Summer Kisses (324 page)

“Jack? Where are you?” Tahiti, Venice… he was bound to be somewhere disgustingly romantic and exotic.

Kelly perked up and stepped farther into the room. “Is that Jack?”

“About where I am... that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Is something wrong? Do you need me to send you something? Did they send you to Antarctica or something and you didn’t pack the right clothes?”

Kelly’s eyebrows flew up questioningly. Lou waved her away. This was
her
conversation, but it was Kelly’s kitchen—necessary since her oven was still out of commission. So much for privacy.

“It’s Paris.”

Lou’s breath whooshed out and her knees turned to jelly. Kelly quickly guided her down onto one of the stools at the breakfast bar. “Paris?” she whispered.

Her
Paris. Of all the places around the world that she’d dreamed of seeing, that one had always topped the list. The one city more than any other in the world that she wanted to see before she died. The most romantic city in the world. Jack was there.

With someone else.

She’d resolved to let him go, but
Paris
. She hadn’t factored France into the equation. Why did he have to tell her? Why couldn’t he have let her live in ignorance? She liked ignorance. It was bliss, dammit.

She realized Jack was still talking and keyed back in on the conversation.

“…need to hurry. My folks said they could take the kids, but the only flight I could get you leaves from O’Hare in less than three hours.”

“Wait. What flight?”

“The overnight to Charles De Gaulle. It leaves at 6:30. Can you make it?”

Lou felt as if every molecule of her body went still. She held her breath, bracing against the bulletproof hope that rose up in a fierce wave. “You want me to come to Paris?”

“Omigod!” Kelly squeaked. “Yes! Tell him yes! You have to go! The kids can stay here with me.”

Lou shushed her so she could hear Jack.

“I know you’ve always wanted to see Paris and… I owe you Europe, Lou. Just you. No kids.” There was a short pause, as if he was hesitating, trying to decide what more to say. “I want to give you this after all you’ve done for me.”

Lou ignored Kelly’s chants of “Say yes say yes say yes” and tried to force her brain to consider this rationally. “Miranda says this is okay?”

He gave a slight groan. “Actually, there will be some camera crews. Miranda is using it as a chance to audition some new camera crews or something.”

Being followed around by camera crews was less than ideal, but it was
Paris
. Part of her hesitated. Every time she’d tried to go overseas before some disaster had happened to stop her. Her mother’s cancer. Gillian’s death. Bad things always seemed to chase away her dreams.

“I don’t know, Jack.”

“You never take anything for yourself. Let me give you Paris. Please.”

Please.

It was Jack. And Paris.

Right there, sitting in Kelly’s kitchen with the kids screaming like maniacs in the next room, surrounded by the smells of freshly baked blueberry scones, Lou’s heart melted into a puddle of wax, taking her will to resist with it. “Okay,” she heard herself say, before Kelly’s squeal temporarily disabled her eardrums.

She scribbled the details on a pad Kelly shoved under her hand and hung up, feeling dazed and overwhelmed. And wondering what had just possessed her to agree to meet Jack in Paris.

Her handwriting on the pad looked foreign. Lou looked up and met Kelly’s eager gaze.

“Oh God,” she groaned. “What did I just agree to?”

“Paris!” Kelly bounced on her chair. “
L’amour
, baby!”

“I’m supposed to be looking for apartments this week. I need to get a job. Resumes. I should be thinking about resumes.”

Kelly looked at her as if she’d started speaking in tongues. “Louisa Renee Tanner, if you do not go to Paris tonight, I am going to disown you as my best friend. Now, stop being an idiot and grab the kids. We’ve got to get you packed and on that flight!”

With Kelly acting as Field Marshall, they were back at Lou’s house—
Jack’s
house, not hers, she reminded herself—in less than ten minutes. Five minutes after that Lou stood in the middle of her bedroom feeling inexplicably lost as Kelly bustled around her throwing toiletries into an overnight bag.

“Did he say how long you’d be gone?” Kelly asked.

Lou caught the brush Kelly flung at her and dropped it into the bag. “Just over two days, including the flights.”

“So just one day and one night in Paris. Where’s your lingerie?”

“Kelly!”

“Oh, don’t pretend to be shocked. I know you’ve got something naughty stashed somewhere. I didn’t take you to Victoria’s Secret so you could admire yourself in the mirror. Get your naughty bits and throw them in the bag.”

Lou obligingly grabbed her “naughty bits”. She still couldn’t quite wrap her head around the fact that tomorrow she would be in Paris, France. After nine years holding onto her passport, it would finally get a stamp in it.

For all that Paris still felt surreal, it was a lot easier to grasp than being in the most romantic city on the planet with
Jack
. After she’d resolved to let him go.

“Kelly, what am I going to do? Tell me what the Plan is.” She needed Kelly’s strategy right now.

“No plan. Where are those cute red heels we got you? They looked kinda French, didn’t they?”

“They should be in the closet. What do you mean there’s no plan?”

“No plan. Oh! Here they are.” Kelly emerged from the closet, holding a pair of red heels above her head like trophies. They found their way into the bag. Lou had no idea what else had ended up in there. She’d just have to trust Kelly.

“I should pack up a bag for Emma and TJ.” They’d spent the night at their grandparents’ once or twice and had been begging to be allowed to stay over with the twins, but she’d never just dumped them off on anyone so precipitously.

Kelly zipped Lou’s bag and pushed it into her hands, sliding the strap over her shoulder. “Don’t worry about Emma and TJ. Between your folks and Jack’s folks and me, they’ve got more people wanting to look after them than any two children could ever want. We’ll just pick up whatever we need later. I’ve got a key. Right now, we have to get you to the airport.”

She herded Lou out of the room and down the hall. Lou caught her arm, stopping her at the top of the stairs before they got back in range of the kids.

“Kelly, seriously. What do I do? I need a plan.”

Kelly put her hand over Lou’s on her arm and gave a gentle squeeze. “No plan this time. No games. No strategies. Just enjoy him. Enjoy being with him.”

Lou swallowed thickly and nodded. It remained unspoken that this would probably be her last chance to be with him. Her life suddenly felt very
Casablanca
. They would always have Paris.

Lou closed her eyes for a moment. Paris. She was really going to Paris.

“Come on, Aunt Lou!”

Provided she made the flight. Lou leapt down the stairs, taking them two at a time.

~~~

Jack paced in the lobby of the Hotel Pont Royal. He barely registered the rich dark wood paneling and ornate marble floors. He was too consumed with agitation as he waited for Lou to arrive.

Her flight had landed over an hour ago. Shouldn’t she be here already?

Jack hoped she slept on the plane because he had a full day of Parisian thrills planned for them. Miranda had pulled numerous strings to arrange it all, but he knew it would be worth it to see the look on Lou’s face when she finally got her dream day in Paris.

The last few days of his life should have been amazing. He strolled with Marcy through the Prado museum in Madrid and drank sangria while they watched a private flamenco show.

And the entire time, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Lou. She had consumed him. Worry ate away at his enjoyment. If only things were settled between them. If only she knew how he felt and he could be sure of the same.

She’d always been there at his side and if he asked her to stay he knew she would, but he had to know she was staying because she loved him as more than a friend and not because she felt obligated to help him. He’d always taken her presence for granted, but now he needed to woo her into staying.

Paris was his trump card. He’d known she wouldn’t be able to resist the city of lovers. Now all he had to do was find out how she really felt about him, get her out of her head, and woo his way into her heart.

All before he was supposed to fly off to the Swiss Alps to ski and sip cocoa with Katya. Love on a clock. So his impatience was justified.

Then Jack looked up as the doorman opened the door and there she was. The camera crew that Miranda had arranged swarmed around them.

Her coat was unbuttoned, revealing a simple black dress that hugged her curves. She fiddled with the bright red scarf twisted around her neck as she scanned the lobby. Her eyes lit on him and a wide smile burst across her face. She looked chic and sophisticated—gorgeous enough to be picked as a Suitorette any day of the week—but it was that smile that squeezed a vise around his heart.

Jack grinned back and quickly crossed the distance to her side in long strides. “Welcome to Paris.”

Lou’s grin grew even wider, if such a thing were even possible. “I don’t think I’m ever going to get tired of hearing people say that.” She closed her eyes, basking in the moment. “
Paris
. I can’t believe I’m really here.”

“Believe it.”

Jack grabbed the shoulder strap of her bag, meaning to carry it upstairs for her, but Lou jolted away from his hand on her shoulder, her eyes flying open again. The bag started to slide down her arm. He caught it and swung it over onto his own shoulder. She took a quick step away from him. Her smile never wavered, but he knew they’d both noticed how skittish she was. The wooing thing wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d hoped.

“So what are we going to do first?” she asked, her cheer a little forced.

“First we drop your bag in the suite upstairs and get some breakfast. Can’t see Paris on an empty stomach.”

She brushed away that suggestion with a wave of her hand. “Oh, I’m fine. Let’s just get started. I’m not here long. We don’t have a second to waste.”

“It won’t take a minute,” he insisted, taking her elbow and holding it even though she shied away from him. He guided her into the elevator, squeezing to make room for the camera, and pushed the button for the top floor.

Jack let go of her elbow as the rickety elevator lurched upward. She sidled away, as much as the cramped quarters would allow, under the pretext of admiring the paneling on the far wall. She’d never avoided being touched by him before. He hoped this meant she was more, rather than less, aware of him physically, but he’d have to tread carefully today.

Lou was holding herself back, trying to keep the boundaries between them intact. The way she pulled away from him frustrated Jack, but he could be patient. He had Paris—and if Marcy wasn’t mistaken, her own heart—on his side.

He had all day.

~~~

When the elevator doors opened on the top floor, Lou burst into the hall, needing to put some distance between herself and Jack. She pulled up short when she realized there was no hallway, just a small foyer and a large, ornately carved door.

Jack appeared at her side, key in hand. His nearness sent little shivers rocketing through her body, eroding her will to resist. Why had she decided they shouldn’t be together? She’d had a reason, she was certain of it, but now, with him standing so close and his body heat pressing against the outside of her arm, she couldn’t remember all of her carefully thought out reasons why they had to keep things strictly platonic.

She’d made a list of her reasons on the plane—in between being pampered with every possible luxury and sleeping like a baby in the cocoon-like seat of international first class. It was a good list. A rational list. Emma. TJ. Something about making an idiot of herself on national television…

Jack reached past her and Lou focused on the key, trying to get a grip. The old fashioned key matched the elegance of the old hotel. It was gorgeously European.

Then Jack pushed the door open and Lou gasped. The penthouse was massive and every inch of it defined luxury. Jack nudged her into the room and she stalled just over the threshold, gaping like a hick.

As Jack slipped through one of the pairs of double doors leading off the main room to dispose of her bag, Lou walked dazedly through the main room, trailing her fingers along the back of a Louis XVI chair. When Jack came back into the room, she turned to him with wide eyes. “Jack, this place is amazing.”

He grinned, a twinkle in his bright blue eyes. “You haven’t seen the best part yet.”

He strode toward her and grabbed her by the shoulders. Her heart jumped in her chest and for a brief moment she thought he was going to kiss her.
That would be the best part
. But then he turned her around and marched her toward the floor-to-ceiling windows—which she suddenly realized were a series of sliding doors leading out onto the most massive terrace she’d ever seen.

A pair of comfortable-looking wicker chairs cozied up to the railing. A small table in front of them held a basket overflowing with flaky croissants. And the entire cozy scene looked out over Paris straight toward…

“The Eiffel Tower,” Lou whispered, breathless.

“Not a bad view, eh? And see there? That’s Notre Dame.”

Lou heard a little squeaking sound she was pretty sure was coming from her own throat, but she couldn’t form actual words.

“You can see Sacre Coeur from the other side.”

Jack’s hands slid down from her shoulders along her arms, wrapping around her as they went until she was cuddled in front of him, facing the most gorgeous view man had ever created. His chest pressed against her back and he gently rested his chin on her hair.

“Jack,” she finally managed to whisper.

“Do you like it?”

“I never dreamed it would be this beautiful.” Or that everything would feel this perfect. The most wonderful man she’d ever met had his arms warm around her and Paris was laid out at her feet. She wanted to hold onto this moment for the rest of her life.