Pleasure Games / Legal Attraction
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Their drinks arrived, though Jasmine noticed her champagne was a little on the glass-half-empty side.
Bitch.
“So, Neil, what’s in Paris? Business or pleasure?” She downed the champagne in three swallows and pressed the call button again.
Two can play this game, gorgeous French woman.
“Oh, a comic convention. It’s the biggest one in all of Europe. I’m an illustrator.” He brushed a wisp of hair off his forehead.
“Interesting.” Jasmine helped herself to another handful of Doritos. “What kind of illustrations?”
“Do you want to see?”
“Why not?”
Neil unfastened his seat belt and retrieved a bag from the overhead compartment, taking out a sketchbook before replacing the bag and sitting down. He flipped open the sketchbook to cartoons of—well, Jasmine was having a hard time focusing, to be honest.
“The cartoon is called Betty Boobs. It’s a play on Betty Boop. It’s very popular in Europe.”
Jasmine blinked and squinted. Big-chested, naked cartoon women with a bit of 1930s flare graced the pages of his sketchpad. Getting it on. Porn. The guy drew cartoon porn.
Cool.
“Neil, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Do you know what a beard is?” She blinked at him, forcing herself to swallow. That last sip of champagne had burned.
“You mean like facial hair?” He stroked his chin.
“No. The other connotation. Do you know it?”
His bushy brows drew together and then rose up his forehead as if filled with helium. “You mean like a gay guy who—”
“Yes.” She poked him on the arm. “That’s exactly what I mean. For example, my fiancé—well, ex-fiancé—asked me to marry him, right?”
“Okay.”
“Unbeknownst to me, I was his beard.” Reaching over to the little table in front of Neil, Jasmine snagged the can of Bud that he’d barely sampled and guzzled a good third before continuing. “We were supposed to get married yesterday.”
“Really?” His gaze was on the beer, not her.
She nodded.
Wow. She was really doing it. No tears. No temper tantrums. Just reporting the facts as if it had happened to someone else or like she was completely over it. Jasmine was proud of herself.
She drank deeply again before leaning close and placing her hand on Neil’s sweating forearm. “Yep. I’d have never known, except the night before the wedding, while I was supposed to be staying at a hotel with my friends, I came back to my apartment to pick up something I’d forgotten—something borrowed, or was it something blue?” She tapped her lips. “Hmm. Either way, that part doesn’t matter. What matters is that I caught my fiancé in bed with his best friend. They were booping. Betty Booping, if you will.”
“Holy shit,” Neil said, still eyeing the beer in her hand. “That must have been a shock.”
“Oh, yeah.” She pointed to the seat he was occupying. “My new husband was supposed to be sitting where you are sitting right now, but he’s not. Because he’s gay.”
“I’m sorry.”
“He never loved me.” Jasmine fell back into her seat, staring at the headrest in front of her. “He was only using me. God. And I was so blind because he gave me whatever I wanted.”
“Hey.” The guy patted her hand where it lay on the shared armrest. “You okay?” He carefully retrieved his nearly empty beer from her slack fingers.
“A gorgeous penthouse apartment. Fifty-thousand-dollar limit on my credit card.”
“I can’t imagine...though a limit like that would be nice...”
“You know what the worst thing was, Neil?” She lolled her head toward him. “After I caught him? He was relieved. Relieved.”
“It’s hard to live a lie, I guess...”
“And he said nothing had to change.” She poked him in the sternum, above the orange crumbs. “Can you believe it? He still wanted to marry me!”
“Umm, you might want to keep it down a bit—”
“A housekeeper and cook if I wanted...whatever I wanted, really. Bribery.” She shook her head. Her neck was stiff. So was her jaw. Tight, like it was wired shut. “All fucking bribes and distractions,” she said through clenched teeth. “Distractions from what, you might ask?” She turned to face Neil and the rest of the story came out of the deep hole where her heart used to be. “So that my soon-to-be husband could take business trips with Robert. That’s the fucker’s name. Robert Miskey. I’m a fucking cover so Parker can be-boop Robert fucking Miskey.”
“You’re not allowed to shout on planes these days.” Neil blinked nervously.
“Am I making a scene, Neil? Am I?”
“Umm, yes.”
“Don’t you think finding out that you’re a beard on the eve of your wedding warrants a scene?”
The man was now frantically pushing the attendant call button.
Unbuckling her seat belt, Jasmine stood, addressing all the people in first class. “I’m supposed to be married. I’m supposed to be on my way to Europe for my honeymoon. And instead I’m here with Neil, who draws cartoon porn.” She glanced at Neil and said in a marginally more controlled voice, “Sorry, Neil.”
His smile wavered and his hands said, No problem, crazy lady.
“Doesn’t that give me the right to make a scene?” She tried to meet the other passengers’ eyes, but there were no takers. “Doesn’t it?”
Cool fingers circled her upper arm and an accented voice said calmly, “Please return to your seat or we will be forced to make a stop in New York City where you will be escorted off the plane and detained. Do you understand?”
Jasmine attempted to tug her arm out of the attendant’s grasp but the woman was freakishly strong. Fucking French.
“I—” When she turned her head she was met with the sincerest smile she’d received from the woman yet.
“Please,” the woman said soothingly. Her sincerity came as such a surprise that Jasmine’s knees buckled and the woman had to help her back into her seat.
Jazz caught a whiff of the woman’s perfume—Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel, if she wasn’t mistaken—as the flight attendant leaned over her to secure Jasmine’s seat belt. Tasteful, subtle, perfect.
“I’m very sorry you’re having a bad day. Please don’t make it any worse.” Before standing, the woman tucked a handful of tissues into Jasmine’s fist and, moving close to her ear, whispered, “Whoever this man is who hurt you? He did not deserve you.”
CHAPTER TWO
THE SECOND JASMINE opened the door to her hotel room, she smelled roses.
Ugh.
Towing her bag behind her like it was an old, arthritic dog who was too tired to go for a walk, Jasmine made her way through the suite she had so lovingly booked months ago. Months ago when she thought she’d be sharing this room with the man she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with. But he’d been lying to her the whole time! Asshole.
The room was gorgeous—dammit! Twelve-foot ceilings and original crown molding from when the hotel was a mansion owned by a famous jeweler who had bought it for his mistress during the Renaissance. Now the beautiful, airy suite only mocked her. The Louis XIV furniture taunted her, reminding her that she’d chosen it for Parker. She preferred country chic. The filmy white drapes only served to remind her of the ten-thousand-dollar wedding gown that hid in her closet like a shameful secret, never to be worn.
But the worst was what she found on the polished cherrywood table in the sitting area: a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries, with an envelope addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Parker Wright propped between the berries and an ice bucket. Inside the bucket was a bottle of champagne sitting at a jaunty angle, chillin’.
Like a villain.
Stupid champagne.
Jasmine plucked the bottle from the bucket, unwrapped the foil on top and popped the cork. It ricocheted off what she hoped was an imitation painting, then off the crown molding, landing somewhere behind a potted plant. Not bothering with the crystal flutes, Jasmine drank directly from the bottle like it was water and she was dying of thirst.
“Hair of the dog,” she muttered, wiping her lips with the back of her hand. She set the bottle on the table, unconcerned with the wet patch left on the highly polished tabletop, and rummaged in her bag for aspirin. Instead of the travel-sized bottle of pills, she located her cell phone.
According to her phone it was 3:23 and there were forty-seven—yes, forty-seven!—texts waiting for her. Reminding her—as if she needed any more reminders—of the ordeal of the last forty-eight hours.
With a groan, she tapped the message app...
Five from her mother. Delete.
Two from her father. Delete.
Thirteen from her best friend, Ashley...hmm. Maybe she’d read those later.
Twenty-seven from Parker.
The man was desperate.
Her finger hovered over the delete button, but instead of deleting the messages, she deleted him from her contact list.
“Liar. You’re dead to me,” she muttered before tilting her head way back and letting the bubbly burn down her throat.
Parker’s voice rose between her ears, C’mon, Jazz. I figured you knew. Nothing has to change between us. I still love you, you know, as a best friend. He’d made that statement while sitting in bed beside his lover. Then he’d gotten out of bed and approached her, hands out, pleading. You can have whatever life you want, I won’t interfere. All I ask is that you keep my private life secret.
Honestly? In this day and age, why did he need to pretend? Well, she’d asked him that question directly.
It’s my father. He’s homophobic, okay? I’ll lose the trust fund.
God! So, all of this was for the money? He’d deceived her for years just so he could maintain his precious lifestyle?
Not that she’d minded the lifestyle. It was what had kept her from making demands, from thinking too hard about the lack of intimacy and passion she’d yearned for. Parker’s generosity seemed proof enough he loved her, and she’d been so wrapped up in their perfect life, she’d failed to see what was happening right in front of her.
With bottle in hand, Jasmine wove toward the window, pushing the drapes aside so she could admire the view.
And what a view. The rounded Parisian rooftops, the Eiffel Tower—so close she could practically lick it. The view was the reason Jasmine had chosen this suite, a dream come true...
Opening the French doors, Jasmine stepped out onto the wrought-iron balcony. Fresh air. That was what she needed. She plunked herself down in the chair and set the bottle on the glass-topped bistro table as she gazed out at the magnificent sight.
And she had no one to share it with. She was completely and utterly alone. She sighed, slumping with the weight of self-pity. Wasn’t she allowed? She’d been ready to give Parker everything, thinking he’d felt the same way. She shut her eyes. Maybe her ex-fiancé cared for her, even loved her, like he’d said. But it wasn’t the kind of love she’d thought it was. The love she’d always craved. And she wasn’t ready to forgive him for tricking her into believing that it was. Her phone chirped, and Jasmine automatically glanced down. Another message from Ashley. Tapping on the message app, she skimmed the messages.
Jazz? Are you okay? Call me.
Please, let me know you’re okay.
Your parents are worried. You should call them.
Jazz? Are you in Paris?
Instead of replying to the text, Jasmine touched the FaceTime button. Her best friend answered immediately. The video was grainy, but Jasmine could still see the dark circles beneath Ashley’s hazel eyes and that her fine blond hair had yet to be combed.
“What time is it there?” Jasmine asked by way of a greeting.
Ashley blinked. “It’s twenty to ten.”
“In the morning?”
Ashley’s eyes narrowed. “I knew it. You went to Paris, didn’t you?”
“See for yourself,” Jasmine said, panning her phone to give Ashley a panoramic view of the Paris skyline.
“Holy shit,” she heard Ashley comment. “Nice.”
Switching the screen back to face her, Jasmine half smiled. “It’s nicer now that I have you to share it with.” She sighed. Damn if her lip didn’t start quivering. “If I had been thinking clearly, I would have changed the other ticket and brought you with me.” Her lip quivered for real and she covered her mouth to quell the shaking.
“If you had been thinking clearly, you would have at least told me—told someone—what you were doing. Jesus, Jazz. We’ve been so worried.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I just...” She had to stop talking because the trembling in her lips spread across her face, pricking the backs of her eyes until tears spilled over her lashes. She shook her head since words were impossible at the moment.
“Have you talked to Parker?” Ash asked softly.
“No.” Jazz wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. “I’m not going to, either.”
“Understandable. What about your parents?”
“I will.” She passed back through the French doors into the hotel suite and plopped down at the table, plucking a sweating strawberry from the plate and popping it into her mouth.
“So, what are you going to do?” Ash asked. “God, those strawberries look good, by the way.”
Jazz grabbed another berry and bit into it. “They are good. Really sweet.” Her voice cracked on the last word and the chocolate-covered berry suddenly tasted like ashes in her mouth. She swallowed the lump with difficulty.
After a pause, Ashley piped up, “I’ll tell you what you’re going to do.”
“What?”
“You are going to have yourself an adventure.”
“An adventure?”
“Yep. You want to forget about Parker? Go have fun. Do all the things that you want to do. Shop on the Champs-Élysées, go on wine tours and see the sights. Hell, take a train to Monte Carlo and rack up Parker’s credit cards.”
Something hot yet icy lanced Jasmine’s gut. “Oh, God. The credit cards.” She shook her head vehemently. “I don’t want to use them.”
“What do you mean?” Ash asked, leaning closer to her phone camera. “After all you’ve been through? You deserve to spend some of Parker’s money.”
“No. I can’t do it. I can’t live off of him anymore. It’s just so...” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Symbolic of my life with him. Dependent and lame.”
Even from across the distance, Jasmine heard Ashley’s deep inhalation, followed by a long exhalation. “But, how are you going to survive if you don’t?”
The reminder that she had no way of supporting herself slammed through Jasmine. When she’d met Parker she’d been working as a stylist in an upscale salon. She’d liked the job—loved it, actually—but as her relationship with Parker progressed, they’d seen little reason for her to keep it. He made more than enough to support them.
“I don’t know. I guess I didn’t think about money before I left.”
Ashley rubbed her jaw, her gaze sliding up and to the side as she considered this possibility. Her gaze returned to the screen. “Where’s the ring?”
“What ring?”
“Duh...your engagement ring?”
Jasmine’s gaze automatically searched her ring finger only to find it bare. Her purse! She reached inside, found the cold platinum and held it in front of the phone for Ashley to see.
“Get rid of it.”
“Like, chuck it?”
“No! That thing cost Parker a fortune. Go sell it. Use the money to do something wild and crazy. And whatever’s left? That’s what you use to start over.”
Jazz held the ring up, seeing it in a new light. Could she do that?
Hell, yes, she could. The ring was hers. Parker had given it to her when he said he’d love her forever. Now she was heartbroken, fucked over and desperately in need of a break. Parker probably wouldn’t even care.
Jazz bit her lip. “I’ll sell the ring, but I don’t know how to do ‘wild and crazy’.”
“Oh, my God.” Ashley slapped her forehead. “I’ve known you most of my life and if there is anyone who knows how to be wild, it’s you.”
“Ash...”
“Don’t Ash me. You know what you need?”
“A drink?” Jazz held the champagne bottle aloft.
“I think you’ve self-medicated enough,” Ash replied with pursed lips. “No. Here’s what you need. Go find yourself some smoking-hot Frenchman who knows how to treat a woman. And then you need to have a month of raunchy, nasty, awesome sex.” She snapped her fingers. “A sex-venture.”
“A sex-what?” Jasmine rolled her eyes.
“I’m not kidding. You need a release from all this tension—what better way than good sex? You’re totally single now.”
Jasmine groaned.
“I’m sorry, hon. But that’s why you need a passionate, torrid, love affair. Feed some romantic French dude chocolate-covered strawberries. Let him lick champagne off your body...”
“Seriously?”
“Go to one of those sex districts and buy awesome European sex toys...or...” Ashley’s eyes lit up. “No, wait! Buy yourself a gigolo. A super-hot one!”
Jazz couldn’t help laughing at Ashley’s suggestion. It felt good to laugh. “You are insane.” She blew her bangs out of her eyes. “And you should be here,” she finished softly.
“Yeah, well...” Ashley stood and patted her rounded belly. Her friend was tiny, so her third trimester of pregnancy made her look like she had a basketball tucked up under her shirt. “I’m not exactly in the best form for sex-ventures. Plus, I’m pretty sure I would scare off any potential hotties.”
Jasmine touched her finger to the screen as if touching Ashley’s belly. “That is one lucky kid to have you for her mother.”
Ashley’s lips twisted. Her friend had worries of her own with her first child due in under a month.
“Thanks, Ash.”
“Hey. What are friends for? You know I’m here for you. Anytime. I’m just a FaceTime away.”
Jazz nodded.
“Oh, and Jazz?”
“Yeah?”
“Let me be your cautionary tale...” Ash rubbed her belly. “As soon as you sell that ring and before you embark on your sexy time?”
Jazz groaned. “Uh-huh?”
“Buy condoms. Lots and lots of condoms.”
* * *
Two weeks had passed since Luca had been released on bail. The agreement he’d made with François was that he’d not only stay out of the limelight, but that he’d disappear completely while François worked behind the scenes to change the board’s mind. He had hired Myra Monte, publicity guru to the stars, to try to salvage the Legrand brand—promos, charity donations and the like.
“Give me a month,” François had said. “During that time, I don’t want to hear about you, read about you or have to bail you out.”
“But wouldn’t it be better if I talk to the board? Prove to them I’m competent?”
“No. You have to trust me.”
Luca did trust him. Thus he was lying low, as requested, staying out of the press, staying out of trouble. The problem was, scandal had followed him for the last year like a stray dog he’d fed on a whim, a dog that wouldn’t leave him alone. It was that feral beast he didn’t trust.
Bad luck? Luca wasn’t so sure anymore.
He stopped his Ducati Diavel Cruiser at the red light, considering for the thousandth time the information François had revealed.
What if he was being sabotaged? If he was, Luca knew exactly who was behind it.
Marcel Durand. His half brother.
Luca still had a hard time processing the news. Marcel was blond, but with blue eyes—like Luca’s. He had shown a real interest and talent for running the exclusive champagne empire. Yet, his father had left the estate to him. Not Marcel. Did that mean he wanted Luca to run it? That he’d forgiven Luca for his mother’s death?
Something tightened in his chest.
His father had died before Luca had the chance to ask if he’d forgiven him. He’d also died before telling Luca about Marcel. Had he wanted Marcel to inherit and run the Legrand estate?
Luca revved the engine.
He’d never know what his father wanted, but whatever it was, it didn’t change the fact that what Marcel was doing was shitty. He’d almost confided his suspicions to François but decided against it. Since his mother’s death, Luca had always taken care of his affairs himself. This was no different, and if he was right, if Marcel was manufacturing these “incidents”—which only required an anonymous call to a tabloid divulging Luca’s whereabouts, readily available on Google Calendar—then Luca would figure out a way to take care of Marcel himself.
The first step was to take a hiatus from his high-profile life, making sure no one would know where he was. So he’d rented a flat in a quiet part of town through a discreet agency, he’d started growing a beard—which itched like mad—and he’d been driving his Ducati around Paris. No one would suspect Luca Legrand, professional driver, to be on a Ducati, a make driven by an opposing team. He’d even bought himself a new phone with a new number so he wouldn’t be contacted by friends...or tracked by Anika.
Only one problem.
He was bored stiff and had no idea if this hiatus would help with the mess he’d created.
No. The mess Marcel has created.
Grinding his teeth, Luca revved the engine again, released the clutch and sprang forward just as the light changed to green. The thing was, before he’d known who Marcel was, he’d liked him. The man was smart, competent and had seemed like Luca’s only ally when every other employee of the Legrand estate—they aren’t employees, they’re family, his father had always said—had shown him little more than polite but cold deference. Something else his father had always said was that trust takes time. Then there was forgiveness...
Luca took the next corner hard and when he spotted a police car at the other end of the street, he reminded himself to slow down. “You don’t need to break any more fucking laws,” he muttered to himself.
Just to be safe, he turned down a narrow side street—the kind that drove tourists crazy because they went unmarked on tourist maps—and then turned down another, which was narrow and deserted.
No, it wasn’t deserted; there was a motorcycle—a Honda Shadow—parked at the side of the road beside an antique shop. The man astride it glanced Luca’s way, watching him as Luca drove past. At the corner, Luca checked his rearview mirror.
Something was off. He could feel it by the way the man’s helmeted head followed his departure. After Luca turned the corner, he stopped the bike by an empty storefront and parked. Leaving his helmet with the shaded visor on, he walked back to the corner and peered down the street.
The man was in the process of pulling off his helmet, and under that he wore a balaclava. With a final surreptitious glance up and down the street, the man strode into the shop with a crowbar hanging from his fingertips.
Fuck.
It was just his luck.
Luca’s one goal was to avoid trouble and here he’d stumbled across a robbery in the middle of the goddamn day.
* * *
For the first time in two days, Jasmine forgot everything that had happened and wandered with delight through the shop she’d found using Google maps. It was off the beaten track, down some lonely little cobblestone street. And it was full of treasures.
This was not the type of pawnshop she was familiar with from the United States—a seedy place with bars on the windows where a greasy man wearing an undershirt picked his teeth behind an enclosed counter. This was a delightful boutique with beautiful items carefully displayed, everything from lamps and pots to clothing and jewelry.
“This is so...Paris,” she said quietly to herself as she gazed about the tiny space.
There were so many exquisite pieces in the shop to choose from: necklaces, bracelets, earrings. There were also hand-embroidered silk scarves, funky original hats and handbags. There were antiques and what had to be one-of-a-kind items, like the silver oil lamp that reminded her of the stories Auntie Bibi used to whisper at bedtime when she slept over at her cousins as a young girl. Adventures and genies from Arabian Nights. She picked up the lamp, considering. Maybe this lamp was a sign that she should have her own adventure, just like Ash encouraged.