French Kiss (Novella) (5 page)

“No, I was a good boy, although like Joe Buck, I did
sell my body for a buck or two when I had to!” Cameron said seriously.

“What?” Maria said, “No, you didn’t?” Maria said
jumping in front of him, blocking his path, allowing no escape from the
question.

Cameron laughed, happily, “Nah, although I did have
a girlfriend, but she never paid me unfortunately. That woulda helped with the tuition!”

They both laughed as one, and continued on, Cameron
seeming to all of a sudden become more purposeful in his stride as he spotted a
landmark and headed for it.  He seemed to know where he was going and Maria
followed, enjoying his newfound cheeriness.

As they continued to walk, Cameron turned to her,
“What about you? You haven’t said much about yourself. What do you do when
you’re not sampling the cities of the world?”

Maria thought for a moment, but it didn’t take her
long to decide she would tell him the truth, after all they were in a similar
position anyway and she was sure Cameron wouldn’t balk if she told him
everything.

“I never leave the house, except to go to the
hospital for check-ups and physical therapy twice a week, you know how it
goes...”

Her voice grew distant as she entered reality for a
second.

“What about in your younger days? Didn’t you ever
get to go anywhere and experience life, I mean, at least I had that, regardless
of how things are now. I got to experience life outside of Texas, outside of
the boundaries I grew up in.”

Maria shook her head, her voice filled with sadness,
“no ... I suppose ... my mother never allowed it, said it was too dangerous for
someone like me to be out among ‘normal’ people. So ... for 25 years, I’ve
pretty much been stuck at home ... with mom.”

Cameron stopped walking and turned to look at her,
his face betraying the sympathy he clearly felt for her.  “That’s so awful,
Maria. I’m sorry ... it must have been hard, all these years stuck at home.”

Maria shrugged limply, “Nah, you get used to it, I
suppose ... just like anything.”

Cameron took her in his arms, hugging her close to
his body, needing to comfort her. Maria felt safe with him, sure that if there
was anyone she wanted to be with, it was most assuredly him.

How lucky I am.

Cameron held her close for a minute, the two of them
in no hurry, simply enjoying the moment. Maria listened to the sound of
Cameron’s breath, slow and steady, like his character.

“Come with me.” Cameron said, breaking away from the
hug and taking her hand suddenly, in a hurry.  “I have something for you.”

Maria was curious. “What, what is it?”

“You’ll see ...” Cameron said, looking down at her
with a huge smile on his face.

Through the lamp-lit streets they wandered,
seemingly with no end destination in mind, but somehow, Maria guessed that
Cameron knew exactly where they were going - she sensed a focus in him that had
strengthened the further away from the market they got.

Subtly, he was leading her. The question was -
where?

That question was answered soon enough, when Cameron
came to a sudden stop before a brightly lit store - a jewelry store judging by
the array of glittering, jewel-encrusted rings and fine jewelry on display in
the window.

This was no ordinary jewelry shop though, for it
lacked the ‘plainness’ and austerity she usually associated with jewelry
stores, especially the ones frequented by her mother. Her mother had a penchant
for rings, never the expensive type - always silver and more often than not -
cheap.

Maria had always assumed that jewelry stores were
such plain establishments in order to place more emphasis on the beauty of the jewelry
contained within - that made sense - she supposed.

Cameron smiled at her, taking in the look on her
face… questioning and confused. As he held the door open for her, inviting her
to enter the brightly lit interior under his arm, Maria wondered why he would
want to enter a jewelry shop - an expensive one at that.

Is he ...?

The interior of the shop was decorated like a
palace, the walls adorned with ornate wall-mounted lamps that cast a gentle
light over the display cases, while the eye-catching chandelier overhead - the
centerpiece of the store, fit perfectly with the candy apple-red walls encasing
the little shop and its treasures.

Behind the huge glass display case stood a smartly
dressed woman, her hair bunched up into a splendid beehive that was adorned
with little glinting teardrops, that hung from it here and there, strategically
placed for effect. She smiled and stepped forward immediately beginning to
speak - in French - and Maria tried her best to keep up with the conversation
as Cameron surprised her by effortlessly rolling an almost perfect French
accent of his tongue accompanied by a string of sexy yet confusing words.

“Bonjour, Monsieur. Comment puis-je t'aider?”

“Ah, Bonjour, Madam. Je jete un coup d’oeil, merci.”
Cameron answered, as Maria stood there next to him, baffled.

The lady stepped back then, the conversation over as
quick as it had begun and Maria patted Cameron’s arm.

“What did you just say?”

Cameron looked up from the rings he was regarding in
the display case and smiled, “Oh I just told her that we were only looking.”

“Oh, I see...” Maria said, somehow feeling a little
disappointed.

What did you think? He was going to buy
you a ring?

Cameron nodded, turning back to the display case.
“There’s some beautiful rings here, don’t you think?  I quite like these,” he
noted, without looking up.  Cameron seemed to have eyes for only one ring in
particular, it was gold and had one of the biggest gemstones Maria had ever
seen.

Maria leant forward, admiring it.

“Yes, but I’ll bet you could buy a house for the
same amount!”

Cameron shook his head.

“No, not really. I have a house and it costs much
more,” he said, offering a reassuring wink.

“Yes, but look at the price of ‘that’ one, she said
pointing to the ring Cameron had been staring at earlier. Amazingly beautiful,
but that price ...”

“Want to try it on?” Cameron asked casually.

Maria turned to him, “No, no, I’m not really into
jewelry and rings anyway, Cameron.”

Cameron smiled broadly again, knowing all too well
what she really meant.

“Well ... shall we go then?” he said, looking at the
door and then back at her.

“Yes, sounds like a good idea.”

The last thing she wanted was for Cameron to lavish
her with jewelry and gifts, on his own, he was more than enough for her. Still...
she thought, those rings were gorgeous, the likes of which she would never have
expected to see on her finger.

Outside, in the street, Cameron turned to her once
more, now his face had turned serious.

“Are you sure you don’t want to try that ring on?”

“Cameron, please ...”

“What about ‘this’ one?” he said, producing a red
velvet box from his pocket and holding it out in front of him with a little
shrug.

Maria was speechless. “What ... Cameron?”

Cameron laughed gently as Maria lost her composure
completely, pleased that he had managed to surprise her in just the right way.

When he had visited the store earlier to buy the
very same ring that Maria had been staring at in the shop, he hadn’t been sure
how to present it to her. Luckily, there had been one other girl in his life,
years earlier and he had pulled the same stunt with her. Taken her to the store
and then watched her as she struggled to hide her disappointment when they left
without buying something, only to pull out a ring from his coat and surprise
her. Back then, the ring didn’t have the desired effect, at least not for as
long as he had hoped.

She hadn’t been willing to wait for the wedding. In
fact, he realized, she had no intention of marrying him from the start.

Not that he thought for one moment that Maria would
marry him, at least ... not yet anyway.

With a gasp, Maria stepped back in disbelief.

Cameron laughed and cut her off, “Come on, you
haven’t figured it out yet?”

He said raising his hands in a questioning gesture.

“Figured what out?”

“The limousine in Rome, the tuxedo ... this ring ...
I’m not exactly poor, you know!” Cameron said, raising his eyebrows and
stepping forward to take her hand. “Now, come over here and let me see if this
fits.”

Still speechless, Maria stepped forward and allowed
Cameron to slide the ring onto her finger - it fit perfectly and the red ruby
atop the polished gold matched her nails and hair -- it finished off her look
nicely.

“Wonderful, now you really look the part!”

Maria held up her hand, marveling at the ring and
how it caught the light of the lamp overhead, sparkling like a star in the
night sky.

For so long, she had simply been plain old Maria. No
frills. Not even on the same level as your average girl on the street, but at
that moment, with Cameron in his tuxedo standing beaming before her while she
stared at the enormous ruby on her finger, she felt like a princess.

More importantly, for the first time in her life -
she felt like a woman.

Her mother had always denied her that, telling her
that with her condition she would never be like other women and should simply
forget about men altogether.

And she had, at least most of the time. There had
been one forbidden kiss, when she was in her teens, but her mother had heard of
it and banished the boy forever, yanking Maria away from him as if he were a
danger to her life.

She didn’t blame her though. She knew it was because
her mother was lonely, having raised Maria alone for 24 years. There had been
one or two men. Maria had pretended not to notice, but she knew - she heard and
saw things ...

As a young girl, it had been easy to obey her
mother’s wishes and stay away from boys, but as her teens passed by and she
became a young woman, the urges were infinitely more difficult to control,
especially once she discovered the internet and the wealth of opportunities it
offered.

This time, her mother wouldn’t stand in the way. Cameron
was too important to her. Tears swelled in her eyes, and threatened to spill
down her cheeks, but she held them back.

 “Thank you, Cameron ... thank you so much!” She
reached up and put her arms around him before leaning in and finding his lips
with her own. Cameron pulled her in and enfolded her within his strong grip,
his lips pressing against her own in answer.

In a cobbled street in Paris, bathed in lamp-light,
the two became one and all at once, their pain and loneliness were masked by
joy and a bliss so pure it threatened to overwhelm them completely.

Maria yawned, stretching her arms out above her
head.

“I’m really getting tired now, Cameron, sorry.”

“No, that’s okay, it is nearly midnight. I have to sleep
myself. Got a long day tomorrow.”

“Walk me to my apartment?” Maria said, looking up at
Cameron, as they walked along, the streets now almost completely deserted.

Cameron nodded, smiling, “Sounds like a plan to me.”

At Maria’s apartment, she turned to him, a growing
feeling within her.  She wanted to invite him in, but she wasn’t sure about it.
 This was all so new to her and anyway, she had no idea what to do. Did
Cameron?

“Can I come in?” Cameron seemed to sense her
thoughts. Seemed to know exactly what she wanted and so dearly wanted to give
it to her. If there was anyone she trusted at that moment, it was him. She
decided in that split-second, as she gazed down on him from the stone steps
leading up to her apartment, it was all so ‘right’ and she knew Cameron felt
the same, wanted her as much as she wanted him.

She opened the door and beckoned for him to follow
silently, holding out a hand which he took. Quietly, they made their way
upstairs, both knowing what was about to happen next and both unable to quell
their urges any longer.

It was awkward at first, neither of them very experienced,
but especially Maria.  She let Cameron take the lead; she propelled him onward
with breathless words and affirmatives as he gently removed her clothes and
guided her hands to his own clothes, needing to be freed of their enclosure.

Maria could barely control her herself and as
Cameron lay her down and began to make love to her, she moved with him,
learning from his guidance and experience.

At times they fumbled and their movements were
awkward. Still, it was what they both wanted - what they needed and for the
next 30 minutes they partook of each other, whispering words of love.

When they finally lay still in the darkness, Maria’s
head resting on Cameron’s broad, strong chest as they panted from their
exertions, Maria spoke.