London Calling: BWWM New Adult Romance (Chase Brothers Book 2) (7 page)

"Mum," he interrupted. "You realize you’re not going to talk me out of anything. It’s already in motion."

"You know how much I love you. My request has less to do with Alistair than it has to do with you. We need to put all of that behind us and move on."

Move on
. "Maybe that was easy for you to do, Mother. But not for me. I can’t move on. I wake up every day and my first thoughts are about Silas and Alistair and what they’ve done.
You
might have been able to walk away from their sins unscathed, but I haven’t been able to shed it as quickly."

"Why do you think that I walked away from it? There isn’t a day I don’t think about you or your brother. I need to live with the fact that I failed you and Alexi every day. I wish I had known, wish I had seen. Wish I hadn’t been blind. I wish I'd been the one to take that man's life. But what you’re doing—you're only picking at the scab. Making it bleed unnecessarily. What do you need from me to stop this?”

Through clenched teeth he muttered, “I don’t need you to say anything. I’ve never needed you to say anything.” He just wanted this to be over. And this was the way he saw.

“I would tell you until I’m blue in the face how worried I am. I failed you. I know that. But you have to stop. If you want to punish someone, punish me."

He'd gotten over the anger at his mother years ago. He wasn’t angry with her anymore. Alistair, on the other hand, would not be so lucky. "Mum, I'm not trying to punish you, I swear." He followed the signs to the private airstrip. "This is something I have to do. I wish it didn't hurt you, but it's important to me. It has to be done. Alistair made it a point to destroy my life. And he's benefiting from his father's work. I can’t let that stand."

Deep down he knew he was wasting his breath. She would never understand. And he would never deliberately hurt her by telling her exactly why he hated Alistair so much. As far as she was concerned, Xander hated Alistair simply because he was a McMahon. He didn't have the heart to tell her it was so much more than that. It would destroy her if she knew. She'd been devastated when she eventually found out about the abuse and he would rather not do that to her again. No. This vendetta was his. "Mum, I promise, I'm not trying to make your life more difficult. And I'll leave your name out of it. But I have to do this. I wish I could explain, but I can’t."

"Look, I think you’re long overdue for a visit home. Or even better, you, Alexi and I can take a holiday, just us. Reconnect."

He found it funny how she'd left his father out of the mix. The old man and Lex could barely stand to be in the same room together so a happy family vacation was out of the question. "Mum, I’m leaving for a trip. But I’ll call you when I get back. We'll have dinner."

She sighed. "There's no changing your mind, is there?"

"You know me better than that by now." At the end of this weekend he'd have Alistair exactly where he wanted him.

P
aris
. It was official: she was crazy for real. Fe thought so. She might not have been exactly forthcoming about how she met Xander. Or what she was doing on this getaway for the long weekend. But she’d go and come back with more than half of what she needed for Ebony. It was only four days. In Paris of all places. Didn’t mean this whole plan wasn’t shit-balls crazy. It was one thing to pretend to be an escort for a night. It was another to have to pull off a lie under scrutiny for four days.

"All right?"

She brought her head up to glance at Xander. His slate-gray eyes regarded her closely. And she was mesmerized. Framed by think, dark sooty lashes, they focused on her with such intensity. He had this way of looking at everything as if he wanted to see into its soul. Granted, he was a photographer, so that made sense. He had to capture emotion from all sorts of things. "You're staring."

He shrugged, then sat back against his seat as their car whizzed toward Paris. "You're beautiful. I'm sure you’re accustomed to it."

Imani rubbed the end of her nose. "No, actually. People don’t usually stare at me."

"Then they're blind."

"If you say so."

The corner of his lips tipped up. "You'd think you’d believe me since I photograph beautiful things for a living."

Shifting uncomfortably in her seat, she changed the subject. “We should probably go over the cover story again.”

The corner of his lips twisted into that smirk she found so sexy. "Do you study all your roles like this?"

"I want this to be my profession, so yes. I live, breathe, eat my roles. It’s how I met Miriam. I’d asked Charles if he could put me in touch with an actual escort for research purposes. I made it a point not to ask him how he’d found her."

Xander’s laugh filled the car. When he smiled or laughed it completely transformed his face, making him look younger, less intense and mischievous. “I imagine he found her the old-fashioned way.”

“Doubt it since he’s gay.” She shrugged. “So to be clear, the main two people we have to convince are Jean LeClerc and Alistair McMahon.”

Xander nodded. “The one to worry about is Alistair. He’s actively trying to keep me off the board."

“And you’re not going to tell me why?” He shook his head, but she pressed a little harder. “Knowing could help me do my job better.”

“You don't need to know why.”

"Fine. How much of a problem is he going to be?"

"A big one. He only has one vote out of ten to vote me on, but he has sway. And stay away from him unless I’m with you." There was something about the way the muscle in his jaw worked that told her he was deadly serious.

Way to add more pressure
. “Understood.” She tapped the folder. “I know this folder backward and forward. How well do you know it?”

“I’ve been planning this for a long time. I know every detail of that folder.”

She raised a brow. "How long have we been dating?"

Xander answered smoothly "Nine months."

"I’m starting you off easy, hot shot. How did we meet?"

He gave her one of his patented half smiles. "I went to meet a friend, who was a no-show. You were there instead."

She flushed, but deliberately held his gaze. "Not bad. Do you see this relationship as long term?"

Xander's gaze never left her face, but she saw the shadow cross over his expression ever so briefly. "Yes."

She wrinkled her nose. “You’re going to have to do something to sell it, Xander. Otherwise you’re wasting your time taking me with you. You need to make
me
believe." She cleared her throat. This was what she did best. Sliding her hand into Xander’s, she focused on him and smiled. "We're in love. I can’t remember my life before you walked into it with your over-confident attitude. But underneath that is a vulnerable man I can love, talk to."

Xander's lips parted and he looked like he wanted to say something, but she paused him with fingertips against his lips. "I can’t imagine going a day without your touch." Against her fingertips, she could feel the slight suction as he inhaled sharply.

Xander coughed and removed her fingers from his lips. "Well, fuck. You
are
an actress. You’ll make this easy." His silvery gaze drifted to her lips. "You’re very good."

“Thank you. I think about it more like telling the truth of the character rather than I’m making it up as I go along. It helps.”

“You can almost make me believe, and
that
is a feat.” He rubbed the tip of his nose with his knuckle. “There is one more thing.”

“What’s that?”

“You’ll be photographed with me. It could show up in a tabloid or two.”

“Excuse me?” No one said anything about this being public fodder for tabloids.

"Easy now, love. I can’t control them. I’m in the public eye because of my family and let’s face it, I’ve cultivated something of a reputation. They’ll be curious about you, so you might be photographed. I’ll try to keep it to a minimum.”

“How long are they going to be photographing me?”

“Probably while we’re in Paris. Then when we get back, they might try to catch a glimpse of you. But if you just go about your day they’ll see there’s nothing interesting going on. Then a couple of weeks after I get the job, we’ll stage a public breakup. They’ll pretty much vanish after that. Unless of course you start dating your costar right after that.”

Her body went rigid, as if she’d been volunteered for the ice bucket challenge.
He doesn’t know how you feel about Ryan or why. Let it go.
“That won’t be happening.”

He was more astute than she gave him credit for, though, and he studied her closely. “You don’t like him? And given your posture, you have good cause not to like him.” He cocked his head. “Care to tell me what that is?”

She pinned him with resting bitch face number one. The one that said
Back off
. “Are we about to start sharing our deepest and darkest? You want to tell me why you hate Alistair McMahon?”

Those perfect lips of his flattened into a thin line. “Fair enough.”

Something tickled her memory banks. “Wait, last year I remember some big splash about some royal cousin or something in trouble for cheating on his girlfriend. Chase something. Was that you? I remember the papers last year. Is that what it's going to be like?"

Xander shook his head. "That was my brother, Alexi. The only reason that was even a problem was because of who he'd been engaged to at the time. It won't be like that, I promise."

"I'm having a hard time believing you. I don’t want my life disrupted over this."

"And it won't be—you have my word. This will all be over in a couple of weeks."

"Somehow you're not inspiring confidence."

“Remember, from the moment we arrive, unless you’re in your bedroom or the loo, assume that everyone is watching and cataloging your every move so we have to be on. Can you do this?”

"I can do anything for a few days. I'm ready for this if you are." She forced a smile she didn't entirely feel. It was only four days. She’d survive.

The rest of car ride through Paris, Xander did his best not to fidget. It didn’t help that he could smell Imani's perfume. He honestly couldn't believe she'd agreed to this madness.

After ten years, he was close to finally putting this shit to bed once and for all. Next to him, Imani stared out the window, eyes wide. She might as well have been oohing and ahhing for all her wonder. "I take it you’ve never been to Paris before."

She shook her head. "Fe, my best friend, and I were supposed to go once last term, but I got an audition so we had to cancel, then work and stuff. But it's top of my list. Do you think I’ll get a chance to sneak away for a couple of hours sometime this week? To explore a little."

Why hadn’t it even occurred to him that she would want to see Paris? "Sure. If you want, I can take you around. I'm very familiar with the city. I actually have an apartment I use in the 7th Arrondissement right across from the Eiffel Tower. I would have suggested we stay there, but I think LeClerc and Alistair want to keep an eye on me."

"You don’t have to do that. I know this is a job interview for you and I’m the required arm candy."

He placed his hand over hers and she stilled, her eyes pinning to their fingers. Very deliberately, he wrapped his fingers around hers and squeezed lightly. "I'd like to. I never get to show anyone the city. I'm usually working with models who either are in and out, or know the city as well as I do. And let's face it, the cafés would be wasted on them."

Imani chortled. "Good point, because I'm pretty sure I can eat my weight in pain chocolat right about now."

She was hungry. Damn. Only three hours with a girlfriend and he was already failing. "Why didn’t you say you were hungry?"

She shrugged. "I know you’re on a schedule. I figured I could eat once we got settled. Don’t worry, I’m not at hangry levels yet."

Xander frowned. "Hangry?"

Her answering dimpled smile was completely arresting. "So hungry that you’re pretty pissed off about it and might eat someone's arm to slake the hunger."

"That's bloody fantastic. Note to self, keep you well fed."

"We’ll have you slanging like a Yank in no time."

The car pulled into a loose gravel driveway surrounded by seven to eight-foot hedges. They drove for another full minute before the chateau came into view.

Imani's gasp was audible. "This looks like something out of a Dumas novel."

They were met by a butler wearing a tuxedo at the front stairs. "Good afternoon, Monsieur Chase. Mademoiselle.
Bienvenue
à Chateau Millieux. Gerard will show you to your room and your bags will be brought up shortly." His French was perfectly accented, but when he spoke English, it was apparent he was British.

Xander knew he should be focused on the job at hand, but he kept paying attention to Imani's reactions. Something as simple as the floor fascinated her. Polished white marble lay at their feet. Priceless art hung on the walls leading to the grand staircase.

"I think I should have brought my roller skates," she muttered in a hushed tone.

"You have your own set of skates?"

"I'd better, since I'm a derby girl."

He wasn’t sure what that was, but his mind, ever helpful, conjured up every dirty connotation it could dream up. "Dare I ask what a derby girl is?"

"If I'm to stay your girlfriend, we're going to have to do a crash course in all things American and fun."

Their room was on the top floor of the four-floor chateau on the south side, so the lighting was beautiful. The furnishings opulent. A beautiful four-poster bed dominated the space despite the grand size of the room.

Imani's gaze flickered to his.
One bed.

Another reason why he would have preferred his own place in the city and commuted out. "Don’t worry. I'll take the couch."

Imani narrowed her gaze on the settee. "No dice. You’re a lot bigger than I am. Take the bed."

There was no way. He might be a prat, but he was gentleman enough to give it to her. "Not going to happen. But if you like, we can share."

Her gaze flickered to the bed, then back at him. "Not gonna happen."

"Then it's settled, you will take the bed."

His gaze focused in on her full lips as her tongue peeked out to moisturize them. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Could I stop you from asking?" The last thing he needed was her attempting to probe into his personal life…again.

"Probably not, but I suppose you could not answer."

He dragged off his tie and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. "Then go ahead."

"Why didn’t you bring a real girl to this interview?"

Because he would have wanted to keep someone he cared about as far away from this shit as possible. Alistair was toxic. And he had to be just as ugly to do what he needed to do. But he couldn’t say that. "It's simpler, easier, more detached. Bring a woman to Paris and all of a sudden she starts to get ideas."

She scoffed and fingered the gossamer window hangings. "You’re a real romantic, aren’t you?"

He grinned.

She rolled her eyes. "I think we're due downstairs."