CHAPTER 22

Naomi watched him sleep. Beautiful.

She had sat in the balcony sketching for nearly two hours, enjoying how the sun crowned her body before deciding to take a break.

His flight had been delayed an hour and he'd landed late in the night. Saint-Luc had barely entered the taxi before he started falling asleep.

Naomi felt guilty that besides his frequent business travels, their living situation did not help matters. By the time they had returned to her hotel suite, he was about ready to jump into bed. She had him take one of his glucose tablets beforehand insisting also to check his blood sugar levels, even though Saint-Luc protested that he was fine, she needed to do it for her own peace of mind.

The knock at the door riled her out of her thoughts. With quick steps she went to the door as not to wake her husband up. Opening for room service the overpowering smell of the double espresso that her husband could never start the day without, was the first to greet her senses.

Tipping and thanking the maid, she closed the door and pushed the service trolley into the living room that she only bothered to use when her husband was present. After setting up their breakfast on the dining table, she went back into the bedroom to finally wake Saint-Luc up.

She sat on his side of the bed and for a moment resumed her earlier position of watching him sleep. Bringing up her arms Naomi gently rubbed his sleeping face with her thumb until it roused movement from him.

“Bonjour monsieur,” she said as his sleep-laden eyes pierced open.

His sleepy voice combined with his sleepy bedroom eyes was enough to make Naomi want it.“Bonjour madmoiselle.”

“It's half-nine Saint-Luc. I got us breakfast. D'you want me to bring it to you?”

Stretching out his arms, he yawned before answering. “No it's okay. Let me say my prayers, then I'll meet you in there.”

Agreeing, Naomi got off the bed and went back into the living room. She briefly thought of asking him about accompanying her to a church service on a future weekend when he came to visit her. Though their unconventional married lifestyle made it difficult because when they finally got some freetime, they wanted to spend every single second together in isolation.

Naomi sat down on the dining table picking up a butter croissant and sipped on her lemon tea. Turning on the TV to the business channel solely for her husband's benefit her brain quickly tuned out when she couldn't understand all the finance jargon that was being used.

Remembering that she'd left her sketchbook out in the balcony, she left her chair and walked over to the partially opened floor to ceiling windows and pulled it wide by its gold painted handle.

Excitement and anxiety brewed deep within her at the thought of having locked in her first client. It'd been something she wanted to tell Saint-Luc when she'd called him a few days ago but that was overshadowed by the interview that had highlighted her husband's habit to leave her out in the dark about his business. And after that it'd simply escaped her mind.

She was making a custom couture dress for the founder of a start-up biotech company who had an awards event to attend in Monaco in three weeks. The woman had told Naomi that she'd watched footages of her fashion show online and read her interview that she did which Naomi could not recall but was thankful for.

Saint-Luc was also working on closing a deal in London but as much as she wanted to talk business, she knew they both needed a day where they could be present with one another.

“Hey.”

Naomi smiled looking up from pouring herself another cup of tea as Saint-Luc made his entrance into the room.

“Merde, I'm so tired,” he said before downing his espresso.

“Saint-Luc I'd planned for us to go out but if you're tired you can just rest up.”

Naomi could see Saint-Luc's face light up in surprise that she'd taken the initiative to plan a day out for them.

“Where are we going?” Saint-Luc now asked smiling as he applied strawberry jam on his croissant.

“To Mount Vesuvius. I've always wanted to go there.”

“So have I.”

“There's no better time like the present is there?”

They talked until Saint-Luc talked Naomi into sitting on his lap. She didn't realise how much she craved his touch until his body heat filled her up.

A quick call to the contractors about reinstalling electrical appliances in her shop she was finally able to dedicate herself to the day with her husband.

“Hey. Thank you again,” she said breaking the attention of her husband who's gaze was fixed on the television.

“For what?”

“For everything...buying my shop.”

It'd been a few days after the fashion show and they were in bed, her overwhelmed and venting about the lack of space in the church and her not knowing what direction she wanted to take ADE in that Saint-Luc had told her finding shop space would be the logical next step and he would finance it for her.

“That's my wedding gift to you.You don't need to say thank you,” Saint-Luc said before grabbing another croissant from the plate.

After breakfast, they both got ready for their day. As someone who was used to taking the lead, Naomi appreciated when Saint-Luc was visibly relaxed after she'd run through the day's schedule which included dinner in the evening and cigar tasting after.

Despite what happened after, the drive to Giverny had been one of the best times they'd shared together, so Naomi decided to rent a car to drive for their excursion. And she would be driving this time.

The forty-five minute drive to the volcano site was mostly rode in comfortable silence as they both enjoyed their surrounding views.

When they got to the car park, Naomi shut the engine and grabbed the backback that carried the bottles of water, snacks and Saint-Luc's diabetes kitbag.

Saint-Luc, of course insisted on carrying it. After they paid for entry they started on the hike.

All that she needed was right here – the blue sky and Saint. They didn't talk much because the sun was speaking intense heat, and the energy exerted to reach the top of the mountain took their breath way.

By the time they eventually reached the steaming crater, they were both sweaty from the walking. Looking down at the gaping hole they remained in awed silence whilst taking huge gulps of water.

“Y'know this is the most dangerous volcano in Europe,” Naomi said finally breaking the quiet.

“Yeah I read that somewhere.”

“Of course you did, Mr-Know it all.”

“No I'm not. I'm still learning about you,” said Saint-Luc giving one of those smile that made Naomi fall deeper in love with him.

“You're still learning about me?”

“I'm at the Genesis of trying to figure you out madmoiselle.”

There was silence once again as they watched the thick fog of smoke condensing slowly and making itself one with the sky.

Turning away from the view, Naomi faced her husband. “What would you do if this volcano were to erupt right now?”

“What can I do than to say my last prayers, lose my life trying to save yours?” Saint said with all seriousness in his bi-coloured eyes.

Naomi laughed but nevertheless touched. “Obviously we'd both die Saint-Luc. You know what I would want to do?”

“What would you want to do?”

“Say my last prayers and kiss you until our bodies melted away.”

“Merde, that'd be incredible. Imagine making love to you with this view as our backdrop.”

“It'd be fucking spectacular. Don't tempt me.”

“I'm already tempted.”

With their sweaty foreheads pressed they closed the thin gap between them and gave their lips to one another.

Little did they know that the biggest volcano of their life was about ready to erupt.