Everything that she had once believed with a certainty she'd been even more confident she would never want in her life, she now found herself beginning to dream of as she would slip into her bed alone. Never had she craved to know what it was like to fall asleep in the arms of a man that would share her bed and her sheets in more ways than those throws of passion as she had so foolishly allowed for Julian to do. Looking back, what the dark-haired woman had once thought to be warmth couldn't have been further from what he'd managed to make her believe. He hadn't stayed with her that night nor had he been there when she'd awoke the next morning, and at first, she had been content with this as she thought it only for the best that her parents didn't know. Now, she was more than content. No, now she was thankful that he hadn't stayed with her that night to steal away just one more first from the French woman that she wouldn't be able to share with Taylor. Even before the roguishly handsome man that so made her crave his touch, his kiss, his warmth, Adelaide had only ever come to regret that night. It had been nothing but an illusion of something she'd been hesitant to believe in from the very beginning and yet Julien had played the part so deceitfully, the snake had been able to steal from her in more ways than she cared to ever remember all the while her heart being unable to forget. Her trust, her heart, her maidenhood... He'd taken so much from her and it angered her to know that she couldn't give Taylor those very firsts. She was certain that she was by no means his first in several ways, and she was perfectly fine with that, but how she found herself so desperately wishing that he could have been hers instead of that hollow and arrogant son of a nobleman after nothing beyond her family's money and the trophy that he dared to see the fierce young woman as. There was no re-writing the past, though. What had been done was done. That was what she'd told herself the day she discovered the man she thought she might have truly been able to love was only a puppet in her father's wretched scheme to tie her down and keep her where he wanted her. That was what she told herself even now, thankful that there were still so many firsts that she would be able to have with Taylor, the one that had her falling wildly for him. She wanted to know what it felt like to fall asleep beside him more than she would have ever believed she might. She wanted to share her entire life, her world with him. Sitting there beside him, that was where she wanted to belong. It wasn't a matter of where they were, because truthfully they could be anywhere, from the sun-bleached beaches of Costa Rica or the snow-covered mountains of the great Alaskan wilderness, but rather it was a matter of where he was that Adelaide knew she would want to be.

There was no looking back and trying to wish for a chance to change the last anymore, because if she could then she might never have met Taylor, and she knows now just how much she would have missed if not for him. With Taylor, she could forget the past that brought her here to this foreign world an ocean away from the only one she'd ever known. With Taylor, there was only the future that rested beyond that far horizon just waiting for them to chase after it together, making this life everything that they'd both wanted before finding each other only to now find that what waited for them was something even better and brighter than they could have ever imagined alone. But that was how real, unbridled, love wss supposed to be wasn't it? It wasn't about that happily ever after written time and time again in those children's books so full of fantasy. It was about living life without counting on anyone but oneself to make it everything the heart and soul ever wanted only to find someone along the way that wanted those same things as well. She knew that Taylor wanted to be there to watch her blaze that trail all her own, but what he perhaps didn't know was that she wanted more than that. She wanted him to be beside her every step of the way, her hand in his as they seized each and every day like tomorrow would never come. After all, there would come a time where the sun wouldn't rise for the both of them. There would come a day where the sun would set a final time for one of them, and the other would have to learn to live out the rest of their days without the other half of their heart. Those sage eyes of hers had ventured over countless books, brushed over millions of pages, and touched even billions of words... and of the many things that she's taken away from what they'd had to offer her, it was that while a love and a life story could whisper endlessly through time and space, not everything would be so eternal. That was the unfortunate part of being human. Life was short. It was temporary and it would move far too fast for many, and while the dark-haired woman didn't want to think that she would have no choice but to be without Taylor or that one day he would have to walk the rest of his life without her, she also didn't want to lose a single moment where they could exist together in a memory not even Father Time could wash away. They only had this one life. There were no do over's or rewinds. They would only be able to live this once, and Adelaide wanted to make it worth every small moment they had together, from this night and into the future that she was ready to build with him into something unforgettable.

And to think that all these wants and desires carried in each and every beat of the French woman's heart had been borne out of a single gesture, a single night intended to be nothing but an escape for the two wounded souls hardly searching for one another like in all those love stories and romantic movies. How incredible it was, the truth behind that saying that came to her mind as she watches that smirk she so adored etch itself into Taylor's lips."Sometimes, the most beautiful thing is precisely the one that comes unexpectedly and unearned, hence something given truly as a present". She had never expected for things to have grown between them the way that they had, and yet not even for a second would she trade it for all the wonders of the world and beyond. His tenor tones are gentle and yet in every syllable she can hardly miss the longing that was unmistakably there. Yet, here he was, ready to let her go so that she could return to the manor in Dupont Circle, back to Townsend safe and sound so that she could look forward to another day of working in the bistro. That was not what she wanted, though. Not now. The only place that she found herself most longing to be was here, with Taylor, in this cozy little apartment she hardly had a difficult time imagining as a place she would always want to return to."Even so", she whispers softly to him then, giving him that impish smile'"they will be quite alright without me for tonight", she continues as lilted words take on that familiarly sultry note, the dark-haired woman content to remove the plate from Taylor before placing herself there in his lap. She can hardly help herself as slender hands run along his muscled frame, nearly loathing that those cotton fabrics were separating them in this moment. She moves her hips encouragingly as his own hands explore her feminine curves, that rumble in his throat only fueling Adelaide's desire for the only man that could ever make her feel all that she did with him. Paying little mind to the growing firmness beneath her, knowing entirely well that his body was betraying what little self-control she was more than content to shatter, her smile almost becoming... devilish before they are kissing, their lips finally brought together like she'd craved even before having stepped through the threshold of his home. Each kiss becomes deeper, hungrier as his hands find those silken locks of rich dark cocoa that tumble over her shoulders and around him, their breaths growing quicker together as their want for one another only intensifies with every passing second as she moans quietly into his mouth in a wordless plea before their tongues are brushing against one another in that dance promising to carry them further over the edge.

She wanted him. Not only for tonight, but the rest of her nights that she would have in this life. She knew what it was that she wanted... but what about Taylor? Never could she forget those words he'd told her beneath those stars on that hillside just beyond the borders of Sacrosanct. He'd told her then that he wanted to be the man that she deserved, and for her, while she did in fact hear these words and their meaning, she'd heard so much more than just that one. She'd heard in his words that he didn't want to win her. No, he wanted to deserve her. In that moment, when she'd heard that, she knew that there was no one else that would ever truly deserve her. There would only ever be him, now and always. Little did he know that, beneath those glittering stars, he'd won her heart that night. That night, she realized that what blossomed between them was so much more than what she could have ever hoped to find, even if it hadn't been something that the French women had been searching for. It was interesting, how life would always find a way to provide the heart and soul what it truly needed before they even knew of such an emptiness having existed with. That was the beauty of falling in love, of finding it in that one place least expected. When he draws back from her, there was only a momentary flicker of question, the smallest moment of wondering what it was that would cause him to pull away before those tenor tones usher softly between each quickened breath. It was then that she knew, and before even she could dare to allow herself the chance to overthink that which resonated within every heartbeat, her own gentle words answer him. But, it was more than an answer. It was a promise. A promise that she'd never made before. Even Julien hadn't heard such things, and perhaps now, looking back, that should have been enough for Adelaide to know that there was something so terribly wrong about that night. No, what she whispers to Taylor after that nearly chaste kiss so full of love and passion, it was the first of its kind, and it would only ever be meant for him. Sage eyes are searching hunter green, and there they seem that glow within those depths before they grow wide in surprise and perhaps even awe as she professed those feelings she'd once been fearful of speaking, hardly able to stand the thought that he might not want them. There is only a moment of uncertainty that finds her then as she sits there with her head leaning gently against his own as her gaze refused to part with his own, her heart racing wildly in her breast. Then, she sees that love her heart sang of reflecting back at her, a sense of wonder seeming to have stricken the man speechless before he smiles and pulls her close, brushing his nose affectionately against her own.

It was then and there that she knew he felt the same, even before his words reach for her in a breathless whisper. How her heart melts beneath every gently spoken syllable. And when he returns her words, when he tells her that he loves her, there is a part of her that wanted to fall apart and into him entirely. It was unlike any feelings that she'd ever experienced, knowing that she'd found the very thing that her mother and father had tried to force upon her. She remembers the day when she'd fought with them, told them that she would only marry the day that she found love... And here it was, right in front of her, surrounding her in his warmth and his touch, in the way that hunter green eyes saw her for her."Taylor...", she breaths softly, every single feeling washing over that one single word, the name that would be the only one to find her lips and her heart in the very same moment. When he pulls her ever closer and their lips meet, it is like nothing they'd shared before as it seemed the very love they'd both harbored within their hearts came rushing forth in a tidal wave so fierce and yet so passionate that she nearly couldn't breathe. She can feel his hands as they move across her body and she whimpers softly as she deepens each kiss thereafter, no longer holding back all that she wanted him to feel as slender fingers curl into his hair, the other almost desperately trailing over his chest as she feels him working at the buttons of the blazer. When he's unhinged that final one, she allows for that article of clothing to slip off her shoulders, silently begging for him to release her from the confines of that black blouse to reveal the black lace bra underneath. Suddenly, she pulls away from him, her own hands leaving their previous positions as they run down his chest, the defined plains of his stomach, and when they reach the bottom of that shirt, her fingers grasp the material and pull it up, over, and off, discarding it without so much as a second thought on the empty cushion beside them. Leaning back into him, she continues those passionate kisses, hands continuing their administrations of his bare chest, another gentle moan slipping from her lips that sought his own, her hips beginning to grind softly against him without even a single word or sound telling Taylor all that he needed to know, just how much she craved his touch and the very feel of him against her, her hand sliding easily along the chiseled muscle of his stomach and chest before venturing along his collarbone and up the back of his neck where slender fingers once again run through his hair. She hardly cared where they were, what time it was, or if she would find herself in her own bed tonight. All she wanted, here and now, was Taylor â€" in every way that she could have him.