Foreign Love (An International Sports Romance) (Love in Shades) Read Free Page A

sullen and miserable.
     
    His question quickly zapped me back to reality.
     
    But then, I hear someone clear their throat behind him. I look past his shoulder and notice the receptionist glaring at us. “ Vous êtes Julia Lockhart ?” she asks, giving off a snarky vibe.
     
    “Yes, I am,” I say edging around Lucien and taking a step towards the reception desk.
     
    Her eyes narrow. “You already –” she checks the clock above her desk “– four minutes late. Cynthia have other appointment after you. Time is mon-nay.”
     
    “Sorry,” I grumble hurrying towards her desk and Lucien is right there with me, his hand at the small of my back.
     
    The receptionist chucks me a clipboard holding the forms I need to fill out. “ Signez ,” she demands gruffly.
     
    As I fill in my basic information, Lucien caresses the base of my spine before grazing his fingers under the hem of my black t-shirt and causing little firecrackers to explode along the surface of my skin. My tongue darts across the seam of my lips to brush away my sudden urge to moan a little.
     
    The chemistry is still there, bubbling, popping, fizzing between us.
     
    When I hand the clipboard back to the receptionist, I turn to face him. “ Alors …” he says softly, taking my hand, drawing small circles across my palm with his thumb.
     
    “ Alors …” I tease. I purse my lips to stifle the smile battling for control of my lips.
     
    “May I take your telephone number?” he asks, glancing at the clipboard clenched in the receptionist’s hands.
     
    But then the bitch interrupts our moment yet again, rising from her seat, nodding brusquely towards the door at the end of the hall, reminding me in a less-than-polite manner that Cynthia is waiting.
     
    It’s probably for the best, anyway. I don’t have the time or the space right now for whatever it is that Lucien thinks he can offer me. Be it simply another round of knee-buckling orgasms…or something more. I’m too messed up and sad and depressed and I don’t want to have to put on a happy face when all I want to do is ball up in my bed and cry. That wouldn’t be fair to Lucien and it definitely wouldn’t be fair to me.
     
    And besides, I’ve already archived our adventure and filed Lucien away in a dark storage unit of my past, among all my other one-night stands and meaningless flings.
     
    I bring my hand to his beard again, enjoying the way it feels under my fingers, then I run my palm down his chest, pressing it flat against his heart. “ Au revoir, Lucien .”
     
    I don’t look back at him as I follow the receptionist down the hall.
     

Chapter 6
     
    Lucien
     
     
    If she thinks that I’ll give up so easily she must have no idea how much I want her.
     
    I’m sitting on the narrow concrete steps outside of the physiotherapy clinic when I see her emerge. Her head is down, her golden hair curtaining her face as she rummages through her oversized messenger bag.
     
    “Hey,” I say as I bounce up to my feet.
     
    She startles and jumps, dropping her bag. The contents spill out onto the ground.
     
    “ Merde ,” I mutter as I rush over to help her. “I’m sorry.”
     
    We crouch down on the stairs together and gather up her things, tossing them all back into her bag.
     
    “Lucien – I –” She’s at a loss for words as she brushes her hair away from her eyes. “I was in there for an hour and a half.”
     
    I shrug. “I waited.”
     
    She looks at me like she thinks she should be mad, but a fraction of a second later, she’s smiling as she descends the stairs towards the narrow sidewalk. “Why would you do that?”
     
    I laugh, tugging on the bill of my cap, pulling it deeper onto my head. “Because you’re pretty…and I like you…” Her grin widens. “And I fucked you in the back of an airplane.”
     
    I say that last part a little too loud. It earns me a disapproving stare from the elderly couple ambling by us, relying on their walking sticks to