French Wanker - Victoria Pinder Page 0,3
knew it in my brain. I’d just called off my wedding and the hours crying hysterically at the post office as I returned all the wedding gifts replayed in my mind. I sipped my glass of bubbly and cupped his handsome cheek. “The opposite, but I’m leaving Paris in a few hours, and I want to imagine what might have been.”
He placed his flute down and took mine from me, sitting it next to his. “I, too, am leaving Paris. I came here to bid adieu to my former home, and you made the last moments sweeter.”
“Thanks for the champagne, Mr. Wanker,” I said, and my heart beat as my lips tingled like he’d kiss me again.
“Au revoir, mon ange,” he said and then his lips crushed mine.
This was the single hottest moment of my life, and I hung onto him, unable to do anything else.
Chapter 2
Quentin
The woman’s lips were burned on mine. Whoever the chestnut-haired American was, she’d given me a moment I’d never forget.
I hadn’t expected the electric shock she’d brought to my heart would make me actually see the world in vivid color. For the first time in months, I felt something I couldn’t explain. L’amour was rumored to help tame the wild changes in life, but that hadn’t been my fate.
Women, including my ex-fiancée, were accessories to the life I chose. They were like a fine wine that made the day pass a little easier, but the American woman’s kiss was potent, risky, and packed with a firepower I’d never experienced.
A woman like her would be dangerous.
As I finished packing a box of my clothes, my phone rang. I probably should’ve ignored it, but the American 01 country code intrigued me.
Had she figured out my name? I answered fast and ignored my racing heart.
“Doctor La Trimouille?” My heart sank as the male voice reached my ears.
“Who’s this?”
“Simon Hogue.”
Blake’s best friend. I plopped into the couch that was no longer mine and closed my eyes. The last time I’d talked to Simon, Blake had been alive and I’d been six. I sighed and remembered being in the kitchen when the detectives told my mother they’d found Blake’s body.
She’d collapsed in tears. My body trembled like I could travel back in time to hold her till she stopped crying.
“We’ve not talked in a long time.” And Blake’s death had been my fault.
Simon sounded restrained, in his proper British he said, “Calliope spoke to her mother who spoke to yours.”
Another name I’d released to the past. In a flashback, I saw her small but perfectly round breasts in my bathroom mirror when she’d been babysitting me. I internally relaxed, as that was the first time I’d noticed a woman. “You were my older brother’s friend, not mine.”
I thought to the American woman’s breasts and how they would be much larger and more squishable. I wondered what color her nipples were as I sat back.
“If you need a friend,” Simon said, “I’m here.”
“I’m good,” I answered fast. Too fast. Honestly, my brother’s death was why we’d left England, moved to France, and never returned.
I didn’t need to talk about Blake—not after all these years.
Simon ignored my brisk tone. “From what I understand, you’re giving up your practice.”
Right. I let my shoulders relax and hoped he understood the undertones this time. “My father should be happy I’m taking the family business. Thank you for your concern, but—”
“Why did you become a doctor?” Simon asked.
Because I’d taken the life vest and left it in our garage, and if it had been where I was supposed to leave it, then my brother would be alive.
Guess my guilt drove pretty far in wanting to help people… better than selling them wine. Now I understood the allure; wine numbed and provided a much-needed escape. “I wanted to help people. Clearly, I don’t have the eye.”
Cecilia would be alive and well if I’d run different tests.
Simon said, “Sometimes cancer is impossible to find.”
Yet, there were always signs if a physician knew where to look, but the evidence confirmed, I didn’t have that gift. Cecilia’s death confirmed that. I stood, shaking out my arms. “Doesn’t matter. The world doesn’t need me pretending I can save people.”
I went to get my packing tape as Simon said, “I became a doctor to save people, too. I never forgave myself for what happened to Blake.”
He hadn’t been the one to forget to leave the life vest in the boat. The past didn’t change my future, and I hoped we could