Dancing in the Gray (3 page)

She was poised and was adorable as she
was taking responsibility for her actions. He couldn’t help but
smile. He didn’t see a wedding ring on her finger, so it made him
wonder if she was heading to Paris for business or
pleasure.

When he saw the concert tickets, he
almost freaked out. He tried to find Foo Fighter tickets when his
brother Will announced that his wedding would be in Paris on the
same weekend as when they played at the Bercy. But, they were sold
out long before. Her friend bought her the tickets – plural. So she
must be meeting someone in Paris, and for some reason that thought
deflated him a bit.

“So what brings you to Paris?” Elise
continued their conversation which made Trey very happy.

“My brother’s wedding. He and his
fiancée are getting married Saturday in front of the Eiffel
Tower.”

Elise clutched the envelopes to her
chest and closed her eyes, “Oh, how romantic.” She took a deep
breath and sighed. Very interesting.

“Yeah, he proposed to her there last
summer. It was his idea to go back where he actually asked her and
get married there, too.” He had to give it to his brother Will; he
was all about the romance.

“Lucky girl! See, all the good ones are
taken.” She shook her pretty little head. It sounded like Elise was
single. Time to clarify. Maybe there was hope.

“So, are you with a bad one, or have
you just not found your own good one, yet?”

“I haven’t found a good one, yet.” She
stressed the word “yet.”

“So, are you meeting someone there?
Your friend bought you two concert tickets.” Trey motioned to the
tickets in her hands.

“No, this trip is just for me. No
business, no drama, just me finally enjoying Paris.”

“You’ve done business there before?” A
woman with a career that hasn’t found Mr. Right, she was the female
Trey.

“Yes, a handful of times. I fell in
love with the city, but I haven’t gotten the chance to actually go
there and just enjoy it. So I decided to book a trip to reward
myself, and I plan on enjoying it.”

“Then why the hell did your friend by
you two tickets?” Why did he care?

“Wishful thinking, I guess.” She
shrugged seeming unsure of what her friend’s intentions were. “She
found a good one and now they are married and having a baby in a
month. I was kinda responsible for them meeting so now Ashley, my
friend, wants me to find the same thing she did. This is her way of
dragging a guy across a bar, which is what I did to her
husband.”

“You dragged her husband across a bar
to meet her?” He couldn’t help but smile. He could see her making a
bold move like that, especially after grabbing his crotch
earlier.

“Yes. I like to make things happen.
Ashley was very interested, and she would have never made the first
move, so I took it upon myself to do the heavy lifting for her.”
She looked proud of herself.

“And you don’t have a problem making
the first move?”

“Obviously not, since I totally went to
second base with you without even knowing your name!”

Trey laughed hard. She was pretty…. and
funny. She put her hand on his arm, again. He liked her touch. “So
was that your way of making the first move?”

“No! It was an accident. I swear!” She
was shaking her head vigorously as she held her hands up in front
of her.

“I’m kidding, Elise.” Trey had no clue
where all this was coming from. He didn’t have these kinds of
conversations with women, especially women he just met. But
something was different. She intrigued him. “What else does your
friend have in store for you?” He gestured his head in the
direction of the other white envelopes in her hand.

Elise smiled up at him and raised her
eyebrows, “Let’s see.” She looked like a kid on Christmas
morning.

She opened the second envelope which
contained two tickets to a private late night river cruise on the
Seine. The third envelope contained two gift certificates for a
couple’s spa treatment at the Guerlain Spa. In the fourth envelope
were two vouchers to attend the Paris Roller Skating Association’s
skate through the streets of Paris from 10 pm to 1am on Friday
night. And the final envelope contained reservations to La Tour
d'Argent for Sunday night.

“I see a pattern developing here.” Her
friend really wanted her to share her Paris experience with
someone. Lucky guy.

“Yes. Ashley is usually a lot more
subtle than this.” Elise smiled up at him. “Her heart is in the
right place. She and my other friend Jeremy told me to find Fun
Elise in Paris and bring her back home.” She held up the envelopes,
“This is their way of forcing me to find her.”

There was a look of sadness behind
Elise’s eyes. “What happened to Fun Elise?”

“I thought she was here all along, but
my friends beg to differ. I think I’ve been very focused on my
career for the last couple of years and didn’t realize that Fun
Elise had left the building.” She shrugged her
shoulders.

“What do you do, if you don’t mind me
asking?” Trey was curious to see what this increasingly interesting
woman did for a living.

“I own a cosmetics company. Well, I own
it for a few more weeks.” She looked sad about that,
too.

“Why won’t you own it after a few
weeks?” Trey felt the need to help her.

“Buyout.”

All of a sudden things clicked for
Trey. This was Elise DePaul. He read about her deal in Forbes and
actually did some consulting with the firm that was buying her
company. Her deal was going to make history. “You’re Elise
DePaul.”

Elise’s eyes went wide. She was shocked
that Trey knew who she was. “And you must be gay.”

Trey was caught off guard. “I’m sorry,
why must I be gay?”

“Because, the only men that look like
you and know about Elise DePaul cosmetics are gay.”

“What do you mean look like me?” Trey
couldn’t wait to hear her explanation.

“Gorgeous and
well-manicured.”

Trey was taken aback by her. Everything
that was coming out of this woman’s mouth was fascinating him. She
was bold and colorful and enthralling. She also knew how to stroke
an ego. But, she was also dead wrong, and he needed to straighten
something out, “I’m not gay.”

“Then how the hell do you know about
me?”

“Because I work in finance.” Trey held
up the New York Times section he was reading. “Your deal is pretty
epic.”

“Well, I wouldn’t use the word epic. My
products are worth every penny of that deal, and the fact that I
own the patent of the formula gave me tons of leverage. This wasn’t
the first deal that came across the table but it was the best
one.”

“What made you decide to sell?” Trey
loved to get the insight of the participants who went through deals
like these. It helped him with his consulting and his
investing.

“I knew that I couldn’t take my company
to the next level without having to start involving outside
influences, and I would end up working three times as hard as I
already was. In this scenario, everyone I love is taken care of, my
products get to keep their integrity, and I get to find Fun Elise.”
She held up the envelopes like a trophy.

“Well congratulations on your deal. I
hope you do get a chance to find Fun Elise in Paris.” He truly
meant that. He knew what it was like to throw yourself into your
career. It had sacrifices, and Trey was still
sacrificing.

“Thank you. I have six days. I hope
that’s enough time.” Elise smiled at him one last time before she
started sorting through her tickets and envelopes again.

Elise reached into her purse and pulled
out her iPod. She secured her ear buds and hit play. She reclined
her seat back and used the pillow that the flight attendant brought
her to cushion her head that was leaning towards the window. She
must have been tired, because she was asleep in no time. Trey
looked over at her and smiled. It was a bittersweet moment. He was
glad that he had such a lively spirit make his long trip a lot more
tolerable, but he knew as soon as the plane landed that would be
the last time that he would see Ms. Elise DePaul.

~

The plane landed at Charles de Gaulle
International Airport seven hours and forty five minutes after it
departed from JFK. Elise woke up about thirty minutes before their
arrival. Trey was asleep next to her, and she got a few stolen
moments to stare at his masculine features as he slept. He was a
really handsome man, and she was very attracted to him.

Elise took a deep breath then took her
first baby step to find Fun Elise. She reached down and picked up
her purse pulling out all of the envelopes that Ashley left for
her. She pulled out one envelope and placed one voucher for the
roller skating event, one ticket to the concert, one ticket to the
sunset cruise, one of the spa gift certificates, and the
reservation to La Tour d'Argent. She grabbed a pen and wrote his
name on the front of the envelope with a message that said, “First
move.”

Chapter 3

It was around 7:30 am Paris time, and
Trey was heading to meet his family who were already here. The
group travelled up on Wednesday, but due to a meeting he had to
attend Thursday morning, he was flying solo to France. The
rehearsal dinner was scheduled for tonight, and the wedding was set
for tomorrow afternoon at 1pm. Even though there was nothing to
rehearse, the families wanted to get together for the dinner
anyway. Tonight, they were meeting at Le Jules Verne for
dinner.

The whole group was staying at the
Hotel de Crillon. Most of the suites were booked for their group or
vacated for security reasons. That was one great perk of being the
son of the President of the United States. Trey was in one of the
Historical Suites which had a lounge area that was separate from
the bedroom. He retrieved his keys from the concierge when he
arrived and headed straight to his suite where he looked forward to
a shower and a little downtime before he met the family for
lunch.

His suite was decorated in typical
Parisian style with original woodwork that dated back hundreds of
years and had a terrace that overlooked the private courtyard of
the hotel. The bell hop brought his bags into the bedroom area of
the suite and left as silently as he arrived. Ronald was taking his
post outside of Trey’s room. There was a ton of Secret Service
staff since his dad was also here, so he wouldn’t be surprised if
Ronald would be sharing his detail with someone else.

Trey ordered breakfast from room
service and asked that they set it up on the terrace explaining
that he would be showering. While he was in the shower his thoughts
instantly went to Elise. He was smitten. She really did a number on
him in the few hours that they conversed on the plane. A smile
crossed his face when he recalled her grabbing her cell phone out
of his lap. She definitely grabbed a lot more than just her device.
Trey was getting aroused at the thought of her grabbing him like
that purposefully and not on accident.

It had been a couple of years since he
had been with someone. He was being very careful with his personal
life knowing that it was a possibility that he would be running for
office. He didn’t want any type of negative publicity affecting his
chances of being elected into office. He learned from his father’s
campaign that if there was a skeleton in the closet, it will be put
on display for the world to see. Everyone was looking for their
fifteen minutes of fame, even if it was at someone else’s
expense.

He wanted to blame his long abstinence
for the effect that Elise was having on him, but his interest in
her was far beyond the physical. She was a smart girl and obviously
had really great business sense for her to grow such a profitable
company in such a short time. She was also funny and witty and was
able to laugh at herself. And the gesture that her friend made with
surprise gifts that she left for Elise spoke volumes to her
character. Her friends loved her and wanted to see her happy which
means she felt the same way about her friends. Trey was rooting for
Elise to find what she was looking for in Paris.

He got out of the shower and put on a
robe heading outside to see if breakfast was delivered. He found a
plate of fresh fruit, croissants, and coffee on the table out on
the terrace. He went back inside and grabbed his laptop bag hoping
to do a little work before lunch. He placed the bag on the empty
chair next to his and something red caught his eye in one of the
pocket areas outside the bag. He reached in and instantly
recognized the bow and the already opened envelope. It was one of
the envelopes that Elise had opened on the plane. That brought a
smile to his face. When he turned the envelope over, he saw his
name written across the front with two words right underneath –
First Move.

Trey laughed aloud and opened the
envelope to find all the second tickets and vouchers her friend
bought for her. He was flattered. It was a really sweet gesture on
her part, and she wasn’t lying when she said she didn’t mind making
the first move. Unfortunately, Trey wouldn’t be able to attend any
of those events with her. He didn’t want to give her the wrong idea
or lead her on in any way. That wouldn’t be fair to her.