French Kissing (Restless Hearts) (7 page)

“Art?” I wrinkled my nose. “Naked art?”

He laughed. “I’m not sure, but you probably need to start appreciating naked art considering who you are dating.”

“Not dating,” I corrected. “Have dated. One time. And a half. One and a half times.”

“Half?” He frowned. “How is that even possible?”

“Ended early.” I didn’t really feel like getting into the details. Especially when I still didn’t understand what the details meant. “What time is the art thing?”

He checked the time on his phone. “We can go now. It’s just up the street.”

“Now?” I looked down at my sweatpants and sneakers. “Like this?”

“Sure. It’s one of those trendy, contemporary places. No one will even notice what we are wearing.” He had at least changed out of the pink shorts back at the club. But his black track pants were still quite casual.

“I don’t know…” The French culture was so different that I found it hard to believe that we could show up in athletic gear and no one would notice.

Jake waved away my concerns and within five minutes, we were in the gallery lobby. One look around proved that he had been right. The other patrons were dressed in trendy and even wild apparel. I saw short shorts, ripped jeans, and even a Mohawk.

“What is this place?” I muttered, looking around in bewilderment. It looked more like a hipster neighborhood in Chicago rather than an art gallery in Paris.

“This place is kind of underground on the art scene. They host artists that get turned away from the bigger places. A lot of contemporary artists got their start here.” He shot me a quick glance. “Including your boyfriend.”

I glared back.

“I’m going to see if my friend is in the back. You should go check out some of the work. It’s pretty interesting.”

Interesting was putting it mildly. The art inside was definitely on the contemporary side. I found a pile of trash that was on display and a group in front of it, dressed all in black, muttering seriously as they studied it. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but I had a good idea that it wasn’t the same thoughts that were running through my head.

I left the first room, with its artistically styled pile of trash, and headed to the second room. The room held about thirty people, all of whom seemed excited by whatever was on display.

A woman to my right was talking to her friend in English and I listened in when I heard Evan’s name.

“This is part of Evan Carter’s newest collection. I’m not really a fan of his work, but he is certainly talented.”

Evan’s work was in this gallery?

I hurried to the nearest piece and was surprised to see my own face staring back at me. Well not staring, exactly, since in the photo my eyes were closed.

It had been taken from a close range, so close that you could see every curve and angle of my face. It was unsettling.

But it only got worse. Much worse.

When I saw the second photo, I knew exactly when it had been taken. The morning I had woken up at Evan’s and caught him with a camera. The pictures he had sworn to destroy. Now they were blown up and on display for everyone to see.

I
was on display for everyone to see.

Slowly, I circled the room in shock. The photos stopped short of showing me completely naked, but they also left nothing to the imagination. My face flushed hotly, my heart beat furiously. I was angry and horrified and embarrassed and upset all at the same time.

Whatever my confusion had been about Evan, my mind was made up now.

“Cam. I want you to meet my friend-”

Jake stopped abruptly when I turned to face him. One look at my face told him that something was horribly wrong. But when he looked over my shoulder, eyes immediately finding the problem, I became even more horrified.

I couldn’t face him, so I ran.

Through the gallery and outside, I ran without looking back. I was sure that once Jake put the pieces together, he would come after me. But I couldn’t handle that, so I ran down the street until I spotted a cab.

Breathlessly, I huffed out my address and then sank into the leather seat, wishing I could disappear. And as mad as I was at Evan, as much as I wanted to punch him or kick him in the crotch, I was even more mad at myself.

Jake called three times before I even got home. He left messages each time, but I didn’t listen to them. Whatever he said, I was sure it was going to make me feel even worse. There was nothing anyone could say right now that would take away the sting of what had just happened.

It took me three day to even be able to leave my apartment. Even then, it was only to get some food. Since I had been doing nothing but sitting at home, eating my feelings, I’d gone through every item in the fridge and pantry.

Jake called a dozen times every day until I finally sent him a text saying that I didn’t want to talk, text, or see him. It ended up being phrased much harsher than I intended, but it did the trick. He left me alone.

Jen called just as I got home from the store. She had no idea what had happened, only that I sounded like crap when I answered the phone.

“Are you sick?” She instantly sounded like a concerned mom.

“Sick of everything,” I muttered.

It was the wrong thing to say. Jen was a worrier by nature, and even more so when it came to her little sister.

“What’s wrong?”

“I had a… thing happen to me.” I still wasn’t sure whether I should tell her the full story. I didn’t want her to be disappointed in me.

“A thing?” Her voice shot up three octaves.

Now I had to tell her. Whatever she was imaging was probably worse than reality.

I told Jen everything, starting at the very beginning, the night when I met Jake and Evan. While she did sigh disapprovingly when I mentioned spending the night at Evan’s, she huffed much louder at the part about him taking my picture.

“He’s a scumbag, Cammy. How could you be so oblivious?”

“He’s a photographer! His profession is taking pictures of people.” I tried to make it sound like it wasn’t that big of a deal, but Jen wasn’t stupid.

“He didn’t take a picture of you in front of the Eiffel Tower. He took naked photos of you, while you were sleeping, without your permission. Scumbag.”

In Jen’s world, everything was that simple. I had always thought she was narrow-minded for seeing the world only in black and white, but maybe that type of singular morality would’ve kept me out of my current predicament.

“If you think he’s a scumbag already, you’re going to really hate him when you hear the rest of the story.”

At the end of the story, Jen said nothing. Silence meant that she was furious. After a few minutes of silence, I started to worry.

“Say something, Jen.”

“Come home.” She sounded like she had been crying. “Pack up your stuff and come home.”

“What?” It wasn’t something I had considered, even at my lowest moments. “I can’t come home, Jen.”

She said anxiously, “Yes, you can. Not only that, you should.”

“There’s nothing for me at home anyway. Not anymore.”

It was low of me to throw that in her face. She had agonized for months before moving in with her boyfriend.

“You’re an adult now, Camryn. I can’t give up my life just because you need me to pick up the pieces of yours.”

Even though her words were harsh, I knew that she was right. I had been selfishly treating her like my mother for years.

“I’m not coming home, Jen. I can’t just run away from this.” It was then that I realized I had already been running away from it.

“Okay.” She sighed. “Do me a favor?”

“Sure.”

“Get your head out of your ass and give that Jake guy a chance.”

It wasn’t what I had been expecting her to say at all. For one thing, Jen was never that graphic. For another, I hadn’t even realized that Jake had been part of the story.

“I can’t do that, Jen. I don’t want to see him. I’m mortified.”

Just remembering the look on his face when he realized it was me in the picture on the wall made me blush.

“This isn’t that big of a deal,” she said. “It’s just a few art shots. It’s not like someone released a sex tape of you.”

Now I knew that she was trying to make me feel better. And it was working.

“You’ve done way more embarrassing things than this. Like that time you fell of the stage in your third grade Christmas show. Or the time you got drunk and threw up on Mom’s boyfriend.”

“This isn’t helping,” I said through my laughter. “You’re just making me feel terrible about everything else in my life, too.”

“Look. You do silly things sometimes. You jump into things before thinking it out. But that doesn’t make you a bad person. It doesn’t mean you should be embarrassed when things don’t work out. It means you’re human. And it’s what makes you so awesome.”

Jen was the perfect big sister. She always knew how to say exactly the thing I needed to hear. She loved me unconditionally and accepted me even with all of my faults.

“I love you, sissy,” I said.

“Yeah, yeah. Go fix your life.” She paused. “I love you, too.”

Feeling slightly better after talking to Jen, I put away the box of cookies I had almost finished off during our call and hit the shower. With clean hair, scrubbed skin, and fresh clothes, my mood improved enough that I tried calling Jake.

I got his voicemail.

Hearing his voice asking me to leave a message so that he could get back to me made me freeze. I ended up hanging up without saying anything.

I started to think more about my conversation with Jen and realized that she hadn’t been completely wrong in telling me that I might as well just go home. I had come to Paris with the sole purpose of launching my career, and so far that had been the last thing on my mind. That needed to change.

My pencils and sketchpad had been sitting on the desk, untouched, for weeks. It was time to put an end to the dry spell.

With a large mug of coffee, I settled at the desk. Guided by the bright sunlight streaming through the window in front of me, I started to draw.

November 12

Do you remember that time in high school when I had a huge crush on Steve Neilson? That senior with the perfect smile and “one-in-a-million” arm? I made you got to every baseball game that season. And when prom rolled around, I was certain he was going to ask me. I had been flirting with him every day for six months straight, letting him copy my physics homework every morning.

Then I found out he was going with Mellie Kingston, but he said they were just friends. So I was sure that meant he still liked me. I ended up going to prom with Jake Allis, but in my heart I was sure I would end the night in Steve’s arms on the dance floor. In my head, it played out just like a Ringwald movie.

They announce the prom king and queen and Steve takes the stage next to some pretty blond. Just before they start to play the music for the royalty dance, Steve grabs the mic and professes his love for me. We melt into each other’s arms and kiss romantically…

Yeah. Twenty minutes into prom, I caught him in the corner going at it with Mellie.

He never talked to me again after that night.

You’re probably wondering why I’m bringing this up after so many years. It was such a silly thing for me to hold onto. But I hold onto it anyway because I’ve always thought that when I find the one, the person I’m meant to be with, it will feel just like that dream. It might not happen that way, especially since I doubt I’ll ever be attending a prom again, but I believe that it will be like one of those moments in the movie where the leading character realizes they have to do something bold, right then and there, or risk losing the other person forever.

And now I don’t feel like such a fool for holding onto that dream for all these years, because that exact thing happened to me last night.

* * *

Jake never called me back. I couldn’t really blame him though. He’d done nothing but try to be there for me since the beginning of our friendship and I’d done nothing but push him away. I caught a couple of his matches on television and he was struggling. Compared to the match Macy and I had gone to, he looked like a different player.

When I wasn’t busy obsession over Jace’s every swing, I was busy sketching. I filled three different pads with my designs and after a lot of internal debate and hesitation, I finally showed them to Evelyn.

She didn’t throw her arms up in defeat, whaling that my work made hers look like childish drawings. But she also didn’t say they were crap. She studied them carefully, picked one from the pile, and said, “This one is better than mediocre. This one I can do something with. It’s going in the show.”

The “show” was Evelyn’s event on Saturday night to raise money for her charity. It wasn’t as huge as one of her seasonal shows, but it was a big deal for me. This was the first time one of my designs would be shown at a public event. I was floored.

When Saturday rolled around, I was a mess for multiple reasons. One, because of the event itself. Evelyn had put me in charge of the runway portion of the event. It was a lot of responsibility. Two, my design had made it in and I was anxious about how it would go over. But the last reason was one that had come to me just the night before.

I was going to watch Jake play in the title match of the tournament. He hadn’t invited me and he didn’t know that I was coming, but I hoped that would make it an even grander gesture. I had to drop quite a bit of cash for the ticket, but when I saw him walk onto the court it was totally worth it.

I realized that not seeing him or talking to him for a week had made me miss him like crazy. I wanted to jump out of my seat, over the wall, and onto the court. But I also knew that it was better if I didn’t do anything at all. Jake was facing off against Merrick, and he needed to focus.

He stayed focused all through warm-ups. His eyes never flitted to the crowd, not even when a gaggle of girls yelled his name in unison.

Throughout the first set, he continued to struggle to find his game. His serve was erratic and his volleys were terrible. Someone next to me commented that they had never seen him play so poorly. Merrick wasn’t even playing that well, but he was winning each game handily.

At the end of the set, Jake walked over to the sidelines with his head down. He had lost. Badly.

I couldn’t help it. I had to say something. “Come on, Jake!”

It was barely a yell. More like loud speaking. Other people around me were being much loudly. But somehow, Jake managed to hear me. His head shot up and he looked directly at me.

His eyes widened in surprise and I smiled. After a long moment, he returned it with a dazzling smile of his own.

The second set went much better. He started killing his serve, delivering ace after ace. His volleys were nailed with precision. He never looked into the stands again, but I knew that he knew I was there, cheering after every shot.

When it was all over and Jake was presented with the trophy, he finally looked at me again. He said something to one of the staff members, pointing in my direction.

A few minutes later, I was escorted down to the court where I waited for Jake at the sideline. He finished posing for pictures and answering questions and then set down the trophy, almost like he didn’t care about it at all.

“You came,” he said as he approached me.

“Why are you always so surprised by that? I wouldn’t have missed this for anything.” I loved the way his damp hair curled at the ends, the way his smile was just slightly crooked.

“I don’t think I’ll ever stop being excited to see you,” he said.

I knew exactly what he meant.

“I have to say, I’m a little disappointed in you.”

He startled. “Really? I’ll admit, that first set was a little sloppy, but I pulled it together after-”

“No, not about the match,” I interrupted.

“Then what are you disappointed about?”

My smile grew. “How long it’s taking you to kiss me.”

He didn’t need any further encouragement.

With thousands of people still watching from the stands, Jake pulled me to him and planted his lips on mine. He kissed with passion and tenderness and I melted into his arms. After several long seconds, he pulled away and pressed his lips to my ear, whispering, “Je t’adore.’

As bad as I was at French, I knew those words.

“I adore you, too,” I said loudly, not caring if the whole world could hear.

Unfortunately, Jake had to hit the showers and do more press interviews and I had to get to the studio to start preparing for Evelyn’s event. When Jake asked if he could see me later, I invited him to the party. The show would probably bore him, but there would be food and drinks afterward.

“It might be a little lame,” I admitted reluctantly.

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything,” he said, kissing me quickly one last time.

After I was at work for just an hour, another bouquet of flowers arrived. I had received one every single day at work since that first time. But this time when I read the note, I knew that I had been wrong this entire time- they had never been from Evan.

Thank you for coming today.

Je t’adore.

~Jake

Jake. This whole time, the dozens and dozens of flowers had all been from him. That fragrant floral shop just outside the club, the sweet notes. It all seemed so clear now. How could I have been so blind?

But I didn’t have much time to fret over my stupidity because we had a show to prepare. It took a lot of time to pack up everything, drive it over to the event space, and set everything up. I was sweating by the time it was done.

Macy made me take a break to fix my hair and put on a nice dress.

“We might be working, but we still need to look good,” she said diplomatically.

I borrowed one of the spare dresses we had brought, ran my hands through my tangled hair, and wiped away some stray mascara.

“Good enough,” I said after one last glance the mirror.

“It’s show time!” Macy sang out.

In a flurry of activity, everyone got into position. Loud music filled the space and I counted the beats in my head before sending the first model out. Then one by one, I sent the rest. When it was time for Evelyn’s curtain call, she grabbed my hand and pulled me out with her. It was impossible to see anything with the flashing camera lights blinding us, but I smiled shyly and tried not to duck behind Evelyn.

After the show, Macy and I hurried to clean up so that we could attend the rest of the party. Each of the pieces from the show were being auctioned off to raise money for Evelyn’s charity, and I was both excited and nervous to see if anyone would buy my dress. We carefully hung each item and then rolled them out to the auction area.

“I bid one trillion dollars on the beautiful American,” a voice behind me said.

Before I even turned around, I was grinning like a fool. When I saw Jake standing in front of me in a perfectly tailored suit, his hair neatly groomed for once, my stomach lurched and my heart raced.

“You came.” I had to admit, part of me had worried that he wouldn’t come and I had desperately wanted to see him.

“I came.” He reached for my hand, threading his fingers through mine. “You looked amazing on that stage. I’m pretty sure everyone thought you were one of the models.”

“Stop.” I blushed furiously, ducking my head.

Jake hooked a finger under my chin, gently lifting my head until I looked at him. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. I could see what he was thinking in his eyes.

Raising up on my toes, I kissed him long and hard until someone called my name. It was hard to come back to reality, but I still had an event to run.

“I have to go,” I said reluctantly. “But I’ll find you soon. Don’t go far.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

I hurried off to find Macy. We had to make sure the food was served, the bar was still fully stocked, the auction was running smoothly, and so many other things that I couldn’t keep track.

When we sat down to collect the highest bids for each auction piece, I put Macy in charge of the clothing bids. I was too nervous that my piece might not have gotten any bid at all. Some of the other auction items were pretty amazing. Exotic trips, autographed paraphernalia, one-of-a-kind artwork. We even had a piece by Evan, though thankfully it was not one in which I was the star.

It looked like Evelyn had rich and generous friends because we had raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars in one night. Impressive.

I found Jake near the stage as Evelyn prepared to announce the winners. His arm went around me easily, like it was the hundredth time instead of the first. I liked how natural it felt to nestle against his strong body.

“Thank you everyone for coming,” Evelyn said. In true Evelyn fashion, she delivered her speech in both English and French, transitioning easily between the languages. I was surprised to realize that I understood some of the French as well. Apparently I had been learning the language through immersion without even realizing it.

“The next item up, our last item, is actually our highest selling item of the evening. This particular piece is very near and dear to my heart.” Evelyn paused as the crowd murmured excitedly. “The stunning dress designed by Camryn Ellis has been won by Mr. Jake Wellington for $20,000.”

The crowd applauded loudly while I fought the urge to pass out. Surely I hadn’t heard that right. $20,000?

“What did you do?” I asked Jake, stupefied.

“I made an investment,” he said casually. “Think how much that dress is going to be worth when you are a world-renowned designer.”

“That’s too much money!” I protested.

He shrugged. “I couldn’t risk someone else out-bidding me. I had to ensure that I would get a chance to see you in that dress.”

“Me?” Again, stupefied. “You want me to wear the dress?”

“Tomorrow night. On our first date.” He smiled coyly. “I figured if I spent $20,000 on something for you to wear, you’re going to look like a real jerk if you don’t say yes.”

I winced. “I hate to break it to you, but I would’ve said yes anyway.”

“Good to know.” His arm tightened around me, giving me a gentle squeeze. “You should know that we might have to eat fast food on this date. I did just drop twenty grand.”

“Sucker.” I smiled up at him adoringly. “Tell you what, we can split the dinner bill.”

“Beautiful
and
generous… how did I get so lucky?”

“Excuse me.” A tap on my shoulder.

I turned, expecting it to be someone from the studio needing me to get back to work. Instead, it was a man I didn’t recognize.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said in perfect English. “I’d like to speak with you for a second.”

“Okay.” I suddenly felt very nervous.

“I recently saw some photographs of you.”

I tensed and my stomach turned over. Here was the moment I had been dreading since seeing those photos hanging in the gallery.

Jace’s arm tightened around me and I could see that he was clenching his jaw.

“And?”

“And I have a modeling agency back in New York. I would really like for you to join our team.” He reached into his pocket and his hand came back holding a business card. “Think about it and when you’re ready to talk seriously, give me a call.”