Nothing about tonight was what she would have ever thought could happen to her. It wasn't that she didn't believe in love, because despite those thick walls that she'd built through the years, in light of how fiercely determined she had been to show her parents that she was not about to simply settle for the life that they wanted for her and the fury that would burn brightly in those sage eyes as she kept those prideful yet empty men more than an arm's reach away, there was still that small part of her that wanted to have that connection with someone unlike any she had ever felt. Julien had managed to show her that there was still that faint lingering of a want to know what those few books of romance shed decided to explore meant when they would talk about how just a kiss shared between two souls could make figurative sparks fly, what it would feel like and how it might cause a heart to skip a beat for only a fleeting moment, even when she'd been so certain that fire in her heart to see the world beyond her father's estate had vanquished those short-lived wants that had slowly been forgotten. Almost forgotten, anyway. He'd somehow managed to see into that miniscule crack in those walls, and true to a slithering serpent's nature, he'd taken advantage of that sliver of an opening that made her vulnerable and dared to use it against her, wrapping around those heartstrings before she'd been able to see what it was that his true intentions were. She should have seen that gleam in those earthen eyes of his that night when he'd touched her for the very first time, should have noticed that empty hunger that held no warmth or light, should have felt the ice in his touch beneath the fire that had ignited her pure skin and naivety. Convinced then that she could finally let lay her armor down and let someone see all of who she was without that fear holding her back, she'd foolishly given in to him that night that she wished more than anything she could take back. It had been a hard lesson for the French woman. Perhaps even the hardest that she had yet to learn from in this life. She'd told herself that never again would she ever put that metaphorical shield down until she knew, this time for certain, that she had found someone that she could trust with all that she had.

Just the mere thought of that "love at first sight" finding its way into her life after Julien had so clearly been found to be just another pawn in whatever game the nobleman was playing at had been enough for Adelaide to believe that there was no such thing. It was impossible for two strangers to bump into each other and instantly fall head over heels for one another, skipping over all those what if's and just maybe's that existed for a very good reason, only to run away together and start building a life together. The very idea of such a thing, such a tidal wave of emotion to make her throw all caution to the wind and forget about how this world was littered with people holding shadows in their hearts and wicked, selfish motives behind those eyes that would look upon her, it was enough for the dark-haired woman to make herself see a future with no one walking beside her. She didn't need anyone to make her happy. She didn't need someone in her life to make it bright and full and beautiful. She didn't need a man to make her feel safe and secure in the path that she walked and the future she pursued. After her first heartbreak, her first betrayal that had cut into her so much deeper than any flesh wound she might have ever gotten in those "adventures" as a little girl, Adelaide was bound and determined to ensure that her happiness was reliant on herself and no one else, that she would never let someone be the embodiment of what made every struggle worth fighting against and overcoming. And yet, even when she knew that she was more than capable and ready to be the only one responsible for her quality of life, the only one in total control of what she felt, there was that ever fleeting want that just maybe she would find that soul who was also searching for something true. While she refused to believe that she would ever need anyone there beside her to chase that sub as it dipped down beyond that distant horizon into the new and unseen, the embers of that nearly extinguished flame to want someone to share it all with still only barely glowed in the dark left by that scar she was ever too aware of each and every day. Even though the small flame that had once given light to that long-forgotten part of the young woman had been suffocated, those coals still held a warmth to them. They still dared to glow, despite that increasingly belief in the French woman that no one would ever come close to sparking that flame back to life again. She'd started believing some time ago that there was no one out there that could be that spark for her.

And yet, as she stood there beneath that glittering night sky with Taylor, Adelaide dared to reconsider all that she had become so very certain of. Perhaps there could be such a thing as love at first sight, but was that what it had been for the dark-haired woman? Not quite. When she'd first met him, it wasn't as though she'd seen nothing but the man with those long, brunette locks and hunter green eyes. No, she'd still very much felt the ground remain solid beneath her. There had been no swooning, no sensations of the heart racing wildly in her breast or those fabled butterflies in her stomach in those first few words that they'd exchanged with one another. She would not deny that she'd found him charming even then, but that weariness and uncertainty had been there to remind her that she could be kind to him, help him clean up those wounds he'd taken on her behalf and at the same time still be able to maintain that distance she had been adamant taken to keep between herself and the allures of human nature. What she hadn't expected, what still surprised her when those thoughts of hers would drift away from her, was how quickly she'd been able to feel at ease around him. Hence why when she had suddenly felt those fierce certainties quake ever so slightly, she'd tried to search for anything in Taylor that would have given him away for just another cunning and manipulative man with an eye for that crack in her defenses she'd worked to repair and even reinforce, but it was always said that sometimes, one just... knew when they were with a kindred spirit. That had been enough for the French woman to take a risk that, before coming here to this new city, she never would have taken. She'd tried to brace herself for that familiar and ever punctual wave of disappointment to find her, but it hadn't. Not then, and certainly not tonight. She could feel that writhing doubt trying to rise to the surface and tell her that things were moving to fast, that she shouldn't feel so safe with him, that she was making a mistake in opening up to him. She'd made herself so vulnerable to Taylor, and that uncertainty wanted to warn her against it as Adelaide allowed for those walls to fall. Nothing good had happened when she'd let her guard down before, history had a wicked talent for repeating itself, so why would now be any different? How they tried to convince her to turn back now, but she refused to listen to them. He was not Julien. He was not her father. Everything that she currently knew about him was everything that she had once wanted to find, and even when she would search the depths of his hunter green gaze for anything however big or small to prove those reflexive doubts true, she'd only ever found honesty. Hearts as true and warm as Taylor's were one in a million, and somehow she'd found him.

Leaning there against him, relishing in the warmth that enveloped her as they stood there with their eyes on the twinkling stars, he speaks quietly into the night about his hometown. Salt Springs. He goes on to tell her about how small it was, and she finds herself wondering if just maybe one day she might be able to see it with her own glittering sage eyes. It was just one more thing that separated them. A man from a small town hardly a soul had heard of, and a woman from one of the most well known and famous cities in the world where so many hoped to one day have a chance to see for themselves. It was almost too cliche the more that she thought about it, but there was something endearing about the idea all the same. They were so different an some ways and yet the scars that carried and the wants that filled their beating hearts were nearly one in the same. She wonders then if they'd been looking at the same moon and stars from their own worlds, dares to imagine for just a moment that their heartbeats had by some unknown force or bewildering twist of fate heard the other's across the ocean and countless miles, and that was what brought them to this very moment, his arm wrapped around her gently as she pressed her slender frame into his sculpted of muscle and sinew. Could it really be that all those old Shakespeare love stories of souls fated the find one anther did in fact hold some truth that she'd been so very sure was nothing more than the fantasies of a talented writer? She watches as that smirk on his chiseled features change into something more solemn and thoughtful as she places before him those questions of what it was that filled his mind, what called to him like nothing else ever had or ever could. She watches as he opens himself to her once more while she lingers there as if it was familiar to her, like it had been a place where she'd found comfort and contentment many times before, and how it only compelled her to do the same each and every time without fail or falter as he led her deeper into those pages of his own story she wordlessly craved to know as well as her own.

for a fleeting moment, the dark-haired woman realizes that it was hard to imagine Taylor without a special woman in his life, someone that consumed his every thought and every heartbeat, someone that made him feel like he could own the world if he truly wanted. There was so much about the man that the French woman found endearing and charming, enticing her to seek that entrance to his uttermost thoughts and feelings. However uncharted those waters were, she was drawn into them and wanted to explore them to the world's end, if only to understand how it was that such a man could exist and have no one to give his heart to. After all, if he had been so willing to leap to the defense of a complete stranger, how could there be a woman out there that wouldn't find themselves falling unknowingly in love with him? While he wasn't the most well off as far as financials went, that hardly played a part in Adelaide's eyes. Money was material, and when all she'd ever seemed to have growing up was nothing but silly trinkets of all sizes that had bene obtained by monetary means instead of things that truly meant something to her, she could hardly care less that they were vastly different in that aspect. It wasn't part of that equation that had the French woman wondering just what she would feel if he told her that there was someone in his world. Would she be alright with that? She wouldn't really have much of a choice in the matter really, and the last thing she would ever want to do was wound him that way. She'd never forgive herself if she was the reason his heart ended up broken. Especially when she'd promised him that she would help him find a part of himself that he couldn't quite see. She wanted to be there for him, even if it meant that as friends. She wanted to give him all that she could, whether he wanted it or not. Within reason, of course. All she could think of in that moment was that if he truly had no one in his life that acted as the key to his heart, then the women he had come across had either been blind or foolish to let someone so genuine and kind slip through their fingers.

He smiles down at her then as she tells him she would keep that promise she'd made to him and her sage eyes soften beneath the warmth that washes gently over her when he told her that he knew she would keep her word. If there was one thing that meant more to Adelaide than honesty, it was being loyalty. For her, a promise was meant to be carried through until it was fulfilled, and she'd meant it with all that she was when she'd made that promise to Taylor. There is surprise and even anger beneath that sadness as he told her about the woman who has broken his heart. How could anyone do that to him when the dark-haired woman couldn't be more assured that he would have given her the world if he could have? It makes her wonder more of this woman and what it had been that the man had seen in her, but those thoughts are short-lived as she feels an ache in herself when she heard the pain and bitterness in his voice, saw those motions churning in his face and she squeezes his hand that rested on her waist, slender fingers remaining intertwined with his own as sage depths meet hunter green. When he speaks again of how there was nothing about him to cherish, her smile only softens into something tender."Just your honesty is more than deserving of being cherished, dear Taylor. I know that it is something I cherish about you...", she says quietly in those accented words. She wanted him to know so much more than that, but that train of thought pauses as her own past rushes to the forethought of her mind and she finds herself offering up those dark moments as if to tell him that he was not alone. His gaze searches hers while sage eyes search his own, and when she asks him that small question baring a meaning so much deeper the the syllables themselves could ever speak, there is something new that flickers to life in those hunter green eyes. It was the look of seeing clearly what those words had spoken of, and he reaches for her then as a quiet breath leaves him. Before now, before Taylor, she would have shied away but when his hand comes to rest gently over her cheek as she stares endlessly up into his eyes, she only leans her head into it as her hand releases it's hold and moves now to rest over his hand on her cheek, dark locks tumbling over his fingers as they stirred in a gentle passing wind.

Tenor tones as soft and gentle as those words fall over his lips and she is nearly overwhelmed with those feelings she'd kept quietly to herself out of uncertainty and she feels her heart falter at his words."Taylor...", she whispers breathlessly to him beneath the weight of those feelings that surge through her. Never before had she ever heard such words, felt so much, and as her eyes find only truth and wanting in his gaze, she is rendered speechless. She wanted to tell him that he was that man, but then he is smiling down at her, that thumb brushing lightly over pale skin and as his baritones reach out to her, he is leaning down to her and his lips press softly against her own. That spark she'd been so sure she would never find... she found it then in that fleeting kiss, feels that flame ignite from those glowing embers and allows for that sensation to overwhelm her completely, dark lashes fluttering closed for a moment a she feels so much in that small gesture. He pulls away then, hunter green eyes searching as glittering sage depths open slowly to meet them once more. He does not move far from her when suddenly she answers his kiss, shifting so that she is now standing before him, her body brushing against his with refusal to let any amount of space come between them, that slow movement bringing her to be pressed against his chest and defined torso. Her eyes never leave his, her hand remaining upon his own that still rests over her cheek as she brings her other hand to rest on his neck, pulling him gently towards her and again their lips meet as they lock into another gentle kiss, thick lashes again fluttering closed as she returns his with one that is deeper in wordless hope that he could feel just what it was that she did. She lingers there as she continued to kiss him, each one a little deeper than the last until she finally, almost regrettably, pulls away now with tender smile playing over her lips."If that is the man that you want to become, I am sure that you will", she whispers tenderly to him now, forgetting about the stars and the city lights entirely as she sees only him, leans into him as that hand lowers from the back of his neck to rest gently over his chest, sage eyes shining beneath the light of the stars and the moon.