Page 10 of All Mixed Up

Milo’s snicker cut the thickness of the air. “Compelled, hmm?” When that phased Paget about as much as a dust mote, he went on, “To the point of canceling a date with Her Highness?”

Leese giggled. “So Lucien, your girlfriend’s one of those kind, eh? Ugh. Went to school with a few princesses. I understand.”

Milo grew his mirth to a full chuckle. “Uh, no. I meant Her Highness. The real one. As in—”

“Adrianna Torino?” Greer’s stare bulged. “The Princess from San Domino, who decided she wanted to be an actress instead?”

Leese joined in with a second gasp. “She’s gorgeous!”

Their sputtering muted Paget’s murmur to anyone but me. “And knows it.”

“You canceled a date with her?” Greer stared as if he’d murmured the Pope. “Why?”

Paget canted a gracious smile her way. “Because I had more intriguing plans.” While pivoting fully toward me, he added, “And I am very happy I agreed to them.” He tilted his head, loosening a few pieces of his hair into his eyes. The stuff looked like black satin, decadent and thick. “I have enjoyed listening to the fruits of your talent, Miss Darienne…especially that last set. Were they your own arrangement and song choices?”

I jutted my chin up. Met his gaze directly, no matter what chaos it wrecked on every nerve cell in my body. “You know that answer already, don’t you?”

He waited a long moment before answering.

Another.

His fingertips flowed in, sliding over my palm, until alighting on my wrist. The center of my pulse. The betrayer of exactly what he was doing to me with the force of his gaze, the power of his attention, the sensuality of his body…

“Yes,” he murmured, and the sound of it was like the soft strum of a mandolin, promising everything but revealing nothing. “But sometimes, I like to hear about it.”

I felt my lips part. Heard the rush of air I took in. Even registered every molecule of that oxygen, making its way down my throat…but the only thing that seemed to make sense was what it did inside my heart. The way it filled every beat, pounded through every breath, fueled every new drop of desire that flushed into me, through me…

And how I wondered…if I told him about that…

But I already knew that answer.

“All right, all right.” Milo’s interjection parted us as if he’d brought a bucket of ice with it. To his credit, my boss’s demeanor remained silken as his classy tie, hardly faltering at my flushed face, heaving chest, and sweaty palms. “You’ve had your little flirt, Paget. And I’m sure Juliette doesn’t want Liev running the show for too long out there.”

“Right,” I said. “Sure. Okay.” The words sounded fine but didn’t feel the same, like trying to talk after going to the dentist. The feeling only got worse as I turned and made my way back to the main room. Now, I was damn grateful for the deafening beat, the crush of the bodies, the demand of the next few hours. By the time I collapsed into bed, as tomorrow’s sun rose, I prayed to be too exhausted to remember anything that just gone down—as well as the words Milo had use to qualify it.

You’ve had your little flirt, Paget.

Why had the glint in Lucien’s eyes turned feral, even furious, about that?

Why did I want so badly to agree with him?

Why did nothing about Lucien Paget, especially all these feelings he churned inside, feel “little” at all?

26 Days and Counting

“I’m so low, I couldn’t jump off a dime.”

I was relieved when Greer earned herself a giggle from Leese as well as me. “I think the term here is euros, sweetie,” she said, rubbing her friend’s shoulder.

“Same difference,” Greer humphed. “Sort of.”

“Well, don’t exchange it all back.” I took turns hugging them fiercely, aching at the thought of watching them disappear into the security lines at Charles de Gaulle International. “Milo promised he’d fly you both back for my closing night at Avanti, and I’m taking him up on it.”

“So are we!” Leese flashed an ear-to-ear grin while tucking my hair behind an ear. “Maybe we can come a few days early and get in some sightseeing too. You’ll be a Parisienne au naturelle by that point.”

I rolled my eyes. “No. That’ll be Gigi.”

Greer chuckled. “Well, she has the name to live up to…”