Heaven and Hell (Heaven and Hell #1)(41)

My eyes slid to the lake, “I’ll, uh, talk to Sam and we’ll see.”

“Bien,” she whispered.

“But, regardless, before I go, we’ll see each other again.”

“Oh yes, ma chérie, we will definitely do that.”

“And I need to pay you back for yesterday.”

I heard her cultured but still rich and beautiful laughter then she said, “Oh no, ma chérie, you must give me that.”

“But, uh, it was you giving to me,” I pointed out.

“Yes, and the result was I walked out of your hotel room after seeing a vision of beauty. It was a gift to have a hand in that, even if it was simply nail varnish and a sweep of cosmetics. And you walked out of your hotel room to spend the night with a gentleman who earned your secrets in ten minutes. And it was a gift to have a hand in that too.”

Seriously, did I already say I loved Celeste?

I totally did.

“Okay, then my gift is, whether it’s with Sam or not, when I see you and Thomas again, I pay for dinner.”

“Oh, my Kia, I don’t speak of such things. You’ll need to discuss that with Thomas.”

Which meant I so totally was not buying dinner.

Great.

Okay, well, whatever.

“I’ll call you tomorrow and we’ll set something up.”

“Très bien,” she murmured.

“All right, honey, I have to go finish getting ready.”

“Have a wonderful time, Kia.”

“I will, Celeste. We’ll speak soon.”

“Of course, adieu, ma belle.”

Adieu, ma belle.

Freaking cool.

“’Bye, Celeste.”

She rang off. I flipped the phone shut, slipped it on the table and looked to Sam just as Luci walked out with another pot of coffee.

“You okay?” Sam asked.

Luci poured.

I answered.

“That’s my Lake Como bud, Celeste. She just told me she had a daughter with blonde hair and green eyes named Clémence who died when she was twelve of leukemia. Since we met, she’s been super awesome. This is because she’s super awesome but also because, I just learned, I remind her of her daughter. I kind of lost it when she told me that so, uh…” my eyes slid from a solid and staring at me Sam to a frozen and staring at me Luci, “sorry for the drama.”

“Jesus, baby,” Sam whispered.

I bit my lip.

“That’s very sad,” Luci whispered.

I nodded.

Sam kept staring at me.

“I’m okay now,” I assured him.

He kept staring at me.

“Sam, I’m okay,” I whispered.

His eyes moved from me to Luci then back to me before they slid to the lake. He appeared to be thinking but he also appeared not to wish to share what he was thinking and I knew this not because I’d absorbed knowledge of all things Sam by sleeping in his arms but because he didn’t share what he was thinking.

I left it at that and took a sip of my coffee in preparation for going back upstairs and finishing getting ready.

I only got the sip in before Luci put Sam’s coffee cup in front of him and announced, “I’ll go get my laptop so you can check your e-mail.”

Then off she went, gliding gracefully through the doors to the kitchen before I could make a peep.

When my eyes moved from where Luciana disappeared, they went through Sam on the way back, a Sam who was putting his coffee cup down and turning to me.

And when he did, he said quietly, “Celeste, your Lake Como bud, can I take from that you met her here?”

I nodded.

“And she just shared about her kid?”

I nodded again.

“Just like that?”

I thought about it. Then I said, “Well, kind of, I mean, we got close very quickly so it hasn’t been long but, I don’t know, I feel a connection with her, a connection she’s now explained so it isn’t weird. I mean, we’ve shared. Nothing that personal but, my guess is, it would get that personal eventually. It was just sooner rather than later.”

“Luci likes you,” he informed me and I smiled.

“I can tell.”

“No, baby, Luci likes you.”

That was when I blinked because he was telling me something, I just didn’t know what.

Sam carried on.

“I told you she was up in my business, what I didn’t tell you was, not only is she all over my ass to hook up and get down to the business of makin’ babies, she’s all over my ass because she pretty much hates every woman I’ve been with that she’s met. She isn’t here often. That party last night is something she does when she comes home so she can see all her friends. She’s still got the house she lived in with Gordo, a house that’s close to mine and she spends most of her time there. So, when I say she’s in my business, I might not have mentioned she’s got opportunity.”

That didn’t sound good.

“Why didn’t she like your other, uh… women?” I asked.

“I didn’t say she didn’t like them, honey, I said she hated them, as in, hated their f**kin’ guts.”

“Okay,” I said slowly, drawing it out. “So, why?”