“Okay. This is amazing.” I slipped out of my heels to twirl around the giant living area and skipped over to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Paris. First class had been a treat, but Will’s presidential suite took my awe to a whole new level.

“I’ll be sure to pass your compliments on to Evan,” he replied from the foyer.

I spun around to meet his amused gaze. “We need to explore. Now, please.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He tipped his nonexistent hat and winked. “Just as soon as I shower and change.”

I groaned and waved at the windows. “But Paris.”

“It’s only eight o’clock in the mornin’. We have plenty of time to sightsee and shop.” He kept mentioning that last word—shop. I still didn’t know why he insisted on it, but considering I only had a few outfits left, it seemed appropriate. I’d left all my dirty laundry at his house in a basket, waiting for me to take home later, which left my suitcase very empty. Thinking of my bags made me frown.

“Where are my suitcases?” His were by the door.

“In your room,” he replied as he pulled a key out of his pocket. “You’re across the hall.”

“Oh.” Right. Of course. I’d followed him in here without even thinking. I held out my hand for the card but somehow found myself in his arms. He tilted my head back for a kiss that melted me from the inside out. This man certainly knew how to use his mouth.

“You’re welcome to stay here, but I reserved you a room in case you preferred it, and also for business purposes.” He nuzzled his nose against mine and smiled. “There isn’t anything in the contract that forbids us from being together, but I’m guessing Baker Brown frowns upon their employees seducing clients.”

I snorted. “I’m not the one doing the seducing here, Mershano.”

“Those adorable stockings of yours and I disagree, Miss Dawson.” He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth and let it go with a pop. “Now I desperately need a shower and to change. Your bags are in your room, but getting ready over there doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be sleeping there tonight.”

I shivered at the promise in his words. “Tease.”

He chuckled darkly. “Oh, I can’t wait to redefine that word for you later.” He gave my ass a squeeze before picking up his bag and heading up the stairs to what I assumed was the master bedroom. Mershano Suites was known for opulence, but this took elegance to a whole new level. I’d have to ask Sarah later how she was dealing with this lifestyle. Something told me she was surviving it just fine.

An uncharacteristic giggle escaped me. This couldn’t be my reality. It seemed too fantastic, too happy, to be my life. Shaking my head, I slipped on my pumps and picked up my purse. My room was directly across from Will’s, just as he said, and I realized with a start that between the two of us, we owned the entire floor.

“Filthy rich,” I muttered as I opened the door to a room that rivaled his own. “Ridiculously rich.” I knew the Mershanos had an insane amount of money, but to experience it was very different from just recognizing the family wealth. This was how Will grew up, yet he’d chosen to invest in a vineyard and a relatively modest home when he could have inherited a superior position with Mershano Suites and lived somewhere like this. Knowing that only made me respect him and his accomplishments more.

I picked through my bags, leaving them near the door since I would most likely put them in his room later, and started toward the stairs. That’s when I noticed the giant vase of oriental lilies sitting on the foyer table. Odd. Will didn’t have that in his room. I set my clothes down on the bottom step and moved forward to investigate. Maybe the firm sent them? Or Will? But why? And how did they know my favorite flower? Were these even produced in France?

A card sat elegantly beside it. I picked it up and froze at the familiar scrawl.

I read it over and over and over again. He knew my hotel room and number. But worse than that, this card was handwritten by him. I would recognize his elegant script anywhere. Did he have it flown here with the lilies? Or worse . . . was he in Paris too?

My legs gave out beneath me as I crumpled to the floor. What if he was staying in this hotel? Did Mershano Suites usually include a delivery receipt? Or a notice of being in the room? Was he here now, watching me react? My gaze darted around feverishly, and suddenly the suite felt far too big. He could be anywhere. In the bedroom, waiting for me, the bathroom, a closet . . .

Fear paralyzed me, making it impossible to move, to even begin searching. Had he really tracked me down to Paris? Showing up unannounced at my apartment was bad enough, but this was full-blown obsession. How had he gone from leaving me alone for months to stalking me to another country? Did he suspect my feelings for Will?

“Oh God,” I whispered.

The first man I dated after Ryan was on inactive duty for only two months when he received a call requesting his return. I didn’t know much about the military, but I knew that wasn’t a coincidence, especially when Ryan left a note under my door saying, “What a shame. And I hear Afghanistan is particularly brutal right now.”

My second date was more of a random one-night stand. A week after, I found a newspaper sitting on my coffee table with an article circled. The headline read, “Man Mugged near Millennium Park,” and the picture showcased the man I’d picked up from the bar. He was alive but hurt. Because of me.

And now Will . . .

Tears streamed down my cheeks. No. I couldn’t let anything happen to him. Not because of knowing me. It wasn’t fair. I clutched my stomach as sobs wracked my body so hard that I couldn’t breathe. I hated Ryan more than I ever had in that moment. More than the first time he hit me, or all the times he choked me until I submitted, or even the one time he knocked me out. The emotional torture was his worst punishment, had changed me irrevocably, but the fear of him hurting Will nearly killed me.

I don’t just like him; I really like him, I realized. Maybe even love him.

It hit me suddenly, so wholeheartedly, that my tears temporarily halted. I knew I liked him and cared for him, but it went so much deeper than that.

My affection for him lived in a place inside me no one else had ever breached, even Ryan. Will had fought for me to trust him, to give myself to him wholly, and somehow he’d captured so much more of me than either of us expected. Or maybe he knew. Maybe he even felt the same. He’d more than proven that this was no simple game of affection for him; otherwise, I would have ended up naked beneath him two nights ago. And his comments in his bed and on the plane hinted at his unflinching commitment.

My hands trembled as I pressed them into my temples and rocked on the floor. It didn’t matter how Will felt at this point. What mattered was how I felt and what I was willing to do to protect him.

The obvious choice was to flee, to run back to Ryan and beg forgiveness. If I groveled enough, maybe he would let this mishap slide. I’d have to give up my position at the firm, and essentially my life, but it would keep Will safe. Love was about sacrifice, and I would make the ultimate one by giving up all semblance of happiness. But love could also be about strength and unity and trust.

Trust.

“You will trust again, Rachel.” Will’s words from the other night radiated through my heart. He said them with such conviction, such promise.

He believes in me.

But could I believe in myself?

My tears dried as I lay there searching for the strength I needed. Reaching out for help always left me feeling inferior, like I couldn’t do it on my own and had to rely on others. But there was something to be said about recognizing when a situation went beyond one’s control and required assistance.

Those flowers lurking above my head were an indication of just how out of control this situation had gotten already. Knowing that he might be in France, or in this very hotel, watching me? It was insane. He’d lost his ever-loving mind. Going back to him with my tail between my legs would only validate his actions. I couldn’t do that. I wouldn’t survive it.

I looked around the room, half expecting to see Ryan standing victorious over me, but found myself alone. My purse sat forgotten in the foyer near my suitcase. I crawled over to it, not caring at all how it destroyed my stockings. The card I wanted sat where I left it three years ago. I had no idea if the number still worked, but knowing Mark, it did. My hand trembled as I keyed each one into my cell. The call would cost a small fortune, being as it was overseas, but I had no other choice. I needed help, and something told me he knew this day was coming.

It rang once before someone picked up without a greeting.

“Mark?” Was that my voice? I sounded so broken. So scared. “Please tell me it’s you.” Because I wasn’t sure I had the strength or courage to make this call again.

“Where are you?” His deep rumble had me weeping all over again.

“Paris.”

“Are you in immediate danger?”

I looked around the empty room and shivered. “I d-don’t think so.” If Ryan were here, he would have come out of hiding already.

“Give me five minutes,” he replied and hung up.