Page 53 of Enemies to French Kisses
The truth is that when I thought I was courting her, she thought I was an arrogant, self-absorbed stereotype of a Frenchman. She yelled as much at me in front of Sacre Coeur—ripping me to shreds just before that memorable moment when I was strangled, and twisting, and then falling with her words still echoing in my head.
“I can’t stand you.”
It’s hard to recover from that. My psyche had twisted it all in those initial hours of my accident, my dream of her saying yes to the engagement party becoming a different story and then calling her my wife felt so… natural.
But the truth has to come out, the lie we’ve been living. Although it has been soul-filling to see her each morning, to watch her in everyday life where she’s not always the power-woman she is at work, but to find that she’s tender, considerate, soft-spoken…
It’s only made me fall for her harder.
When she curled into my arms last night, there was nothing but warmth and affection.Sheput her arms aroundme.
“I know you’re going to do the right thing, Brian. There’s no one more attentive than you. You are the picture of reliability, so whoever she is—and I still don’t know why you won’t just tell me, I’m halfway across the planet—she is going to come around and see that.”
She pauses. Her brother’s voice rumbles low but I can’t make out more than that.
“Keep it down,” she hisses, “the man is still sleeping.”
The man. Not the term of endearment I might have hoped for. I must be close, but I haven’t won her over yet.
I will. Tonight. This is my last chance before we return to the world of work and Guillaume and the results from the Dutch. The fantasy must end, but I know there’s a chance for us. If her brother is the picture of attentive and reliable, that’s all she will see from me for the next twenty-four hours. That, plus the most magnificent dose of romance I can muster from my French soul.
“Not much longer,” she says. “I can tell his mind is coming around again. I just hope it isn’t too bumpy of a landing when he realizes who he is again. Who I am. Maybe he’ll even have learned a thing or two.”
Learned a thing or two.Hmmm.
“But I have to play the part tonight at some engagement party in a dress that costs more than the Sage hockey arena. No pressure. Let’s just say, I will only drink champagne so I can avoid every possible spill disaster.”
Note to self, play down the importance of the dress.
“He’s not what I expected, Brian.” She lets out a long, loud sigh. “I judged a book by its pompous cover. I see that now. But how do I know how much of what I see is truly him, and how much of it is brain injury? It’s impossible to tell, and yet I feel the future depends upon it.”
The future depends upon her seeing me as the man I’ve been this past week? I can work with that. Because this is who I am when I’m simply myself.
Time for the natural French sense of romance to shine through. I’ll win her over. I will. If what she wants is the real me, then that’s what she’s going to get.
CHAPTER22
Laura
“This is good news,”Brian says. “Finally a man who’s managed to make you think of something more than spreadsheets and phased implementation plans.”
“Don’t laugh. It’s not like that.”
“It’s one-hundred percent like that and we all know this is good for you.”
“We all?We allwho?”
The pause on the phone tells me I’ve caught Brian out. Though it’s completely beyond me what I’ve caught, because there’s no reason for him to hide this from me.
After the pause, he blurts his words out quickly. “I’ve been talking to my girl about you.”
I narrow my eyes though he can’t see it. “Your girl, huh?” The shame evident across the Atlantic makes no sense, but before I have a chance to grill him about it, the sound of drawers opening and closing in the bedroom brings this conversation to an abrupt end.
“I’ve got to go,” I whisper to Brian. “He’s moving around in the other room.”
“You mean in the Grand Salon?”
“No, the bedroom.”
