Page 138 of Brushed By Moonlight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

MINA

Four days later…

“Wilhelmina!” Madame Martin called cheerily as I entered theboulangerie.

“Bonjour,” I greeted her and the only other customer.

Madame Fontaine, the retired schoolmistress, echoed my greeting, then tut-tutted. “Running again? Young people these days…”

“No wonder she’s still so thin,” Madame Martin, the baker, lamented as if I wasn’t even there. “And she still hasn’t found a man.”

Ah, but I had. A dragon shifter, no less. Not that I volunteered that news.

“Well, at least she has more color now,” Madame Fontaine said. “Must be this fresh autumn air.”

My cheeks flushed. No, that was a side effect of great sex, every morning and every night. Sometimes even in between.

Marius and the others had departed for their meeting with Gordon apprehensively, knowing any outcome was possible. So I’d been surprised, delighted, and relieved when Marius had appeared at my door late that very same evening. Touched, too. He’d come home — to me. He wanted to spend his precious time off with me. I’d practically squealed with glee.

But those three days were up now, and we expected the other guys back within hours.

“What can I get you?” Monsieur Martin asked.

“Twopain au chocolate, please,” I started. “One for now, one for later,” I fibbed, so they wouldn’t think I was serving breakfast for two. “And four baguettes.”

“Four? Are you expecting more clients?” Madame Martin asked.

I stifled a sigh. Everyone knew everyone’s business in Auberre.

“Yes.” I moved pointedly to the register. “How much will that be?”

I paid and snatched up my purchases before they could pose any more questions, like who my clients were and how long they were staying. Even so, my mind started calculating. Three weeks had elapsed since Marius, Roux, Bene, and Henrik had first arrived. My contract with Gordon ran three months. That left a little more than two months.

I bit my lip. How many more missions might they be sent on during that time? What would those entail, and what other dirty secrets about my godfather might they reveal? What would happen afterward — after their three months with meandafter their time working for Gordon?

Above all, what about Marius? Would he disappear at the end of that time, or would he stay…and stay…and stay?

“Well, goodbye, everyone—” I whirled into a quick exit from those thoughts and the bakery.

The bell over the door jingled too late for me to react, and I crashed into the incoming customer.

“Désolé.” Sorry,a man said from an inch away.

“My fault,” I started, then whispered, “Clem.”

“Mina,” he murmured, eyes aglow.

For a moment, our gazes locked, and a whole alternative life drifted through my mind. A nice, simple life, with a good man with a good, steady job. A stunningly handsome man free of crimes and links to the criminal underworld. A man who would be content to build a quiet life in this quiet place with someone like me.

But that vision was black-and-white, and it faded quickly, replaced by a different, brilliantly colored one. One of a life of blazing passions, and not just the kind found in bed. Life with Marius was life on the edge. Thrilling. Unpredictable. Sometimes even terrifying. But oh, so very alive.

Maybe my life didn’t have to be a constant cycle of school semesters or home repairs. A life that didn’t adhere to the standard framework, with education, marriage, and children all pre-programmed for certain times, followed by years of watching that life unfold in predictable ways.

Which wasn’t to say I wanted to plunge headfirst into a world of danger, intrigue, and covert missions. Just hoping that Marius and I could find a middle ground.

“Bonjour, Clement!” Madame Martin called. “Doesn’t Mina look well?”