A Blind Fall

chapter thirty seven

It was well into midnight when he raised his stiff neck from the files of cases he'd been following up on after having to delegate to the lawyers in his firm back in the US. He hadn't noticed as the hours passed, having to extend his stay in France for the sake of Leon who if they failed to yield results soon would lose his mind. Directing his gaze to the beautiful form curled up in the brown, leather couch with a book lying across her rhythmically heaving chest as she slept soundly, a lazy smile formed on his lips.

He rubbed his eyes before closing the files and neatly pushed them to one side of the humongous, mahogany desk before making deliberately silent steps towards his slumbering wife. With his fingers, he tenderly stroked her velvety cheek as his gaze soaked in her beauty which seemed to be more regal the more he stared at her. He couldn't help loving her anew every passing minute of their life, having never met a stronger, more passionate person in his life.

Placing a soft kiss on her lips while simultaneously extracting the book from her loose grip, she stirred slightly. Lodging the book on the small coffee table before the couch, his undivided focus went back to her. After learning about her brother's missing child, she had been relentless in searching and juggling that with running her companies from across the sea and taking care of him and their little scoundrel was taking a toll on her.

The disparity in those blue orbs, how tired they seemed lately even as her contagious smile remained unwavering worried him. She would never utter a groan of complain and her need to hold everything together while admirable could be suffocating and the last thing Warren wanted was for the mother of his son, the love of his life, burdening herself with so much.

Her soft breath wafted his way when she breathed into his neck. "Hey."

"Hey, I'm sorry I woke you." He kissed her forehead, then tucked a stray hair into the back of her ear, smiling down at her. "I only meant to admire my beautiful Rose."

This time her hand came up, snaking to the nape of his neck to pull him closer so that their lips met in a sensuous, slow kiss, him edging towards dominating it as she moaned encouragingly. His tongue prodded her lips to open before invading her to explore her mouth. She was returning his efforts fervently, moaning to the feel of his palm kneading her breasts when the door yanked open.

"Lord! I'm so sorry. I'll come back later_"

Rose's schoolgirl giggles filled the room marred with his chuckle as a beet red Gabrielle hurried out. "No, please stay, Gabby." Warren persuaded, his dimpled grin embarrassing the easily flustered woman further.

Gabrielle's head shook frantically, her eyes refusing to meet the couple who were still cuddled together on the couch, utterly and completely unbothered. "It's alright. I'll be back when_"

To make her more comfortable, Rose sat upright contrary to when she was on her back with Warren happily atop her. Their hands wouldn't disentangle though. "What happened? Your date with Oscar went fine?"

Big, brown eyes stared them down momentarily before she nodded her head. "Until he had to go to Neuilly Ser Seine." Gabby must have expected Rose's outburst as Warren had because she rushed to offer more details. "Turns out Debra has a son and he's been kidnapped by Maureen Sylvester."

That evoked a reaction from the couple, with Warren's eyes widening with what seemingly was disbelief while Rose paled than was healthy. The couple exchanged looks which alerted Gabrielle, a scowl of evident bewilderment forming on her face.

"What?"

Warren rose on his feet, his wife in tow. "Debra Sylvester's son," Warren started, his hands slipping into his khaki pants.