Honeymoon in Paris (8 page)

“Honey,” Lexi interrupted, “in my little fantasy, Nicolas Boucher wouldn’t be wearing
any
pants.”

Fiona giggled then turned to me. “So, Char, the real question is, what did Nicolas ask you once you climbed in the car?”

Lexi’s huge amber eyes drooped in disappointment.

“Don’t give me that puppy dog look,” I said to her with a laugh. “All right, if you must know, Nicolas is actually
more
handsome in person than on screen. When I got in the car, all I could think about was—”

Lexi, who’d been downing her cocktail so quickly you’d think her mouth was on fire, gripped my wrist. “The
piano
scene.”

Fiona and I burst into laughter while Lexi lowered her voice. “Okay, I’m going to make a confession. After I saw that movie, I couldn’t stop thinking about that crazy piano sex scene. And later that night, when Dylan and I were in bed together, I accidentally called him
Nicolas.
”

Fiona gasped, covering her hand with her mouth. “Lexi, that’s taking it a little far—even for you.”

Lexi threw back the rest of her cocktail. “Dylan wouldn’t talk to me for a whole week. He thought I was cheating on him with someone
named Nicolas. And to be honest, ever since I saw that film a few weeks ago, I
feel
like I’ve been cheating on him because I cannot stop thinking about that damn piano scene.”

“Well, you’re only human,” I said. “I probably shouldn’t say this, being newly married and all… but it was an
incredibly
hot scene.”

Lexi raised her glass. “Cheers to that.”

We all clinked glasses, then finished our first round of cocktails before signaling for the server. It was going to be a long night.

“Besides your little bedroom slip, how are things going between you and Dylan?” Fiona asked.

“It’s been
interesting,
to say the least,” Lexi said. “Basically, we have really amazing sex, but the reason the sex with Dylan is—and always has been—so damn hot is because it’s always make-up sex. We fight about
everything
. And even though he’s a man, and we all know that men can be infuriating, it’s not always his fault. I know this might surprise you ladies, but I’ve been known to be a little explosive when I’m angry, and unfortunately Dylan’s the same way.”

I didn’t have any trouble believing that Lexi and Dylan could be explosive and dramatic. The first time I’d met Dylan was on New Year’s Eve at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée, inside the fancy suite that Lexi had told me her parents paid for. What I didn’t know at the time was that Lexi’s parents died in a car accident when she was young, and she’s suffered from major periods of depression ever since. The next morning, Dylan was gone and Lexi was locked in the bathroom sobbing.

“Do you think there’s any hope that things will change?” I asked Lexi.

“I thought everything would magically improve when we moved in together.” Lexi took a long sip of her pink cocktail. “Wishful thinking. Besides the sex, it’s been a nightmare.”

Fiona placed a hand on Lexi’s shoulder. “If it makes you feel any better, Marc’s mother, the dreaded Madame Rousseau, is coming to stay with us for
twelve days.
”

“Twelve days?” I gasped. In addition to being Marc’s uptight mother, Madame Rousseau was our advisor at the Sorbonne the year before, and to put it in Fiona’s typical words, she was a sodding old cow.

Fiona downed the last of her drink. “Yes! Twelve days! How will I survive?”

“This might be a good time to get a prescription for a strong sedative,” Lexi said. “If you don’t want someone to end up dead.”

Fiona squared her gaze on me. “Now that it’s clear that
all
of our love lives are a complete mess, let’s get back to this Boucher brother business. While I think Nicolas is quite handsome, you know I prefer his younger brother, Marcel.”

“Really?” Lexi said. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for a Marcel type. He’s so flashy, so teenage heartthrob, and
always
in the tabloids. Doesn’t seem like your type of guy.”

Fiona shot Lexi a sly grin, then shrugged. “We can talk about our Boucher brother preferences later. I want to know what Nicolas said to you once you got in the car, Charlotte.”

“Oh, right. Well, Luc hasn’t spoken with Nicolas or his family in years, since Vincent cheated on and divorced Luc’s mother, I suppose. So Nicolas wants me to ask Luc to get in touch with him because he has something really important to tell him.”

“Did Nicolas tell you what it is?” Fiona asked.

I hesitated. Did I really want to tell the girls about Luc’s dad going to prison when I hadn’t even asked Luc about it yet? When I didn’t even know what he’d gone to prison for, or if it was even true for that matter?

The wine I had guzzled back at the hotel suddenly became best friends with the cocktail I’d just downed, making me remember
that this was supposed to be the most romantic night of my honeymoon with Luc. But Luc had left me alone in our hotel suite, and I wasn’t even sure if he’d been telling the truth about Adeline being sick. Not to mention the fact that he’d
omitted
the truth about where all of this insane money was coming from, Brigitte’s famous actress status, his childhood connection to the high-profile Boucher family, his father going to prison, and most recently, his secret bathroom phone call.

Screw it. I couldn’t possibly be expected to keep this disaster a secret. I would go nuts holding it all in.

“Okay, but you both have to promise never to tell a soul.”

Lexi and Fiona both gave me serious nods and leaned over the table.

“All right, get ready for this. Nicolas said that ‘Luc’s dad never deserved to go to prison.’ That Luc’s dad was innocent, and that if Luc gives him a chance, Nicolas can prove it.”

A stunned silence settled over the group. Lexi shot up from her seat and grabbed the waitress’ arm as she passed by. “We ordered cocktails two minutes ago. We need them,
now,
” she ordered in French.

As the scared waitress scurried toward the bar, Lexi sat back down and joined Fiona in her gaping stare.

“Luc’s dad went to prison? Did Nicolas tell you why?” Fiona asked.

“No, I was too shocked to say anything after he dropped that massive bomb. Plus I had to get back in the hotel, and I wanted to hear the truth from Luc.”

“So what happened next?” Lexi was on the edge of her seat now, gripping the table.

I reached into my purse, pulled out the little black card Nicolas had given me and slid it into the center of the table. “Nicolas said to call him if I wanted to know more.”

“We
definitely
need to know more.” Lexi picked up the card and held it high against the purple lighting in the club. “Fiona, you wouldn’t happen to be up for a threesome, would you?”

I snatched the card from her hands. “No one will be having a threesome with Nicolas Boucher because I’m not going to call him. Not to mention the fact that you both have serious boyfriends!”

“Oh, just because you’re married now means you can’t have any fun?” Lexi said, holding the card tightly to her chest. “In all seriousness, Char, you have to call him to find out why Luc’s dad went to prison.”

“Wait, after you went back into the hotel, didn’t you confront Luc about all of this?” Fiona asked.

I filled the girls in on Luc’s sketchy bathroom phone call, and on how Luc had said Adeline was sick and had disappeared before I could get two words out of him.

Fiona crossed her arms, concern lining her eyes. “There’s something Luc’s keeping from you that will put you in danger? Are you absolutely sure that’s what he said?”

I nodded, feeling that same panicky feeling rise up through my chest once more.

“This isn’t good, Char,” Fiona said. “Something really strange is going on—and I’m worried about you. I hate to say it, but I agree with Lexi. If Luc won’t tell you what’s going on here, you need to call Nicolas. You have a right to know the truth about the family you married into.”

Lexi reached for my purse, then handed me my cell phone.

“Start dialing, honey. It’s time for us to meet the sexiest man alive.”

EIGHT

“I’ve never believed in God until this moment,” Lexi whispered under her breath as she nodded toward the door. “
They’re here.
”

“Who’s
they
? I thought Nicolas was coming alo—” I began, but stopped when I spotted Nicolas
and
his tabloid star brother, Marcel, walking purposefully through the bar straight toward us.

If it weren’t for the bumping bass in this swanky club, you could’ve heard a pin drop. Every female eye in that bar was glued to the sleek, sexy pair of brothers who’d only taken twenty minutes to leave the movie premiere party they’d been attending and zip over here to meet…
little old me
.

And for the second time that day, I wondered,
is this really my life?

Lexi’s sweaty palm gripped my knee. “If I faint, please tell Nicolas the only way to revive me will be mouth to mouth.”

Fiona smacked Lexi under the table.

“Get it together, girls,” I hissed through gritted teeth. A sweet smile quickly graced my lips as the men approached our table.

Nicolas placed a warm hand on my shoulder as he leaned in to give me a kiss on each cheek. “Charlotte, I’m so glad you called.”

“Thanks for coming. I’m sorry to have pulled you away from the premiere party. You didn’t have to—”

“We were happy to leave. Things with our father and Brigitte were getting
interesting
… as you can probably imagine.” He nodded to his brother. “Charlotte, this is Marcel.”

Shorter and thinner than Nicolas—but every bit as handsome—Marcel had a messy head of dark chocolate hair, a sexy five o’clock shadow, and brown eyes that could take most any girl from zero to naked in his bed in about two seconds.

He reminded me of a younger version of Vincent, just not
quite
as sleazy. Then again, we hadn’t even spoken, so his sleaziness factor was yet to be determined.

I introduced the girls, and kisses—or
bisous
—were exchanged around the table, while
every other table
in the entire bar was watching this whole scene go down, no doubt wondering who in the hell
we
were to get to hang out with the ultra-famous Boucher brothers. Up until twelve hours ago, I would’ve been asking myself the exact same question.

Marcel took a seat in between Fiona and Lexi while Nicolas extended a hand to me. “Charlotte, would you mind taking a quick walk with me?”

I could actually feel Lexi deflating next to me, but when Marcel placed a hand on her shoulder and asked her if she’d ever done any modeling, she perked right up again.

“Girls, do you mind? I’ll only be a few minutes,” I said.

Fiona winked at me. “Not to worry. We’ll be just fine here.”

Nicolas took my hand and led me past the clinking of drinks and the excited chatter that circled the bar. “I have a car waiting outside. Is it okay with you if we talk in there?”

Before agreeing to his proposition, I promised myself I would never again think of the piano sex scene.

But oh God, that’s all I can think about when I look at him!

And I love Luc, I really do. I would never do anything with Nicolas.

But that damn naked piano scene…

Stop it. I love Luc. Piano sex would hurt anyway. Like Fiona said, Nicolas is just a person. The piano sex wasn’t even real.

But it looked so—

“Charlotte?” Nicolas repeated.

“Mm-hmm, yes of course!” I said, except I sounded more like a high-pitched squirrel. Suddenly I wished I hadn’t downed that cocktail so quickly.

My steaming cheeks welcomed the cool night air that flittered past as Nicolas led me to a long black limo waiting at the corner. Apparently he was always riding in style.

Thankfully our invasive paparazzi friends hadn’t found us yet. We slipped inside the dark limousine and Nicolas closed the door behind us.

“Did you talk to Luc yet?” He wasn’t wasting any time getting to the point.

I shook my head. “No, Luc had to go back to Lyon tonight. It’s Adeline, his daughter. She has a fever… or so he says,” I mumbled under my breath.

Nicolas raised a brow. “You think he’s lying?”

“What? No, of course not,” I covered as I gazed down at my shimmering stilettos and realized the sparkles were blurring in the darkness. Maybe I’d had a bit too much to drink.…

“It’s just that Luc has never mentioned this
minor
tidbit about his father going to prison, and now I’m not sure what to believe.”

“Tidbit?” Nicolas repeated in a thick French accent.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was speaking English.”

“Never mind, it is not important,” Nicolas continued in French. “I am really sorry, Charlotte. I never meant to cause any problems between you and Luc. I only want him to listen to what I have to say. Because the way things happened with our families, it was horrible. And if Luc only knew what I knew.…” Nicolas trailed off, gazing out the window at a group of young girls exiting the bar, but not seeming the least bit interested in them.

“Yes?” I prodded.

“It could change everything.”

I looked Nicolas straight in the eye. “Listen, if you want me to admit to Luc that I’ve been talking to you and ask him to hear you
out, I need to know what I’m getting myself into. What did Luc’s father go to prison for?”

Nicolas shifted uncomfortably in his seat before finally spilling the beans. “When we were teenagers and our fathers were in business together, Luc’s dad was found guilty of embezzlement. When the company was audited, they discovered that he had embezzled the equivalent of two million euros from their company. He was sentenced to a year in prison, leaving his family devastated—both emotionally and financially. Luc’s parents got a divorce, and my father took that opportunity to swoop in and save the day.”

Even in my semidrunken state, the sarcasm in Nicolas’ tone was not lost on me.

“That’s awful. Why would Luc hide this from me?” I asked.

Nicolas shook his head. “I’m not sure, but from what I remember of my friendship with Luc, he doesn’t play dirty. He’s an honest person. I don’t think he would hide this information from you unless he had a good reason.”