Tangled: A New Adult Romance Boxed Set (12 Book Bundle of Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Royalty)

by Lakes, Krista

  “Yes, her right arm was supposed to go across her body, with her right hand holding up the fabric on her knee. Her left arm was holding an apple at about eye level. Do you see how the right side is more carefully finished?”

  “I do, yes.”

  “Venus was supposed to be seen from the right, it implies that her left and backside would have probably been against a wall, that’s why the artist focused more on the side that would have been seen.”

  “So what you’re saying is the artist didn’t want to put a whole ton of effort into the whole statue.”

  “That’s not what I’m saying it all!” I replied, feigning outrage, and I lightly punched Philippe in the arm, punishing him for being so glib about what I considered to be perfection in this form of art.

  “You’ve taken me through these statues, Sophie, telling me with all of them about how they’re the perfect human form, but none of them are as beautiful as the human form standing next to me right now.”

  I couldn’t even look Philippe in the eye after he told me that, I was so embarrassed. I wasn’t used to outright flirting like this, but I couldn’t help but smile as I felt the flush crawl up my face. Philippe made me feel so special already, and we were barely half an hour into our first date. If that’s what this was. After all, I didn’t know if this was a real date.

  After we finished with the classical Greek works, we had to decide where to go next.

  “You’ve taught me everything there is to know about Greek statues, now why don’t we head down a level so I can give you an all new appreciation of the ancient Egyptian artifacts here?”

  “I’d like that,” I replied, and we headed downstairs to Philippe’s favorite part of the museum.

  Philippe was right, he definitely knew a lot about the ancient Egyptian art and in the life of ancient Egyptians in general, knowledge which he put forth on to me as we passed through multitudes of rooms, each with more impressive artifacts than the last. The symbolism in Egyptian art, as I learned, was just so important, in a way that I doubt has been seen since the fall of the pharaohs. It surpassed the symbolism even used in Renaissance art, and had a strong focus on life after death. Although, as Philippe and I discussed, it is true that virtually every culture’s art puts an enormous emphasis on the afterlife. While modern art in our society has moved away from that, one only needs to look at the Renaissance, where nearly every artist painted multiple scenes from the bible.

  “Did you notice how sunken the relief is in the sculptures?” Philippe asked as we passed through a room filled with enormous sculptures, some of them reaching up to the ceiling. I nodded.

  “It’s very well suited to harsh sunlight, such as one would find in Egypt, especially with a number of their statues being found outside of buildings.”

  “Oh, I never would’ve thought of that.”

  “Believe me Sophie, there are a lot of things I can teach you, and not all of them about art,” Philippe whispered into my ear, and tingles ran down my spine towards my nether regions. Oh my God, why did I react like this to this guy? We continued through the hall, but my mind was absolutely not on the antiquities at this point. All I could think about was dragging Philippe into the nearest bathroom and ripping his clothes off, which only made me feel hotter. My sex muscles clenched as I fantasized about Philippe right here in the middle of the most famous museum in the world.

  We moved on and decided to tackle the Renaissance section of the museum before leaving for the night. As every Parisian knows, it’s virtually impossible to visit the Louvre in one day, so as we decided that the Renaissance would be our last stop, Philippe took the opportunity to ask me for a second date.

  “Should we come back next week, discovering the rest of the art world which we both love so much?”

  I smiled. “I think we should,” I replied. The last time I’d been to the Louvre, I was alone. Visiting the museum by myself was nice in a way, as it gave me the opportunity to really absorb the art and really feel what the artist was trying to say, but at the same time I preferred this visit with Philippe. He knew so much about art that I didn’t know anything about, and I knew a lot about art that he didn’t know either. Between the two of us, we learned a lot when we visited with each other, and we were able to have deep meaningful discussions about the artist’s intentions when it came to various works. Philippe was more than just a hot guy that made my body react in ways I wasn’t used to. He had a brain, he was different. Hell, a part of me was starting to wish he lived in San Francisco, since maybe then I’d be able to consider dating him for real.

  “Shall we have a contest as to who can guess how many Madonna and child paintings there are in the Renaissance section?” Philippe joked as we entered the area. I laughed. The Renaissance was well known for a number of things, but the main theme of the time was religious, and nearly all of the painters of the time had painted at least one Madonna and child. Many, including Da Vinci, had painted quite a few works of the Virgin Mary with her infant son.

  We passed slowly through with the throng of people all looking at these gorgeous works.

  “I can’t believe all of this art, all of this history is all here in one building.” It was still unbelievable to me, the works in this museum alone had to be worth at least billions of dollars.

  “I know. The first time I visited here, when I was a small child, I thought it was way too long. My parents spent too long looking at everything, and we were here for hours when all I wanted to do was run up and down the hallways. As I got older I learned to appreciate the art, and I guess that was what got me interested in it in the first place. When I was a teenager my parents would let me go wherever I wanted, and they would meet me at the entrance later, and that was when I discovered the Egyptian section. I guess that’s what got me into that, and I began to read about it on my own when we went home.”

  “That’s at least a bit similar to me. I took an art history class which introduced me to all of the art, and I took an instant liking to it. One of my electives last year was an art history class, but unfortunately when you’re majoring in marketing you don’t get a lot of opportunity to explore the other faculties.”

  We finished our tour of the museum, then went and grabbed a snack in the little food court above the entrance in the underground mall we came through. Philippe and I sat at a table, watching the people go by.

  “Can I ask why you decided to go overseas?” Philippe asked. “I’m curious as to what made you think a semester overseas would be nice.”

  I was tempted to lie. After all, I was so used to lying to people about my past, but there was something about Philippe. Something in his tone of voice, something in the way those deep brown eyes looked at me, something made me tell him the truth.

  “I actually broke up with my boyfriend in September, well, he broke up with me, and I couldn’t get over him. I decided that I needed a change, I saw a flyer advertising a semester abroad, and the rest was history.”

  Philippe nodded slowly, understandingly. “Yes, I can understand that. They are not always nice, the affairs of the heart, especially when they go badly.”

  “The funny thing is, before I came to France I swear that I wouldn’t get involved with any man, I swear that I was swearing off boys for good, and yet I met Jacques only a few weeks after I arrived, and now you.”

  I saw Philippe stiffen at the mention of Jacques. “I don’t know if you’re still seeing him Sophie, but please, I’m begging you to heed my warnings. Please stay away from that man. He’s not a good man, and you deserve so much better than him.”

  “But he has been nothing but a gentleman to me Philippe. I wish you would tell me why you say these things. Why is it that you’re so desperate for me to stay away from him?”

  “I’m sorry Sophie, there are some things I just can’t say. But I’m serious. I absolutely mean it. Please stay away from that man, he’s bad news.”

  We got up soon after and left in silence. I didn’t know what to think. When w
e got back to the university, Philippe hugged me close, but this time there was no spark in me. I hugged him back, smelling his scent as I breathed deeply into his jacket, but my body didn’t react. I was still thinking about what Philippe had said about Jacques. Was he right? But Jacques was such a gentleman, whatever Philippe had heard about him had to be wrong. Still, as I went to sleep that night I felt pretty uneasy, despite the fact that date had gone better than any that I’d ever been on before in my life.

  Chapter Eleven

  Two days later, out of the blue, I received an email from Jacques. The subject line was ‘photos’, and when I opened it up there were at least three dozen photos attached to the email. I opened them one by one, and the more I saw them, the more my mouth dropped open.

  “Oh my God,” I whispered to myself. If it hadn’t been for the fact that I recognized the poses, I probably wouldn’t even have believed it was me. The woman in these photos was absolutely beautiful. It was unbelievably difficult to believe that it actually was me, that I could look like that.

  I was instantly in love. Half of them were in black and white, showing a side me that I didn’t even know existed. I looked sensual, I looked sexy, I looked gorgeous, I looked like one of those women in magazines, I actually looked like a model.

  How could Philippe possibly think someone like that was bad news? Jacques was famous, a leader in his field. He had acted like a perfect gentleman when I was alone with him at the studio, and even when he kissed me he apologized profusely. I wondered what Philippe possibly saw in him that worried him. They had no reason for knowing each other: one was a medical student, the other a photographer. It was strange, and I decided Philippe must not really know Jacques like I did.

  I went through the photos, over and over, each time being more surprised than the last. It was obvious that Jacques was an incredible photographer; I couldn’t have fathomed looking like this. It was just unbelievable to me. There was no other word to use, that described it completely. I immediately downloaded the photos onto a thumb drive and got ready to go out to the photography store down the street to order some prints. I wanted to see what these photos look like when they were physically in my hand.

  Before I did so however, I decided to give Jacques a call. After all, I had to thank him for doing this for me. I couldn’t believe it. I looked like a freaking model. I was so excited, I could see my handshaking as I picked up my phone and pressed the number to call him.

  “Allo?” Jacques answered on the second ring.

  “Oh my God I just got the photos and I just had to say thank you straight away.” I could hear him laugh on the other end the line.

  “Fantastique, I am glad you like them. I do have to say, they turned out pretty nicely.”

  “Absolutely they did! You’re amazing, I had no idea that I could look like that.”

  “But Sophie, you do look like that, the camera only takes a perfect image of what it sees.”

  “No, your photographs are magic. Absolutely magical. I couldn’t be happier, I’m taking some of the photos down to get printed now, if you don’t mind.”

  “Of course I don’t mind, of course not. I got some prints myself, although I send away to a lab do them so it will take about a week before I get them back, so feel free to go get some yourself ahead of time.”

  “I can’t wait to show them to people Jacques, you’re absolutely amazing.”

  “Thank you Sophie, you are too kind. If you liked les photos, I had an idea for another shoot, if you would be interested in coming back down to the studio one day.”

  Unlike the last time, I didn’t even need to think about my reply.

  “Yes, of course I would love that,” I replied. “I could never say no to being photographed by such an amazing photographer such as yourself.”

  “Excellent, is there any time in particular which suits you? I was thinking about perhaps sometime next week doing the next shoot.”

  I scanned my brain, trying to quickly go through my schedule. I told Jacques which days were my days off, and when I had classes that ended in the early afternoon, in case he wanted to do an afternoon shoot.

  “Perfect, thank you Sophie. I will look at my schedule and I will let you know in advance when you should come back down to my studio.”

  I agreed, thanked Jacques again and we hung up, and I did a little dance around my studio apartment. I let out a small squeal, I was so excited. I grabbed my purse, my coat, and the thumb drive with the precious photos on them, and headed out the door.

  As I waited for the photos to develop, the lab assistant telling me it would take 20 minutes, I texted Noelle and Claire. I was giddy with excitement, and I wanted to share it with my girlfriends. I had told them about the shoot of course, but I had kept their expectations low. After all, I didn’t know what to expect. I knew Jacques was an incredible photographer, I had seen his work before, but there’s a difference between seeing someone working with professional models, and what you expect to get when they work with someone like me. I had no idea that I was going to end up pretty much looking exactly like the models I saw in magazines.

  We organized to meet at the nearby mall in an hour, and when my photos were finally ready I thumbed through them quickly. They were even more beautiful in person. I was so happy, I almost wanted to cry. To think that I had been so nervous, to think that I didn’t want to do it at all to start with, it was crazy to remember that I had been scared. Obviously nothing had gone wrong, and now I had the most beautiful photos of myself to celebrate with.

  When I got to the mall I saw Claire sitting on a bench, and I ran over to her.

  “Hey, thanks for coming! I just needed to show you a Noelle the photos that Jacques took of me as soon as I could. I’m so excited, I just couldn’t wait.”

  “Definitely, they’re not even photos of me and I’m so excited I couldn’t wait either. Should we wait for Noelle to show up or look at them now?”

  I didn’t get a chance to answer before Noelle plopped down on the seat next to me, obviously having just arrived.

  “Hey!” I greeted her, telling her basically the same thing I just told Claire as I dug the photos out of my bag. My best friends here in France leaned over my shoulder and gasped as they saw the photos.

  “Oh my God, those are the most amazing photos of you ever Sophie,” Claire exclaimed, breathless.

  “Yeah. Wow, I can’t believe that’s really you,” Noelle said, staring. “Not that I mean you’re normally not this beautiful, I just mean these photos look so incredible, it’s like you’re coming straight out from a magazine as opposed to the girl sitting beside me in the mall.”

  “I know exactly what you mean Noelle, I had the exact same thought. Honestly, if I didn’t recognize the poses and the fact that it really was me, I probably wouldn’t have believed that they were photos of me.”

  “You’re so lucky to have gotten him to take photos of you like that. Those are beautiful. I hope you treasure them for the rest of your life,” Claire said, stealing the pile of photos from me once we’d gone through them once and slowly thumbing through them.

  “Absolutely I will. It’s not every day that somebody like me gets have famous photographer photograph them. I don’t think I’m ever going to get photos of me that look this beautiful ever.”

  We gushed over the photos for a while before deciding to grab some milkshakes and walk around for a while. Neither one of my friends could believe how good the photos had turned out, and I was glad that I had some friends to share this with.

  My day only got better when we finally separated and Philippe texted me that night while I was eating dinner, asking me whether or not I’d like to go to the Louvre tomorrow, to finish off what we’d started.

  I bit my bottom lip as I thought about Philippe. My body was reacting to the thought of his once more. The thought of us together, in the Louvre, discovering art, the most sensual of topics together, the memory of us making out on the balcony, the fantasy of us together in bed
, having him bring me to new levels of pleasure I could have never even imagined made me feel incredible, and I closed my eyes as I ran my hands along my body thinking about him.

  Something about Philippe made me want him. There was a spark, and electricity between us that I felt every second that we were together and it made me feel like I would never be whole unless I acted on it, unless I pressed his body against mine and we became one.

  I fell asleep that night dreaming about our date tomorrow, dreaming about how perfect it was going to be. Little did I know how wrong I was.

  Chapter Twelve

  Philippe and I met at the Louvre this time, since it was both our days off. We decided to make a morning of it, and I felt that familiar tingle down my spine as I saw him approach, as I’d gotten there first. I really need to start being the one who shows up later for things, this makes me seem desperate I thought to myself as he came up to me and kissed me on the cheek again.

  “Hello, Sophie. I’m glad you’ve decided to explore the museum with me again. It certainly is more fun with company, especially company as sexy as yourself.”

  “Well, I don’t even need to go into the museum to see art when it’s standing right here in front of me,” I replied, my eyes twinkling. If Philippe wanted to flirt with me, I sure as hell could flirt right back at him. Who knew, this was our day off. Maybe after the museum we would go back to his place, or mine, and then... well, the instant I started thinking about it I felt my panties moistening, my breath catching in my throat, my pulse racing. I hoped Philippe didn’t notice. More than that, I hoped he felt the same way.

  “Shall we begin, my lady?” Philippe asked, leading me towards the entrance to the museum. We walked together in silence as we headed towards the French Paintings section. Philippe wanted to show me some of the best works of his homeland.

  We were led through paintings so incredible, so realistic, I was amazed. Philippe explained to me that the heyday of French painting was after the Renaissance, in the classical period, and then impressionism.