Two Nights in Paris
Delaney Diamond
Garden Avenue Press
Contents
Blurb
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Epilogue
More Brooks Family
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Also by Delaney Diamond
About the Author
BLURB
* * *
Two nights. One undeniable attraction.
* * *
To prove to his mother that he can be responsible, Stephan Brooks takes a job at her firm and promises to be a better son. But one glimpse of Roselle Parker, her up-and-coming protégé, and all his good intentions disappear. All he has to do is conduct himself in a professional manner, but a trip to Paris with Roselle proves too big of a temptation.
* * *
Roselle knows Stephan Brooks is nothing but trouble. She’s heard the stories, and her brief contact with him confirms they’re all true. But two nights in Paris and her inhibitions crumble beneath his seductive touch. They plan to leave what happened in Paris, in Paris. But the best-laid plans often go awry.
Two Nights in Paris by Delaney Diamond
* * *
Copyright © June 2019, Delaney Diamond
Garden Avenue Press
Atlanta, Georgia
ISBN: 978-1-946302-03-8 (Ebook edition)
ISBN: 978-1-946302-04-5 (Paperback edition)
* * *
This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No part of this e-book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and e-mail, without prior written permission from Delaney Diamond.
www.delaneydiamond.com
Chapter 1
Free at last!
Stephan Brooks stepped out into the night, relieved to finally be released after spending hours in a holding cell. One of his family’s attorney’s, Brit Wong, walked ahead of him.
Brit, a slender man with his hair, mustache, and beard peppered with gray, was a partner and founding member of Abraham, MacKenzie & Wong, a mid-sized law firm with offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and New York. His firm handled any number of personal issues for Stephan’s mother, and she paid a large retainer to have them—but more specifically, Brit—on call for the family, which included cleaning up the messes Stephan got himself into.
On his way to meet friends for dinner, Stephan’s red Ferrari had been pulled over for speeding on the highway. Unfortunately, the officer was new on the job and didn’t know Stephan came from a wealthy, prominent family. He smelled weed and saw what was left of a blunt in the cupholder and the next thing Stephan knew, he was in the back seat of a patrol car. Luckily, it hadn’t taken much for Brit to reach out to the family’s friends in law enforcement and ensure he didn’t have to spend the night in jail.
Stephan followed the attorney into the back of the waiting limo and met the hard gaze of his mother, Sylvie Johnson.
Crap. He hadn’t expected her to be here. He thought he’d be able to go home and have plenty of time to come up with an excuse for what happened.
Diamonds dripped from Sylvie’s earlobes, and she wore a long black gown—probably one of her own designs—with white gloves that came up to the elbows. She eyed his attire with tight lips, and he wished he looked better. He’d only been back in the country for a couple of days. He went to a three-day birthday party in the Seychelles but remained for a couple of weeks afterward, soaking up the sun and enjoying life at a slower pace.
He hadn’t shaved recently or gotten a haircut, so his normally smooth face had facial hair, and the hair on his head was longer and showed off his natural, loose curls. The worst of his appearance was probably the worn jeans and a black T-shirt emblazoned with the words Orgasm Donor on the front.
“Did you have a good time?” Sylvie arched an eyebrow at him.
Stephan braced for the scolding about to come his way. Of course he did not have a good time in jail, but he had to appear adequately contrite to calm his mother’s ire and make sure the fallout from his bad decision did not have repercussions for days to come.
“No, I did not. I’m sorry, Mother.”
She didn’t soften, not even a little bit. “Your father is not pleased, and neither am I. He said I should have left you there to teach you a lesson.”
He wasn’t surprised his father had made such a suggestion. Oscar Brooks was much stricter than Sylvie when it came to their sons. His father believed she coddled them too much, and in actuality, she did. On the other hand, she felt the need to toughen her daughters. He and his brother had taken full advantage of the special treatment over the years. In his mother’s eyes, they did no wrong, and she had gotten them—well, Stephan mostly—out of numerous problems over the years.
He suspected that much of her decisions were because for fifteen years she and his father had been divorced, and his mother felt some guilt over the fact that Oscar lived in a different state and they were not able to have, in her opinion, a proper male influence. As a result, she became too lenient and extra-protective of her sons.
“I’m glad you didn’t leave me there,” Stephan said.
Sylvie breathed a slow breath. “You must stop this. I need you to do better, Stephan.”
She turned away from him to gaze out at the passing buildings, but not before he saw an emotion on her face that she’d never directed at him before. Disappointment.
Pain twisted in his chest and kept him from speaking as the limousine rolled down the street in silence. He didn’t know this side of his mother. The woman he grew up with thought her kids were perfect and insisted they did no wrong, even when she knew they had.
He slumped against the leather seat, his gaze landing on Brit, who politely averted his eyes to documents on his lap now that he’d accomplished the task of getting Stephan free.
None of them said a word during the rest of the ride. The limo pulled up outside of the Fox Theatre, where Sylvie had been attending a charity event. Oscar was probably still inside.
Ever since his parents’ reconciliation, his mother had been less forgiving of his behavior and less generous with the money she disbursed for his leisurely lifestyle. Much of those changes were because of his father, and resentment settled in Stephan’s gut.
Sylvie turned to him. “We need to talk, but not tonight.”
“Yes, Mother.”
The driver came around and opened the door. Before she exited the vehicle, Sylvie took a good look at her son. “I want you to come to my office on Monday so we can talk in person. I have an appointment at eight, and then another engagement around ten, so I’ll squeeze you in at nine o’clock. Be prompt.”
“I will be.�
�� If she wanted him there at six o’clock in the morning, he’d be there. Right now, he was at her mercy and needed to get back on her good side.
Sylvie walked toward the entrance of the building, and the driver climbed in and took off.
“What do you think, Brit?”
“Do you really want to know my opinion?” the attorney asked.
“I asked, didn’t I?”
“If I had to guess, I’d say you used your last life.”
Over the years, Brit every so often pointed out that Stephan was using one of his nine lives, his chances, much like a cat did. Stephan laughed every time because he didn’t have a worry in the world as he lived the good life that others only fantasized about. Besides, he always sweet-talked his mother and got back on her good side. Obviously, Brit did not believe that was a possibility this time.
“What makes you say that?” Stephan asked.
“I’ve worked for your mother for a long time. I’ve seen her get you out of all kinds of scrapes, but I can tell that this time she’s had enough.”
“But how?” Stephan asked, a little bit of panic bubbling up inside him. He nervously stared at the attorney, waiting anxiously for his reply. As if his answer determined whether or not his relationship with his mother was forever destroyed.
“Because for as long as I’ve known Sylvie Johnson, whenever you got yourself into trouble, she’s been there, right beside you, fighting for you whether you want her to or not. Tonight, she came to make sure that you were okay. But instead of staying with you like she used to, she went back to the event and has effectively sent you home. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen her do that. And that’s how I know you’ve used your last life.”
Stephan mulled the attorney’s words. His mother certainly didn’t seem as worried about him as she’d been in the past. She was annoyed and disappointed.
He dropped his head to the back of the leather seat and closed his eyes. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew the attorney was right.
Chapter 2
On Monday morning, Stephan plodded into his mother’s large office, decorated in white—her favorite color—with splashes of tan and pale rose. Sheer drapes covered windows at her back and allowed sunlight to come in and brighten the room.
He dropped into the chair before her glass desk. He’d shaved, cut his hair, and made sure to dress more appropriately today in a long-sleeved shirt and chinos.
Sylvie was on the phone and held up one finger while continuing her conversation in Spanish, a language which he also spoke fluently.
He couldn’t help but admire his mother. She’d bucked tradition and instead of setting up shop in New York or California like most designers, chose Atlanta, Georgia. She was a successful businesswoman, albeit one who started her career with millions of dollars in her pocket, but had turned that money into a multibillion-dollar enterprise called SJ Brands. Her fashion, makeup, and furniture lines were also under the SJ Brands name, while SJ Media was the name for her company that produced films and funded documentaries. She was doing what she loved instead of working in the family’s beer and restaurant businesses, but she’d had every right to inherit a portion of the conglomerate. Furthermore, she weathered the storm of a divorce and taking care of four children, somehow managing to keep her sanity while she grew her companies.
He hated to disappoint her and had considered lying and blaming the weed on one of his friends, but that was the coward’s way out. He was more than ready to make up for what he’d done. Hopefully, she’d see his contrition and cut him a break.
Sylvie hung up the phone and stared across the desk at him.
Stephan grinned at her, hoping to warm the icy freeze in the room. “You look great today.”
She wore her hair down in a spool of black silk that tumbled down her back, a hairstyle she wore more frequently ever since she and his father got back together.
“I look great every day.”
He lost his smile. This conversation was going to be harder than anticipated. He decided to meet the problem head-on. “I know I screwed up big time, and I want you to know that I’m really sorry. I’m going to do better. Moving forward, you’re going to see a whole new Stephan.”
Sylvie folded her hands on the desk and looked steadily at him. “You’re saying everything I want you to say. Like you always have.”
Damn. She really was pissed.
“I mean it this time.”
His mother sighed heavily. “From the beginning, you’ve always given me so much trouble. You were my most difficult pregnancy.”
Here we go, Stephan thought, fighting with everything in him not to roll his eyes.
“You were born late. Simply refused to be born and were seven days overdue. Then I went into labor, and oh my goodness.” She shook her head.
Twenty hours of labor.
“Twenty hours of labor, Stephan! You’ve never been easy, and you grew more difficult as you got older. I didn’t help matters by letting you get away with murder, bailing you out every time you got into trouble, and in general not giving you the tools you need to become a successful and properly functioning adult. All of that changes today.”
She said the last in a steely voice that made Stephan pay attention.
“You need to find a job. I’m canceling your credit cards and cutting your allowance.”
Stephan went rigid with shock. “What! You can’t do that!”
“I’m afraid I can, darling. The changes won’t be immediate. You have thirty days to find work. After the thirty days are up, you will be responsible for most of your expenses.” She sat back in the chair.
“By how much are you cutting my allowance?”
“Fifty percent.”
“Fifty percent! I’ll starve!” Had what he’d done really warranted such a harsh punishment? “Did Father put you up to this?” He was pretty sure his father put this idea into her head.
“I do have a mind of my own, Stephan,” Sylvie said dryly. She stood and came to stand beside the chair, resting her bottom on the edge of her desk. “You will not starve. You’ll be fine. You have to learn to budget and earn your own money to spend.”
Stephan inwardly seethed. “I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”
“It’s for your own good. You have to learn to be responsible, and I feel as if it’s my fault that you haven’t been responsible all these years.”
“I am responsible. I’ve learned my lesson, I promise.”
“Not from what I’ve seen.”
“What kind of work could I possibly do?” All he knew was how to spend money, give orgasms, and have a good time. He had virtually no work experience and wasn’t capable of anything else.
Sylvie shrugged. “Perhaps you could work at a coffee shop.”
“Very funny.” There was no way the money he earned working at a coffee shop would offset the loss in income from his decreased allowance and canceled credit cards.
“Well, I’m certainly not going to refer you to any of my friends, and you can’t work for your cousins at Johnson Enterprises.”
Johnson Enterprises was the umbrella organization that made up the multi-billion-dollar beer and restaurant empire on his mother’s side of the family. At the moment, his cousins owned and ran Johnson Brewing Company, the number-one beer company in the country.
“Why not?”
“As far as my friends, my reputation would be at stake. I’m not taking any chances with you embarrassing me. You have embarrassed me enough, and believe me, I am not happy about this weekend’s events. Then, of course, there’s the situation of the summer you spent in Seattle working at Johnson Enterprises headquarters. Need I remind you what happened?”
Stephan winced. “No.”
He’d majorly screwed up. Since he was family, he didn’t think he had to work as hard as the other employees. He came in late, left early, and didn’t turn in assignments on time. His cousin Cyrus, the company’s no-nonsense CEO, eventually fired him. Not his fin
est moment at all.
“Of course, you could always work here,” Sylvie said. “Ella and Reese have positions in my company, so I’m inviting you to work here as well.”
His older sister Ella was the vice president of operations, overseeing all their mother’s businesses, and his younger brother Reese worked in the IT department, no doubt being groomed to take over after the current CIO left.
“Work here under your thumb?” Stephan grumbled. Sylvie arched an eyebrow at him. “I didn’t mean that.”
“I’m sure you didn’t. Because you know better.”
“I can’t work here, Mother. What will I do? Sew dresses?”
“Don’t be nasty, darling, it’s unbecoming. I’ll find a spot for you if you tell me what you’re interested in. You can work in any of my companies or all of them. It’s completely up to you, but you have to make a decision.”
“And what if I don’t want to work for you?”
“Then you can go work at a coffee shop,” Sylvie said with a tight smile.
Stephan smelled a setup. While it was true that he’d made a mistake over the weekend, it was not his first brush with the law. In the past, he’d been caught driving on a suspended license and been in a couple of physical altercations, among other things. He understood if his mother was getting tired of cleaning up his messes, but he sensed there was more amiss. It would be impossible for him to find a job that made up the loss in income from his cut allowance, and to do so within the timeframe she stipulated.
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