Part-Time Lover (Part-Time Lover #1)(28)

“I’ve only had three shots. But I fully intend on being absolutely plastered by the end of the night. We’re talking uni-style bender.”

I drag a hand through my hair, frustrated that he doesn’t know where he is. “Your tolerance is crap already. Are you near the river? Sacré-Coeur? Notre Dame? The Eiffel Tower? The Louvre?”

“No. I’m near a church. It’s across the street from a café. Hold on.”

I wait, ready to go find him in a heartbeat. “It says Les Deux Magots.”

“Stay there outside Les Deux Magots. I’ll be there in ten minutes. We’re only a mile away.”

“We’re?” He groans, and it’s the saddest variety of sound. “Oh, crap. You’re with your woman.”

I glance at Elise. Is she my woman? I had my hands up her skirt until she came on my fingers. But she doesn’t want to be owned.

She’s no one’s woman. She’s her own woman.

Only, now is clearly not the time to address her status with my brother. Waiters circle, carrying trays of tea, and meanwhile, a mile away, my brother is drowning his sorrows over his wife.

“Yes, I’m with Elise, but I’m coming to see you.”

Elise shoos me off, telling me to go.

“I’ll go home,” Erik says. “I don’t want to cock-up your date.”

“You’re not ruining anything.”

He moans. “I can’t go home. I have no home. I’ll get a hotel.”

I take Elise’s hand and lead her out of the salon, chatting with Erik. “You’ll stay with me. Just settle down at Les Deux Magots, and I’ll be there soon.”

“Don’t worry,” Elise whispers. “Go to him.”

“Bring her along,” Erik says, sounding strangely chipper for a moment.

“What? You haven’t even met her yet.”

“I need a woman’s perspective. Bring her along, and that way maybe she can make sense of what’s been going on.”

“Erik,” I say with a sigh.

His voice is sharp and demanding. “Just, please. I mean it.”

I cover the phone as we make our way outside. “He wants you to come. You don’t have to.”

She wraps a hand around my bicep. “I want to. Whatever you need.”

Her smile is soft and gentle, and it’s one of the first times neither one of us is teasing. The gentleness hooks into me and touches deeper than I expected. It isn’t about the spark between us. It’s about a woman who’s been broken before, and yet she still cares for someone else. Someone she doesn’t even know.

And I think I want her to care more about me too.



*

Fifteen minutes later, we usher Erik out of a touristy, overpriced café and into an English pub around the corner. The floor is covered in sawdust, and names are carved into the wood on the table. Erik picks at a bowl full of peanuts. His eyes are red, but dry.

He raises a pint. “Cheers. Drinks are on me. Let’s get pissed.”

Elise raises her hand to catch a waiter’s attention. “We’ll have two more, please, and another for him.”

Erik smiles at Elise. “She’s a keeper. Always trust a woman who’ll drink a beer with you. Never trust the ones who thumb their noses at pints. Jandy hated beer.”

Elise smiles. “Sometimes you just need a pint.”

“I love her already,” Erik says, smiling like a sad sack at Elise. “And I wish we were meeting under better circumstances, but I’m glad to make the acquaintance of the woman who has captivated my little brother.” He stabs his finger against the table, grinning like a sloshed loon. “Did you know he said you were bold and daring the night he never met you? And so scrummy.”

I roll my eyes, but I don’t mind in the least that he’s shared what I said. I’ve told her as much myself.

Elise laughs. “He was bold and daring. But let’s talk about you. I wish you were having a better night.” She stretches out her arm and squeezes his hand.

His lip quivers, and he nods. “Me too. But it’s good to meet you. It’s good to see someone who can make someone else happy. I thought I had that.” He hangs his head in his hand, and my heart aches for him.

“Sorry, Erik. Tell us what happened,” I say, after the waitress drops off the round that Elise ordered.

Erik heaves a sigh, shovels his hand through his hair, and says, “She’s been working late, as you know.”

My spine straightens, and red smoke billows out my ears. “I will string her up from her tits.”

Erik shakes his head. “No, she’s not cheating. At least, as far as I know she has been faithful. She didn’t say a damn thing about another man.” He lets out a long, angry sigh. “She’s been putting this together. This horrid plan to leave me. She claims she needs to be independent. Said she needs to be able to do things on her own.”

I scowl. “This from the woman who was like a damsel in distress when you met her.”

My brother huffs. “I know. She fucking needed me so much then, and now she’s going on and on about how she needs to find herself. She said she feels like she has no identity of her own. That it’s all wrapped up in being married, and since her dad was such a wanker, she needs a breather from being attached to a man. But not a breather—a divorce.”