A Mighty Need

Audrey stretched her arms out and shifted her body down on the mattress as she slowly awoke from a dreamless sleep. Rolling onto her stomach she brought her knees up under her chest and sat up, knocking her comforter off her as she looked around with droopy eyes, forgetting where she was for a moment. The alarm clock on the bedside table said it was just after one in the afternoon and she very well could’ve slept longer if she wanted. It wasn’t as if she had anywhere to go or anyone to see; something which bummed her out a bit. She sighed and decided to get out of bed, sauntering over to the window as soon as her feet touched the hardwood floor.

It was the last Friday of January, the 31st; exactly one month since New Year’s and only slightly less since she’d last seen Noel. They had agreed they would do their best to take turns visiting each other every month, but since her last visit had gone into January, and one thing or another keeping either from any form of travel abroad, January had all but come and gone. They agreed to put out all the stops to see each other in February; setting aside the week of Valentine’s to travel someplace new; neither Philadelphia nor London.

Since Valentine’s was a day for love, they figured why not go to the city of love? She booked her flight the week prior and would meet him at Charles De Gaulle Airport on the 13th, which was a Thursday. They would spend the weekend in Paris, and then travel back to London late on Sunday where she would spend the rest of the week with him at his place before she returned home to the States. He had already booked in advance to come see her for a week in March during the week of St. Patrick’s Day, and would let nothing get in the way of him coming to see her this time.

This planning back and forth seemed to work pretty well. The following month after that would be Easter, so it would be her turn to spend that holiday with him. Beyond that, she had no idea where things would land.

Audrey walked to her bathroom, used the toilet and then disrobed to jump into the shower. Afterward she got dressed in a simple pair of jeans and an over-sized sweater. Barefoot, she went to make some coffee in the kitchen while her cat followed her around, most likely wanting her food dish filled and her litter box cleaned.

After all was said and done, Audrey, with her cup of coffee in hand, went to her dining room table and turned on her laptop to get some writing done. It was something she had occupied herself with in the last few weeks. It was the only thing that took her mind off how lonely she realized living alone was, her cat not included. She frequently invited her best friend Val over to coffee klatch on the weekends since Audrey was free anytime but Val was only free on the weekends. However, that was also Val’s only real time to spend with her husband who worked late shifts as a manager for the electronics department of their local Walmart and didn’t have a nine to five job. Audrey and Val had only managed on afternoon on a Sunday two weeks ago, for three hours, when they went to catch a matinee showing at the movie theater and some coffee at a Starbucks afterward.

Audrey had Austin over more; usually he crashed at her place on the weekends so he didn’t have to travel back to Narberth after a few late nights with friends. Having him around more and more made her further consider the idea of having him become her personal assistant so he wasn’t living off unemployment from mid-November until March. And, also, so it gave him more to do with his life rather than lay around and watch movies on his laptop or go to karaoke nights with his friends. She didn’t want him to waste his twenties like she had. She wanted him to learn from her mistakes and do something more; to be more assertive and spontaneous, not fall into some humdrum routine.

That evening, Austin showed up with his duffel bag, prepared for another weekend at her condo. She ordered a pizza for them to eat, but shortly after he was out the door to meet up with his friends and Audrey was once again alone with her cat. She turned on Skype and noted Noel was not on so she decided to send him a text message.

Miss your face. Skype me.

Five minutes later she received a reply. Sorry, babe. Not home right now. At a mate’s birthday party.

Weren’t you just at a birthday party last week? she replied.

Yeah, that was for Mike’s 33rd.

Oh yeah.

Noel didn’t respond after that so Audrey put her mind back to writing but had lost her inspiration. She closed her laptop and plugged it in so it could charge and went to watch some movies in her bedroom, falling asleep halfway through the second one. For a day of really not doing anything, she seemed to be pretty tired

The next day went the same way. The only thing different is that she actually left the house, without Austin coming with her while she did some grocery shopping. A few days later, once Austin had gone back to their parents’, she had to fight with Rhiannon to get her into her cat carrier. Rhiannon had her annual appointment at the vet’s which revealed to be a normal check-up with a clean bill of health.

A week and a half later, Audrey’s spirits finally perked back up. While she was packing for her trip to Paris, she received a phone call from her agent that the TV series based on her first book had finally been officially picked up by the Showtime network but only under the terms that Audrey, herself, was the one who wrote the script for the pilot episode. Audrey thanked her stars she had taken a scriptwriting course while a student at Swarthmore. This also meant she would be in meetings with the other writers for the show, seeing how the series would progress and meeting with the Casting Director because, according to her contract, should the rights of any of her books be purchased in order to turn them into a film or TV series, she would have some say in the casting process.

It was a very exciting time and she couldn’t wait to tell Noel about it. She would have to leave for LA almost as soon as she got back from her stay with him.

In the early evening of February 12th, Audrey was boarding her flight out of Philadelphia. Austin would be staying at her condo the entire time to take care of Rhiannon for her, so she had nothing to worry about there. She’d had to rely on Val and her husband while both she and Austin had been away to London over Christmas and New Year’s. Her flight reached New York’s JFK an hour later, where she had a three hour layover before finding her connecting flight to Paris which departed at nine-thirty at night, local time. She used that time to sleep as best as she could on the seven and a half hour flight which touched down at Charles de Gaulle Airport, just before 11AM, local time, although it only felt like five in the morning for Audrey.

She made her way off the plane and through Terminal 2E with her carry-on bag which was only her purse. She had chosen to leave her laptop at home as this trip wasn’t for work. She had a little over fifteen minutes before Noel’s flight from Heathrow arrived and she had no idea where she was supposed to meet him, but eventually figured out how to get to his terminal from where she was. She found a seat and waited, playing on her phone and sending a text to Austin to let her know she landed safely and not to forget to take care of Rhiannon.

She wasn’t seated five minutes when his plane landed and it was almost another fifteen minutes total for the plane to connect to the gate and for all the passengers to exit the plane. Audrey stood up, scanning all the faces and instantly smiling when she saw Noel step through the door.

“Noel!” she called out and he turned to the familiar voice. She waved at him and he quickened his pace, weaving between the other passengers. He dropped his brown leather carpet bag to the ground as his feet and scooped her up in his arms. “There you are,” she whispered into his ear before kissing his cheek, then lips.

“Here I am,” he replied, savoring the kiss. “I can’t believe it’s been more than a month since I’ve been able to do this. It’s just downright sacrilege, it is.”

“I wholeheartedly agree.”

He picked his bag back up and they entwined their hands together as they began to walk off toward baggage claim. “We’re gonna have to make up for lost time.”

“Definitely,” she nodded. “As soon as we can get a taxi to take us to our hotel and we get checked in, the first thing I’m gonna do is take a shower, but then I promise, we will bang. We will bang mightily.”

Noel chuckled and gave her hand a squeeze. “Or we could just do it in the shower. Why waste a perfectly good opportunity?”

“Ah, point and match.”



After getting their luggage and finding a taxi, they arrived to the Hôtel du Louvre where they had booked the Suite Pissaro for the next three nights. Unfortunately, they couldn’t check in until three and it wasn’t even one yet, so they killed time in the hotel’s bar, aptly named Le Bar. They sat at a small table and order cups of tea and a light lunch while they waited. A little after three they realized they’d been distracted by their own conversation and they could go check in, which Noel spearheaded as the reservation had been made under his name.

As soon as they got up to their suite, they left their bags on the floor in the living room and walked straight to the floor to ceiling windows that looked out directly on the Avenue de l'Opéra with a view of the Palais Garnier and La Comédie Française. Across the street, the Rue de Rivoli, to the left of the hotel, but unseen from their suite, was the Louvre itself, and on the other side of that was the Seine River. The sky was clear and blue but the sun being out was deceiving because it was still cold out. The sun did little to raise the temperature.

In the bedroom, on a table, was a silver ice bucket with a bottle of champagne chilling and next to it was two crystal champagne flutes. Noel lifted the bottle up by its neck and showed it off to Audrey with a chuckle.

“I think they think we’re on our honeymoon or summat,” he quipped. “Maybe it’s because Valentine’s is tomorrow.”

Audrey shrugged. “Who knows?” She went straight toward the bathroom, or at least one of two large ones, apparently; one with a Jacuzzi and one with a Hamam. She left the regular bathroom door open and began to disrobe right there, dropping her clothes in a pile on the floor and going to turn the water on in the shower.

Hearing the water, Noel poked his head into the bathroom and let his eyes wander immediately to her bare ass and felt a flutter down below. Smirking, he began to remove his coat and clothes as well. He had to brace himself on the sink to take his boots off, watching as Audrey ducked into the shower before him. She turned around and faced him, flashing a ‘come and get me’ grin. Once striped down to nothing but the necklace he was still wearing, he sauntered over to the shower and pulled the door open. The warm steam welcomed him immediately, followed by the pelting of water that wasn’t too hot but it did make their skin turn a bit red.

Audrey ran her hands up his slick chest and cupped them behind his neck as he leaned down to kiss her and slowly twist her about so that he could press her back up against the cool shower tiles. They moved slowly against each other, letting their tongues dance on each other’s skin and within each other’s mouth. A few hickeys on their necks wouldn’t be surprising to find later on.

“If we were stuck in here till the day we died, I think I’d be alright with that,” Noel commented as water rolled down his face and into his eyes.

Audrey smiled and slowly lowered herself to her knees with Noel following her with his gaze until what she did next made him almost lose his balance. He braced his hands against the tile, his mouth agape and his eyes screwing shut.

“Holy shit,” he cooed. “Ungh, yeah…yeah…oh fucking hell…”



Sometime later, the pair was lying naked in the bed; buried under the covers. They hadn’t bothered to change back into any clothes after their shower and instead to just revel in further skin on skin contact as they snuggled. Noel, who wasn’t tired, turned the TV on, trying to find an English speaking channel while Audrey lay curled into his side with her head on his chest, gently snoring. More than once, he peered down at her and each time he felt an overwhelming sensation of love for her. It amazed him and frightened him a little at the same time.

He’d had a few mates, since New Year’s, mention they really did enjoy meeting Audrey but wondered if maybe she might be his rebound from Lliana. It had pissed him off when they brought it up, no matter how politely or discreetly. They said they were just curious because they’d never known any couple to declare they were in love with each other after a month of knowing each other. That, paired with the commitment Noel and Audrey were putting into trying to make a long distance relationship work, simply mystified them. In moment’s like those, when his mates commented about such things, Noel felt the urge to just walk away from them and block them out.

Plenty of people had fallen in love quickly before, and not just characters in a book or a movie. According to Audrey, her paternal grandparents had met and gotten married after a month of knowing each other and remained married almost fifty years until her grandfather’s death some years back. It could happen, he assured his mates.

As well as himself.

In the last few weeks, waking up alone in his house with just his cats for company, he tried not to let the faintly pessimistic few get the better of him in regard to his relationship with Audrey. She was like sunshine in spring after a dark winter. Not saying Lliana was the dark winter. She had been an incredibly wonderful woman to be with and he had loved her a lot while they were together, but some things just fall apart and not for a lack of trying. Just…sometimes you just have to let things go. He would’ve loved to have remained friends with Lliana but so far that might not be the case. Then again, it took a while after breaking up with Dee before they were just good friends again. Maybe, after some time, he would find that same ground with Lliana.

For now, he would just focus on the lovely lady asleep in his arms. She was becoming the most important person in his world at the moment and he didn’t want to do anything to screw it up and lose her over. What they had was still so raw and young. He was anxious to see where it was going to lead.

Of course, he’d had plenty of scenarios pass through his mind of where their relationship would lead. The first day they met, one or two popped into his brain. Looking back, it was possible he knew even then that he would end up with her at some point, in some way. He knew that the night of the Halloween party at the Camden Head, after they had begun to make out like a couple of teenagers, that the only thought running though his head at that moment in time was to get her in his bed. Not as a one night stand or some casual fuck. Really, he wasn’t sure what he wanted then. Not until days later when they got back to his house after Stonehenge. Watching how she studied his art and the conversations they had over pizza and wine, the way she looked at him with laughter in her eyes and what appeared to be admiration for him, something changed then. He knew it deep down.

He wasn’t going to let her slip through his fingers.

Grabbing the remote, Noel turned off the TV, discontented with nothing being on to watch and stretched his arm out to set the remote down on the bedside table instead of where it had been next to him on the mattress. He shifted his body around a bit, trying his best not to wake Audrey. He curled his left arm further around her, holding her close and with his right hand he cupped her face briefly and then brushed some hair off her face. Placing his lips on top of her head, he inhaled the scent of her freshly washed hair and then rested his own head back down on his pillow. He closed his eyes, and whether or not he ended up falling asleep was beyond him.



Early on Valentine’s Day, Audrey woke up to it being a rather grey day outside. The sun that had shined the day before had disappeared behind a bunch of cloud cover that must’ve rolled in overnight. She and Noel hadn’t done much of anything the night before after she woke up from her three hour nap aside from ordering room service for dinner and making love a few times and playing a few rounds of Truth or Dare which, of course, ended in a round of sexcapades.

Noel wasn’t in bed when she woke. She could hear moving about in the suite’s living room. She was wearing simple pajama bottoms and that was it. The night shirt she had put on had come off during their last romp and she hadn’t bothered to find it when they decided to go to sleep for the night. As soon as she got up, however, she noticed it on the floor, under the table the champagne bucket had been sitting on. She picked the shirt up and put it on while walking into the living room, smiling when she noticed a trail of mini cupcakes with conversation hearts on the floor leading to the minibar.

“What’s this?”

Noel was seated on one of the sofas with his cell phone in his hand. He looked up as she walked into the room and smiled at her. “It’s me being cheesy.” Then, “Follow the bunny trail, Foo Foo.”

“Am I gonna find some fieldmice?”

He snickered. “Just follow the cupcakes.”

She already was. She even picked one up to eat, peeling back the wrapper as she walked up to the mini bar. Biting into the small cupcake, she opened the minibar door and peered inside to find a red rose with a sticky note attached to it.

Open the door to our suite. –NF

Popping the rest of the cupcake into her mouth, she removed the rose from the minibar and smelled it, throwing a smile over at Noel. “Did I tell you roses were my favorite? I can’t remember.”

“Yeah, briefly the night after Stonehenge, I think.”

Audrey was impressed. “Good memory.” She padded barefoot to the suite door and unlocked it before twisting the knob and pulling the door open. Instantly she found herself looking down at a rather large box that was closed tight with box-sealing tape and in black Sharpie was simply written OPEN ME.

The bent down and pulled the box inside the suite, finding it incredibly light so she was able to pick it up without a problem. Closing the door behind her, she knelt on the floor and placed the stem of the rose between her teeth as she began to pick at the tape so she could remove it. Noel had, by this point, stood up and moved around to sit on the armrest of the sofa so he could watch her with amusement plastered on his face with a Cheshire grin. As soon as she had the tape peeled off, she pulled open the cardboard flaps just as about a dozen multi-colored latex balloons came floating out, reminding her of the movie Up!. They were tied together on strings which were in turn tied in a knot at the bottoms to keep them from floating away from another. On the end of one string, a Valentine’s Day card was taped.

Standing up to reach the card which was floating upward toward the ceiling with the balloons, Audrey snatched the card and removed it from the string. The front read: On Our First Valentine’s Day. The inside of the card was blank, allowing the sender to inscribe their own message, which is exactly what Noel had done. Audrey let her eyes scan the words and she smirked as she took the rose stem from her mouth and set it on the nearest table.

I love you in such a way that I would sit through an entire day, listening to nothing but Coldplay and find a way to enjoy it.

You make me happy. I love you.

Noel xxx

Glancing over at him, Audrey gave him a smile that expressed how touched she was. She didn’t need or want chocolates and a dozen roses for Valentine’s. She wanted exactly this; simple and sweet, original and meaningful. “I love it,” she remarked, walking up to him and giving him a hug and a kiss.

“There’s one more thing in the box,” he said, his hands resting briefly on her hips.

She turned around and bent down to peer inside the box, reaching inside and feeling something solid and plastic. Pulling whatever it was out, she found she was looking at a red, heart-shaped combination lock in its plastic packaging.

Audrey seemed a bit confused as she held it in her hands. Noel stepped forward and took it from her, opening the package up. “There’s a pedestrian bridge not far from here; the Pont des Arts. Along the chain-link fences on either side are thousands of locks like this that people put on. They write their names or initials or messages and lock them on the fence and throw the key, if there is one, into the Seine. It’s kinda symbolic in that the lock represents the love people have for someone or a couple has for each other, and the key they throw away is the only thing that can undo the lock, but since there’s no longer a key, the love is forever,” he explained. “I always thought it would be something I’d like to do someday.”

Audrey and Noel looked at each other. She smirked at the lock, taking it from him and running a thumb over its surface. “Is that someday today?” she queried in a shy tone.

“If that’s cool with you.”

He looked like a puppy dog and if she said no she worried she’d break his little heart; not that she was going to say no. The locks on bridges thing she had heard of before and doing it appealed to her. She couldn’t really picture doing something like that with anyone else and in that moment, she had a bit of a panic attack; not out of doubt, but out of the seriousness in such a situation. Biting her bottom lip, she just nodded at him. As she looked back down at the lock, she could sense he was smirking at her.

Reaching a hand out, she touched some of the hair shaping the side of his face that was hanging in his eyes a bit. She brushed it away, but kept the strands between her fingers for a few beats. “Yeah, it’s cool with me.” She stood only slightly on tiptoe, craning her head upward to kiss him before skipping off toward where she’d left her purse and pulled out a red envelope. “Here,” she said, handing it to him.

As he took the envelope from her, she went off to her suitcase in the bedroom while he opened it. The front of the card made him laugh. It read: I love you with all my boobs. I’d say heart but my boobs are bigger. He flipped open to the inside of the card which had a more simple, Happy Valentine’s Day and then she had drawn a few hearts and signed her name. “This is funny,” he remarked, looking at her when she returned into the living room with a smallish box in her hands. It was wrapped in red gift wrap that had pink hearts all over it and was topped with a red bow.

“It’s not as thought out as your gift, but I think it’s pretty useful and we’ll have some fun with it.”

Noel set the card down, resting it on the back of the sofa as he took the gift, removing the bow first and sticking it on Audrey’s forehead. She chuckled and took it off as he ripped the wrapping away. When he got the box open he peered inside and let his mouth drop open in amusement. He shot her a cheeky grin and shook his head.

“This is brilliant,” he laughed.

Audrey shrugged, pleased with herself. “I thought you’d get a kick out of it.”

He pulled out a can of edible chocolate body paint with a small brush attached. “Yeah, I can definitely put this to good use,” he quipped. He set it on the back of the sofa next to his card and pulled out the other item inside the box. “But is this for me or you to wear?” he asked showing her a package of candy underwear. “I’m not sure all my bobbles an’ bits will fit inside this.”

Audrey snatched it away with a grin. “For me to wear, obviously.” She then narrowed her eyes at him. “I know how you love sweets.”

“Wanna put it on now? I am feeling a bit puckish.”

“How about we wait until tonight? We can kick back, unwind after our day and have ourselves some dessert.” She tossed the candy underwear box over onto the sofa cushion behind Noel then slapped the palms of her hands gently onto his chest. “Let’s grab a shower, get dressed and get started on our first V-Day, shall we?”

Meeting her halfway, Noel smooched her, biting down briefly on her bottom lip. He nodded, “Okay.”



The first thing Noel and Audrey did upon leaving the Hôtel du Louvre, was head to the Pont des Arts with the red, heart-shaped combination lock in hand. There were plenty of tourists and Parisians alike there for the same reason as them, or simply to look at all the locks if weren’t just using the bridge for its real purpose; to walk across. Noel popped open the packaging and removed the lock once they found a good spot on the bridge to put it; a spot not as crowded as the rest of the bridge. Audrey pulled a Sharpie marker from her purse and took the lock from him, writing the letter A on one side and the letter N on the other side. She handed the lock back to Noel who crouched down a bit to hook the lock onto the chain-link. Standing back up he tilted his head at the lock and frowned.

Audrey noticed as she took his hand in hers. “What’s wrong? Don’t like the spot? We have the combination; we can take it off and put it somewhere else.”

“No, but that’s just it. I wish I’d bought a padlock instead, with an actual key. I kinda like the idea of throwing the key into the water; the symbolism and all that, y’know?”

Letting what he said roll around her mind for a moment, Audrey took the packaging from him which contained the lock’s combination and balled it in her fist. She stepped up to the railing and tossed it over into the water below. “There,” she said. “Now it can never be unlocked because we don’t have the combination anymore. The Seine does.”

Noel looked at her and grabbed her hand back, giving it a squeeze. “Cheeky.”

“No; I’m just resourceful.” Audrey gave him a wink and tugged his hand. “I’m hungry. Let’s get lunch.”

They left the bridge and returned toward their hotel, heading over to intersection of Rue Saint-Honoré and Avenue de l’Opéra where there was a taxi stand. It was quicker to find a taxi rather than walking around the city, since neither was very familiar with their surroundings. It took less than five minutes before a taxi arrived and they asked in basic French to be taken to the Eiffel Tower. The driver turned right onto Rue de Rivoli and eventually to the Place de la Concorde where they got to see a perfect view of the Luxor Obelisk. The taxi then headed across Pont de la Concorde, turning right onto Quai d’Orsay which soon became Quai Branly. Turning left onto Avenue de Suffren, followed by another left onto Avenue Octave Gréard which quickly became Avenue Gustav Eiffel, they had arrived. The ride, all in all, had lasted only ten minutes.

Making their way up the Eiffel Tower and to the restaurant 58 Tour Eiffel for lunch was a breeze since they had booked in advance while they were still back at the hotel. Once in the first floor restaurant, they had an amazing view of the Jardins du Trocadéro, across the Seine, in the 16th arrondissement. They chose their food from the two course lunch menu, ordering the same thing; seared salmon, creamy rice with parmesan and crustacean sauce. For dessert they got the salted butter fudge which felt too heavy to eat all of.

When they were finished eating and paid the bill, they left the Eiffel Tower. Neither felt the need to linger as they had both been to the landmark before on other occasions. This time they decided not to get a taxi, choosing to brave the cold air. They were dressed warmly enough to get by; Noel in a red coat with fur trim around the collar and Audrey in a black Vivienne Westwood wool-blend pea coat and a red scarf around her neck. Audrey was the only one wearing a hat; a black cloche hat, specifically. Both had their faces ducked down to avoid the wind, though. Hand in hand they walked down Avenue Anatole France and then headed up Place Joffre for a while, this time with the wind at their backs which made it a little easier on them. When Place Joffre ended and branched off into other streets, they chose to continue straight onto Avenue de la Motte-Picquet.

They really had no clue where they were going or what they were going to do next. They didn’t have anything major planned until later in the evening for their dinner reservation. At the moment there were several hours to kill and they were just enjoying walking around and working their lunch off.

At the corner of Avenue de la Motte-Picquet and Boulevard de la Tour-Maubourg, there was a florist shop they decided to duck into. Just like during his first trip to Philadelphia, Noel bought Audrey a single sunflower. The shop girl who spoke English fairly well commented that sunflowers symbolized adoration.

After paying for the flower, Noel handed it to Audrey with a smile and a kiss to the corner of her mouth, whispering, “Je t’adore.”

It was one of several phrases Audrey knew in French. I adore you.

She smiled and kissed him back. “Merci,” she replied in the local tongue.

Eventually they continued on their way, their feet getting a bit sore from walking, but soldiering on. They reached Quai d’Orsay and made their way across the Pont Alexandre III, stopping halfway in front of the Nymphs of the Seine sculpture. With the Eiffel Tower visible in the background, they figured it would be a great photo op for them. Pulling out her phone, Audrey snapped a picture of them first and then Noel did the same with his phone. In her picture, they wore simple smiles but in his they made goofy faces.

His was the one that got shared to Twitter.

Happy VD from NF and AW xx

Over the remainder of the Pont Alexandre II they went then up Avenue Winston Churchill, past the Grand Palais to their left and the Petit Palais to their right until they came upon the Champs-Elysées. They turned left and headed for some shops, which provided a break from the wind. And, of all the cafes in Paris to get a cup of coffee to warm them up, they chose a Starbucks, out of familiarity. They sat down, warming their bones and resting their feet. Audrey’s sunflower was wilting a little by this point and instead of carrying it around until it died, she asked Noel if he would mind if she passed it along to someone else to enjoy. He insisted he didn’t mind at all so, before they left, Audrey handed the sunflower over the counter to the petite barista who had taken their order.

“Bonne Saint-Valentin,” she said to the girl and smiled.

“Oh, merci. Merci beaucoup!” the girl beamed.

“De rien.”

Audrey and Noel left after that, heading back out onto the Champs-Elysées, and into the nearby H&M store where they browsed for a bit but left with no purchases. They did, however, make a purchase at Cartier. They had gone in simply to browse but after Audrey seemed taken with the Must de Cartier perfume. Noel liked the scent as well when she spritzed a little on her wrist and decided to buy it for her, even after she griped about the purchase, saying she could’ve bought it for herself.

His only reply to that was a lighthearted, “Oh, shut up,” which was followed up by a wink.

Quite literally a block away was the Arc de Triomphe. They snapped another tourist-y photo together with the monument behind them before deciding to find a taxi once more to take them toward their next destination: back to their hotel to change for dinner. They found a taxi stand on the other side of the monument, beyond the roundabout that was Avenue Charles de Gaulle. It was located on Avenue Carnot across from the Hotel Splendid Etoile and they didn’t have to wait at all as there were two taxis parked and ready for potential customers.

In ten minutes, they were back to the hotel. Once upstairs, Noel went into the bathroom to brush through his windblown hair but decided not to change. He just added some eyeliner around his eyes. Audrey changed out of her black skinny jeans and red sequined top and instead changed into a pair of black stockings and a red, Oscar de la Renta V-neck Off Shoulder Belted dress. On her feet, she slapped on a pair of red suede platform pumps. The only jewelry she opted to wear was the silver bangle bracelet that was also a locket Noel’s parents had given her for Christmas. She had since stuck a picture of just their faces kissing in front of Philly’s Love sculpture inside.

Instead of waiting for a taxi outside in the cold, Noel called down for the concierge service to call one for them to have waiting. Once inside their new taxi, Audrey went about running her fingers through her hair and reapplying her lipstick while Noel told the driver to head to the Moulin Rouge in Montmarte.

They were going to enjoy dinner and a show. Plus, for Audrey, ever since seeing the movie of the same name with Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, she’d always wanted to go there.

It seemed like it only took ten minutes to get everywhere in Paris by taxi, because that’s exactly how long their travel time was. They ordered their meal as soon as they were inside and seated, and given glasses of champagne to go with it. Eventually the Féerie cabaret show began. All in all it was a great time but they didn’t linger afterward. They went across the street of Boulevard de Clichy where there was a taxi stand in front of a Starbucks and caught a ride back to the hotel. During the entire ride, Noel, helped along by his own hormones and the champagne they’d consumed, kept his hand on the inside of Audrey’s thigh, occasionally inching higher. By the time they had returned to the Hôtel du Louvre, his fingers were way up under her dress.

They really couldn’t get back to their suite fast enough.

Once the door was closed, coats fell away, shoes were kicked off and lips were crashing upon lips. In the blink of an eye, their clothes came off with Audrey disappearing momentarily into the bathroom with the package of candy underwear. A few moments later, she stepped out into the bedroom wearing nothing but.

Noel cracked open the can of chocolate body paint, ushering her back into the bathroom so they mess they were about to make was kept to a minimum. Audrey leaned against the tub while Noel dipped the tiny brush into the chocolate and began to paint her skin, slowly and softly. He tasted it first to whether or not licking it off would be pleasant or if it would make him want to throw up. It was hard to tell with novelty gifts like that. As it turns out, it tasted just fine; not amazing, but fine. He was rather generous with the coating, trying to get every nook and cranny on her body, except for her face. She said that was off limits because she didn’t want to get chocolate up her nose.

Audrey took the brush and can from him and then painted him next, which was interesting because there was barely any left so he had a bunch of random chocolate streaks over his body. She mostly covered the erogenous areas as she knew those would be her focal points. When the can was completely empty, save for a few unusable drops, Noel pulled her to him and began to suck the chocolate off the skin of her neck, causing her to moan in response. It took a while, but eventually he got most of it all off of her before it was her turn to lick him clean. His eyes damn near rolled into the back of his head with what she was capable of doing. Had he not been firmly gripping the sink counter, his legs would’ve given out underneath him and he would’ve crumpled to the floor like a heap of wet clothes.

When all that was left of “dessert” was the candy underwear, Noel dragged Audrey into the shower so they could rinse off what was left of the chocolate paint. He did this simply because he didn’t want to bring the mess out into the bedroom when he proceeded in placing her down on the bed’s clean sheets.

When she was lying on the bed with her head propped up by the pillows, she watched him crawl up over her lower half only to bring his face down to bite off the candy, a few pieces at a time, with his tongue occasionally slipping through. It caused her whole body to shiver in the best way possible.

“We’re gonna walk away with terrible cavities and diabetes after this weekend,” Noel joked after he’d bitten off a good fraction of the candy. He didn’t eat all of it. Some pieces he pressed between his teeth and brought up to Audrey for her to chew on, “like a mama bird feeding her baby bird,” he’d said with a laugh.

“So we end up with dentures at an early age,” she shrugged. “I can live with it.”

Noel just snickered at her and bit off a few more pieces before deciding he’d had enough. He pulled the rest of it off of her and tossed it to the floor before finding his place between her legs. Bracing himself up with his arms on either side of her chest, he kissed her full on the lips before thrusting deep within her. He snaked one hand up behind her head to cradle it while bringing one of her legs to wrap around his waist, giving a swivel of his hips with each movement he made even if just to hear the mew that came purring from her lips like a cat. Their pace quickened until they were crying out and spent, with him collapsing on top of her.

Rolling onto his back, he reached his arms up to rest under his head and let out a contented sigh. “I think I feel a cavity forming.”

Audrey laughed. “I think I’m just feeling a really extreme sugar rush.” She glanced in the direction of the living room. “Don’t forget we still have a bunch of those mini cupcakes left from this morning.”

“Ugh, no,” he whined. He turned his head and looked at her. “This was a great day.”

She smiled back at him and gave a nod of her head. “I agree.” Rolling onto her side, she brought a hand to his chest and let her fingers twirl circles on his skin. He seemed to be following her movements with his eyes, which was rather hypnotic and soothing. “Don’t you wish we never had to leave the bedroom, no matter which bedroom we end up in? I love being naked with you,” she remarked. “I mean, not just sex. That’s superb, don’t doubt that, but…you know…just naked, no clothes, only skin on skin contact.”

“Are you suggesting we become nudists?”

Audrey shook her head and grimaced. “Ew, no. I don’t want anyone other than you seeing my naked ass. For some strange reason you’re not put off by it and I’m not ready to let that slip through my fingers.”

Noel chuckled. “Well, I love being naked with you, too,” he agreed. “Maybe we should just not wear any clothes at all when it’s just the two of us. Think of the laundry we wouldn’t have to do. It’s a win/win, really.”

“Exactly.”

They looked at each other and grinned. Without another word, Audrey rested her head down on Noel’s shoulder and wrapped her arm around his chest. A part of her worried about how much she depended on him being with her to make her happy; how when they were apart her life seemed dull and lonely. She wanted to be able to be an independent woman, who didn’t need a man to give her life meaning, but it was certainly turning out that way and she didn’t seem to be regretting it. If it was someone other than Noel, even just slightly different from him, she would be more aloof about it, but she was finding that he was becoming more and more integral to her day to day ability to function.

Peering up at him, she watched as his eyes fluttered closed and she listened as his breathing steadied. Audrey pressed her lips to the skin of his chest, feeling the faint vibration of his heart beating safely from within his body. As any sign of doubt crept into her mind, suddenly the heart-shaped combination appeared and all doubts seemed to melt away.

Was he her forever guy? It would be absolutely wonderful if he was, even if she did feel like assuming such a thing was like counting all her chickens before they hatched. She’d made that mistake with her two, previous serious relationships.

She just hoped third time was a charm.