The Bunny and the Billionaire

by Louisa Masters

  Surprisingly, though, it seemed to have broken the ice. Although neither Charles nor Myriam were exactly friendly, they at least were polite and stopped asking pointed questions about his return to Australia. The conversation flowed more easily, mostly about people and events known to the family, and at one point Myriam interrupted herself to ensure Ben knew the backstory behind her anecdote, just as if he were a guest she actually wanted there.

  By the time they’d finished coffee in the library—yes, an actual library, lined with book-filled shelves—the knots that had been strangling Ben’s stomach were gone, and Léo was also far more relaxed. They left on a much more positive note than they’d arrived, with Celine informing Ben that she would be in Nice next month to visit a friend, and she would come to Monaco and have lunch with him. Ben smiled and nodded and wondered if it would be too weird for Dani to join them via his iPhone.

  The journey back to Léo’s apartment was quiet—mostly from exhaustion, Ben figured. It took a lot of energy to be that nervous, and he’d probably had more alcohol than he really should have. He’d been doing so well with the “drink often but never be drunk” thing too. Oh well. Some occasions called for a drunken stupor.

  Inside, Ben took the opportunity to look around. He’d seen the apartment before dinner, of course, but hadn’t appreciated it, what with the nerves. Now he took in what was by Paris standards a large space, impeccably decorated, of course—he’d expect nothing less of one of Léo’s homes—and completely clean. There was not even a speck of dust on any surface.

  “Why is it so clean in here?” he asked as Léo sank into an armchair.

  Léo looked at him as if he were an imbecile. “Because the cleaner made certain of it.”

  “Oh. You called and told them we were coming? Lucky they could squeeze you in on such short notice.” Ben wanted to kick off his shoes and curl up on the sofa, but there was no way he was doing that in his Carrere suit.

  “She comes every week,” Léo said, and Ben froze with one arm out of his jacket.

  “But you don’t live here,” he said softly, and Léo sighed.

  “No, but when I do come here, I don’t want to battle foot-deep drifts of dust. Let it go, Ben, please.”

  Ben pulled his jacket the rest of the way off and carefully draped it over a chair, then crossed over to perch on the arm of Léo’s armchair. “I’m sorry. I’m working on it. I swear I am.”

  With a swift tug, Léo pulled him into his lap. “There is nothing to work on. I’m just tired.” They cuddled for a while, leaning their heads against each other and just basking in the warmth of each other’s bodies.

  “Tonight went pretty well,” Ben finally said. “I mean, apart from me running my trap and sounding like an idiot. But at least your mum stopped dropping hints about me leaving. For a while I was afraid she might have me deported. Does she have any contacts with the—”

  “I love you.”

  Ben was sure his heart stopped beating. “What?” he whispered.

  Léo lifted his head and locked their gazes. “I love you. I love that you talk incessantly about foolish things. I love that you are kind and sweet. I love the way you look and the way you react to me in bed. I love—”

  Ben stopped him with a kiss. It was meant to be quick, just a way of shutting him up so Ben could get a word in, but it lingered, drawing out and becoming something more. When they finally broke apart, he couldn’t remember what he wanted to say.

  “I love the way you dealt with my parents. I love that you’re always secretly outraged when I use valet parking. I love everything about you.”

  Léo looked down at him. “I love how clumsy you are.”

  Chapter Eleven

  DESPITE Ben’s stated desire to spend Saturday in bed, Léo had a plan, so he told Ben to get up so they could “explore Paris.”

  Of course, Ben insisted that he’d seen Paris, that he’d spent ten days in the city. Léo agreed that that was sufficient time to see the tourist highlights, and knowing Ben as he did, he imagined he and Dani had also googled “nontouristy things to do in Paris” and Ben had done all of those too. But then, “exploring Paris” was just an excuse to get Ben out of the apartment.

  So they ate a leisurely breakfast of pastries and coffee at the patisserie two streets over, which had long been one of his favorites. Then Léo took Ben shopping.

  He whined the whole way.

  “Léo, I don’t need anything. God knows you can’t possibly need anything, you already own everything there is. Where are we going anyway? Are you going to make me shop for clothes? Because I swear, I’ve bought more clothes on this trip than I have in years.”

  “One thing I have noticed about you is that you mostly buy only the things you need. Don’t you think you deserve to buy something frivolous just because you want it?” Léo tried to keep the amusement out of his voice as their driver pulled up at their destination.

  “While the clothes I’ve bought lately can definitely be called frivolous purchases, I’d question whether I actually wanted them,” Ben retorted. He followed Léo out of the car and crossed his arms. “Well? Where are we going?”

  “Here,” Léo said, and led him into the LEGO store. Ben gazed around, mouth slightly open, then pulled himself together.

  “You know, I can buy LEGO in Australia.”

  “Not all the sets are available there. I checked. I remembered you saying you used to love playing with LEGO as a boy, but that it was so expensive you didn’t get much.”

  Ben’s face softened. “Yeah. Mum and Dad used to buy little sets for me for birthdays and Christmas.” He looked around again, this time with a big grin. “I can’t believe you thought of this. This is awesome.” He paused. “Although, I think I’d feel a bit silly buying some of this.”

  Léo smiled, glad he’d guessed correctly. “Ah, but there is a grown-up way to do this.” He grabbed Ben’s hand and guided him across the store to where the Architecture kits were. He’d spent quite a bit of time online researching exactly what he wanted, and he’d done it all himself instead of delegating anything to Jean, right down to calling the store and ensuring they had the desired items in stock. “I thought,” he began, “that you could use this as a way of commemorating your travels.” He gestured to the display. Before them was a cityscape of London, complete with the Eye and the Tower Bridge. Not far away were kits for Big Ben and Buckingham Palace, and on the shelf below were the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. “Obviously they don’t have sets for everywhere you’ve been, but—”

  He was cut off by Ben’s enthusiastic hug. “You’re the best, Léo! This is the best shopping trip I’ve ever been on!”

  Léo watched smugly as his bunny began grabbing sets, chattering about which one he was going to construct first. He was pretty sure he’d be called on to assist, but even that couldn’t dispel the warm glow. Never had anyone responded so enthusiastically to such a simple and inexpensive gift. He’d gotten less appreciation when he’d taken his boyfriend of several years ago to follow the Grand Prix circuit for six months.

  Once he’d selected the Architecture kits he wanted, Ben decided it wasn’t that big a deal for adults to have LEGO, and began browsing through the Star Wars selection. Léo watched in amusement, taking things when he was instructed to and then quickly passing them off to the delighted hovering sales assistant.

  After that, he took Ben to Ladurée. It was not one of his usual haunts, but from their table by the window, he could point out the few local patrons among the tourists, and also those contemporaries of his parents walking by on the street. Early Saturday afternoon was the time to see and be seen, and Léo kept Ben in quiet fits of giggles as he related gossip and stories that the subjects would no doubt wish had been forgotten. Ben was so preoccupied that he almost didn’t react to the cost of their coffee and macarons.

  Then he whisked Ben back to the apartment and made love to him. Perhaps it was something they could “do anywhere,” but Léo didn’t care, and Ben didn’
t seem to, either.

  THAT evening, they met Lucien at Epicure.

  “Is this one of your favorite restaurants?” Ben asked, glancing around. They were seated at their table but still waiting for Lucien and his date.

  “No,” Léo said. “It’s a good restaurant, but we’re here because Lucien’s date wanted to come, and since he insisted they eat with us, it seemed fair to concede the location.”

  “We’re crashing Lucien’s date?” Ben sounded something between horrified and amused.

  Léo shrugged. “Lucien prefers the company of friends to casual dates. He didn’t want to be rude, so he offered the option of joining us.”

  “Or he’d break the date?”

  Léo nodded. “Most likely.” He gestured toward the door. “Here they are.” Ben turned his head to look and gasped.

  “Léo, that’s a woman.”

  Léo considered the various possible responses to what was really a ridiculous statement, and went with the simplest. “Yes, I know.”

  “But I thought Lucien was gay!” Ben hissed, and Léo suddenly understood.

  “No, Lucien’s sexuality is quite fluid. He’s not fixated on either gender.”

  “He’s bi?”

  “I suppose.” Léo hadn’t thought about Lucien’s preferences for a long time. Basically, his friend looked for attractive, confident, and willing. Anything else was negotiable.

  Lucien and the stunning brunette woman reached their table, and Léo and Ben stood for introductions. The woman, Denise, seemed friendly enough, but as they sat and began to peruse their menus, he noticed that she kept slipping into French, even though they’d advised her Ben only spoke English.

  At first, he thought perhaps she was not confident in her ability to speak English, but as Ben enthusiastically described their trip to the LEGO store, she seemed to follow the conversation well enough, making several comments that were… not rude, exactly. They were clever and only mildly sarcastic, but where she tried to pass them off as jokes, Léo soon became convinced they were not. More, whenever she wasn’t speaking directly to Ben, she defaulted to French, essentially excluding him. Ben said nothing, but Léo noticed his withdrawal as the meal progressed.

  Lucien seemed to notice too. Halfway through their main course, when Denise began an anecdote—in French—he leaned toward her and murmured something. Denise pasted an obviously fake surprised expression on her face and looked at Ben.

  “Ben, I’m so sorry. I keep forgetting that not everyone is fortunate enough to be educated in a second language.”

  Léo put down his knife and fork, but Lucien beat him to it. Standing abruptly, he drew back Denise’s chair.

  The waiter hurried toward them, but Lucien waved him off as Denise exclaimed in surprise. “Lucien, what are you doing?”

  “You’re leaving,” he announced. “I’ll have the maître d’hotel arrange a taxi for you. I regret that I cannot escort you home.”

  As Denise protested, demanding to know why, and doing so loudly enough to attract the attention of other diners (Léo’s mother would have been disgusted), Lucien took her arm and “helped” her from her chair.

  “Your discourtesy to Ben has been most obvious, Denise, and since I would much rather spend the evening in the company of my friends than with a woman who cannot even be polite, that is what I will do.”

  While Lucien had rather pointedly spoken in English, Denise’s reply was in loud French.

  “He is just a foolish, low-class tourist. How you even thought to subject me to his company on what was supposed to be our evening together—” She was cut off as Lucien hustled her away.

  Léo reached out and took Ben’s hand. His bunny was staring at his plate, face flushed bright red. For the first time in his life, Léo wanted to cause a public scene. He wished he’d spoken before Lucien had, wished he’d put that vile woman in her place. More, he wished his mother had been there to slice the bitch to ribbons with a quiet comment and a dismissive look.

  “I regret that our day was spoiled by that woman,” he said quietly, and Ben looked up.

  “It wasn’t spoiled,” he declared. “Nothing could spoil this day. And, if anything, it was kind of nice to have Lucien stick up for me so forcefully.” He made a face. “I should probably try to learn French, though.”

  Lucien returned in time to hear that. “Ben, I apologize most sincerely for subjecting you to that woman,” he said. “I, for one, have been glad to have the chance to practice my English.”

  Ben chuckled, and the fist around Léo’s heart loosened. “Lucien, that’s sweet, but if I’m going to hang around for a while, it’s not a bad idea to learn the local language.”

  “In that case, it would be my pleasure to assist you,” Lucien offered promptly.

  “I’ll help him,” Léo said repressively, not really sure where the wisp of jealousy had come from. He knew Lucien would never poach, and he trusted Ben implicitly. Love was just not rational. In an attempt to cover up his foolishness, he added, “Now, let us tell you about dinner with my parents last night.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “I CAN’T believe you’re meeting all these people,” Dani whined as Ben sat on the balcony at Léo’s apartment with a glass of really amazing wine, and alternated between looking at her and gazing out over the Mediterranean. He had his phone propped against the wine bottle so she could see him and they could talk “face-to-face.” “It’s ridiculous,” she continued. “You don’t even care about celebrities, and here you are, meeting the rich and famous at parties and actually talking to them.”

  “You don’t care about celebrities either,” Ben reminded her, then sipped from his glass and sighed contentedly. He remembered with vague fondness the days—just months ago—when he’d cheerfully bought two-dollar bottles of wine and called it good enough. Now that he was used to drinking “real” wine, as Léo called it, there was no way he could ever go back. Dani had laughed when he’d told her that, but he’d shipped her a case of his new favorite red, and she’d called at three in the morning to rhapsodize over it, swearing to never drink anything else. He hadn’t told her how much it cost because he was pretty sure that would ruin her pleasure.

  Dani made a face. “No, but if I had the opportunity to meet them, I’d at least learn all about them first. Not like you, who had to be told the next day by your best friend exactly who you’d met.” She sipped from her own wineglass and smiled.

  “That only happened once,” Ben protested. “And he wasn’t exactly an A-list celebrity.”

  “I knew who he was,” Dani said smugly. Ben narrowed his eyes.

  “About that,” he said. “I’ve been thinking. You have no interest in polo. In fact, you barely have an interest in sports that are popular in Australia, much less something like polo. How did you know the identity of a Spanish polo player?” She smirked, and his suspicions were confirmed. “You cheat!”

  “How is it cheating?” she asked through her laughter. “You told me you were going to a specific party. I just did a Google search to see if there was any info out there and got really lucky that the article about the party was published about two minutes before you called me. You weren’t mentioned in that article, by the way.”

  Ben tried to sulk but couldn’t hold back his chuckle. “It’s been killing me, not knowing how you did it.”

  “Well, now you know.” She leaned back in her armchair and had some more wine. The glass was now only a third full. Soon, she’d be off to bed. “So, where’s Léo this afternoon? Waiting impatiently again?”

  Ben shook his head. “Malik decided he wanted a new car, so they’ve been shopping all day. I think it’s one of the few types of shopping Léo likes to do himself.”

  “What’s wrong with Malik’s car?” Dani asked. Ben leveled a stare at the screen of his phone, and she groaned. “He’s just buying a car for the hell of it?”

  “Pretty much. His favorite until the day before yesterday was a Ferrari, I think. That’s the one with the
horse emblem, right?”

  Dani nodded.

  “Yeah, so he’s been in love with his Ferrari, but now he’s thinking it’s time for a change. He’s not sure exactly what he wants next, so they’re going to test drive a bunch of different cars that I’ve never heard of. I kid you not, that’s exactly how the conversation went.”

  “Why didn’t you go shopping with them?”

  Ben shrugged. “I really wanted to, but then I would have missed our call,” he said. There was a moment’s pause, and then they both burst out laughing. “Oh my God, I can’t believe I said that with a straight face!”

  “Neither can I!” Dani gasped for breath. “I just asked because I wanted to see you spill your drink or something.” Ben wiped a tear from his eye and sighed.

  “So….” Dani’s face screwed up with indecision.

  “So?”

  “So, have you and Léo talked about what happens next?”

  Ben went cold.

  “What do you mean?” He tried to keep his voice light, tried to pretend he hadn’t spent the past few weeks not thinking about the need to have this conversation, both with her and Léo.

  She sighed. “Don’t play dumb, Benji. You’ve been in Monaco nearly four months, living with Léo for three of those. By now, you were supposed to have seen Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany, and be on the verge of either heading farther north or coming home, depending on your mood. If being with Léo was making you happy, I’d be all for it, but you’re nuts if you think I can’t tell you’re bored. I think you’re entitled to talk to Léo about whether you should be applying for Monégasque citizenship and looking for some way to fill your day, or moving on.”

  His face got hot. “I’m not bored, exactly. And don’t call me Benji.”

  “Then what are you, exactly? Originally, Léo was going to be a fling. You couldn’t possibly be really attracted to him because he was idle rich, didn’t have a job. Remember? Then you decided it was okay to spend a bit more time with him, because he’s great and he gets you and you have fun together. But now it’s been months, you know he’s not a complete slacker and that he has a social conscience, and—to repeat—you’ve been living with him for months, doing nothing but going to parties and lazing around. That’s great for some people, but I know you, Ben. When you learned the history of the Danish monarchy last week, that wasn’t because you’re actually interested in Danish history.”