*Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes! I legit posted and fled from the Internet, and then finally saw your lovely messages today! Again, thank you!!! I've seen a few questions asking about if there is gonna be more after this book.

My answer: ~Looks at nails, looks at self in the mirror, adjusts baby hairs~

Enjoy this second to last chapter everyone! >:)

-M

Chapter 19: Amour

My fingers stroked a few light trails across his scalp. The hair color. It was the same color as the woman's in the picture. His mother.

I ran the pad of my fingers across his bristled eyebrow and beside his eye. The eye color. It was the same as the woman's in the picture. His mother.

"I wish I could remember..."

Suffering. The loss of a parent never gets easier. It'only the memories of them that warm the coldness in the heart. I had those memories of my father. Going to the park and the family cookouts. Getting yelled at for getting too close to the "dad gum watah!" with my cousins. Seeing him sneak a kiss to my mother while we were in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner. Me catching him planting that peck on her cheek and being chased back to my room and tickled until I couldn't breathe from laughing too hard. My kisses goodnight. I missed my father everyday.

Ezra didn't have these kinds of memories. Being an only child maintained it's own loneliness that sparked a lucid imagination. But our lives extended to other ends of the spectrum. We both suffered, but grew with different privileges. Because of that, we clashed as soon as we crossed paths. It was impossible to see why I was drawn to him because I saw nothing but the viciousness of a rich white man. I was attacked by his ignorance. Really... Ezra shouldn't be lying on my bed with me now. We shouldn't have known each other. I should have left after our first meeting.

Yet, I stayed. A lost brain paired with needing to pay rent forced me to stay in the line of fire of a damaged Ezra Leoné. From the outside looking in, I would have never accepted this relationship.

"I should never have abused you."

And I shouldn't have allowed him to reign his power over me.

"I should have let you go."

And I shouldn't have given him any chances.

"I shouldn't have been so weak."

I shouldn't have thought I had the power.

"But I can't say that I shouldn't have loved you."

I can't say that I didn't understand this warmth in my heart.

Nothing made sense. That's where the draw was. The attraction. The chance to learn if it was more than us falling into the next layer of the Inferno. The opportunists found out it was more.

Suddenly, Ezra let out a deep sigh. He turned his face into my soft stomach and took another deep breath. My fingers scratched at his scalp again.

He groaned and turned his head to me. "You didn't sleep."

I smiled, admiring his sleepy face. Uneasiness replaced his demeanor. He sat up on his elbows and looked at my warm expression. "How come you didn't sleep?"

"Are you panicking?" I chuckled.

"You know me well enough," he answered, but his response held no humor.

I shook my head and mouthed, "No."

"Why?" he asked. Ezra finally sat up and moved closer to my face.

I kept my head on my pillow and my eyes on him. A smile remained on me, as he frantically checked his watch and confirmed that he'd been napping on my stomach for about an hour.

"I didn't want to," I admitted, running the back of two fingers across his thigh.

Ezra's attention shifted. His eyes followed the path of my fingers. My hand traveled from the inside of his thigh and to his crotch. I heard the breath slither out of his throat. His breathing suddenly heavy as I rubbed the metal teeth to his zipper.

Not long after, one set of his fingers rubbed and curled into the back of my shirt and the other clawed into my sheets behind him. The only time Ezra wasn't looking down at me was when he threw his head back to take in a sharp breath. His hips couldn't remain still. With every second I had a hold of him, he became more audible. His grip on me tightened.

"Ada," he groaned, but that didn't interrupt me.

In fact, it propositioned me to make things much harder for him. But I only got away with temporal ruthlessness for a few more seconds. In few switch adjustments, I was pinned down before Ezra positioned himself between my legs.

Ezra roughly pressed his lips against mine as his hand yanked my panties away from my body. Maybe this beat a record for us. He wasn't inside for less than minute before he shook between my legs.

I began to chuckle as I caught my breath, and Ezra rested his face in my neck and muttered. His unknown words tickled and moistened me. He pulled his wet lips from my me and traced the tip of his nose across my chin.

He mumbled again. This time his incoherence was due to the ragged breaths. I touched the side of his face and giggled, "What are you saying?"

Finally, Ezra got up and rested his elbows outside of my chest. He looked down at us, continuing to heavily breathe. Then, he brought his green eyes up to me again.

"Come to France with me."

My expression dropped but my eyes widened, "Wha... huh?"

He touched my cheek and rubbed my cheek with his thumb, "Come back to France with me. I want to take you home."