For some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to admit as much.
She dipped her head and backed into the sink, clutching her toothbrush in her hand. “Just excited.”
Maddox cleared his throat and backed away too, which gave her enough distance to rotate and brush her teeth and ruminate over all the things she wished she’d said.
They took a cab to a restaurant whose name Adelie attempted to pronounce and missed. Her high school and college French seemed to be doing her little good now that she was here. She did, however, attempt to redeem herself by reading items on the menu, to which the waiter gave her congratulatory nods every few seconds.
Maddox wasn’t kidding about the dinner’s complexity. The meal was a series of courses, from soup to a salad, to the haricots verts alongside coq au vin, and then a decadent cheese course before finishing off with the dessert. Adelie had to say, the cheese was her favorite.
Though she’d slept on the flight, the tiredness of traveling halfway across the world began catching up with her. Her eyelids threatened to droop.
“Ready to crash?” Maddox asked, wiping his mouth and placing his napkin on the table.
Adelie shook herself enough to give him an acquiescent nod. “That would probably be a good idea.”
With dark rims beneath his eyes, he appeared as tired as she felt. She had some chagrin over that. She’d taken the couch—on his insistence, but still, she’d taken it. Had he been able to sleep at all during their flight?
Once they returned to the Elir, their conversation crashed to a halt. She barely bade him goodnight before tumbling gratefully into bed. She was too tired to even consider that an extremely handsome man—her husband—was sleeping just a wall away.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The sound struck the sides of her subconscious. It came multiple times in a row, tap, tap, tapping straight into her fuzzy dreams. Dreams of flying, of sharing the jet’s leather couch with Maddox and feeling his arm secure her to his side, teaching her the definition of spooning…
Tap. Tap. Tap.
His nose was nearing her earlobe. Her imaginary Maddox’s warm breath teased the hair on her neck...
Tap. Tap. “Adelie?”
She blinked away the last dregs of the dream. Her hand spread to the silky sheets beside her, only to find the bed empty.
“You awake?”
“Yeah,” she muttered, pulling the blanket to her shoulders and attempting to ram away the budding emotions brought on from the dream. What was that about? She’d never cuddled with a man like that before. Why should she fantasize about it with him? “Come on in.”
The knob turned, and Maddox entered, but he came bearing gifts. In his hand was a silver tray hosting two silver domes, a pair of small glasses, and a carafe of what looked like milk.
“Good morning,” he said, moving deeper into the room. He looked husky and masculine in a Wonderland t-shirt. Washed gray, it bore the park’s logo and the phrase, We’re all mad here.
“Sorry to wake you, but I realized I didn’t tell you what was on the schedule for today.”
“We have a schedule?” Adelie sat up in her blankets, propped the pillow behind her, and nestled against it. She reached for her phone—which she hadn’t been able to charge last night, thanks to her lack of a plug that fit these different outlets—eager to check the time. Wow, ten-thirty? She wondered what time it was back home in Vermont.
Maddox roosted on the edge of the bed, tray still in his hands.
“We do. Wanna talk about it over breakfast?”
A smile took over her face. “I can’t believe you brought me breakfast in bed. And that you let me sleep in so long.”
“I thought you might appreciate the extra rest.”
“That smells delicious,” she said, smoothing out the blankets between them so he could place the tray on a semi-flat surface. Maddox lowered it, adjusting the tray so one domed plate faced Adelie and the other lay before him.
Together, the two of them dug into their plates.
“Bread?” Adelie said, taking her small servings and enjoying the side of fruit.
“The French love their breads. You should try some of this jam.”
Adelie relished the taste of the freshly baked croissant and the strawberry jam, washing it down with a glass of water. “So, you said we have a schedule today?”
Maddox took a drink of his milk as well. “I’d like to take you on a tour of the city.”
Adelie lowered her glass and gaped at him. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Maddox, I’d love that.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” He held her gaze for several moments before she glanced away.
He cleared his throat. “Well. I’ll let you get dressed. Our bus tour leaves in about an hour, is that enough time?”
“Bus tour?” Her excitement over sharing the city with Maddox alone waned.
“Sure.” He waited for her to place her napkin down before retrieving the tray. “It’s the best way to see all the tourist sights, you know, the really popular ones most people come here to see. I did it once before, it’s pretty amazing. We can go at our own pace, pick which sites we want to stop at, the works.”
“Sounds good,” she said. “Maddox?” She caught him before he reached the door. He paused and peered back. “Thank you for breakfast. It was a stunning way to start the day.”
His mouth twisted against a smile. “Be prepared for it to get even better.” He winked before traipsing out and closing the door behind him.
Giddy in a way she hadn’t been in years, Adelie dressed with a bounce in every step. She couldn’t grasp how ridiculously excited she was to see the city she’d fantasized over since she took her first French class her freshman year of high school. That had been over ten years ago, and yet the intrigue and attraction of Paris, of everything French,
