Page 29 of Sunburned

“Ah,” I said, relaxing a little.

“Yes.” He turned onto a side street and parked the Land Rover, his face in shadow as he focused on me. “I will be able to help you better if you tell me what we’re looking for,” he said.

“You don’t have to help me,” I said automatically. “I can handle it.”

“I’m sure you can,” he agreed. “But I know Le Ti and everyone whoworks there. I could make things easier for you, and I’d like to help you, if you’ll let me.”

He held my eye as I assessed him. Was there any reason why I shouldn’t let him help me? I wasn’t doing anything I didn’t want to get back to Tyson—after all, he was the one who’d said I could trust Laurent—and it would make my night easier.

“Allison is coming here to meet someone, and I want to find out who,” I said.

He nodded, taking it in stride. “So, you don’t want her to know you’re following her.”

“No.”

“Well, then, it is good it is a costume bar, and I am friends with the girl who runs the closet.”

—

Ten minutes later, Laurent returned to the Land Rover with a bag in hand.

“What have you brought us?” I asked as he closed the car door behind him.

I looked on with increasing interest as he pulled out a multicolored clown wig, followed by a Mexican poncho, a pink princess dress, a Zorro mask, a blond wig, a bridal veil, a sorcerer’s hat and cape, and a cowboy outfit.

I laughed as he placed the cowboy hat atop his head, glad he was game to play along. “Perfect.”

A Zorro mask paired with a fringed vest and cowboy gun belt completed his look, while I donned the navy sorcerer’s cape to cover the outfit I’d been wearing at dinner and fastened a purple Mardi Gras mask over my face.

Once we got out of the car, I placed the tall sorcerer’s hat on my head, lifting the long robes as we walked down the street. “This has to be the most ridiculous disguise I’ve ever worn,” I said, scurrying to keep up with his long strides.

He flashed a sly smile, his eyes catching on mine. “I like to please.”

Okay, cowboy.

I turned away, hiding my smile. I knew he meant heaimedto please, knew it made sense in context, but the way he said it made me think of something very different. And here I was, thousands of miles away from home, no need to worry about messy entanglements. If the circumstances were different, I had a feeling this could be a very enjoyable evening indeed.

But they weren’t.

We approached the back of the building, where a guy and a girl dressed in black were leaning against the wall next to the door, smoking cigarettes. The guy chortled as we drew closer, and the girl stubbed out her cigarette, approaching to adjust Laurent’s hat.“Very nice,”she said in French as he handed her the bag of extra costumes.“Of course you would make a dashing cowboy.”

“Thanks for the costumes,” he said, switching to English for my benefit.

“Is this the pretty American you picked up this afternoon?”the guy razzed Laurent in rapid French.“You work fast, my man.”

So he’d spoken about me to this guy. Called me pretty. I felt heat creep into my cheeks.

“Fuck off,”Laurent returned with a laugh.“It’s not like that.”

I rose to the occasion, playing the one card I had up my sleeve.“How could I turn down such a dashing cowboy?”I asked, matching their French as I linked my arm through Laurent’s.

His head snapped toward me as the other two’s eyes widened.“Oh shit,”the girl said, laughing.

“Have a nice night,”I said, relishing their surprise as I tugged him through the door into the kitchen.

“This way,” he said, leading me past the staff who appeared to be cleaning up from dinner service, through a door, into a dark, cave-like room with flashing lights and pounding bass. Tables circled a dance floor, and a small raised stage was crowded with beautiful people in costumes, moving in rhythm to the deafening house music.

He pulled me to the side of the room, placing his mouth next to myear to be heard over the music.“You didn’t tell me you spoke French,”he said.

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