hand and was dragging her up a set of metal stairs to the next platform. When they got to the top, she clutched at Julian’s chest. She hadn’t realized how far up they had gotten—in the cage elevator, the view wasn’t clear. But here, the city of Paris stretched out in every direction. Underneath them, the Eiffel Tower flickered with the light of thousands of golden bulbs. The radiance flooded through the tower, and Shannon felt as though she were standing on pure light, looking out to the scattered streetlamps of the city streets.
    “Thank you,” Julian said, clasping his arms across her chest and kissing the back of her neck. “Thank you for coming back.”
    Shannon felt a warmth spread through her as she leaned her head back. Even in such a foreign place, in Julian’s arms she felt like she was home.
     
    ***
     
    Shannon gasped as she passed through the doorway into the hotel room. The room was decorated in an old French style, with antiques and gilded paintings lining the walls. Julian beamed as she walked inside, obviously proud of his handiwork. Hundreds of candles illuminated the beautiful space with tiny flickering lights, and a trail of rose petals led her farther inside.
    “Just like our first dinner,” Julian said. “You remember?”
    “I remember. This is incredible,” Shannon said.
    She followed the trail of rose petals to the couch which overlooked the river below. The water glittered with lights below, the window looking out over the entire city. They called it the City of Lights, and now she understood why. The shining jewel that was Paris spread across the horizon, darkened only by the slow winding curves of the Seine.
    “And the view—It’s like it was when we spent our first night together.”
    “Oh Julian.” Shannon remembered her first night with Julian. He had been so tender, so loving. She was sure that he would never do anything to hurt her. Just thinking about it now brought a tear to her eye.
    “I’m sorry, Shannon,” Julian said. “I know I’ve hurt you. I want to rewind it all and go back to before I fucked up.”
    “Julian—”
    “I’ll make it up to you, I swear. Every minute of every day for as long as you have me. I’ll never do anything like that again.”
    Shannon looked up at him. She could see in his eyes that he was telling the truth as far as he knew.
    “Shannon—”
    She stopped his words with a kiss. She knew that he wasn’t perfect, but she also knew that she could forgive him. And for as many tears as she had cried in the past few days, he was the only man who had ever made her truly happy.
    He kissed her softly, hesitantly. His lips lit a slow fire inside of her that stretched out through her body.. The last time they had made love, it had been so rough, but now his touches were delicate. He