#1
After a moment, when I steeled my
resolve, the door opened.
Not Louis.
A man with salt and pepper hair, a
nasty scar above his lip and astute eyes, scanned me. “Oui?” he asked rudely.
I hesitated, but then thought, I’m
all in.
“Je suis venue pour voir Louis.”
He scanned me much more carefully,
and his dark eyes stopped at the cash in my hand. After his eyebrows rose, ever
so slightly, his face relaxed and a side hitched up. He shrugged and opened the
door wider.
I stepped into another foyer,
encased in a marble, circular partition. With one last wave of jacked-up
energy, I barreled around the wall, quickly scanning the, holy massive, space, hesitating only to admire
the incredible view provided from floor-to-ceiling windows everywhere. Gorgeous
kitchen, too. I sucked in a waft of cooked chicken. God I missed meat. Pausing
to get my bearings—this was an extremely large suite—I followed the faint sound
of the television sports game. There was the living room. I spotted a giant
flat screen against a wall, blinds tugged down around it.
My heart was going a mile a minute,
my hands shaking. I couldn’t turn back now. I stepped down the two stairs,
powered across the empty dining room area, into the living
room space, aiming straight for the middle, where . . . my eyes
scanned quickly . . . there were others present, two, I think,
standing behind one sectional.
Ah-ha!
There sat Louis, legs wide apart,
on a giant leather sofa, a remote in one hand and an empty plate of chicken
bones beside him. He was in a pair of track pants and nothing else. To say he
was shocked, when he realized the girl standing in front of him was not a cute
American announcer suddenly on his TV screen, was an understatement.
“Fleur,” he exclaimed sitting
forward, absolutely no fat bunching at the waist.
“What the hell is this?!” I shouted
at him, waving the cash.
I watched red sprout in his cheeks
as he glanced around at the chilled room, and back on me. His eyes took in the
money, and my other hand on my hip. He stood up to his full, mighty height,
extra slow, his eyes steady on me.
But I wasn’t intimidated. Not in
the least. He was way out of line.
“You know what? In America, you
pay—” I shook the wad of cash at him “—after you’ve finished the transaction.” I threw the money
at him but it didn’t get very far. It kind of fluttered to the floor.
Holy cow. Did I really just
say that? That is not what I had meant to say. It just came out.
Waves of regret rippled through me
as he pulled his head back, and his lips bunched up, contemptuous. Disgust
spread on his face like ink.
And who could blame him? There I
was, standing in his living room, lamenting the fact he had not bopped me. Oh
sweet mercy.
#2
As we neared the yacht, I could see
only lights from a few windows of the cabin area. Near the bow, men were
lingering, smoking. I was shaky as I walked across the sloped plank, and it
wasn’t from the cold wind coming off the sea.
Louis’s entourage joined me on the
deck. I was struck by how much larger the entire boat seemed once you were on
it. My escorts pointed in the direction of the lit cabin with encouraging nods.
Just outside the doorway, looking down into the deep inset cabin, I spotted
Louis sitting at an elaborate bar, sipping a highball.
He was poised, on the edge of a
stool, in black dress pants, one long, thick leg stretched out, the other bent
underneath the stool. The sleeves of his blue dress shirt were rolled up,
which, I noted, might be a habit of his. He spun the whiskey around in his
hand, watching the golden elixir reflect light. I wondered if he was trying to
read his fortune in that glass, he stared so intently at it. I recalled the
night we met, at the bistro, how he gave off animosity. But now I knew better:
it was power.
He glanced up and watched me step
down into the cabin. His silent magnitude left me breathless. He took in my
dress quickly, eyes steady, and when he broke into a smile, my heart skipped a
beat.
“You came,” he said in English,
standing up, looking ginormous in the tiny room.
“Bien sûr,”
I answered. Why would he think I wouldn’t?
He was already near. It was odd:
his face was sketched with relief. He reached for my hand and pulled me to him,
brushing his mouth close to mine with a mere greeting. He paused, hovering
near, suddenly shifting his lower half up so close I could feel the heat coming
off of him. He clamped his lips down on mine with two-ton force. I was crushed
under all his intensity as he nudged my mouth open and tasted me. My heart was
beating a mile a minute. I kissed him back, tasting the whiskey on his tongue,
smelling his cologne and natural musk. We lingered a moment, before he pulled
back and, clasping both my cheeks, planted two more soft kisses on my lips.
#3
My chest hurt from a strange new
kind of anxiety, high-pitched, full of woe. Dread closed in on me. I’d never
felt so exposed standing before one human being before. And realization that he
could desecrate
me with a mere cold
shoulder sank in.
And maybe that was his point. But
why?
“Is that what you want? Do you want
me to go?” I whispered, trying to keep my voice steady.
I swear a universe of emotion flickered in his
eyes, but it presented itself so quickly, and was hidden from view, I wondered
if it existed at all.
I waited.
He shrugged. As if I was asking him
what color tie he wanted to wear.
I gasped. The floor opened up
beneath me, and, as I fell, I knew it then. He was the keeper—the keeper of our
connection. And he’d decided to punish me, without explanation, to prove a
point that he refused to explain.
I recalled thinking once that he
was a rotten man. What had happened to that idea? It was suddenly clear and
present again.
I rushed into my dress, zipping it
up on the way to the door. I stumbled because tragedy lay before me.
Was I going to leave?
My heart was up in my throat, and
tears ran down my cheeks.
Why was he so mean?
I didn’t understand!
I was steps from his door. Yes. I
was running home. To my mother. Like the child he clearly thought I was. The
lump in my throat ached, as with one last gasp of disbelief, I pulled on the
handle, desperate for him to stop me and desperate to get away, but
. . . the door wouldn’t budge.
I tugged again.
Oh.
His hand was above me, holding it
closed. The tattoo glared down at me. He’d moved—fast.
To stop me.
He didn’t want me to leave after
all.
I didn’t know whether to be
relieved or terrified or angry.
I felt, only, numb.
When he stepped into me, my body
moved of its own volition as close to the door as possible.
Seems he’d gotten what he was so
desperate to have. I was scared of him.
He buried his face in my hair, and
my chest burned. Tears of hurt streamed down my face. What had just happened?
My heart was pumping so fast it was going to burst and spray black everywhere,
and I didn’t even know why!
“Fleur,” he whispered.
No. I shook my head, but his body
had drawn close and followed mine as I tried to shift away against the door.
“Fleur,” he whispered.
I paused. We stood there, barely
touching, me trapped in a standstill of . . . hope. So much hope.
Pure hope. It was a field of azure bluebells on a Texas highway promising to
bud every spring without tending or mercy. I didn’t know what he wanted from
me, not by the way he had said my name, or in general, anymore, and I didn’t
care, not as long as he wanted me.
Slowly, gently, he pulled me into
him, and I let him.
I let him.
And . . . time began
again.
