By far, he’s the most attractive man I’ve hooked up with in all of my years traveling to Paris, although that very well could be because he’s not from here. He and Felipe are spending the week in the city for some sort of business trip. I didn’t ask, not really caring about the details. I was more interested in where they came from,Madrid, and their relationship status,single, rather than what guided them to me.
What happened to Felipe, anyway?
I try as hard as I can to remember what happened last night, but the last thing I recall is us running out of the club at one a.m., my bare feet slapping across the stones as the three of us laughed wildly.
Javier secured a VIP lounge for us, handed the attendant his black card, and the drinks just kept flowing.
I’m not sure I’ve ever drank that much.
Looking around the room, my eyes fall to my dress that's on the floor in front of the couch, which just so happens to be conveniently next to a half-full water bottle. Scooping it up, I take a moment to gulp it down greedily. It’s still cool and makes my head pound, but I don’t let the pain slow me. My thirst wanesonce I reach the bottom, and I make a mental note to find more water before I figure out where I’m going next.
I fly home tonight, but I still have a full day in Paris with no plans. At this rate, I have half a mind to go into the lobby and book a room just to sleep off my hangover.
It dawns on me that the polite thing to do would be to stay here until Javier wakes up, maybe see if he wants to grab a bite to eat or take a walk through the Louvre, but I shake the thought away immediately.
I made it abundantly clear prior to our date that this would be a no-strings-attached fling in Paris.
To which we both agreed.
Pulling my dress overhead, I sit on the loveseat to clasp the buckle of my strappy stilettos around my ankles and do my best to stay balanced as I stand, grabbing my clutch from the side table. Walking on the balls of my feet so my heels don’t click against the floor, I tiptoe my way across the marble and to the door.
With my fingers on the handle, I turn and give my surroundings—and the gorgeous man in the bed—one more glance before I flee from the hotel room that will hold all my secrets from last night, since I can’t remember them.
This may not be Vegas, but I have a feeling what happens in Paris stays here, too.
At least it will this time.
CHAPTER ONE
I’m obsessed with my best friend’s brother.
Not in a stalker way, but in a ‘he’s the first and only guy who’s caught my attention and held it’ kind of way. It’s been years—decades—and he’s still the only man who has the ability to make my heart beat faster than a race car at the Grand Prix by simply glancing in my direction.
I know how that sounds—pathetic, desperate,childish.
But if you saw him? You’d be saying the same thing.
I’ve been friends with Vinnie Paladino since we were teens, and throughout our friendship, I’ve had a front-row seat watching her older brother, Luciano, age like a fine wine.
That’s not the only thing that’s hooked me on the addiction that is Luciano, though. Aside from his physical attractiveness, there’s so much more to him. He gives off German Shepherd energy—mean and protective on the outside, but on the inside, heloves.
He loves so hard.
I’ve seen it in the way he speaks to his family and how he is with his friends. How he treats his mother and his sister, and women in general.
As one of the most prominent divorce attorneys in New York, Luciano could take any case he wants, but he chooses to defend women, making sure they get everything they need during one of their most difficult times.
As much as it churns my insides to think of him sleeping his way through his client list, which wouldn’t be shocking if he is, at least they’re getting a shark in the courtroom and sticking it to the men who wronged them.
Unfortunately, Luciano’s never seen me as anything more than his little sister's friend, despite my best attempts throughout the years. No matter what, he’s always kept a respectable distance between us and, as such, I’ve pushed my attraction to him to the back of my mind, only bringing it out when it’s appropriate to tease Vinnie about my insatiable desire to fuck her brother into next Tuesday.
The only time I’ve ever seen Luciano look at me like he might return some of the pent-up tension I’ve been feeling was a month ago when we both stood helpless in his brother-in-law’s kitchen after his sister went missing.
Maybe it was the fear, or maybe something else, but when I stood in front of him with tears streaming down my face, desperate to go help him find Vinnie, there was a softness in his eyes as he begged me to stay behind.
It felt like he was seeing me for the first time.
It felt like hecared.
