R Is for Richer

by Tara Hart

  Theo smiled, his lips framing his crooked teeth perfectly.

  “What are you smiling at?” I asked.

  He took a step closer, bending over and picking a white tipped dandelion from the field before bringing it between us.

  “What is your favorite flower, mon cheri?”

  I smiled. It was a no-brainer. “Tiger lilies.”

  They had always been my favorite. Jared would buy me giant pink and white tiger lilies every time he was trying to butter me up. They always brought a smile to my face.

  Theo furrowed his brow. “Tiger lilies?”

  I nodded my head although I wasn’t sure he knew what a tiger lily was. I didn’t know how to translate that into a language he’d understand.

  He shook his head, seemingly disappointed by my answer. “My favorite is the dandelion.” He nodded his head toward the white ball of fluff between us.

  I smirked. “Where I’m from, that’s a weed.”

  He looked at the dandelion, studying it for a moment as his brow furrowed. “In what world do you get a second life? The dandelion gets one life as a flower and then it comes back with the ability to grant wishes. How magical is that?”

  He closed his eyes and blew the white seeds from the flower. The seeds flew into the air and fluttered to the ground as if it were snowing.

  When he opened his eyes again, I raised my eyebrows. “So what did you wish for.”

  He shook his head as he set off towards the car, brushing my arm on his way.

  “If I told people of my wishes, you wouldn’t be standing here right now.”

  I watched him walk away with a wide smile upon my lips. And from that moment on, my favorite flower was the dandelion.

  Chapter 16

  She opened the door and embraced Theo instantly. Her long fingers wrapped around his neck as she whispered something into his ear.

  I stood by his side, my hands crossed behind my back, a warm smile on my face, waiting for her to look at me. I wanted her to like me more than anything else in the world. I knew that her opinion mattered.

  She broke away from his embrace, the smile slowly falling from her lips as her eyes traveled over my face and not so subtly down my body.

  I don’t know what I was expecting. A welcoming hug or an air kiss on each cheek, but not this—not a dismissive look and a roll of her chocolate brown eyes.

  “This is Selina.” Theo gestured towards me as if presenting a prize on a game show.

  “Hello,” she said eventually after what felt like an eternity of her eyeballing me.

  She stepped aside and let us into her condo. It was small but neat. I followed Theo through to the living area where two sofas looked out to the amazing view of Le Tréport and beyond. He sat on the sofa that sat against the wall and I followed him, practically sitting on his lap as I tried to place some distance between me and Camille.

  “Coffee?” She looked at Theo, who then looked at me. I nodded my head eagerly. I was glad that was one word that was the same in both languages.

  Camille rounded the breakfast bench and got to work in the kitchen, grinding coffee beans and placing them in the press.

  She was stunning. She had a thin face, her features small yet defined. Her plump lips pouting as she busied herself in the kitchen. She wore her brown hair straight, framing her face perfectly. The clothes she wore were simple yet stylish. White fitted pants and a beige blouse. I imagined she rolled out of bed like that. She was effortlessly chic unfortunately, my own appearance took a little longer to perfect.

  Camille looked up at me, sensing that I was watching her closely. I tore my eyes away, but not quick enough. My cheeks warmed as she eyed me. This was one intimidating woman.

  Theo felt the tension radiating off of me. He gave my knee a squeeze and leaned in close to my ear. His breath tickled my skin as he came close to touching me.

  “Relax,” he whispered. “She’ll love you.”

  I wasn’t so sure.

  I offered him a smile, but it was forced. I’d never felt so unwelcome in my life. Camille kept staring at me and it made me feel claustrophobic. I mentally begged for someone to open the balcony doors so I could get some air into my lungs.

  I glanced around the apartment as I felt the pale orange walls caving in on me. My gaze found a large painting that hung on the opposite wall to where we were sitting. The painting was of a brunette woman, her bare back showing as she looked out to a field full of yellow flowers. Dandelions perhaps.

  I nodded towards the painting. “That’s one of yours.”

  I should have recognized it immediately. The long generous brush strokes and the vibrant palette of yellows and orange.

  He squeezed my knee gently. “It is.”

  My gaze traveled over the painting once again. “The woman...?” I felt the need to ask.

  He pressed his lips together, holding back a smile. “A girl I once knew.”

  Everything about the painting seemed familiar.

  My eyes focused on the canvas, mentally zooming on the right shoulder where the mole was delicately placed.

  I gasped. The painting was of me.

  He’d painted me after one intense night that I was sure he’d never given a second thought. As it turned out, on that night he’d memorized my body.

  I was speechless.

  My mouth fell open as tears pricked at my eyes. He leaned in close, his lips grazing my ear. “You were perfect from the first moment I laid eyes on you.”

  I licked my lips.

  “I—I…” I didn’t know what to say.

  The words didn’t come to tell him how truly touched I was, and then a coffee cup was being shoved in front of my face.

  I took it with two hands. “Thank you.”

  Camille grunted, placing Theo’s coffee on the table in front of him.

  She sat on a black leather chair across from us, crossing one leg over the other as she readied herself for the interrogation she was about to bestow upon me.

  She cleared her throat. “Do you like it here, Selina?”

  I nodded my head, a little too enthusiastically. “I do. Very much so.”

  She pursed her lips. “And what do you think or our home town?”

  “I love Pierry,” I said with a smile that was genuine. “It’s a quaint little town.”

  Camille leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest as she did so. She was so different from Theo. He was so kind and welcoming and she was the complete opposite.

  “But you would never move here would you?” Her eyebrows rose as high as they could go.

  “Camille, please,” Theo said, his voice strained slightly.

  She sighed. “Theo, she’s never going to move to Pierry. The sooner you realize that the better.”

  My mouth went dry. Moving to Pierry hadn’t even crossed my mind, but for the first time, I wondered if I could ever do it. Could I live in a place that I never knew existed until a few days ago?

  “I could move…” I started, but my voice trailed off. I wasn’t convincing Camille or Theo—I wasn’t even convincing myself.

  Camille giggled, her foot bouncing up and down on the ground as she did so. “And will your husband move with you?”

  Husband.

  Those two syllables caused my cheeks to burn. She knew everything. That’s why she hated me—that’s why this would never work.

  Theo said something to her in French, his voice powerful. I’d never heard him raise his voice before and it scared me. He seemed different around Camille. I could see the fire in his eyes. His pupils were dilated and small beads of sweat settled on his brow.

  Camille shot back a few words, now standing from her chair, her hands clenched into tight balls.

  Theo muttered one last word, casting his arm in front of him as if shoeing her away. The word was so strong, so final as if it would be the last thing he’d ever say to her.

  Her gaze locked with mine, challenging me to a stare off that she wouldn’t back away from.
But there was one thing she didn’t know about me—I could throw daggers for days. I ground my teeth as I focused on her judgmental fucking face.

  She sensed that I wasn’t going to back down. Her eyes narrowed into slits before she grunted, turning around and walking out of the room.

  My attention turned back to Theo, tugging on his sleeve impatiently. “What did she say about me?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” He shook his head as he expelled the air from his lungs. “What she thinks doesn’t matter to us.”

  But that was the thing, no matter what Theo said, I was worried. I worried that Camille would influence what he thought of me.

  His finger traced along the curve of my chin, lifting it slightly as he dipped his head and pressed a tender kiss to my closed lips.

  Our foreheads met, his hand coming to cup the side of my face as his warm breath hit my lips.

  “Tell me,” I whispered so quietly that I wasn’t even sure the words left my lips. “Tell me what she said.”

  His thumb brushed against the apple of my cheek as he inhaled through his nose.

  He licked his lips and when he opened his mouth to speak, I knew his words were about to cut deep. Theo would only hesitate if he knew he was about to hurt me. I drew in a breath and held it.

  “She said that you are just like my wife.”

  Chapter 17

  I left Camille’s apartment without so much as a goodbye. Theo found her in her bedroom, she was sitting on the edge of her bed, tears streaming down her face. She told him she loved him. She told him that she was worried that he would get his heart broken and then he told me everything she had said.

  It was as if he was looking for reassurance, some kind of guarantee that the things she threatened would never come true. I tried to find the words to comfort him, but they didn’t exist. I didn’t know how I could reassure him of something that I was still uncertain of myself.

  I couldn’t be sure that I wouldn’t break Theo’s heart, and for that reason, I said nothing at all.

  When we left Camille’s apartment, Theo drove us to a nearby beach, pulling our sleeping bags from the trunk and carrying them to the pebbled shores. He wrapped one bag around our shoulders and another covered our legs. The evening breeze made my skin cool. I snuggled into Theo’s side as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

  We hadn’t spoken about the fight and what Camille had said. The one vital piece of information that Theo had conveniently forgotten to tell me. He had a wife, and although I was in no place to pass judgment, I still felt as though he’d been lying to me. He had plenty of opportunities to tell me, and yet, hadn’t uttered a single word.

  “Who is she?” I asked, my voice almost carried away in the breeze.

  His gentle sigh told me that he’d heard my question, but needed a moment to form his response.

  “She’s a woman who I loved very much.”

  I squeezed my eyes closed. His words hurt. Hearing him use that word in relation to another human being made my heart ache.

  “You’re still married?” I asked without looking at him.

  He shook his head. “We broke up two years ago.”

  Two years.

  I wasn’t sure if that was enough time for him to get over her or not. Clearly, she was still on Camille’s mind and that hurt more than it should. I wanted to know everything about the woman who stole his heart. I wanted to know what she looked like if she was tall and thin and effortlessly beautiful. I wanted to know if he smiled when she entered the room, as he did with me. I wanted to know why she was no longer in his life and where I stood in the equation. Was he even capable of loving again?

  “Why did you break up?”

  I found myself holding my breath as I waited for him to respond.

  “She cheated on me.” His voice was low and husky and I sensed the slightest tremble in his words.

  His wife was cheating, in the same way I was and yet, I found myself judging her. How dare she cheat on Theo. There he sat, the sweetest and most genuine person I’d ever met and he didn’t deserve that.

  He exhaled noisily. “She cheated on me and told me that she was leaving me to be with him. She sent me the divorce papers in the mail along with her wedding ring. I never saw her again.”

  My gaze traveled to his face. His head bowed and his eyes closed. He was sad and broken and I hated that his sister had compared me to his ex-wife. I clenched my teeth together as my jaw worked overtime.

  My hand cupped his cheek as I forced him to look at me. He had tears in his eyes and I wanted to take the pain away. I never wanted him to feel that same kind of rejection again.

  “Look at me,” I said. “Look at me.”

  His eyes opened wide, green met grey as I locked my gaze with his.

  “Theo, I am nothing like her,” I said, trying to quash his sister’s doubts from his mind. “I know what we’re doing here is wrong, but I’ve been searching for you for half my lifetime. I would never hurt you in that way.”

  I kissed his closed lips tenderly before wrapping my arms around his neck and holding him close.

  My fingers tangled through his hair and my lips met the rim of his ear.

  “I’ll never hurt you,” I whispered.

  I don’t know who I was trying to convince—Theo or myself.

  He swallowed roughly and I pulled back to look at his face.

  “But you’re leaving for America in two days.”

  “Yes,” I stated simply, my tone as even as I could keep it at that moment.

  “And I’ll never see you again.”

  I shook my head, but it wasn’t convincing.

  “I don’t—I don’t know,” I paused, swallowing back the lump in my throat. “Would you ever move to America?”

  He laughed ironically. “Me in America? Sweetheart, please.”

  “My sister’s in the art business,” I said, for the first time hearing the desperation in my own voice. “She can introduce you to people. You’ll meet rich and powerful people who will pay good money for your work. You could make your yearly wage from one sale.”

  His eyes narrowed as he looked at my face. “You don’t know me at all.”

  He pulled his arm from around my shoulders, shrugging out from beneath the sleeping bag. Iciness filled the air around me and I wasn’t sure if it was from the breeze or from the lost contact.

  He stood up and walked toward the water, his hands hanging out of his pockets as he kicked the pebbles from beneath his feet.

  I wrapped the bag around my shoulders as I stood and walked after him. I approached cautiously, not wanting to make matters worse, but I couldn’t let this go on. The little squabbles were ruining the remaining time we had together. For once, I was going to be the one to compromise. And that is how I knew that I was truly in love.

  “I am not the man you want me to be, Selina,” he started. “I’m not made to live in a big city. This is where I belong. In my home country.”

  I smiled subtly. “And that’s what I love about you.”

  He returned my smile. “You can move to France,” he suggested. “We’ll live in Pierry. It’s only a few hours to Paris.”

  I felt my face fall. As beautiful as Pierry was, I couldn’t imagine myself living there.

  “You’ll still be able to shop and eat out,” he continued excitedly. “And during the holidays we can travel around Europe, not to the big cities, but to the town’s most people have never heard of.”

  I bit the corner of my lip as I tried to imagine my life with Theo. How could I ever become tired of being wrapped up in his arms?

  “What if I had money,” I tested the thought aloud. “What if I could buy an apartment in the city and a larger home in Pierry?”

  He looked at me, his face torn. “A home in Paris and another in Pierry?”

  I nodded my head enthusiastically. “Wherever you want. We can spend time in the city and travel back to Pierry for the weekends.”

  He smiled, his hand coming to rest on
my shoulder, squeezing it gently as his gaze met mine.

  “That is what you want?” he asked.

  I swallowed roughly because there was a huge lump in my throat from the thought of losing him again. “Yes.” I nodded. “That is what I want for us.”

  He looked hesitant as if he wasn’t sure how I could deliver these promises. Hell, I didn’t even know if I could come through, but I would try with everything I had to make that our reality.

  “How?” he asked skeptically. “How would we afford such a lavish lifestyle. Paris is not cheap.”

  I shrugged nonchalantly. “I have some money saved.”

  Jared’s face flashed to the forefront of my mind. He didn’t deserve any of this, and yet, I knew he was the answer to all of my problems.

  The prenup would be an issue. I wouldn’t receive a cent of his millions if we were to split, unless…

  The one loophole in our contract. The one thing that could get me enough money to be financially secure for the rest of my life. Jared had to cheat on me, and I had to make it happen.

  Chapter 18

  I woke in the morning, the light filtering through the curtain, causing me to squint. It took me a moment to remember where I was and who I was with. A soft smile made its way to my lips as I rolled over to find him by my side.

  We’d driven all night, stopping for coffee and croissants at a nearby bakery and watching the sunrise as we sat on the hood of the car. Theo wrapped his sweater around my shoulders and held my hand, stroking my skin with his thumb gently. I closed my eyes and tried to hold onto that feeling for as long as possible.

  When we got back to his house, we went straight to bed. I slept lightly, an hour max, my impending departure was weighing heavily on my mind.

  My heart raced as I watched him sleep. For the first time I noticed the slight wrinkles on his forehead. They were subtle and added to his charm, together with the silver flecks in his dark hair. I fought back the urge to brush my fingers through the overgrown tufts.