Parisian Affair (13 page)

Jason nodded his shaggy blond hair. 'I know,'
he agreed. 'I've had chances, but I always felt like I should help
Ally.'

'I understand,' Cameron said. 'Of course
you'd want to help her. She's been like a friend to you. But it's
time for you to stand on your own two feet and build a stable life.
You don't deserve to live on the edge all the time. Besides, if you
got yourself into an established firm, there wouldn't be this
feast-or-famine drama, wondering whether you're going to get paid
or not.' He paused, then softly said, 'Do you understand what I
mean?'

'Yes,' Jason said, 'and you're right. I'm
tired of living on the edge. Most of my friends have bought
apartments and settled down, but I'm still living like I did when I
first started out.'

'You're better than that,' Cameron said. 'You
owe it to yourself to do something about it, don't you see?'
Cameron knew if he played his cards right, he could turn Jason's
head in the right direction. All it would take was a few whispered
words, making him think Cameron was in love with him. Just a few
words and some hot sex, and Cameron would bet he could convince Mr.
Goody Two-shoes to steal Allegra Sheridan's designs.

Cameron got to his feet and went around to
Jason's side of the table. He put his hands on Jason's broad
shoulders and began massaging him. 'Maybe I could help you out,' he
said.

Jason trembled with excitement and fear at
the touch of Cameron's hands. It wasn't that he'd never had such an
experience, but he was still unsure of himself and scared of his
own urges.

'What would you think, Jason,' Cameron said
in a dreamy voice as he continued to massage the younger man's
shoulders, 'if you worked with me for a while at Cameron Creations?
You'd have a regular salary, all the fringe benefits, and you
wouldn't have to stay if you didn't like it.' His hands moved
beneath Jason's sweater and moved toward his nipples, kneaded his
flesh gently. He bent his head down toward Jason's and whispered
into his ear. 'On the other hand, if you liked it, you could stay.
Even get rid of that dump you live in and stay here with me for a
while.'

Jason could hardly control his breathing and
felt the embarrassing hardening between his thighs. 'I—I think ...
I'd have to think about it,' he finally managed to sputter.

'What's to think about?' Cameron continued.
'Huh?' He licked Jason's ear and brushed his fingers across his
nipples at the same time.

Jason thought he would levitate out of the
chair, and when Cameron reached down and grasped one of his hands
and pushed it against his own hardness, Jason didn't protest.

'Come on,' Cameron said, gently tugging on
Jason's hand. 'Come with me.'

Jason let himself be pulled up out of his
seat, and he stood facing Cameron, who placed a hand on each of his
arms. 'I can give you everything you need,' Cameron said.
'Everything.' He leaned in and flicked a tongue up Jason's neck,
then looked at him, a sly smile on his lips. Then he nodded toward
the bedroom. 'Let's go in there,' he said, taking Jason's hand in
his.

In the bedroom, Cameron took off his towel
and threw it on a chair, then took Jason into his strong arms.
'Forget Allegra Sheridan,' he said. 'Think about your own needs,
Jason.' He kissed his lips. 'Think about us.'

When the taxi pulled up in front of her
building, Allegra paid the driver and got out. On the trip
downtown, she'd decided there were really only a few things she had
to do to get ready for Paris, besides pack a couple of things.
First, she had to sit down and pay bills. Then there were the three
people she had to talk to. One was her mother, who seldom contacted
her, but who would be furious if she should call while Allegra was
away and discover she'd left without letting her know. Another was
Todd, to let him know she would be in Paris a couple of days. And
finally, Jason. He could keep everything going at the atelier while
she was gone.

Since the nature of the trip had to be kept
secret, she'd decided to tell them a lie. She didn't have any
choice.

When she got to the door, she was surprised
to find it locked. She wondered if Jason decided to leave early.
But once she was in the atelier, it looked as if he hadn't been in
at all.

She hung up her coat, flipped on the lights,
and went straight to the answering machine. There were two
messages. One from her dentist's office, reminding her that she had
a cleaning coming up. The other was from Hooper and Strang,
reminding her that they hadn't received her payment yet. A metals
dealer. Thank God, she could pay them as soon as Whitehead's check
cleared her account.

She picked up the receiver and speed-dialed
Jason at home. When his machine clicked in, she hung up and
speed-dialed his cell phone. But voice mail picked up that call, as
well. She left a message, wondering what had happened to him. Jason
was never late, much less absent, without letting her know. She
hoped he was all right.

She took the big folder of unpaid bills from
the filing cabinet next to her worktable, deciding that getting
them ready to send out would divert her. Then she remembered that
she had to call her mother.

Hoping to get it over with, she picked up the
receiver and speed-dialed her number, waiting for Clarissa the
Great to pick up.

'Hello?'' The voice, a smoke- and
booze-ravaged, low-register drawl, belonged to her mother.

'Hi,' Allegra said. 'I was hoping I would
catch you in. How are you?'

'How is any woman in love, darling?' her
mother responded, then laughed in her husky way. 'But I forgot, you
wouldn't know about that, would you?'

Allegra groaned inwardly. 'Guess I wouldn't,
Mom,' she replied. 'Some of us just aren't as lucky as you
are.'

'No,' Clarissa said. 'Very few, in fact. I'm
the envy of every postmenopausal wench in Key West. Even a lot of
the younger ones could learn a thing or two from me.'

'No doubt,' Allegra said. 'Anyway, I called
to let you know I'm going to be out of town for a couple of days.
I'll be leaving next week.'

'Oh, so where're you off to?'

'Paris,' Allegra replied.

'Paris,' Clarissa echoed. 'How marvelous.
It's a man, I hope.'

'No,' Allegra said. 'It's business.'

'Oh, how dreary,' Clarissa said. 'What sort
of business takes you to Paris?'

'A magazine is featuring my jewelry, so
they've offered to fly me over,' Allegra said. 'They'll do the
photo shoot there.'

'Well, maybe you'll meet a nice young man,'
Clarissa said. 'Or a nice old one, for that matter. You're not
getting any younger, you know.' She laughed.

Allegra would have liked to slam the receiver
down in her mother's ear, but she restrained herself. She knew that
if she did hang up on her, Clarissa would dog her on the telephone
until she'd extracted an apology.

'You're so right, Mom,' Allegra said, 'but
some of us just aren't as lucky as you are.' Then to get her own
dig in, she added, 'Over and over again.'

'Well,' Clarissa said, bristling, 'my choices
in men may not have always been ideal, your late father being a
prime example, but at least I've had my pick of what's available.
I'm not growing old alone, like so many women do.'

'That's so wonderful for you, Mom,' Allegra
said. 'How is . . .' She actually had to think for a moment to come
up with her latest stepfather's name. '... Ben? Is he well?'

'He's divine,' Clarissa said in an enthralled
voice. 'Absolutely divine. So . . . attentive to all of my needs.
So charming. And such a . . . man.' She cackled her smoky
laugh.

Allegra wanted to gag. Her mother was a
sixty-five-year-old teenager. Bleached blond hair. Always darkly
tanned. Face lifted, breasts lifted, and liposuctioned, she
chain-smoked, drank like a fish, and lived for Men, with a capital
M. She'd never really been there for her daughter, but Allegra
tried to keep up some semblance of a relationship. Clarissa, after
all, was the only family she'd ever known.

'Well,' she said, 'I'd better run, Mom. I
have a lot to do before I leave. I just wanted to let you know I'll
be gone in case something comes up. Jason will be here if there's
an emergency or something.'

'Jason!' her mother cried. 'I don't know why
you don't hire a straight one, if you've got to have a man working
for you. But no, my brilliant daughter has to go out and find some
New York fairy to work for her. It's no wonder you're not
married.'

'Sorry, Mom,' Allegra said, barely able to
restrain her anger, 'but I have to run. I'll let you know when I
get back.'

'You do that,' Clarissa said. 'And don't get
into any trouble in Paris.' She laughed again. 'Like you
would.'

' 'Bye, Mom,' Allegra said sweetly.

'Yeah, till later,' Clarissa said.

Allegra hung up the telephone, put her head
in her hands, and sighed. She wondered why she even tried.

She looked over at the pile of bills and
decided that writing checks, which she was loath to do, would be a
relief after talking to Clarissa. She retrieved her company
checkbook from the cabinet and placed it on the worktable. She
began riffling through bills for the rent to pay first.

She'd just picked up the pen when the
telephone rang.

'Atelier Sheridan,' she said.

'Ally, it's me, Jason.'

'Where are you?' she asked. 'I've been
worried about you. Are you okay?'

'Yes,' he replied. 'I—I have to talk to you
about something.'

'I'm all ears,' she said.

'No,' Jason replied. 'I mean in person.'

'What is it, Jason?' she asked. 'Are you sure
you're okay?'

'I'm okay, Ally,' he assured her. 'It's ...
just... that it's ... personal.'

Alarm bells went off in Allegra's head. 'Do
you want to come to the atelier?'

'I—I. . . yes,' he finally said. 'I'll come
right now. Is that okay?'

'Of course, Jason,' she replied. 'I'll be
here.'

'See you in a few.'

Allegra replaced the receiver, more mystified
than ever.

She poured herself a glass of water and began
writing checks, stamping the bills PAID, and filing them away.
After thirty minutes or so, she heard the door to the atelier open,
and hurriedly finished the check she was writing. 'Just a second,
Jason,' she said, not turning around to greet him.

There was no response, and then suddenly arms
came from around her back, embracing her in a powerful hug. 'Hey,
babe. Good news. I have a big surprise for you.'

Allegra felt her tension melt away. 'A
surprise? What?'

'I bought a building on West Broadway,' Todd
said. 'I bought it for us.'

Allegra's mind began to spin. What the hell
was he talking about?

'It was very expensive,' he said, as if
reading her mind, 'and so I've been negotiating with them for
months. I decided to keep the penthouse duplex for us and thought
that together we could do a real number on it. Terrace, the
works.'

Allegra listened now with mounting
fascination. Todd had talked about them living together before, but
he'd never brought up anything like this. It represented a huge
step for him—and for her. Keeping the best floors in the building
for them?
What he was proposing was actually scaring
her.

'We could have a great time doing it,' Todd
went on, 'carving it up however we want. We could even have a pool
on the roof along with the terrace if you'd like.'

'Are—are you sure about this?' she asked
nervously. 'You've—you've never brought this up before.'

'I'm sure, Ally,' he said. 'And I want to
hire a general manager to take some of the workload off me, so I
can spend more time at home with . . . with you. I wouldn't be
working fifteen to eighteen hours a day.'

She didn't know whether to believe him or
not. This was such a change in his attitude—in what she'd come to
think of as his very nature—that she was flummoxed. Todd the Gypsy
was ready to settle down?

'Do you think you really want to do that?'
she asked.

He nodded vigorously. 'It would be great,
Ally,' he said. 'I'm making the storefront into a beautiful space.
An ideal space for . . . for you, if you want it.'

Her head snapped up, and she looked at him
with surprise. 'For me?' she said. 'You mean ... do you mean—?'

Todd smiled. 'I mean that you could have your
own shop there, Ally. A regular retail shop. You could showcase
your work. There's even room for work space in the back.'

'I don't know what to say, Todd,' she said in
a soft voice, trying to control the tears that came into her eyes.
'I—I'm a little overwhelmed.'

He went down on a knee before her and took
one of her hands in his own. 'I know I've given you reason to doubt
me,' he said. 'But that part of my life is over, Ally. You must
believe me. I know you're headstrong and independent. You've always
wanted to do this—your jewelry—all by yourself. But don't you see
how this could work out for both of us? You would have your
business, and I would have mine. And we'd still be together.'

She nodded and looked into his earnest, green
eyes. 'I'm sorry for thinking the worst,' she said. 'I guess I'm
just not ready to accept the change in you.'

The door to the atelier opened, and they both
turned to look toward it. Jason ambled in, his backpack hanging off
one shoulder. When he saw the tableau they presented, he
stopped.

'I—I'm sorry,' he said. 'I didn't realize I
was intruding. I'll come back later.'

He turned to leave, but Ally called after
him. 'No, Jason,' she said. 'Don't leave. We need to talk.' She got
up and went over to him and gave him a hug. 'Are you all right? I
was so worried when you didn't come in or call.'

'I'm okay,' Jason said. 'I had a doctor's
appointment and completely forgot to tell you.'