Breaking Love (Full Hearts Book 2)

by Summers, MJ

  He quickly pulled his hips away from her. “Whoa, let’s take it one step at a time.”

  “Okay, that’s it!” Clarissa snapped. “Who are you and what happened to Luc Chevalier?”

  “Nothing. Merde! I don’t know anymore.” Luc dropped onto the couch, resting his elbows on his thighs and his face on his hands. “I’m a fucking mess right now and I was hoping that seeing you would get me out of it.”

  “You finally met the one, didn’t you?”

  “The one what?”

  “The one. Your soulmate, of course.”

  “Bah, there is no such thing.” He scoffed.

  Clarissa sat down on the couch and curled up her legs, placing a pillow on her lap. “Why not?”

  Luc glanced over at her. “Look, you and I are not built that way, believing in fairy tales, thinking there will be a forever with someone. That is all bullshit. Lies made up to sell diamonds.”

  “No, it’s not. And speak for yourself, Luc. I happen to believe in fairy tales. I’m going to find my someone, and it is going to be forever. It just hasn’t happened yet.”

  “What?” he pulled his head back in surprise. “I thought you and I were alike in this way. We know that life is better lived freely rather than tied down, no?”

  “No. That’s what you think. I don’t agree with you. I never have. I just never really told you that before.”

  “Why not?”

  Clarissa shrugged. “What would be the point, Luc? I’m just here for a little fun with you until the right guy shows up. I don’t need to argue with you about things.”

  Luc considered this for a moment.

  Clarissa spoke up again, reaching over and patting him on the knee. “Listen, why don’t you tell me about her? I’m your friend, Luc, and I’m a hell of a good listener. I think you need to talk more than you need to fuck right now.”

  Luc sighed and reluctantly gave in. “It’s all so stupid, really. It’s just this woman I met. She was in Paris visiting a mutual friend. As soon as I saw her, I just had to have her, you know? She is different—very beautiful, yes, but not at all like the women I normally see. She has a son—a little boy—and a shithead addict for an ex-husband. We spent one very wonderful day together and she stayed at my place for the night. When I woke up in the morning, she was gone. I went to see her again. She got the wrong idea about me. She thinks I’m in the habit of using women. Anyway, I tried to clear it up, but it’s over. It never would have lasted anyway. I can’t be with a woman who lives in the middle of nowhere and has a child. I’m just having trouble getting her off my mind for some reason. I was hoping you would help with that.”

  “Is that why you came all the way to Aspen? To get her off your mind?”

  “A little bit, yes. I needed to come for work as well,” he said, rolling his eyes at himself.

  “For someone so brilliant, you can be a fucking idiot sometimes.” She laughed.

  “That’s a mean thing to say.”

  “I’m just trying to help,” Clarissa replied plainly. “Listen, if you would fly to another continent just to have sex with someone so you could forget a woman, it means you’re most likely in love. It’s not the way most men react when they’re in love, but you aren’t most men. You’ve got yourself so convinced with your bullshit ‘pleasure is for the moment, there is no such thing as love’ mantra that you don’t know it when it’s happening to you. No man goes to such lengths to forget a woman he isn’t in love with.”

  Luc shook his head. “Well, I’m fucked then. I can’t be with her and I’m fucking miserable without her. I have never been this distracted and restless in my life.” He raked his hair with his fingers in frustration. “What do I do about that?”

  Clarissa looked thoughtfully at Luc for a moment before answering. “You know, Luc, maybe you have to just be with her. I mean, what is the point of all your money and power if you won’t let yourself have the one thing that would make life worth living?”

  “No. That’s not possible. She has a son. She lives in Boulder, for Christ’s sake. I would be horrible for her. I could never live there, never be a father to her son. I doubt I could even be faithful for more than a short time. I don’t want any of it. And I don’t want to hurt her. I will have to stay away.”

  “You want to hear something, Luc? I’ve never met a man like you before. I’ve never seen anyone so driven. When you get an idea in your head, you go for it full on and make it happen. You started with nothing and look at you—you are insanely rich and you did it yourself because you wanted it. If anyone can make something work if he sets his mind to it, it’s you. If you want to be with this woman, you can. It’s really pretty simple, my friend.” She patted him on the knee and stood up.

  “But I wanted to be rich. I don’t want this.”

  “So, you got everything you wanted in life, Luc. But you don’t have anything that you really need. I know it’s scary for you, but most things in life worth having require a leap of faith.” She paused for a minute to let her words sink in. Clarissa looked at her friend as she put on her coat. “I’m going to go. I didn’t squeeze into this dress just to talk.”

  Luc stood and walked her to the door. “Good night, Clarissa. I’m sorry about all of this. Thank you for listening to me. And for your advice. I won’t take it, but thank you all the same.”

  She gave him a light kiss on the cheek. “Goodbye, dummy. Call me from Boulder.”

  TWELVE

  Luc tossed and turned most of the night, unable to get comfortable. Clarissa’s words haunted him. What was the point of his life? He was forty-one and was utterly alone in the world. He had friends and money—and friends who were only interested in his money—but at the end of each day, he was alone. He had felt sorry for Megan and, until this moment, it had never occurred to him that he was every bit as alone as she was. Much more, in fact. She had her mom and her son.

  He finally drifted off to sleep around 2 a.m., waking late in the morning with that awful feeling in the pit of his stomach again. Getting up, Luc took a shower and made himself a coffee. He had nothing pressing that day. He had planned to go over to the nightclub in the late afternoon but had thought he would be spending the morning in bed with Clarissa. Wandering over to the desk, he turned on his laptop and googled the distance from Aspen to Boulder. He could make the drive in a little under four hours. Without thinking about it, he threw a few things into an overnight bag and grabbed his coat, stuffing his cellphone and wallet into the pocket, then hurried out of his suite. For the first time in his adult life, he was going to act on impulse without having a carefully thought-out plan.

  An hour later, he was sitting in the driver’s seat of a rented Durango, hooking up his cellphone to the hands-free. He set the navigation system to guide him to Boulder, not sure where he would find her. How big could that city be? He’d figure out where she was.

  Boulder

  Megan was up long before the sun to shower and get dressed for the day. She quickly had a bite of breakfast and poured coffee into her travel mug as she watched her mom’s car pull up in front of her house. Elliott would still be sleeping when she left. Megan and her mom chatted for a few minutes before Megan picked up her equipment. She stood in the doorway and looked at her mom for a moment, trying to decide whether or not to tell her about Charlie coming by.

  “Hey, Mom. Have a really great day. And don’t be afraid to try something new today, okay?”

  Helen gave her a confused look. “What? What do you mean?”

  “Just that. Have a terrific day, alright?”

  “I will. You too, honey.”

  * * *

  The day with the wedding party started out rough. The bride, Quinn, was both very nervous and very bitchy at the salon. She had a definite idea of what she wanted her hair and makeup to look like and nothing seemed to please her. Her mom and sisters rushed around, trying to placate her, bringing her some champagne and orange juice to help her relax. Megan tried to stay out of the way and get
a few shots as directed by Quinn herself. Megan was dreading the rest of the day as she got into her car to drive to the groom’s parents’ house.

  When she arrived there, the groom, Rodney, looked pale and a little bit green. He was still in a bathrobe, sitting on the couch, trying to choke down some cereal when his dad let Meg in. The groomsmen didn’t look much better.

  Rodney’s mom, Diana, came down the stairs to greet her. “Look at these idiots. Quinn is going to be furious when she sees the shape they’re in.”

  Megan bit her lip, thinking about the mood the bride was already in. “Right. I just saw her and she was a little . . . stressed. We’re going to have to work fast to perk them up and get them dressed. I have to be over at Quinn’s mom’s place in an hour. Do you have some champagne and orange juice, by any chance?”

  “In the kitchen. I’ll be right back with it.”

  The men stared vacantly at Megan as Diana walked out of the room.

  * * *

  “Elliott, when that cartoon is done, come into the kitchen, okay? Lunch is ready,” Helen called to her grandson.

  Just then, there was a knock at the door. She wiped her hands on a dishtowel and answered it. Charlie was standing on the other side with an empty measuring cup in his hand.

  “Hi, Helen. I came to borrow a cup of sugar.” He smiled at her. His hair had been carefully combed and she could smell a hint of cologne.

  “Oh, sure. Come on in. Megan’s not home but she won’t mind.” Helen turned and led him into the kitchen.

  “What are you making?” she asked.

  “What?” Charlie replied.

  “What are you making that you need sugar?”

  Shit. He realized he hadn’t thought the lie through. “Coffee.”

  “Coffee? And you need an entire cup of sugar for that?” Helen raised one eyebrow at him. She knew what he was up to.

  “I like it sweet?” He looked a little panicked.

  To his relief, Helen laughed and shook her head. “Megan put you up to this, didn’t she? Before she left the house today, she told me not to be afraid to try something new. I take it you’re what she was referring to.”

  Charlie lowered his head and then raised his eyes up to her. She was so lovely, with her sparkling green eyes and her shoulder-length blond hair with grey mixed in. She was giving him a hard look, but there was a hint of amusement there as well.

  “Yes. I’m afraid my kids have been on me to find someone to spend time with. I finally realized maybe they’re right. I mean, what’s the point of being so handsome if you don’t have a nice lady to admire you?”

  Helen laughed. “That would certainly be a waste, wouldn’t it? You’re barking up the wrong tree, though. I’m not in the market for a man.”

  “Well, what about someone to go for coffee with? If it goes alright we could try lunch, then maybe by summer we could progress to dinner.”

  Helen stared at him as she considered it. Charlie was a kind man. He had always been so good to Megan. His wife had been gone for years now and he hadn’t rushed out to find someone new to take care of him, like so many men did.

  “One coffee. That’s all I can commit to,” she replied, trying to look serious.

  He smiled in relief. “One coffee.”

  “Now, do you want the sugar or not?”

  “Not. But if I could get your phone number, that would be equally sweet.”

  Helen laughed a little and shook her head. Part of her was annoyed at what she was doing as she wrote the number on a piece of paper for him. The other part of her was extremely flattered.

  * * *

  As Luc drove, he knew what he was doing was ridiculous, laughable even, but he felt compelled to do it anyway. He needed to see her again and that was all there was to it.

  He suddenly realized this could be the beginning of a perfect arrangement for both Megan and him. They could have a long distance relationship. That might suit Megan because they could work it around her life and make sure Elliott would not be involved. They could speak on the phone and meet whenever they could, but they would both still have their own lives.

  He checked the distance on the navigation system. He still had another hour to go until he reached Boulder. The roads had become icy and it began snowing hard as he got farther north. He’d have to drive quite slowly now, meaning the trip would be well over seven hours instead of four. It reminded of him of drives to the Swiss Alps to ski in the winter. He’d been too busy to do that for a few years, although it was something he had once loved. His mind wandered back to when he had learned to ski. It was one of the first things he had done when he had enough money. Luc had always wanted to go skiing as a boy but his mom couldn’t afford to take him. He knew his father took his wife and other children to the Alps each Christmas. That was one of the reasons Luc never saw him over the holidays.

  His father, Jean-Paul Chevalier, had been a well-known politician in France, and Luc’s mother, Stephanie, had been his mistress for many years. They had Luc, and from time to time, his father would come by to see Stephanie, always bringing a toy for Luc to play with. He would stay the night and leave shortly after breakfast, not to return again for weeks.

  As a small boy, Luc always yearned for his father’s attention. He wished Jean-Paul would come by to see him and would sometimes ask why his father had never taken him to the mountains. His mother would explain that Luc’s father had his other family and that wasn’t how this worked for people in their situation. As Luc grew up, he began to understand that as a mistress, his mother would never receive the devotion reserved for a wife. Luc’s heart began to harden as his disappointment in his father grew. Luc watched Stephanie pathetically accept whatever pittance she got from Jean-Paul and saw how depressed she became when he left, knowing he wouldn’t return for a long time. His father would get what he wanted and then go back home to his real family. Jean-Paul’s wife knew about Stephanie and Luc—it was almost expected that a man in her husband’s position would have at least one mistress. She looked the other way.

  Luc had decided that when he grew up, he would do the one thing it seemed all the very rich did—ski in the Alps. He would show his father and the rest of his father’s upper-class friends that he was every bit as good as they were. He picked up the sport very quickly. It had become an obsession, and for several years he skied every chance he got until he was one of the best on the slopes each time he went.

  Now as he drove along, memories of his mother’s sadness haunted him. Maybe that was why he was drawn to Megan. She had that same air of sadness about her when she spoke of her ex and her son. She was strong in ways that his mother never had been, however. Megan was never going to be taken advantage of. She had gotten away from her ex as soon she realized she had to. Sometimes Luc had wished his mother would move back to the United States with him, taking both of them away from the destruction and disappointment his father caused every time he left them again.

  THIRTEEN

  Boulder

  “Okay, everyone! I know we’re all cold, but I promise we have only a few more group shots before you can go warm up in the limo!”

  Megan’s feet and hands felt like ice as she took shots of the wedding party on a footbridge. She was grateful that she had worn her long red coat, but her dressy black boots were not nearly warm enough, and she needed bare hands to work the camera. The groomsmen had started with the one mimosa that morning and kept on going. All five of them were drunk and unruly by now, making bunny ears or doing the shocker hand gesture each time Megan tried to get a picture.

  Megan moved the camera away from her face. “Alright fellas, you’ve had your funny poses. Now, these ladies here have bare shoulders, and they are freezing. Be chivalrous and help us get through this fast, okay?”

  Quinn spun to face her husband’s friends, her face now full of rage. “Stop it! STOP IT! You fucking idiots are ruining my day!”

  Rodney, who was not in the least bit drunk but had a wicked headache, flinched
as his new wife screamed. At the moment, this felt like the worst day of his life. He put his hands up, palms out, at his friends. “Okay, guys, seriously. Pull it together here.”

  The guys rolled their eyes but managed to stand still for a few minutes. Megan took shots as fast as she could and then sent the bridal party back to the limo, leaving only Quinn and Rodney to contend with.

  Quinn hissed at him. “You look like a fucking mess. Your face is totally green.” Turning her sights on Meg, she snapped, “Megan, are you going to be able to fix this?”

  “I can fix anything. It’s not that bad, really, through the lens,” she lied as she adjusted the zoom. “Well, here you are, just the two of you. And you did it. You got married!”

  Megan held the camera back up to her face. “Okay, can you turn your bodies to face each other, look into each other’s eyes and hold it?” She clicked away. “Tilt your head up a bit, Quinn. That’s it. Perfect! You make such a beautiful couple. How did you meet anyway?”

  Quinn spoke up, her voice still a little angry. “I had a flat tire on the freeway and he stopped to help me.” Quinn looked over at Megan.

  “Oh, keep looking at Rodney,” she said. “So he changed your tire for you?”

  Quinn started to laugh. “No, he didn’t have a clue how. He didn’t have the jack on properly, so when he took the tire off, the whole car fell, which caused major damage to it. We had to call a tow truck.”

  Rodney smiled at the memory. “I was just winging it. I stopped because she was so beautiful, and I figured, how hard could it be? I’m sorry I’m such a knucklehead. We shouldn’t have gone partying last night, Quinn.”

  “That’s okay. You’re my knucklehead.”