Thirteen
Patrick sucked in a breath and slid the key into the lock. He closed his eyes and shook his head. He was nervous as a schoolboy, fortunately, he thought, he was in a foreign country and it was the middle of the night where no one could see him. All humor fled as he pushed open the door and walked into the dark room. He quietly closed the door and walked down the short hallway into the living area of the room.
She's here.
He closed his eyes, swallowed and rubbed his hand over the left side of his chest where his heart threatened to beat its way out. "Ridiculous," he whispered to himself as she took off his sports coat and toed off his shoes. He was referring to the distorted fear he'd been trying to logic away all night that she wasn't coming back. That was why he had sat for the last few hours at an outdoor table at a café in Place de la Bastille watching the crowds shop and dine in the traffic circle and studying at the July Column that a memorial to the victims of the uprisings in 1830 and 1848 and which was topped by a gold Cupid. How ironic, he thought to himself, that one of the "holidays" he'd insisted they celebrate all day in bed was Bastille Day and here he was looking at the Cupid icon and wondering if he and Robin were over before they had really begun.
He was on his second glass of beer when he realized what he was doing – pouting – and not doing - anything productive. He stood up, threw some Euros on the table and walked over to the outdoor market on the next block of the circle. He slid his hands into his pockets as he looked around at the wares and thought about what he was going to do. Because Patrick Drake wasn't some wimpy guy who sat around and let life happen to him and he definitely did not let Robin Scorpio run from him. He might have to spend another six months battering down her defenses, but he knew now that it was worth it. More than worth it - needed.
Even after that insight, Patrick didn't rush back to the hotel. He did try to call Robin on her leased phone, but she wasn't picking up and she wasn't answering the room phone either, so he wandered around the market among the other tourists and tried to come up with how he was going to get through to Robin, running through his mind how he was going to tell her what he had thought about that day, what he had decided and, the hardest part, how he felt.
He licked his lips and watched her chest rise and fall in sleep as he finished undressing. Naked, he lifted the light blanket up and slid in next to Robin and curled himself around her. He closed his eyes and breathed in her scent. The warmth of her body seeped into his skin and for the first time in days he felt completely relaxed. She stirred against him, pressing herself back against him which allowed him to slip his arms around her, but she did not waken.
"I love you, Robin," he whispered and then slipped into sleep himself.
TBC