by Ashley Blake
“He mentioned something about going to Paris to work on one of the stores in a mall he is building.”
“Oh good, you know about Paris. Have you ever been?”
“No, I haven’t and I swear to you, Evan, I am living in a dream world right now. The fact that I might have an opportunity to go to Paris and design a store is beyond anything I’ve ever dreamed.”
“Eva, if you do a good job on this penthouse, you will definitely be going to Paris, and just from the questions you’ve asked me about this project, I know that I’m going to see you in Paris.”
I got really excited. ”Wait, you’re going to Paris too?”
He winked at me and smiled. “Oh yes, sweetie, I wouldn’t miss Paris for anything. We are going to have a fabulous time!”
I jumped up and down like a little kid; I couldn’t help myself. “Oh my gosh, Evan, Paris is going to be so much fun!”
“Yes it is, but first we need to focus on this penthouse.”
I looked at him and smiled. “Right! Time to get to work!”
Chapter Eight
It was about 6:30 p.m. and I was alone in the penthouse working on my computer searching for fabrics when I heard a soft knock at the door. It startled me for a minute and then a mini panic set in as I realized it must have been Christian. I didn’t want to say anything and I thought if I sat there quietly whoever it was would think no one was there and just go away. Again, another soft knock.
“Eva, I know you’re in there, I heard you tapping away on your keyboard. Can I come in?” His deep, gravelly voice was somewhat muffled and I wondered why he didn’t just use his key.
I wasn’t going to be able to avoid him forever so I figured I might as well let him come in and just get it over with. I walked over to the door and opened it, and damn it if he didn’t look more beautiful than he did that morning when he was half naked. He was leaning against the doorframe and his face was filled with anguish. For just a few seconds I was caught up in my feelings and I instinctively wanted to wrap my arms around him and tell him everything was going to be okay, but then reality set in. He had lied to me and he was engaged to another woman. He walked in and went straight to the couch.
“Eva, please come sit next to me.”
I stood by the door, my arms crossed as I pursed my lips. I wasn’t moving. Anything he had to say he could tell me from the couch as I stood a safe distance away from him. I held his gaze, my eyes cold.
His eyes pleaded with me. “Please.” He sounded defeated so I gave in and sat at the end of the couch and looked at him, waiting for him to explain.
“There was a big misunderstanding this morning and I want to make sure that I clear things up. First, I want you to know that I am not engaged to Jessica.”
I raised my eyebrows at him and cocked my head to the side, not believing him. “Oh, really? Did I imagine that five carat diamond ring on her left ring finger?”
He took a deep breath and hung his head before slowly raising it again, his beautiful blue eyes searching mine.
“No, you did not imagine that. Jessica and I were engaged but I called it off two months ago and she refuses to accept that we are no longer together. There is nothing going on between us.”
I look at him in disbelief. “How stupid do you think I am? She was in your penthouse, in a negligee, while you were half naked early this morning, and you want me to believe that there is nothing going on with the two of you? You have already made a fool out of me once, Christian, and it is not going to happen again.”
“Eva, I am not lying to you and I meant it when I told you that I would never lie to you again.”
I crossed my arms and defiantly held his gaze. “Okay then, explain to me why she was here with you this morning wearing what she was wearing.”
“I did not know that she still had a copy of the key because I took her copy from her when we broke up, but she had another copy made without me knowing. I have not been in the penthouse for nearly a month and when I decided to crash here last night, after being with you so late, I had no idea she would be here. Apparently, she has been staying here for the past three weeks hoping to run into me and I think she thought if I saw her dressed like that I would want to get back together, but that did not happen. She still has the ring that I gave her, I didn’t want it back, and friends who have seen her out told me that she was still wearing it, but I never thought that she actually would still be telling people that we were together.”
I did not know what to say, but it sounded like the truth to me. Was I being duped again?
Christian slid over to me and gently cradled my face in his hands as his eyes searched mine.
“I am telling you the truth, Eva. I am not engaged to Jessica, and I have no interest in being with her. I am only interested in one woman and that woman is you. You don’t know how much it killed me when you walked in this morning because I knew what you would be thinking. I probably looked upset and that was only because I was afraid that everything would be ruined between us and I would not have a chance to explain.”
I slowly started to allow myself to believe him and had to decide if I was going to trust him or walk away from what could be the best thing that ever happened to me. The thought of not having Christian in my life was too heartbreaking to think about so I decided to take a leap of faith and trust what he was telling me. I slowly raised my eyes to his.
“I was so sad and hurt this morning, Christian.” My voice was small as I looked down at my hands.
He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “I know baby, and I am so sorry that you experienced any of that. I never want to do anything to hurt you. I want your life to be full of happiness.” He gently placed his finger under my chin and I raised my eyes to his. “I swear to you, Eva, I will never hurt you again.”
“Promise?”
He smiled at me. “Promise.”
I smiled back feeling good about where we were.
He looked around the room. “So, what do you think about the penthouse?”
“It’s spectacular, Christian. I am going to be able to do so much with this space and I really want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to do it.”
“Well, you deserve it. Did Evan tell you that you will both be going to Paris?”
“Yes, but I thought my going depended upon my designing the penthouse.”
“It does, in theory. But I have already made arrangements for you. We’ll all fly over in the jet so it should be a comfortable flight.”
“The jet?”
“Yes, the private jet really is the best way to fly. You’ll like it, trust me.”
My world was already changing and I liked it. Christian glanced at his watch and then looked at me.
“It’s almost 7:30, do you want to get something to eat?”
“Yes, I’m starving.”
“Okay, there is a great little bistro around the corner.”
“Sounds good.”
We left the penthouse and my day was ending much better than it started. I was happier than I had been in a long time and I had Paris to look forward to. Everything was falling into place for me.
~*~*~
Two weeks later I was a nervous wreck as I waited for Christian and three executives to meet me in the penthouse. I was really proud of the way it looked and it was better than anything I had ever done at the boutique. It was amazing what could be done with an unlimited amount of funds. The master closet was a work of art, if I do say so myself, and as I was designing it, I vowed that one day I would have a closet like that. I wanted to prove myself at the company so that I could be promoted quickly and often.
Christian walked in a couple of minutes later with Tom, Jeremy and Mila and I wished there was a way I could have captured the look on their faces when they first walked in. They walked around looking in every room and I just waited for them to return to the main room when they were done. They were all smiling when they came back to the living room and it made me feel really good. Their expre
ssions solidified what I already knew about my talent. Christian was the first to say something.
“Eva, you did a phenomenal job. The penthouse is immaculate and beautiful.”
“Yes, Eva, it looks amazing in here. You are so talented and will be a real asset to the company.” Mila was the head of art direction and a compliment like that from her meant a lot to me.
Christian looked over at me and smiled. “Well I guess there is no question that you are perfect for the Paris trip. I suggest you go home and pack your things because we are leaving tomorrow.”
I looked at all of them in disbelief. “Tomorrow?”
They nodded in unison. I had been so busy over the past two weeks I didn’t even have a chance to talk to Carrie and tell her everything that was going on. I would have to email her from Paris. The whirlwind was just about to begin.
Chapter Nine
I had never been on a private plane and it was easily the most exciting experience I had ever had in my 22 years. The plane had three bedrooms and a conference room along with two showers. I was blown away by how gorgeous it was and how much it felt like an apartment. There were six of us from the company on the flight so I didn’t really have a lot of alone time with Christian but it gave me a great opportunity to get to know everyone else. Mila, Jeremy and Evan were having lunch in the conference room and Christian pulled me into one of the bedrooms. I giggled as he wrapped me in his arms.
“What are you doing? They are going to see us.”
He leaned down and kissed me softly at first and then with more passion. My arms instinctively wrapped around his shoulders as I press my body to his and we both let out soft moans. He gave me one last soft peck before slightly pulling away and looking at me.
“I have been wanting to do that all day. Eva, I am so happy that you are coming to Paris with me. This is going to be amazing.”
“I am beyond excited to be going to Paris with you and with the company. I can’t wait to get started on designing my store. We are going to be here for four weeks, right?”
“Well, the unveiling is in four weeks and we are going to have a gala to unveil all of the work that we will be doing over the next few weeks. The gala will be held the night before everyone is scheduled to fly back to the United States but I have a surprise for you.”
I looked at him, my eyes bright and eager. I loved surprises. “You do?”
“Yes, you and I will be staying in Paris for an additional week and we are going to do a little bit of traveling and sightseeing since we won’t have much time to do that while we are working.”
I felt like I was living a dream. The opportunities I was getting were not things that happened to people like me. I have to say I was kind of bummed that I wouldn’t be able to do much sightseeing while I was working, especially because I had never been to Paris, but Christian had just made it all better. A week with him in Paris, just the two of us, It was going to be amazing and I couldn’t wait. I felt like the next five weeks of my life were going to be the best weeks I had ever had. I flung my arms around him and gave him a big hug.
“Oh my gosh, thank you! I can’t wait to see Paris with you! It is going to be so amazing. How am I supposed to focus on work when I know that I have a wonderful trip with you coming up at the end of everything?”
His eyes sparkled as he smiled at me. “I wanted you to have something special to look forward to because I knew that the next four weeks were going to be grueling.”
I pulled his face down to me and give him a soft kiss on the lips. “Thank you, I can’t wait.”
He winked at me and gave me one last quick peck on the lips. “Okay, we better get out there before they start wondering where we are. We don’t want anyone to start talking about us.”
I wondered when we were going to be able to let people know about us because there was no way I was going to be his little secret forever. But I decided to let that question go for the moment. I had more important things to focus on for the next four weeks and I figured when we were alone in Paris we could talk more about what was happening with us.
Thankfully the others were still eating lunch when we left the bedroom.
“Why don’t you go join the others and have lunch with them, I have some things to do.”
“Okay.” I went into the conference room and Evan gave me a look.
“I was wondering where you were, is everything okay?”
“Oh yeah, everything’s fine, I was just going over some last-minute questions.”
“You don’t have to worry about anything, you’ll totally be fine. I heard your penthouse design was beyond and I actually can’t wait to get started working with you.”
I looked around at everyone at the table and asked my novice question. “So how exactly is this going to work? How many stores are left for us to design? I know that I’m working on one store but is there a ton of work left for everyone else to do? I want to help out as much as I can. Also, what are we calling the mall?”
Mila chimed in. “The mall will be called Chateau Magnifique. You will be designing the store called Ciel Pur, and there are four other stores that we are going to be working on but we have a team in Paris that is meeting up with us and helping us out. I don’t know if Christian told you, but you also have someone from the Paris team who is going to help you. Evan, do you know if Pierre is the point person for Eva’s store?”
“No I think Alistair is the go to person in Paris for the store we are working on. When we arrive, you will meet everyone in the Paris office and then we are going to get started right away on designing the store. Between laying out the design, ordering fabrics, furniture and accessories, we will probably finish up right around the deadline but we have to make sure that we are 100% complete by that time. Honey, the gala is going to be major and easily the event of the season. I hope you packed a beautiful gown.” He looked at me and then chuckled. “What am I talking about? We are going to find something fabulous for you in Paris!”
Mila, Tom and Jeremy left the room and I was happy that they did because I didn’t want them to know how broke I was.
“Evan, I can’t afford to buy a dress in Paris, I’m sure it will cost a fortune! I brought a couple of nice dresses so I’m sure one of them will be fine.”
“One of them will be fine? Sweetie, this is Paris and this is an elegant affair in Paris for a very prestigious company. Are you not aware of what a big deal Locke Designs is? The dress will be on me, don’t worry about it.”
“Yes, of course I know what a big deal we are. I’ve only wanted to work here forever! Evan, that is a very generous offer but I cannot let you do that.”
“Consider it already done. Now don’t argue with me about this. We’re landing in a couple of hours and I’m going to get a little bit of shut eye before we do and I suggest you do the same; because once we land it is going to be a nonstop, wild ride.”
I gave him a big smile. “I can’t wait!”
When our car pulled up to the hotel I know I looked like the biggest tourist in the world and I probably looked like I had never seen anything nice in my life, but it was so beautiful it literally took my breath away. We were all staying in the same hotel but we were each on different floors and Evan said the company always did that because while they wanted us to work hard, they also wanted us to have privacy while away from work.
My room was stunning. It smelled like lilies and vanilla and it was just beautiful inside. I would say the décor was shabby French chic and it was a little slice of heaven for me. I tipped the bellmen after he brought my bags to my room and then for the first time in several hours I was alone. I looked around and plopped on my bed and lay there for just a minute soaking it all in. I was in Paris. A couple of minutes later I got up and walked around my suite checking out everything right down to the cute little soaps that were in my gorgeous marble bathroom, when I heard a knock at the door.
I went to my door and looked out the peephole but did not see anyone. I didn’t open it be
cause I was in a foreign country and it could have been anyone. I just assumed that someone had knocked on the wrong door. I walked back over to my suitcase to begin to unpack when I heard the knock again. I looked at the door, walked over to it, looked out the peephole and again, no one. While standing at the door I heard the knock again but finally realized it wasn’t coming from the front door. I spun around and looked in a corner across the room and saw a door that I had assumed was just a closet. I walked over to the door, pressing my ear against it.
“Who is it?”
“Christian.” Chills ran down my arms as his deep, sexy voice permeated the wall between us.
I turned the lock and a second later there he was standing in front of me. I looked at him in disbelief and with a little bit of excitement.
