The Accidental Boyfriend (8 page)

She gave him a little smirk that had him half convinced she could read his mind as she sidled past him to grab an apple from the fruit bowl. “Please tell me there’s coffee.”

She leaned against the counter beside him, so close he could feel the heat from her skin. So close he could touch her if he so desired. And oh, he desired.

Pushing himself away from the counter he strode to the other side of the kitchen as though pillaging the almost bare fridge was an urgent matter. “Sorry,” he said. “No coffee.” He turned to see her pursing her lips in a comically exaggerated scowl.

“Well, that just won’t do,” she said, tossing the apple onto the counter. She whirled off toward the bedroom she’d claimed the night before and called over her shoulder, “Throw some clothes on, Everett, we’re going out.”

He threw a jacket over his T-shirt and jeans and was surprised to find her already waiting by the door, her wild curls thrown up into a messy bun and clad in simple jeans and the same oversized-T, which, he now noticed, sported a faded band logo with an illegible autograph.

He raised a questioning brow and nodded to the name. “Big fan?”

One side of her mouth curved up in a saucy grin. “I was that night.”

Struck dumb for the second time that morning, Jack could only watch in wide-eyed wonder as she swung around, her massive tote nearly knocking him over as she led the way out the door.

* * * *

They found a tiny café a couple of blocks away and Jack watched Holly take her first sip with eyes closed while letting out a loud moan of ecstasy. She opened her eyes when he laughed. “What’s so funny?” she asked.

She was smiling at him and her face was fresh-scrubbed and makeup-less. He was sure she’d never looked more beautiful.

“You are,” he said, taking a sip of his own brew. He let out a contented sigh, which made her laugh in return. She held her mug up to cheers his.

“To coffee,” she said.

“No,” he said in an exaggerated French accent. “To
café
.”

She feigned a serious look to match his and echoed, “To
café
.”

She linked her arm through his in a friendly, almost sisterly way as they walked back down the street, neither apparently in much of a hurry to return to the scene of the crime, as he was beginning to think of last night’s epic make out session.

They were walking the opposite way from the apartment, toward the Seine.

“So how long do I have?” she asked.

“To live?” he teased.

She rolled her eyes at the lame joke. “In Paris. When do we have to head back?”

He looked at her in surprise. “I thought you wanted to see Ivy.”

Her eyes widened in offense and shock. “Of course I do! I just—” She stopped talking abruptly and her lips pursed to the side in a chagrined look.

“You just…” he repeated.

She shook her head and gave him a sidelong glance. “I’m not exactly excited to show up…like this.”

She didn’t explain but she didn’t have to. “Like this” was having been found in the wrong Paris. Chasing after a guy. An unexpected wave of annoyance made his voice sharper than he intended. “I take it she doesn’t approve of Benjamin?”

Her brows drew together in confusion. “I don’t need her
approval
.”

So she basically admitted it. Ivy didn’t like him which meant, he wasn’t good enough, which meant….what? He could go for it? He wasn’t sure that logic would stand up to Daniel’s standards.

“It’s just embarrassing is all,” Holly said with a sigh.

He looked down at the top of her head, surprised by the honesty in her voice. He found it oddly brave of her to admit. Most people would bluster and joke their way through something like this. Not that “something like this” was a common event, but still.

He wanted to say something to make her feel better about facing her family but drew a blank. What did he know about sibling conversations? He had one brother and they hadn’t spoken in years. He had long since established his role as the disappointment in his family—he was definitely not one to be doling out advice.

So instead, he found himself shamelessly digging for information. “You must really care about this guy to travel halfway around the world to surprise him,” he said. He waited for her to respond, even though he didn’t want to hear what he knew she would say.

“I do,” she said with a sigh that spoke volumes. He mentally kicked himself for bringing it up. He didn’t want to hear about this. He wanted to flirt and tease and watch her laugh with abandon—but instead she was staring off into the distance with such a forlorn expression, he couldn’t seem to stop himself.

“Have you been together long?” he asked.

She glanced up at him as though surprised to find him there beside her. Rather insulting, actually. He was usually in demand with women, not forgotten while standing by their side. But even Holly’s voice sounded dreamy, like she was lost in memory.

“We’ve been together forever,” she said. She sipped her coffee and he caught a hint of a smile on her lips. “We got engaged,” she said.

Her words were a swift kick in the gut and Jack was temporarily paralyzed, unable to form words to respond. Holly looked up and laughed at the surprise on his face.

“When we were in kindergarten,” she finished.

He let out the breath that had caught in his chest with what he hoped was a normal sounding laugh. “So it was serious.”

“Mmm,” she mused, a thoughtful look on her face. “It’s been a very long engagement.”

“So what happened? You grew apart in grade school?”

Her head fell back as she let out a loud, contagious laugh that had other passersby smiling in their direction. “College,” she corrected. “I wanted to see the world, meet people, have exciting adventures and Benjamin….well, he’s a homebody.”

Somehow Holly made “homebody” sound like a sexy trait. He had a fleeting and bizarre desire to be a homebody, which was ridiculous.

“But we stayed great friends,” she continued. “Best friends.”

She stopped talking abruptly so he filled in the blanks. “But now you want more.”

He thought she wouldn’t respond, she was staring fixedly at the river which had come into view. “Yes,” she finally said.

They walked in silence for a bit, sipping their coffee and taking in the view of longboats floating down the Seine. He meant to let it go. He didn’t want to hear anymore. But despite himself, he heard his voice asking, “What changed?”

She turned to him with a quizzical look, her forehead creased in confusion. “What?”

“What changed?” he repeated. “What happened to make you want more after so many years as best friends?” He heard the mockery in his tone at the way he said “best friends” and clamped his mouth shut. He sounded like a jealous ex.

She gave a little shrug which he knew to be a lie, although he didn’t know how he knew that. He also noticed that she avoided outright answering the question. “I think—when we were younger, he was always cleaning up my messes, you know? He was always getting me out of some scrape or making an excuse to get me out of trouble.” She shot him a lopsided grin that rendered him speechless. “I was always in trouble,” she added.

“So Mr. Homebody was your knight in shining armor,” he said.

She nodded with a twinkling laugh and Jack decided right then and there that he absolutely despised Benjamin, whether it made sense or not.

“That’s exactly it,” she agreed. “He was my knight.”

They came to a stop by the water’s edge and Holly gave a little sigh that tore at his heart. “And now I need to convince him that he can trust me. That I won’t make a mess of this.”

“Make a mess of what?”

She continued as if he didn’t speak. “I don’t think he trusts me…to be a mom. To make a lifetime commitment.”

His heart hurt at the pain he heard in her voice. He’d never met anyone who was so open, so defenseless with their emotions. Her words slowly made their way to his brain and he swallowed down the knee-jerk reaction to run in the opposite direction.

It’s not like she was asking
him
to be a husband or father. But still. His feet were ready to run. He had learned a long time ago that he was not that sort of man—the kind people can depend on. Anyone who leaned on him ended up crashing to the ground when he let them down—and he always let them down. Disappointing people, hurting the ones he loved—whether it was intentional or not—that was all he could be counted on to do.

“I get it,” he said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

She turned to him in surprise and he instantly knew that she’d misunderstood. “I mean, I understand what it feels like to let people down. To not be trusted by the people you love.”

He shifted uncomfortably under her scrutinizing gaze. He didn’t regret saying what he’d said—he wanted her to know that he understood what she was going through, at least to a certain extent. But still, he’d never opened up to anyone like that and the fact that she was now staring at him in that all-seeing omniscient sort of way was terrifying.

Forcing a grin, he added. “So yeah, I get the trust part. The kids and family part? Not so much.”

Holly laughed at that and rolled her eyes. “Believe me, I know.”

His brows shot up at that and it was his turn to study her. She turned away quickly and he was more than a little amused to see a pink blush spreading across her cheeks.

“You know?” he said.

She shrugged and toyed with the lid of her coffee cup. “Yeah, I mean, everybody knows that.”

Her vague answer only made him more curious. He was well aware of the reputation he’d made for himself but Holly’s unease made him want to know what exactly she thought she knew about him. “Everybody knows what?” he pressed. He couldn’t help it, he was absurdly entertained by the sight of her discomfort.

She cast him a look out of the corner of her eye. Turning to face him, she let out an exasperated sigh. “I read the article
Vanity Fair
did on you, okay? You made it very clear that you have no interest in marrying or settling down.”

Had he said that? He had a vague memory of that article coming out a couple of years ago but clearly it left an impression on Holly. Jack couldn’t stop the smug grin that spread across his face.

“So you’ve been reading up on me, huh?” he teased.

Holly’s lips twitched but she ignored the comment. “Even if I hadn’t read that article, you’ve made it abundantly clear that you are not a one-woman man by your actions.” She rolled her eyes as she said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with the same woman twice.”

Jack shrugged, ignoring the odd impulse to point out that he’d been spotted with her a number of times now, if anyone was watching. Before he could say anything, she quickly added, “Not that I’m judging. I’m not. I used to be the same way. I had the attention span of a gnat, especially when it came to relationships. But now…” her voice trailed off with another sigh.

“But now you want the whole fantasy—the babies, the minivan, the yard with a white picket fence,” he finished for her.

She smacked his arm at his teasing tone but she was smiling. “I know it sounds ridiculous to you. I take it you haven’t changed your mind since that article came out—”

He cut her off with an exaggerated shudder. “A wife and kids? Me? Definitely not. Out of the question.”

Jack thought she would laugh at that but she looked oddly serious. “That’s what I thought.”

The silence that followed seemed too heavy and Jack was quick to fill the void. “And that’s what you want?” he asked. “A family?”

Her sigh was so wistful, he thought she might cry. “More than anything.”

He tugged her arm a bit so she turned toward him. He would do absolutely anything to rid her face of that sad smile. He wanted to tell her that she wasn’t a mess—that she was perfect—but he knew she would laugh him off.

He would just have to prove it to her. How? He had no idea.

“Why don’t we stay here for a few days?” he said.

Holly’s eyes lit up a bit but then her eyes narrowed with wariness. “Are you sure?”

“I’m positive. Danny and Brunelli have been on my case to visit the Paris office so why not now?”

Plus, it would give her time to figure out what to say to her family and him time to convince her that Benjamin was all wrong for her. Not that Jack was the right guy. Obviously. But still, Ivy didn’t like this guy and it was the least he could do for his best friend’s sister.

She was beaming up at him and for a second,
he
felt like a knight in shining armor. “Thank you,” she said.

He gave a shrug and hoped she couldn’t see his ridiculously giddy grin. “Don’t mention it.”

Turning so they were once again heading along the river, he put a hand on her lower back and gently nudged her to continue their walk. “So, where to today?” he asked.

She looked up with wide eyes. “Don’t you have to go to the office?”

“It’s Sunday,” he pointed out.

Her lips twitched up in a self-deprecating grin. “Oh, right.” She took his arm again as she led them further down the Seine. “In that case, we should probably start with the Musée D’Orsay, it’s my favorite.”

* * * *

One museum and two croissants later, they hopped in a cab back to the flat, pleasantly exhausted and desperately in need of a shower. Or at least Holly was. Jack was annoyingly hot with his mussed hair and sunglasses. She on the other hand was a total mess with no makeup and the ratty old T-shirt she’d slept in the night before.

Jack must have been cringing at the sight of her all morning. Not that it mattered. She wasn’t here to impress Jack. She was here to come up with a game plan for winning over Benjamin. What better place to come up with a strategy for love than Paris?

They showered and relaxed around the apartment for a bit but Holly was eager to get back out into the city of love. She needed inspiration before she got up the nerve to call Benjamin to tell him where she was… and why.

“You ready yet?” Holly asked, poking her head into the living room where Jack was furiously typing away on his laptop. He glanced up and blinked rapidly as if coming out of a daze. “Oh, yeah. Just wrapping up some work. Give me two minutes.” He turned back to the screen and was once more hypnotized.