SMITTEN (Paris Après Minuit)

by Juliet Braddock

  “Um…did he mention if my lipstick was smeared from the kiss?” Nigel teased her, and suddenly, January had to laugh. “I suppose he hadn’t anticipated that you might move on?”

  “There are many good things about that man, but his ego isn’t one of them.”

  “Do you need some time alone? Do you want to ring him back?”

  In all honesty, she shook her head. “No. No, I don’t, Nigel,” she said with certainty. “I want to be right here with you, and I want to find those pictures together. And I want a salad for dinner. A big one. With protein.”

  “Oh, January, come here,” Nigel said as he opened his arms. “I adore you.”

  “And I adore you…”

  They decided not to call for the butler that night and made their own drinks with the array of fruits in the fridge and just phoned room service for dinner. January teased that Nigel could always bartend if his gig as an equestrian instructor didn’t work out. They watched some television, but it was far more pleasant to sit outside and gaze down upon the busy town below.

  Somehow, they fell asleep in each other’s arms on the rattan couch in the wee hours of the morning, only to awaken just before the sun came up.

  “I love watching sunrises with you,” January whispered.

  “They’re almost as beautiful as you are…”

  Caressing his arms that were folded around her, she took in a deep breath. It was a brand-new day and theirs for the taking.

  “So where should we have sex today?” Nigel teased. “I mean…which museum shall we visit?”

  “Oh, any one of the museums we missed yesterday because we were too busy having sex…”

  “Lunch was lovely.”

  “So was dessert in the den,” January added.

  “Ah, yes, that was fun,” he agreed. “I could go for a huge breakfast—like Mum makes.”

  “Why don’t you give our friendly butler a ring, and I’ll hop in the shower so that we can get ready for the day?”

  “Sounds like the perfect plan.” As she stood up, Nigel gave her a crack on the ass. “Sorry. I couldn’t stop myself.”

  “Please, don’t apologize, Dommy.”

  January took quite some time in the shower, but it was the first chance she really caught to have some time alone. She wished she hadn’t answered Etienne’s call, and he lingered in her mind all night.

  Perhaps, they still had some talking to do for closure purposes, but right now, she didn’t want to be forced to think about him. That call certainly hadn’t changed her feelings for Nigel. If anything, it made her realize how right she was to break it off with Etienne.

  However, as she stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in the thick terry robe, she found Nigel on the phone, pacing the floor.

  “Dad, Dad…slow down. January’s out of the shower. I’m going to place you on speaker, alright?”

  “What’s the matter?” she whispered.

  “Dad, tell January what’s going on.”

  “Good morning, January!” Lawrence said. “How are you, darling?”

  “We’re doing great, Larry…” she said. “How are you?”

  “Well, things are good. And Lenny’s doing just fine. Clarissa put her on a collar and a leash yesterday and walked her around the back garden. She’s having a grand time…”

  “Dad, please, get to the point.”

  “Well, I got up this morning for my usual constitutional with Molly and Dickens…and would you believe…there were ten photographers camped out in the car park?”

  “Oh, no!” she panicked and buried her face in Nigel’s chest. “Oh, no. Larry, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Told them to get the bloody hell off my lawn. I called the local police, and they didn’t quite seem to know what to do. But one of them said they traced Nigel to here by his license plate number.”

  “Fuck—they got the back of your car when we pulled out yesterday,” she gasped.

  “January?” Lawrence called out. “Are you there?”

  “Dad, the paparazzi caught up with us yesterday,” Nigel explained. “We knew it was on the Internet last night, but we had no idea they’d try to find out where I live.”

  “You were on the Internet? And I didn’t see it? Goodness, son, is it still there?”

  “It’s not like television, Dad. It’s there forever.”

  “So, I can still see it this morning? You weren’t doing anything embarrassing to taint our good name, were you? Like giving the old camera the moon or anything?”

  “Dear Lord, January, can you speak to my father? I just…can’t.”

  She took the phone and sat on the bed. “He was just kissing me. No worries, Larry. But seriously, are you okay? Are they still there?”

  “Well, the police sent an officer over, and occasionally one still sneaks back to our property. But I just thought you should know.”

  “Of course, we need to know,” January said as she turned to Nigel. “Listen, we’re coming back today.”

  “No, we’re not—”

  January placed her hand over Nigel’s mouth. “As soon as Nigel has breakfast, we’ll get on the road, and we can be there in about an hour or so. Do you think you’ll be okay until then?”

  “We’re fine, and you don’t have to cut your trip short on our account.”

  “See! Listen to my father!” Nigel piped in.

  “No, we’ll be back today. We’ll see you in a couple of hours.” As she hung up the phone, Nigel flopped down on the bed beside her.

  “What the hell was that about?” he demanded. “We’re on vacation. We’re having a lovely time. We—”

  “We can still have a beautiful time together in Avignon,” she insisted. “This is all my fault, and I am not leaving your elderly parents alone in the middle of the countryside with a bunch of stupid photographers trailing them.”

  “They’ve got the police there. And trust me, that old man I call my father is capable of holding his own.”

  “Listen, we still have this time together, but I really want to go back,” she begged him. “It’s really upsetting me.”

  As she covered her face with her hands, he dropped his arm over her shoulders and held her tight. “This really does mean a lot to you, doesn’t it? And I can’t just ignore your concern for my family.”

  “I would carry the guilt with me for the rest of my life if something happened while we were too busy gallivanting.”

  “Gallivanting with Gallimore,” he mused. “Maybe I’ll sell them my story when we get back.”

  Slowly, she moved her hands away from her face. “So, you’ll go back?”

  “I will go, but you’re staying in the cottage with Lenny and me,” he told her. “And limited engagements with my parents.”

  “I agree to all terms of this arrangement,” she said. “And I think we’re doing the right thing.”

  But for once in his life, doing the right thing felt so wrong.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  As Nigel suspected, they found his parents safe and sound at the manor house, which had filled to capacity with the publicity surrounding January Gallimore’s new romantic interest. For that, she was grateful, and she hoped they continued to sell out in her absence.

  Although she’d placed security on the property and paid for it herself, January’s guilt over the release of the photos carried on. Seeing Clarissa and Lawrence again only resurfaced January’s anxiety over her distant relationship with her parents. While she should have been enjoying this time with Nigel, she found her thoughts straying back to Kansas.

  The farm prospered over the last few years, from what her brothers told her, but she wanted to see for herself. She hated herself for taking such a personal interest in Nigel’s parent’s business ventures when she’d just tossed money to her own family with hopes that some of their fixes might stick. Yet the ramifications that reeled from her remote presence ran so much deeper…

  In her conversations with herself, January felt compelled to justify h
er entire life. She was a mere teenager when she left home. At the time, she never realized how far apart their relationships would drift. She fell into her own routines and found what she thought was love across the ocean. These days with the Hereford-Smyths flooded her thoughts with remorse for having allowed so much time to pass since her last visit home. When she had a few moments alone, she picked up her phone and called her mother.

  “Now, Jan, please don’t make promises you don’t intend to keep,” Aurora Gallimore warned her only daughter. January could just picture her mother standing in her kitchen that hadn’t seen a remodel since the eighties, wearing that look of frustration she always seemed to tout when January visited. Aurora was a beautiful woman, and January inherited her eyes, smile and small stature. In fact, her mother was her silver-haired twin.

  “No, Mom, for real—I’m coming home,” January promised. “When I’m finished with this film at the end of the summer.”

  “Why?” Aurora growled. “Because you broke up with the Frenchman, and you won’t be traveling with him to Mikonos this year?”

  All these years later, Aurora still refused to address Etienne by his first name. From the first time that January brought him home, her mother just assumed he was a snob, and she refused to change her mind.

  January, though, knew she deserved her mother’s caution to believe her, and Aurora’s rancor resonated over the line. Rather than play into the chance of argument, January decided to divert her mother.

  “How did you know we broke up?”

  “Charlie showed me those pictures of you with that blond fellow last night on his phone,” Aurora explained. “Will he be coming with you, or do we get you all to ourselves this time?”

  January’s parents still had the ability to rattle her. “Just me, Mom—just me,” January insisted. “I can’t wait to see you. And…I really do miss you, whether you believe that or not.”

  “Jan, I—we miss you, too.” Aurora’s voice strained with reluctance. “And you know you’re always welcome at home. We do miss you.”

  “Maybe my brothers do,” January said and stopped herself. However, she had to finish her point. “But what about Daddy?”

  “Jan, you know he does.” Aurora’s deep sigh filled her ear. “And he’s always looked out for you from afar. In fact, your father said just last night that he’d punch that frog in the nose if he hurt you.”

  If her parents only knew what transpired with Etienne in the bedroom…he would be sniffing daisies by now.

  While Aurora speculated on her daughter’s trip to the farm, Nigel tiptoed up behind January and wrapped his arms around her waist. Alone but for the phone, they stood together in a wide-open field of nothing but wildflowers. Beauty ensconced them at every turn.

  “So, you won’t be bringing Niles home with you?”

  “His name is Nigel, Mom,” January said as she wriggled in his arms.

  “Nigel…Niles…Froggie…who can keep up?” January certainly inherited the sarcasm gene from her mother. “We’ll see you, Jan? You promise me?”

  “I promise. As soon as we wrap, I’m heading to Kansas.”

  “Well…we look forward to your visit—whenever it is,” Aurora said. “Just be safe, Jan. And…we love you.”

  “I love you guys…”

  Her smile was full of melancholy as she turned in Nigel’s arms.

  “You’ll see your mum soon,” he whispered as he brushed her hair from her eyes. “How long has it been?”

  “Too long, Nigel.” Regret filled her words.

  “It might be too long,” he began, “but it’s never too late.”

  “You know, you’re the one who’s made me realize that,” she said. “I know your parents drive you crazy, but seeing the love you have for each other made me understand that I need to see my family. I spent so much time chasing that frog around the world—”

  “Now, January, we don’t need to resort to calling that douchebag names.”

  Her lips twitched as they curved into a smile. “My mother always called him the Frog. And she reminded me of that just now.”

  “Does she have any names for me yet?” Nigel wondered out loud.

  “No, but my darling brother showed her the photos last night.” Circling her arms around his neck, she smirked. “Why do I always feel like a teenager getting caught with her panties down with you?”

  “Maybe because your panties are usually down, and we’re always getting caught?”

  “Dommy?”

  “What?”

  “Let’s go horseback riding. Right now.”

  “That’s what you want to do?” he asked. “Come on. And maybe I’ll get a few swats with the crop while we’re at it.”

  “I love how you think…”

  # # #

  Since she couldn’t see her own family, January just borrowed Nigel’s for the remainder of her trip.

  The extra time at the manor house, though, afforded her the chance to really get to know Clarissa on a deeper level. In fact, January found herself serving breakfast to the guests after her morning rides with Nigel. It was during those quiet moments in the kitchen that Clarissa opened up about Nigel and his childhood, and January couldn’t hear enough.

  An only child, Nigel was spoiled to an extent, Clarissa told her, but never a brat. He was the one boy who always shared his toys and paid attention to all of his classmates—even those whom others might have bullied.

  His sensitivity, though, led to his downfall. Charlotte’s grisly death destroyed him. Clarissa told January that there were moments when she prepared herself for the worst, fearing Nigel would succumb to his own emotions.

  Since meeting January, Clarissa told her, Nigel returned mostly to his former self. She could see the hope in her son’s eyes, and she could hear the happiness in his voice. All the while, January couldn’t help but wonder if her words served as a warning. Above and beyond, a mother’s love withstood all.

  Again, she thought of her own parents, and she truly hoped Nigel would have the chance to get to know her family, too. She was tired of the angst that her previous relationship brought to her life. If Nigel became a regular part of her world, she expected him to accept all of it, right down to the farm.

  January cursed herself for jumping ahead, making plans that couldn’t be scheduled. However, her hopes didn’t dwindle. Maybe, if her parents really had the chance to get to know the man in her life, she’d fare better at familial relations. However, for the moment, she had to just maintain her sense of wishful thinking and appreciate the time they still had together.

  The intimacies that she shared with Nigel—in his cottage, in the stables and in the fields—blanketed January in the solace she needed. Never did conversation dull with him. Every second she spent with him held meaning and memories.

  Although Nigel had fought her on returning to Avignon, January made sure they had a grand time, poking around the ancient streets where some buildings dated back centuries. Avignon had its share of museums and medieval artwork, and she convinced him to play tourist with her. Strolling within the city’s fortified walls built by the popes of yesteryear, she convinced him that they didn’t need Marseille to enjoy their time together.

  Getting to know Nigel thrilled and stimulated her on so many levels. Never had she expected to assume the role of teacher. All of the men she had dated were confirmed Dominants who had been practicing the lifestyle for years. At one point, she would have balked at his inexperience and walked away, unwilling to spend her time showing him what pleasured her.

  However, Nigel’s determination to understand and perfect his prowess was refreshing. His curiosity completely charmed her. In many ways, Nigel cared more about her satisfaction than his own, but at the same time, he seemed to enjoy this exploration of a new facet of his own life. While he often lacked confidence, he seemed to come alive in the fantasies he shared only with January. She knew that once he reached a comfort level in play, he’d truly embrace his kinky side.

 
; In between combing through her toybox and practicing his strikes on a saddle he hung over the fence at the stable, he studied up on sadomasochism, from the historical standpoint to present-day play. Scouring the online toy stores, he tried to discern the uses for some of the oddities—like pinwheels and suction cups—while also figuring out just how to incorporate them into play.

  Yes, they both had plans for each other, but neither January or Nigel could mention the future. They maintained their promises to commit only to the present.

  Time, though, fluttered past them far too quickly, and before she knew it, her reprieve had almost come to a close. Nigel had some sort of plans for them for her last night, which meant saying an early goodbye to his parents.

  Of course, January jumped into her self-assigned role and helped with dinner. However, Clarissa and Lawrence were quick to move their guests out that night. They wanted some time alone with their son and his new romantic interest. Together, they all walked the fields with the dogs in tow and sat down near the edge of the property with a couple of bottles of wine that Nigel carried in his mother’s picnic basket, joking how that old thing came in handy lately.

  Off in the distance, they could see the lavender fields of the neighboring farm. It was a quiet, tender moment for both couples. Lawrence might have been a bear on the exterior, but like her own father, he had his sweet spots. It was nice to see him sit back and enjoy the nature that surrounded them.

  Both Nigel and his father shared a sense of pride over the manor house. They had decided it was time to move forward with the expansion of the small cottages on the property, while Clarissa made noises about starting up a small restaurant in one of them. Lawrence joked that perhaps when January was on hiatus from her film career, she could pick up some shifts as a waitress. Nigel was shocked that she didn’t balk at the idea.

  At the end of the night, it came time to say a second goodbye to the Hereford-Smyths, only this time January couldn’t back away and change her plans. She had to leave them, and she wasn’t sure when she might return. January hated the sense of the unknown.

  “We promise that Lenny will have all the love that she has with her own Mum,” Lawrence told her. “I’m taking quite a liking to that little rabbit.”