Page 51 of Frenched (Frenched 1)
“At the Count’s house?”
“Yeah.”
I forced a smile. “That’ll be fun.”
“Yeah.” But he looked glum about it, his brow furrowed.
The music started again and I paid the bill with my credit card. Lucas thanked me for dinner and dropped some cash in Stefan’s basket before taking my hand and leading me out of the restaurant. Neither of us spoke as we started the walk down the hill.
And then halfway down one of the lamp-lit staircases, Lucas stopped. I walked two steps further and turned to look up at him. “What’s wrong?”
He stuck his hands in his pockets. “You should come with me tomorrow.”
“What?”
“Come with me to Vaucluse.”
My heart was beating way too hard. “Lucas, I can’t—”
“Yes, you can.” He came down to my step. “I want you to.”
“But—”
He took his hands from his pockets and placed them on my upper arms. “And I’m not ready to say goodbye to you.”
He kissed me before I could say anything else, silencing with his lips any words of dissent I might have offered. Because there were so many I could think of—we just met two days ago, who the hell will you say I am, your family will think I’m nuts running off with a guy I just met, and… and I’m scared. I’m feeling too much here. What the hell is this between us?
But when he ran his hands up my shoulders and took my face in his palms, I wanted to melt into a puddle. He’s not ready to say goodbye either.
“Say you’ll come,” he whispered on my lips. “You’ll love it—it’s so beautiful there, and there’ll be lots of wine.”
I smiled. “I’m sure it’ll be beautiful, Lucas. But what about your family? Won’t they be mad when you show up with—”
He shook his head before I even finished the question. “They’ll be thrilled. Henri and Jean-Paul love to entertain, and my brother and his fiancée said I could bring someone. I just didn’t have anyone I wanted to bring before now.”
“What about your mom?” For some reason, the thought of meeting his movie star mother made me shiver.
Lucas noticed the chill, and folded me into his arms. “She’ll be glad to meet you, I promise. Come on—I climbed the tower for you, I danced with you, I played your song…”
I sighed, too comfortable in Lucas’s embrace. Way, way too comfortable. I wrapped my arms around his warm lower back. “I want to…”
“What’s holding you back?”
Biting my lip a moment, I decided to be honest. “I guess I’m just wondering about what all this means. I mean, we just met. My wedding was just called off, and—”
He pulled back, holding me at arm’s length and shaking me gently. “Stop thinking so much, Mia. It means we have fun together, that’s all. It means I’m really, really glad we met and I like being with you. Let’s just go to Vaucluse and have a good time, OK? No analyzing it, no deeper meaning, no worrying. Who knows, maybe after three days there, you’ll be desperate to fly back to Detroit to escape me and my family.”
I smiled. “Somehow I doubt that.”
“Then it’s settled. You’re coming.” He squeezed my shoulders. “We’ll leave tomorrow after breakfast.”
I closed my eyes, wondering if this was a mistake but completely unable to stop myself from nodding. “OK.”
“So now the question is, what would you like to do tonight? Are you tired? Do you want me to take you back to your hotel? Do you want to come back to my apartment? You’ll need to pack, but you could do it tomorrow.”
“Whoa. Brain spinning.” God, what am I doing?
“Sorry. You’re probably not used to just being spontaneous about these things. Especially a trip.” He took my hand again and we continued walking down the stairs.
