What If It's Love?: A Contemporary Romance Set in Paris (Bistro La Bohème Book 1) (13 page)

Jeanne snorted. “Hermit monk, my foot!”

“OK, I admit I let my imagination run wild for a moment.” Pepe narrowed
his eyes at Jeanne. “Rob is no saint and Lena needs to know it. On numerous
occasions, he’s threatened to kill me—each time in a more devious way
than the last.”

“Can you name one member of the staff who hasn’t threatened to kill you?”
Jeanne asked.

Pepe disregarded her question. “I think I’m still alive only because he’s
too lazy to execute his plans. Or too busy. Or too lovesick.” He pinched his
chin theatrically. “Hmm. That’s it, lovesick. He’s been a sorry sight since
Lena quit the bistro.”

Lena looked at Jeanne, who nodded vigorously. And that was when it dawned
on her.

“Oh my God. This is an intervention, isn’t it?”

“What?” Jeanne furrowed her brow.

“Where?” Pepe asked, looking around the room.

Lena shook her head. “The whole movie night thing was a ploy to nudge me
toward Rob, wasn’t it?”

“It was Jeanne’s idea,” Pepe said quickly. “She thinks you’d be good for
Rob . . . or the other way around, I can’t remember. Anyway, I
was threatened with bodily harm if I didn’t play along.”

* * *

“Amanda! What brings you here?”

Amanda almost squirmed when she heard Jeanne’s voice. She had come to
La
Bohème
hoping to run into Rob, but he wasn’t here. And now her chance of
retreating discretely was gone, too.

“I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I’d stop by for a serving of
your chef’s delicious chocolate mousse.”

“Excellent idea. With a cup of café crème and a glass of water?” Jeanne
asked.

“Yes, please.”

When Jeanne returned, Amanda asked matter-of-factly, “Is Rob working
today?”

“Yes, but he arrives later in the afternoon. He should be here in an
hour. Have you tried calling him?”

Amanda shook her head. “This wasn’t planned. As I said, I just happened
to be in the neighborhood.”

“If you’re not in a hurry, I can join you in fifteen minutes for my
coffee break,” Jeanne offered.

Amanda brightened. If Jeanne joined her in fifteen minutes, they would
chat for another fifteen minutes, and then she could order a drink and send a
few e-mails until Rob’s arrival.

“That would be really nice.”

When Jeanne collapsed onto the chair across from Amanda’s, they made
small talk, and then Amanda dived in for information. “So, what’s up with our
common friends?”

“Same old. Pepe is still pursuing his double goal of becoming an
authentic Parisian waiter and hooking up with a Nordic blonde. Both with
remarkable lack of success. Rob has been doing a lot of double shifts lately.
Says he needs the money.”

Amanda nodded. “Yes, he hasn’t paid the fees for the last school year
yet. He told Mat and me he had a foolproof plan, but I’m not sure a few double
shifts at the bistro will solve his problem. What he needs is to land a good
job so he could get a bank loan.”

“I didn’t realize Rob needed the money so urgently. That explains why he—”
Jeanne bit her tongue.

“Why he what?”

“Um . . . why he’s been so out of sorts lately. There’s
also his . . . situation with Lena, of course.”

Amanda raised an eyebrow. “What situation?”

“You know, their falling out. Rob’s been very affected by it.”

Amanda couldn’t bear it anymore. Jeanne knew something that she didn’t.
And she probably wasn’t going to tell her, unless . . .

She leaned in. “Jeanne, I’m going to be frank with you, and I’d like you
to be as frank in return. I’ve had my sights on Rob for some time now. You see,
we’re perfect for each other in every way.”

“Oh. But then why didn’t you come forward earlier? He was free for
indecently long.”

“Well, not really. After he and Camille broke up a year ago, she had a
hard time moving on. So she suggested they continue as “friends with benefits”
until one of them meets someone new.”

“Never a good idea, that.”

Amanda rolled her eyes. “You’re telling me! But he went with it. And you
know Rob—he behaved like he was still
with her
. He wasn’t open to
something new.”

“And you were too proud to declare your feelings.”

“It wasn’t just that.” Amanda sighed. “Once you start as friends—close
friends—it isn’t easy to . . . to tell your best buddy how
you
really
feel about him.”

Jeanne nodded.

“And then a few months ago he finally put an end to his weird thing with
Camille, and I was beginning to take heart.”

Amanda smoothed her hair back. “Jeanne, I need to know if there’s
something going on between Rob and Lena. You’ll understand that I’d rather not
tell him about my feelings if he’s falling for someone else.”

Jeanne shifted uncomfortably. “Wow, Amanda, I had no idea. When you kept
badgering Lena in Nice, I thought you were just being mean.”

Amanda smirked. “I was
just
being mean. I had no clue Rob and Lena
were an item.”

“Well, they weren’t at the time. Anyway, to answer your question, yes,
something happened between Rob and Lena after our trip to Nice, but then
Rob . . . let’s just say, he did something stupid, and Lena has
been refusing to talk to him ever since.”

Amanda would have liked more detail, but it looked like this was all she
was going to get.

Jeanne picked up her coffee cup and stood. “Got to go—my break is
over. On the subject of Rob and Lena, I think it’s a matter of time until they
iron things out. So, yeah, you may want to hold any declarations for now.”

Amanda opened her mouth to say something, but Jeanne beat her to it. “It
goes without saying you can count on my discretion.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it,” Amanda said.

When Jeanne left, she pulled out her phone to check her e-mails. But she
couldn’t focus. The letters refused to come together in a meaningful manner to
form words and sentences. So she just stared at her phone, her mind processing
what she’d learned from Jeanne. She was still convinced that she and Rob were a
perfect match, while Lena was wrong for him in every way. But Lena was new and
exotic, and so Rob was infatuated with her. It wouldn’t last. He’d come around.
This was a minor setback, not a defeat. She’d waited for two years, she could
wait a few more weeks. Her mom had taught her that the world belonged to those
who wait.

After this sleepless night, I’m awash in lightness,

Poised and serene—a star in the Milky Way.

Rainbows fill every sound, erupting brightly,

Icy-cold streets smell like Florence in
early May.

Marina Tsvetaeva

Rob put his hand on Lena’s knee and pushed her skirt up. He began to
unbutton her shirt with his other hand. Lena cupped his face and leaned in,
closing her eyes in anticipation of a ground-shattering kiss.

“We can’t,” Rob said, leaning away. “We need to find everyone involved in
trafficking uranium and apprehend them.”

“What?”

Lena woke up, confused, aroused, and dizzy. She blinked a few times,
while her mind adjusted to the real world. The curtains in her bedroom were
drawn, softening the summer morning’s sharp light. Lena looked at the vacant
side of the bed and imagined Rob lying there, gazing at her. The image was so
vivid she could almost hear his breathing and feel the warmth of his skin. She
longed to touch him. She yearned for his touch. Was she in love? Was it too
late to fight her feelings? Or was she merely lusting after him, her mind
overpowered by physical need?

She got up and opened the window. The street bustled with delivery vans,
bicycles, and pedestrians rushing to their workplaces, dragging their children
to day care or walking their dogs. Lena closed her eyes and listened. Through
the cacophony of sounds that included someone’s television and a couple of
sparrows chirping animatedly, she could hear the vibrant, rhythmic pulse of the
city.

She pushed her hair away from her face and sighed in acceptance of what
she was about to do. Whether she was in love or in lust was a moot question,
really. In any case, it probably wasn’t going to end well for her. But the
truth was, she had to give Rob a second chance, or else all those what-ifs and
might-have-beens plaguing her would soon make her sick, mentally and
physically. She wasn’t being stupid or self-destructive. She was merely making
a rational choice between probable calamity and impending disaster.

After that aha moment, the day dragged as though it had fallen from the
normal time-space continuum into a slow-motion black hole. Having decided to go
down to
La Bohème
around midnight so that she could catch Rob just
before the end of his shift, Lena tried to occupy herself the best she could.
She read, translated, read some more, ate, changed into a different pair of
jeans, tied her hair up, let it loose, tied it up again. When her dad called at
seven, she greeted him with a degree of enthusiasm that made him suspicious.

“Is everything all right with you, Lenochka?” he asked.

“I’m fine, Dad, just a little restless.”

She went on to ask him a million questions about Anna and the wedding
plans. After they hung up, she tried to read again, but she was too antsy to
sit down for more than a few minutes. At eleven thirty, she grabbed her purse,
threw on a cardigan, and walked out of her apartment.

The bistro was winding up, but Rob was nowhere to be seen. Probably
helping in the kitchen, Lena thought. She sat down and waited for Jeanne, who
was clearing up a table, to notice her.

“Look who’s here!” Jeanne beamed. “Is it really you or an apparition?”
She pinched Lena’s arm.

“Ouch.” Lena swatted Jeanne’s hand away.

“Hmm. Feels real enough . . .”

“Ha-ha. Hey, I was wondering—”

“He’s inside. Should be done in a few minutes. Sit tight. Shall I get you
a glass of Chablis?”

Lena nodded, realizing that her dream about Jeanne remembering her
preferences had come true. Must be an auspicious sign.

Rob walked out of the kitchen, an empty tray in his hand, and looked
around. When he saw Lena, he started and then stopped. He looked at her,
searching her eyes for an answer to his unspoken question. Lena held his gaze.
It took her all her willpower not to stand up and run to him. She wanted him to
come to her.

Finally, a smile spread on Rob’s face, and he strode to her table. He sat
down across from her and took her hand.

“Does this mean I’m forgiven?”

“This means you are on probation for an indeterminate length of time. If
I see the smallest sign of spy activity, I’ll leave. I’ll move out of
here . . . and I’ll tell your mother.”

“Oh no, please, not my mom! She has a really heavy hand.” Rob’s
expression grew more serious. “Lena, you have no idea how glad I am that you
came around.”

She gave him a long look. He hadn’t actually said he’d stop spying. “Can
you give me your word?”

“What if we did it together? You’ll tell me what I can report. Isn’t it a
brilliant idea?”

Her mouth thinned. “Is this a joke?”

“Lena, the guy is so desperate he’d take anything.” Rob smiled brightly. “The
stuff I’ve been giving him so far was totally harmless.”

“And you’re the best judge of what’s harmless for my family?”

He said nothing, the smile slipping from his face.

She shook her head. “I don’t get it. Why on earth would you wish to
continue?”

“It’s good money. And I need it,” he said, a hard edge in his voice.

“I can lend you money or get my dad to lend you as much as you need.”

“Out of the question.”

“Why?”

“I just can’t. Things would become weird between us.”

She searched his eyes. “Because now they aren’t weird at all?”

He only sighed in reply.

When she spoke again, her tone was firm. “If you want to be with me, Rob,
you’ve got to stop reporting to this guy. The choice is yours.”

He nodded slowly. “OK. I’ll quit.” Then he smirked and added, “From now
on, I’ll only accept jobs that don’t involve snooping around.”

“Will you please consider borrowing from me?” she offered again.

“If you want to be with me, Lena,”—he gave her a sly look, as he
echoed her ultimatum—“you’ve got to stop fretting. By the way, what made
you change your mind about giving me a second chance?”

“Curiosity.” She smiled, trying to appear nonchalant.

Could Rob see through her? Could he guess that “misery” would have
described her state over the past week much better?

He didn’t say anything but began to stroke her hand, first gently, then
more daringly.

She’d lost herself in his eyes, spellbound, when Jeanne said, “Rob, I can
finish up here while you go change. We’re nearly done, anyway. And then you two
lovebirds can leave, so I can close the shop and go home.”

Rob jumped to his feet. “Lena, please wait here. I’ll be back in a sec.
And thank you, Jeanne!” he shouted already halfway to the kitchen.

When he reemerged three minutes later, having changed into jeans and a
T-shirt, Lena was waiting by the exit.

He reached her in three long strides. “I know a cool place just a few
blocks from here on rue La Fayette. They’re open all night. Want to check it
out?”

“No.”

She took his hand and led him to the green gate, and then inside her
building.

* * *

Rob’s heart raced. He had spent so many hours
fantasizing about making love to Lena and then reminding himself it would never
happen, that the notion migrated to the realm of impossible dreams. Was he
really going to be able to touch her, kiss her, hold her the way he’d held her
in his fantasies?

When Lena led him into the tiny elevator, and
he found himself facing her, their bodies almost touching for lack of space, he
could wait no longer. He backed her against the wall and
pressed his
lips to hers. Dazed by the pleasure of it, he slid his tongue into her mouth
and
kissed her with an urgency that bordered on
desperation. She tasted exactly like she looked—sweet, delicate, and
infinitely lovely. He’d been hooked on that taste since their first kiss,
hungering for it, craving it. When the elevator screeched to a halt, Rob had to
summon all the willpower he possessed to break the kiss and tear himself from
Lena.