to jump in. I should’ve known she wouldn’t need me to, though.
“Not nearly enough, but we will be seeing Marseilles as well and a few other places.” She leaned forward, completely captivating Pierre if the look on his face was anything to go by. “If this was your first visit to the city and you had limited free time, what would you make a point of seeing?”
Jean, who was seated beside Pierre, turned away from the conversation he’d been in to answer her question. The other investors quickly followed suit, all of them speaking over one another to make their recommendations.
She asked dozens of questions after that, showcasing a much keener interest in French culture than I’d realized she had. While we sipped on our coffee and waited for our food to be served, she also tried her hand at French, chuckling as she apologized for her American accent.
No one seemed to mind it at all, though. She explained to them where she’d learned it, then got some tips about how to pronounce certain words properly and even got some new phrases to try out.
The five men around the table, myself included, hung on every word she said. I knew she’d been nervous about this trip but so far, she was doing exceptionally well. I was pretty sure she might even have walked away from the table with a marriage proposal or two if they hadn’t already all been married.
“The culinary courses that you did,” Jean said when the conversation continued in English. “Were any of them in French cuisine? Our food is known to be the best, after all.”
She smiled warmly but shrugged instead of agreeing with his statement. “It’s definitely some of the best. We covered the basics, but I’d love to learn more about it.”
“You should come to my restaurant tomorrow night,” Pierre interjected, then glanced at me. “You too, Dane. It’ll be good for us to strengthen our ties in business, but Leah could also come see my kitchen. I think she’ll love it.”
Leah looked taken aback but flattered by the invitation as she turned to me. “We don’t have anything going on tomorrow night, do we?”
I mentally reviewed our schedule, but it wouldn’t have mattered. Leah obviously really wanted to take him up on his invitation, and he’d be offended if we turned him down. “Sure, we’d love to. Thank you.”
The night had been left open purposefully to give us some free time to take in some of the sights. After last night, I’d also hoped that we might spend a decent chunk of tomorrow night in bed, but I’d just been cockblocked by a sixty-something-year-old.
“Excellent.” He beamed at me, though I couldn’t tell if the twinkle in his eyes was because he knew what he’d just done to me or if he was genuinely just that excited to have us at his restaurant.
Waiters carrying our plates into the room interrupted us, but it took no time at all before Leah was the center of attention once more. She asked questions about the dishes everyone had been served, about cooking styles and getting inside hints on making the food.
She chuckled at something someone had said, then lifted her gaze to look at Jean between her lashes. I swore I saw his cheeks pinken under her gaze as she spoke to him. “You’re too kind. I’d have loved to have lunch with you and your family. Perhaps next time?”
“I’ll hold you to that,” he replied, grinning as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I have a son who’s only a couple of years younger than you. I’m sure he will have some free time to show you around the city if you want?”
“We don’t have much time on this trip,” I said apologetically, but fuck him. It was easy to see that all the investors were falling for her, which was great, but I seriously didn’t need them trying to hook her up.
She held her own for the whole of brunch, never faltering in making easy conversation or drawing grins from them. It was so effortless the way she handled them that it was really difficult to believe this was her first meeting of this kind.
I sat back and let her do her thing, but I never stopped looking at her. I couldn’t. All the men in this room were getting ready to kiss her feet, and I was—apparently—no exception. As I watched her laughing with them, an unfamiliar warmth filled me.
An intense urge