"When did this happen?"
Baldwin lifted his head from the pillow to look at the scar Eva was tracing with her finger. It was his wound from World War I. He fell back on the pillow, and Eva's eyes shot up to his.
"Why are you feeling guilty?"
"You can sense that?" Baldwin raised an eyebrow.
"Your emotions are clearer to me now that we are mated. Is it a gunshot wound?"
He nodded.
"Not long after we broke up." Eva lay in the crook of his arm, and Baldwin ran his fingers up and down her spine. At his confession, he subconsciously pulled her a bit closer. "It's a reckless scar. It wasn't even accidental, it was just stupid."
"Ah. So it's not the guilt I'm feeling. It's your hurt pride." Eva watched Baldwin start to deny it. Then, to her amusement, he gave up.
"Yes, you're right," he said, gently removing her hand from his clavicle where the scar was.
Baldwin turned on his side, prompting Eva to lie on her back, and lazily started raining kisses along her neck, having spent all his energy in the hours before the sun rose. His palm cupped her other cheek first, before moving down the neck to the collarbone, his index finger tracing her curves, making its way to her lower abdomen.
"Would you like to help make some nobler scars?" His low voice sent shivers down her spine and reminded her of the scratches she left on his back during the night which had already healed.
"Are you asking for permission or setting yourself a challenge?"
As he slid his fingers inside her and circled just at the right spot, the question became irrelevant.
A little while later, Baldwin had thrown on some clothes, visited the wine cellar, and returned to bed. Now, he sat against the headboard while Eva propped her head on his arm, refusing to change from the sheet she had wrapped around herself.
"Can you help me solve one riddle?" Baldwin asked, putting his empty glass somewhere on the floor. Eva's glass was already there.
"I'll do my best. What's your question?"
"Why do I sense le Cœur de Marie on you?"
"You want me to decipher the scents you're picking up?"
"It's not the only one but it's the strongest. Feels like its own memory capsule. Is there some significance to it in our lives that I don't remember?"
"The bleeding heart, you say…" Eva knitted her brows, taking a minute to think. Then her features smoothed as the answer dawned on her. "It grew in my garden around the time we met for the second time."
"In the 1880s?"
"They had recently come to Europe. I was curious so I had them delivered and they grew in the garden for some time. I took care of them myself, so I guess it imprinted. What else can you sense?"
Baldwin leaned in and took a sniff off her shoulder, making her giggle.
"A lot of things. I can single each of them out but in the end what matters is that I sense you. No matter how crowded the room or great the distance."
"Biology aside," Eva suddenly became very serious. "Why do you think you were drawn to me all this time?"
"Because you're that person," he simply said, gently tugging a loose lock of hair behind her ear. "Because you are absolutely, undoubtedly that person. And I was never as sure in my decision as I am now that I chose you. And I was never happier than now that you chose me."
"Sappy."
"How often do you get to see me like this?"
"I know. And I'm enjoying it."
She pushed herself up on her arm and softly kissed Baldwin on the mouth. Her lips tasted of blackberry with a hint of truffle, and as ordinary as those flavours were, Baldwin got lost in the sensation. As she pulled away, there was a glint in her eyes.
"We need to get out of the house eventually." She tightened the sheet around herself, then got up from the bed to find the clothes that were scattered all over the floor. She picked up her blouse that was surprisingly in one piece yet had dried blood stains left there last night. "Well that's ruined." She proceeded through the room, opened the closet and chose one of his shirts.
"It's a bit too long for you," Baldwin commented but then was immediately silenced by Eva ripping a chunk off, making it shorter.
"No, this will work," she cheekily replied, throwing the modified shirt on the bed, then replacing the bedsheet with underwear and putting the shirt on top. Baldwin tried to bring himself to care for the decimation of his clothes but he couldn't stop staring at his mate's delicate fingers pushing the buttons of his shirt through the holes.
"Where exactly are you going?" He slid down the bed to sit at its feet, while Eva fished her trousers from under the bed and slid into them, tucking the shirt so the ripped edges were not visible.
"My clothes aren't here. I'm going to get myself something to wear. I'll return soon."
"At this hour?"
"In the time it takes me to drive there, something will come up. A lot of places open near Place Kléber at around 10 in the morning." She put on her shoes and set decisively towards the front door. Baldwin almost decided to fall back on the bed and catch a quick nap before he felt a strong pull. He easily recognized it as his mating instinct telling him to close the distance between him and Eva right there and then. Frowning, he listened for the signs of Eva feeling the same thing, yet all he heard was the rustle of her trench coat. He strolled into the hallway as she picked up her purse and opened the door to leave the house.
She made it all the way to the car before stopping dead in her tracks. Baldwin, still barefoot, leaned on the doorframe.
"Is this how it's going to be all the time?" she asked, still facing away from him.
"What did you expect in the first 24 hours?" he shrugged. She took a deep breath, and Baldwin felt her frustration all the way from where he stood. "Is it a problem?"
"It's kind of a problem!" she exclaimed.
"Why are you shouting? I can hear you perfectly."
"It's just that this is not very convenient – I just need to drive to the city centre and back, yet all I want is to get back into bed with you." She turned to look at him only to see that he wore a wicked grin.
"Wipe that smug smile off your face, this is serious!" Yet the corners of her mouth also shot up. She caught sight of his lack of footwear and closed the distance herself. They both sighed with relief as they stood in close proximity to one another.
"It'll become easier with time. Why does it worry you so much?" he asked.
"You're always crossing borders," Eva breathed out. "That's a lifestyle you adopted a very long time ago, and I can't ask you to change for my sake, and I wouldn't want that. So we are facing a serious problem if the intensity of the instinct persists."
"You say you can't ask me, but I would do that in a heartbeat. For you."
"Our heartbeats are not a frequent occurrence."
He smiled.
"I'm not being literal. I'll make any arrangements necessary."
Eva took a step closer and straightened a slightly crooked collar of his shirt.
"I love you. The 'you' who scheduled meetings in France, Germany and England almost back to back, as much as the period-appropriate transportation allowed, and was never late to any of them. I'm not asking to give up your work time." She let her gaze fall for just a second before lifting her eyes to look straight into his. "I just want to be a part of the rest of your life."
Baldwin took her hand into his and placed a kiss on her knuckles. Her eyes shined even brighter.
"Would you go with me to Auvergne in a few days then?" he carefully asked. "I need to be there to close a deal. We can take a helicopter." Eva gasped.
"I knew it—I knew that the moment helicopters would go into a large-scale production you will have a hundred of them on standby."
"Well, not a hundred. But the number has surely gone up since the 1940s."
Eva thought for a minute, trying to visualize the possible routes from Bas-Rhin to Puy-de-Dôme.
"We can take a more relaxed road. We can even walk parts of it on our own two feet. I can tell that you haven't done it in quite some time."
"How do you manage to make me feel more alive?" Baldwin marvelled. Eva put her palms on his chest and her closeness set all his nerve endings on fire.
"Would you look at that. Your heart sped up. One might say it's almost human."