Page 29 of Mating of Convenience
“Sure we are,” my dad responded in a less than enthusiastic tone of voice. I knew he was only humoring Rhys, but whatever. I was just glad that he wasn’t going to make any more of a scene over the fact that Raph and I had eloped.
“Are you going to move together?” Caleb asked.
“Yeah, are you?” Henry suddenly took an interest in what was going on. “Can I come visit? And can I get a tattoo like him?”
“Not before you’re eighteen,” Rhys cut in.
“C’mon, please? Just a small one.”
“Absolutely not,” Rhys shut him down, and suddenly, the conversation didn’t revolve around Raph and me anymore. Raph must have noticed this too, because he took the chance to escape into the hallway and up the stairs with me.
“Your family is kind of intense,” he said as soon as we were out of earshot. “I guess they got nothing on my grandma, though.”
“Is that what you came here to talk about? Your grandma? How did she react to the news?”
“She...” Raph paused and shook his head as if he didn’t know how to go on. “Let’s talk somewhere private.” He moved down the hall and stopped in front of a door. “Is this still your room?”
“It’s Clara’s room now. I don’t live here anymore.”
“You think she’ll be bothered if we hide in there for a few minutes?” Raph asked, but then he pulled me inside without even waiting for a response. Nothing surprising about that, of course. He’d never been super patient. “I got something in the mail today,” he told me as soon as he’d closed the door behind us and we were in the privacy of my sister’s room, surrounded only by her stuffed toys and creepy dolls.
“What did you get in the mail?”
“Plane tickets to Paris. First class.”
“What?” Had I heard that right? “You’re going to Paris?”
“No, not me. Us.We’regoing to Paris. Or, at least my Grandma wants us to. She’s giving us a honeymoon for our wedding.”
“She’s... what? Paris?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “I don’t even speak French, do you speak French?”
“Yeah, actually I had an affair with a hot French alpha while staying in Boston and now I’m totally fluent. Especially in French kissing.”
I stared at Raph. He hit me over the back of the head.
“Of course I don’t speak French. Come back down to Earth.”
“Then what are we going to do in France?” This was all too much, and it was also happening too quickly.
“Paris is romantic, isn’t it? I guess that’s why my grandma thinks we should go there. I went to talk to her after we got our certificate and I’m not sure that I could really convince her about our relationship.” Raph sighed and walked over to the window, gazing out for a moment before facing me again. “When I first saw the tickets, I was like, no way. I’ve never really been a fan of France, you know? But whatever. It’s a vacation and it’s paid for. I figure if we go, it might not be so bad.”
“I can’t just skip out of work,” I argued.
“No, me neither, but Grandma has thought of everything. You know how the fourth of July is a Friday this year? We’re flying Thursday evening. It’ll be a short trip, but at least we’ll be flying first class.”
“First class? To Europe? Next week?” I knew Raph’s Grandma was well off, but damn.
“Can’t really say no to that, can we?” Raph gave me a small smile. “C’mon. You, me, free drinks on the plane, it’ll be fun. Don’t pretend like you have to think so hard about it! It’s the city of love! I know you’ve always wanted to go.”
“Did not.”
Raph shot me a look. “You were trying to learn French our sophomore year in college.”
“Only because I thought it might impress you. Besides, I never got very far.” Sadly, I’d discovered that foreign languages weren’t really my forte. Honestly, some days I was lucky I could speak English.
A thoughtful expression took over Raph’s features, but it only lasted for a moment, then he was back to trying to convince me. “You could impress me now by agreeing to this vacation.”
“Okay, fine. I’ll go to Paris with you.” After all, what was the worst that could happen? In my mind’s eye, I pictured Raph getting robbed in front of the Eiffel Tower and myself getting knocked out by a baguette to the head when trying to confront the criminal.
