Escape to Paris With Love

by Lee, Brenda Stokes

  “Not as pissed as you’re going to be, when they assess the damage on your new Maybach. God, that’s a breathtakingly beautiful car.”

  “Thanks, but it’s just a car. And I must admit that compared to your beauty, it’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.” Armani stared at the beautiful EJ and smiled, before he nonchalantly continued to transcribe his insurance information onto EJ’s pad. “So here’s all of my information. Can I get your contact information as well … Strictly for insurance purposes of course.”

  “Of course.” EJ said as she nervously scribbled her name, address and cell number on a sheet of paper. Making sure he had all of her numbers she added her business number and email as well. “Feel free to call me when you’re available for lunch.”

  Accepting the paper from her outstretched hand Armani smiled and nodded. “Thanks I will. Can you drive your car, or should we call a tow truck?”

  “No! I don’t think it needs to be towed. It looks like it’s more cosmetic than anything.” EJ replied as she did a quick visual scan of the damage to her car. “It should be fine to drive.”

  “Okay, well I won’t detain you any longer Escape Jones.”

  “Call me EJ.”

  Armani smiled. “Ok. Well nice to meet you EJ.”

  “Nice to meet you too Prince.” She smiled.

  “Armani… please call me Armani.”

  “Like the suit? Okay.” EJ responded a little confused.

  “I’ll be in touch.” Armani responded as he took EJ’s hand and gently kissed it. Opening her door for her, he helped her in her car.

  EJ was mesmerized by him. She could not divert her eyes from him. She watched in her side view mirror as the drop dead gorgeous Armani returned to his expensive vehicle and prepared to leave. Her heart screamed for her to stop him. Just as she reached for her phone to call him with some lame ass reason to detain him, her phone rang. EJ didn’t recognize the number, but she took the call anyway.

  “Hi, this is Escape Jones.”

  “Hi EJ, this is Armani. I hate to be a pest, but do you have time to have lunch with me now?”

  “Um… sure. Where would you like to go?”

  “I know a nice intimate place not too far from here. Just follow me.”

  “Okay give me a second to juggle a few things on my schedule.”

  “Alright… Well, let me know when you’re ready to leave.”

  “Sure… Armani, please tell me that this intimate place is not your home.”

  Armani laughed. “No… I’m a gentleman. It’s a nice restaurant that I’ve been hearing a lot about. I was on my way there when we met.”

  “Okay. Let me make a quick call.” EJ hung up and quickly called Prissy.

  “Hello!”

  “Hey! Prissy can you pick the girls up from school this afternoon? I have a lunch date.”

  “Hold on for a second. My phone is tripping. It sounded like you just said that your stuck up ass had a damn date. I know that can’t be right.”

  “Stop playing. Can you get the girls for me?”

  “OMG! You were serious. Who is it and where are you going?”

  “This guy hit my car…”

  “You were in a car accident? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah… Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

  “So, the guy that hit your car asked you out?”

  “Yeah, he’s taking me to lunch.”

  “Where?”

  “Prissy, he’s waiting so I got to go. I’ll call you when I get to the restaurant.”

  “Okay so, who the hell are you and what the fuck did you do with EJ?”

  “EJ’s right here and she got to go. I’ll call you in a few. Get the girls for me and tell them that I love them and I’ll check on them later.”

  “This man must be fine as pixie dust! That’s all I have to say.” Prissy laughed.

  “Girl… He damn sure is! Finer than pixie dust, in fact!” She snickered. “Okay… So, take Matias and multiply his fineness by ten!”

  “D-A-M-N!” Prissy exclaimed. “Get your ass off this phone and go get that man!”

  “That’s exactly what I plan to do. Talk to you in a few.”

  “Wait a second EJ! Don’t get your ass in the car with him. Fine or not, better safe than dead!”

  “Do I look like Boo-Boo the Fucking Fool? I’m following him in my car. I’ll call you with the location when I get there. Anything looks suspicious, or if anything happens between now and then I’ll just run his ass over. You know me! Atlanta baby! I don’t fuckin play!”

  Prissy laughed. “Okay! Call me back!”

  Chapter 23 Armani

  Less than fifteen minutes later, Armani helped EJ out of her car and escorted her into the upscale L’Astrance Restaurant.

  “Hi I’m Prince Armani Fabre′. I have reservations for two.” He informed the hostess.

  She smiled and gushed, recognizing the handsome prince immediately. “I know who you are. I’ve seen you on TV. Right this way Prince Fabre′.”

  EJ looked puzzled by their conversation, but waited until they were seated. “This is a nice place.” She remarked.

  “Yeah! I hear the food is delicious. My brother recommended it to me.” Armani said as he took her hand and held it as they navigated through the crowded restaurant to a secluded private dining area.

  A large elegant table for two was set up in the center of the room. Armani and EJ were the only ones in the otherwise empty room. EJ noticed two large men dressed in suits take positions on both sides of the entrance to the doorway. They appeared to be some type of Secret Service bodyguards or something. EJ wasn’t sure what the hell was going on, but she was about to find out.

  “Prince… I need to make an important call and let my friend know that I’m safe. Do you mind?”

  “No, please go right ahead. EJ please call me Armani.”

  “Sure. I’m sorry. Can you just give me one second?” EJ asked as she got up and walked away from the table and immediately dialed Prissy.

  “Hello!”

  Hey! It’s me. I’m at the restaurant.”

  “Okay. Well, we are on our way to the school to pick up the girls. Don’t rush home, because we’re going out for pizza.”

  “Damn, I needed you to Google somebody for me. Never mind. I’ll do it later.”

  “Who? I’ll do it on my phone. Austin is driving.”

  “Okay… Quickly Google Prince Armani Fabre′ and tell me what you see.”

  “I’ve heard this name before. I think he’s some kind of royal. Is Armani spelled like the designer?”

  “Yeah. Hurry up he’s looking at me strange.”

  “Then, excuse yourself and go to the ladies room.”

  “I can’t. I already excused myself to make a phone call.”

  “Rookie! Always take and make calls in the ladies room… Oh my damn!” Prissy exclaimed. “Is that the name of your date?”

  “Yeah! Why? Who is he?”

  “I knew I heard this name before.”

  “What name? Armani who?” Austin butted in.

  “Prince Armani Fabre′.” Prissy replied.

  “Oh yeah… He’s French nobility but he’s also the Crown Prince of some village in Botswana, I think. His family owns a ton of African diamond mines. The guys got to be worth like a zillion damn dollars, give or take a few billion.”

  “Is he serious?” EJ exclaimed, forgetting where she was.

  “That’s pretty much what his Google search is confirming. Damn he’s fine as… What the hell? Why does he look like… This can’t be right? Although it would explain a lot! OH MY GOD!”

  “What? Looks like who Prissy?” EJ asked as she turned around to look at Armani. He had finally taken off his sunglasses. “Oh damn! Prissy, it’s Paul! I got to go!”

  “No it’s not, but he dam sure looks a hell of a lot like him. No wonder you got so hot in the ass for a dick all of a damn sudden.” Prissy laughed, but the phone was silent. “EJ? EJ? Are you still there? EJ? Oh damn!
I think this bitch just had a fucking stroke. EJ? Answer me!”

  EJ hadn’t had a stroke, well at least not yet. She hung up the phone and hurried back to the table. Armani rose like a gentleman to hold her chair for her. Her eyes locked on his and rapidly scanned them. EJ had been in love with Paul all her damn life. So in love with him in fact he was embedded in her DNA. She knew every fleck and every spec of brown in his haunting hazel eyes. She wasn’t sure how or why, but Armani’s eyes were exactly the same as Paul’s. Wait for it… Wait for it… Now! EJ officially had a stroke.

  Her legs wobbled as Armani’s uncanny resemblance to Paul numbed her. Armani quickly steadied her and helped her to her seat. He was concerned she may have been injured from the accident although he barely tapped her car enough to make a dent.

  “EJ are you alright? Maybe we should take you to the hospital to get checked just in case. You might have hit your head in the accident and didn’t realize it.”

  “No I’m fine. That’s not it.” She murmured as she immediately loss herself in the hazel haze she thought she’d never see again.

  “What is it then?” Armani asked confused.

  “It’s just that you…” EJ’s train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a barrage of calls from Prissy. “Excuse me I have to take this,”

  EJ’s legs were too unsteady to support her weight so she had to take the call from the table.

  “Yes!”

  “EJ are you okay? Don’t go into the light EJ… Don’t go into the light!” Prissy teased.

  “I’m fine! Now, stop calling me! You’re embarrassing me! We’ll talk when I get home.”

  “Okay, I have just one more thing to say. Okay?”

  “What is it, Prissy? Please be brief.”

  “JACKPOT! JACK FUCKIN POT!” Prissy screamed loudly, loud enough for Armani to hear her in fact.

  EJ quickly hung up and apologized for the intrusion. “Sorry. That was my crazy best friend.”

  “No apology necessary. Is everything okay?” Armani smiled, trying not to laugh.

  “Yeah… Kind of… You know… I really don’t know.” EJ stumbled over her words as she stared at Paul Crown’s twin brother or clone.

  “Oh I see… So, I assume your friend, Prissy, Googled me. Didn’t she?”

  EJ’s eyes narrowed on him as she made a mental note of all the many similarities between Armani and Paul. She stopped counting when she reached ten. Ten similarities were nine more than enough to call this scenario and their chance encounter weird.

  “Yeah, actually I told her to Google you once I saw your body guards stationed at the door. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t breaking bread with a notorious Mafia drug dealer.”

  “Drug dealer? Wow, do I remind you of a drug dealer?” Armani chuckled.

  “No, not really, but you have body guards and you drive a million dollar car! What else would I think? Besides, one can never be too careful.”

  “That’s true.” Armani chuckled. “Does it bother you that I’m a Prince?”

  “No… But I’m embarrassed to say that I thought Prince was your first name.”

  “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s an honest mistake.”

  “Do you want to hear something funny?”

  “Sure.”

  “Well, it’s actually not that funny… Not like ha- ha funny, but like strange funny… Yeah the funny thing is you look exactly like my ex-boyfriend without those sunglasses.”

  “Really? How so?”

  “Basically everything about you… Well except your goatee and your haircut.”

  “Is this someone you loved?” Armani asked intrigued.

  “Yeah. Someone I loved a lot.” She admitted.

  “What happened to him? Do you still keep in touch?” Armani asked fishing for information on her current status.

  “No, he died seven years ago.”

  “Oh EJ I’m so sorry. I didn’t know or I wouldn’t have brought it up.”

  “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. You couldn’t have known. I can’t believe that you are his exact clone. Sorry, don’t mind me. I just, didn’t notice the resemblance at first. It’s kind of shocking.”

  “Not to be crass or change the subject in my favor, but… are you married or seeing anyone right now?”

  “No. I’ve been a little preoccupied with other things. So, no… I tried dating a couple of months ago, but it didn’t work out. So, no… I’m still single.”

  Armani nodded as a sexy smile kissed his face and made him even more alluring. “That’s good news, because I suddenly find myself single as well.”

  “So exactly how is it possible that the handsome, rich, Crown Prince of Zumonda is single?” EJ joked.

  “See that’s not even funny! Do you know how many times I heard that damn joke? I had to watch Coming to America just to see why everyone thought it was so funny.”

  “What the movie?” EJ laughed.

  “No! The damn joke!” Armani laughed with her.

  “I’m sorry that was pretty ignorant of me, but I’m an American as you probably can tell. Whenever someone speaks of African Royalty that’s the first thing that comes to mind. I apologize but… I’m still curious why you’re still single.”

  Armani sighed deeply. “I guess I just didn’t meet the right woman.”

  “What type of woman is that?”

  “The type of woman who is strong enough to hold me up and woman enough to bed me down and make me change my Facebook status.” He answered as his gaze swept swiftly over EJ like a brisk fall wind. Actually, I was engaged to a woman I’d been in love with for almost ten years, but we called the engagement off three months ago.”

  “Ten years? That’s a very long time. What happened?”

  “Well, she broke off the engagement after confessing that she’d been cheating on me for years. Turns out she was sleeping with one of my bodyguards.”

  “Ouch! That’s just not good.”

  “Yeah, but I emotionally checked out of the relationship long before she cheated on me. I was faithful, but I didn’t love her like she deserved to be loved. It’s okay. Harrison, my bodyguard, was a pretty cool guy. He resigned and married her. She’s happy now and I’m happy for her.”

  “How long have you been in France?”

  “All my life. I was born and raised in Paris.”

  “How old are you?”

  “I’m thirty two. How old are you?”

  “I’m almost thirty.”

  “So what does the title Crown Prince really mean?”

  “My grandfather is the King of the Zymbatu Village in Botswana. If he passes then I will be crowned King of Zymbatu. Luckily my grandfather is very healthy and very strong.”

  “So what about your dad? Why wouldn’t the crown pass to him?”

  “Actually my father is a Frenchman, also of noble blood I should probably add. My mom was a Zymbatu princess when they married. I guess I should say my mom is a Zymbatu princess. Anyway, she came to Paris to attend college. They met at the university, got married and later had me and my brother Fabian.”

  “So, your father’s white?” EJ asked puzzled.

  “Yeah! Is that an issue?”

  “No! Actually my mom is white.” EJ confessed.

  “So, is that where you get those striking blue eyes?” Armani flirted.

  EJ smiled. “No, my mom’s eyes are amber. I guess it’s just genetics.”

  “Are your parents alive?”

  “Yes, very alive and very healthy.” She nodded.

  “Good! I can’t wait to meet them and thank your father for creating such and exceptionally beautiful and refined daughter.” EJ simply blushed and smiled.

  Armani and EJ enjoyed small talk, flirtation and an extraordinarily delicious lobster feast. By the end of their impromptu lunch date EJ was completely captivated by the charming Prince Armani . Reluctant to part company, Armani enticed EJ with a long leisurely walk in the park to walk off the food that they just consumed. EJ
happily accepted and they drove to Luxembourg Gardens where they held hands and walked for hours as lovers often do.

  Chapter 24 Kalli

  Apparently, Hunter assumed that Kalli was a total damn idiot. Why else would he buy a new box of condoms for his nightstand stash? They had agreed to be celibate before their wedding, which was a joke. Hunter would rather go without oxygen than to forego sex. Kalli knew this, but she had to test his fidelity. She refused to enter a marriage doomed for divorce. Kalli knew that Hunter had a serious problem with fidelity. This was his last chance to prove to his bride to be that he could be faithful and keep his dick in his pants.

  Honestly she knew that he would fail miserably. Actually, she was counting on it. Her parents thought that her engagement to Hunter was the best thing that had ever happened to her family. Marrying Hunter was like hitting the damn lotto. Each time she mentioned calling off their engagement her parents found some way to convince her to give Hunter another time. Well, that was then and this is now. This was Hunter’s last damn chance as far as Kalli was concerned and he was about to blow it.

  Now, this was not the first time that Kalli suspected that Hunter ventured out of the relationship to get some nook- nook on the side. It was no secret to anyone that the handsome French prince had an insatiable appetite for pussy and any other hole he could stick his dick in. So, why wasn’t he pressuring Kalli for sex, Kalli kept asking herself all though she knew the answer?

  Initially, she suspected that Hunter was sleeping with Charmayne, since the two of them were thick as frozen beeswax. But by a strange twist of fate, Charmayne abruptly broke off her engagement to Armani and married his bodyguard, thus dispelling that theory. So, who could she be? Hunter seldom stayed out late or traveled away from home. He didn’t work, so he didn’t have the luxury of working late. Still, Kalli’s female intuition knew he was fucking somebody somewhere, somehow.

  Rummaging through his wallet for stray numbers she made a startling discovery. Hunter had changed his brand of condom. Following an eerie feeling that some foolishness and fuckery was amidst, Kalli checked Hunter’s nightstand. Sure enough, Hunter had purchased not one, but two boxes of the new brand of condoms. To add salt to the wound, four condoms were missing from one of the boxes. Now, this in itself would not have been strange, except Kalli and Hunter had not had sex in over two months. So, why in the hell did Hunter have new condoms?