“He is,” I agree.
A true king.
I turn to Christy. “I know I’ve asked a lot of you today, but I need a favor.”
I run my fingers along Beau’s ears, fighting tears. Tobias bends, repeating my movement, his suit jacket brushing the frozen grass. “We don’t have to leave him here. We can—”
“There’s no safer place than here. It’s okay. I’m okay.”
He tilts my chin up and knuckles away the evidence of my lie. “What hurts you, hurts me.”
I manage a laugh. “You won’t miss him.”
I can tell by his expression that may no longer be the truth. My pooch has grown on him. And maybe one day we’ll be able to give him a home, but he doesn’t belong in our world for the moment. He runs a hand along Beau’s back.
“Are you sure?”
“We don’t know where we’re going to end up. He needs a good home until we figure it out.” Christy stands feet away, her eyes drifting between us before I walk him on his leash over to her.
“He’s a good boy. He shouldn’t give you much trouble.” The shake in my voice gives me away, and Tobias curses behind me, no doubt out of guilt. But it was my call, and I made it. Mustering my strength, I make it only seconds before Christy pulls me into her arms.
“When will I see you again?” She asks as I hold her tightly to me.
“I’m not sure, but I’ll call you as soon as we get somewhere.”
“I love you.”
“Love you too.”
We hug until the blacked-out Mercedes pulls up to the curb, cueing the end of life as I know it. Christy releases me, her pleading gaze on Tobias. “Don’t give me a reason to come after you.”
He gives her a nod before ushering me inside the idling SUV.
And with the slam of the door, we pull away from the curb. I can feel Tobias’s gaze on me a second before he shouts to the driver.
“Arrêtez!” Stop.
The driver frowns as Tobias shakes his head, giving the order in English. “Stop!”
Confused by his outburst, I turn to him a second before he leaps from the SUV. The driver glances back at me equally as confused as I scan the streets for any threat I might’ve missed while grabbing my Glock from my purse. A minute later, Tobias opens the door with my other Frenchman in hand, both of them panting as he climbs back into the car, the dog clutched tightly in his embrace as Beau licks his jaw. Tobias flicks his gaze to me, daring me to argue with him before his lips tilt up and he speaks. “I can teach him to shoot.”
Relieved laughter bursts from me as Beau settles across our laps, resting his head on Tobias’s thigh as he lovingly strokes his ears.
“You’re getting soft, King.”
“I don’t give a fuck.”
“I knew you loved him,” I insist as I kiss his upturned lips.
We lace our fingers together in anticipation as we’re swept away from the curb and hurtle into the unknown, hearts pounding, excitement building between us as we speed toward our future.
“We loved with a love that was more than love.”—Edgar Allen Poe
Age Forty-Three
Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France
Meet me at the finish line.
We collide in the middle of the balcony and I lift her from her feet.
“Goddamn you, you bastard!” She cries into my neck. “Please tell me being here means what I think it means.”