Даниэла Стил - Turning Point

—

Valérie had to catch up on paperwork in the office on Saturday. She’d been out so much following the counseling sessions that she had fallen behind on her reports. But she’d agreed to have dinner with Tom again that night. It was something to look forward to. She enjoyed their time together, and the man she had discovered behind the flirting and the jokes. He had a sense of humor she loved, but he was also serious with her, and he wasn’t hiding anymore. She was the first woman who had ever seen through him, and understood who he was. He had revealed himself the day he had run past her to save the little girl at the lycée . And the look on his face when he ran with her, desperate to save the child, had won Valérie’s heart. There was no turning back from that, and Tom knew it too. Valérie had removed his protective covering, and had helped him take down his walls. He had been a man in camouflage, in a full suit of armor, until then. He felt lighter now. And she looked happy to see him when he picked her up at the office. She kissed him on both cheeks when she got in the car. He was driving an Autolib’, a short-term rental you could pick up on the streets, like the bikes.

“Where to?” he asked, smiling at her. He’d been excited about seeing her all day.

“Why don’t we go to Le Bon Marché and pick up something to eat? I’ll make dinner for you,” she offered.

They spent an hour in the enormous food hall, picking vegetables and fruit, mushrooms, artichokes, anything that looked good to them. They bought some crab for dinner, truffled mushroom soup, an assortment of cheeses, some pastries Tom couldn’t resist, and a box of chocolates to take to Marie-Laure for her dinner party the next day.

They set it all out in Valérie’s cozy kitchen on the rue du Bac, and he poured a glass of the champagne he had bought. The crab was already cooked and looked delicious. They put it in the fridge, and went to sit in the living room. He built a fire in the fireplace, and then came to sit next to her on the couch, and she looked wistful for a minute.

“I’m going to miss you when you’re gone,” she said. They had gotten used to seeing each other every day. And they liked working side by side. The whole team had meshed perfectly, both the French and the American side. It had been a lucky assortment of people, and not a rotten apple in the bunch.

“I’m going to miss you too,” he said quietly. Three weeks in Paris had changed him, partly because of everything that had happened, but Valérie was an important part of it. He wanted to be a better man for her. “I can’t wait till you come to San Francisco. I actually live just outside the city, on the other side of the bridge. I want to take you to the Napa Valley while you’re there. There are some great restaurants and it looks like Italy. Everything gets very green around the time you’re coming.” He was looking at her and touched her hand. “I feel like we’ve been through so much while I was here, with the shooting and everything. The three weeks have flown by.” They had one week left, but he knew that would go quickly too. “I wish I could stay.” She looked surprised when he said it, and he had even surprised himself. “It would be incredible working here.”

“You could work for one of the emergency services if you want to get certified here. Or for one of the agencies like Gabriel and Marie-Laure,” she said thoughtfully, but he shook his head.

“That’s not what I do best. The administrative side isn’t for me. It’s been great while I was here. But my forte is saving lives once people get pretty badly banged up. I love seeing patients.” She had seen him at work and knew he did. “I’m better on the clinical side. How are your post-traumatic stress patients doing?” He was referring to her counseling programs. The idea of his practicing in France seemed like a distant dream and not real to him. He loved his job at Alta Bates.

“It’s going to be a long process for most of them. You don’t recover quickly from something like that. The teachers are having the hardest time, feeling guilty about the kids they couldn’t save. So many of them didn’t have a chance. The surviving children will recover best in the end. They’re in the early stages right now. And the parents of the survivors are badly shaken too. I want to get everything set up now, so there’s no lapse in service while I’m away.” She was extremely conscientious, as was he. He poured her another glass of champagne, as they sat and looked at the fire, and then he turned to her and kissed her. They had agreed not to rush anything, but it felt like the right time to him, and he was leaving in a week. He wanted her to know how much she meant to him when he left. She smiled after he kissed her, and then she set down her glass and slipped her arms around his neck.

“You’re a very special man, Tom Wylie. Do you know that?…And very special to me.” And with that she kissed him, and he felt pulled toward her like a magnet, and he couldn’t stop kissing her. All he wanted was more, and she did too. Slowly everything had changed in the past three weeks of being together every day, and living through a tragedy together. It sped up time, and provided some kind of glue.

They lay down on the couch together, as he gently ran his hands down her long lean body, and then slipped them under her sweater and touched her breasts. She arched at his touch, and he pulled her sweater off and admired her. She had a beautiful body and he had never wanted a woman more in his life.

She was wearing a skirt that slipped easily down her legs and she didn’t object when he took it off, and then gracefully she stood up and pulled him with her. She led the way to her bedroom and he followed her willingly, admiring her bottom in a black lace thong, which was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. Everything about her excited him. She peeled away his clothes as he removed the rest of hers, a black lace bra and the thong, and she’d been wearing stockings with garters beneath her skirt, which he hadn’t expected. She was a woman of surprises and mysteries, and at last they lay naked in her bed, and he couldn’t keep himself away from her. He wanted her so desperately that he was inside her moments later, and she guided him expertly through what pleasured her and tantalized him to heights he’d never dreamed of until he couldn’t stand it anymore, and he sounded like a lion when he came and she came with him. She lay in his arms afterward, sated and pleased.

“That was nice,” she whispered to him and kissed him, and he looked amazed.

“Nice? You call that nice? Don’t ever try ‘fabulous’ on me, it would kill me….You’re the sexiest, most fantastic woman in the world.”

“I’m happy you think so. You’re pretty unbelievable yourself.” She lay pressed against him, and he was aroused again within minutes. And it was even better the second time. After that, she rolled out of bed and put on a pink silk dressing gown, and went out to the kitchen. He followed her there, naked, as she set out the crab and the rest of the food for him, and poured the last of the champagne into two glasses. She set out a feast for him on her kitchen table, and they ate and talked and laughed and kissed, and Tom had never been happier in his life, and neither had she.

—

Valérie and Tom stayed in bed at her apartment all day Sunday, until they had to dress for the dinner at Marie-Laure’s. They were the last to arrive, with a suspiciously peaceful, love-dazed aura about them that the others noticed immediately.

Dinner at Marie-Laure’s was casual and more chaotic than their welcome dinner at Valérie’s, but Valérie had no children and had had time to get organized. Marie-Laure had been cooking all day, while keeping an eye on her children.