Chapter 3

"Chérie, at this rate, you will owe me more for the phone call than if I just came and fixed the problem," Alex was on the phone with two laptops open in front of him as Samantha came out of the bedroom. "Monique, I love you to pieces darling, but we are getting nowhere on this. Non, chérie, c'est vrai. It is going to need a more tender touch. Oui, I am calling you ham-fisted darling but don't take it personally." He had paused to listen to the woman, Monique, on the other end of the line and Samantha felt a small flash of jealousy. She decided to go and look at the book case near her instead of just standing around, eavesdropping and tried to get a handle on her emotions. The more she looked the more surprised she was with his eclectic tastes. There were more books on early American history with a focus on the Revolution and Civil War, which surprised her considering he was living in Paris. He had books on military history, pirates, a couple of shelves of philosophy and some titles in French that she did not even begin to try to translate.

"Eclectic, very eclectic," she said to herself as the book on erotic massage caught her attention.

"Monique, enough. I can be there for dinner. I should have it fixed before you finish the soufflé. Bon. A bientôt. See you this evening." He snapped the phone closed and pulled a leather book towards him. From where she was standing, Samantha saw that it was a calendar. He scribbled a little note in it and closed it, putting it back on top of the pile.

"Are you feeling a little better, Samantha?" he asked standing. "Can I offer you something to drink?" He walked over the closet that held the washing machine, pulled it open, and then opened the door on the dryer as well before opening the washing machine and scooping the contents out and into the dryer in a well practiced motion. He paused and pulled her shirt out of the pile and held it up, looking at it. "Merde," he muttered. "Samantha, I am afraid this might take more work. The first pass didn't do it."

She walked over and he was almost painfully aware of her presence. She felt her nipples, which free of the bra containing them had hardened under the rubbing of the larger shirt and were hard nubs pressing against the fabric making her whole body tingle all over again. Her breasts were a good size, not large but balanced with her frame and he was guessing that they would have a lovely weight to them. The white shirt he was holding in his hands, however, was pretty much a lost cause.

"Damn," she muttered under her breath. "What about my bra," she said without thinking about the implications.

He fished around in the dryer and pulled it out, the coffee stain clearly evident on the band and left cup. A 34B he noted as he passed it over to her. "Nope, looks like we are oh for two."

Samantha was not sure whether to cry, throw things or just curl up in defeat. This day, this trip was not turning into the enjoyable experience she hoped it would be. And now she had to replace her most basic clothing with her limited budget.

"I could make a suggestion," he said, somewhat hesitantly, not sure how she would react.

"Sure, go for it," she said, crumpling the ruined bra in her hand wondering what was coming next, fighting to restrain the tears.

"There is a store a couple of blocks over where you can get a new bra and t-shirt. I would even be happy to pay for them, since I am the pig that cannot look where he is going," he said with a smirk.

"You are terrible," she said throwing the bra at him and struggling not to smile at him, because of the absurdity of the situation, his unlooked for kindness and just how attractive she found him at that moment. She did not want to lead him on and give him the wrong idea when she herself was so mixed up but she also wanted to rip his clothes off at that moment.

"Is that a yes?" he said, deftly catching the bra and wrapping the wet t-shirt around it before turning to put them both in the garbage. He busied himself with starting the dryer while she made up her mind.

"Yes, it's a yes. Not that I have much choice in the matter." She was grinning broadly now and trying hard not to laugh out loud. There was something about him that made her feel like everything would be alright.