Chapter Seventeen
CRUEL SUMMER
JOHNNY removed his sunglasses, as instructed by the French version of TSA, and tucked them into his sweatshirt pocket. That had been the longest flight of his life. Literally. When he’d come over from Europe to the States he had taken a boat. He had to admit flying was more convenient, but it had still felt like half his life. The whole time he had been wondering if he was going to get to Paris and Lizette was going to slam a door in his face. Or worse, if he was walking right into a VA trap.
But he’d had to come here. He had to make it right. He’d been sitting around surly for a week and he’d decided the only way to fix the situation was to get his sorry ass on a plane and make things right with the VA. And hopefully right with Lizette. She hadn’t returned his calls, and at the very least he wanted to let her know what Saxon had told him about the infamous night of the wedding.
“Is your suitcase locked?” the customs official asked him. She was a petite woman in her forties, yet she looked like she wouldn’t hesitate to billy-club him.
“No.” Johnny tried not to look illegal or vampiric. This whole process made him nervous. Everyone scrutinizing his passport and giving him beady-eyed stares. He had a little better understanding of Lizette’s fears after having just made his way through three airports. The world at large was much more suspicious than the average person in the French Quarter.
“I’m going to open it and look inside.”
Great. “Okay.” Johnny shifted on his feet, already knowing what the woman was going to find.
Yep. There it was.
As her gloved hands peeled back a pair of jeans, the vibrator Lizette had ordered was revealed. He had taken it out of the box to save space.
Her eyebrows shot up and she gave him a look.
He remained stoically silent. Let her think what she wanted. Everybody had their thing, and he wasn’t going to be embarrassed. Much.
Then she found the six pairs of sheer panties and the crotchless one-piece teddy. The corner of her mouth twitched. Damn it. When more digging revealed the heels Lizette had ordered, she was clearly biting back a grin. She also was studying all of it with way more attention than any of it deserved. He started to lose patience.
“Those are gifts for my girlfriend,” he told her, because girlfriend was a better explanation than his one-time lover who had ordered all of this under the influence, then had ditched him to go home to France. This customs chick was already being judgmental. He didn’t want to add fuel to her fire.
“Uh-huh. You have good taste.”
“She has good taste since she’s the one who ordered them. But I guess I have good taste for loving her.” Now that he thought about it, he realized that was true. Maybe he wasn’t so unworthy of her after all. “And even if these were for me, what of it? I happen to have transgender friends and your attitude is offensive.” So there. Having his done his part to promote equality, he took his passport back while she closed up his suitcase.
She made a face at him. “Welcome to Paris, Mr. Malone.”
“Thank you. Merci.” He took his suitcase and got the hell out of there before someone changed her mind. He had an appointment he did not want to be late for.
LIZETTE WAITED FOR the elevator, looking forward to heading back to her apartment and stripping off her work clothes. The office had been quiet tonight, just her and two other employees, plus the janitor, who was used to their nocturnal work habits. The front for the VA was technical support, so it wouldn’t seem unusual to their landlord that there were employees there during the night shift. The day shift was manned by mortals who had no idea who they really worked for, primarily doing accounting and payroll for the vampire VA employees.
She still felt jet-lagged, even though she had been home for a week. A solid eight hours of sleep sounded delicious, even if it was only 4:00 a.m.
The elevator door opened and she started to step on. Then immediately stopped. Johnny was on the elevator. He was just standing there in jeans and a T-shirt, like she had conjured him up out of some jet-lagged hallucination. The door started to close, hitting her on the shoulder.
“Careful.” He reached out and pulled her forward by the hand. “You okay?”
She nodded, struck dumb.
He smiled. “Hey.”
“Hello.”
“Lobby?”
“What?” Lizette shook her head slightly, clutching her attaché case. “What are you doing here, Johnny?”
“Are you going to the lobby?” He gestured to the buttons on the wall. “And I’m here for two reasons. To clear my name through the proper channels of the VA. And to see you.”
“Oh. I see.” Heat flooded her cheeks, but at least her brain no longer felt completely frozen. “Yes, the lobby, thank you so much.” When caught off guard, she always fell back on proper manners. “Are you leaving as well?”
“Yep. I just finished with my appointment. I think we’ll have the red tape wrapped up in a few days, and I’ll be off that damn list, hopefully forever, if not at least for a few centuries.”
“That’s excellent news. I wasn’t aware you had a hearing now that I am no longer on the case.” She was actually quite irritated with her co-workers. Someone could have at least warned her. Then she would have touched up her lipstick at the very least. She probably looked as exhausted as she felt, and she would much prefer impressing Johnny with her beauty, not making him relieved that she had left New Orleans.
The elevator door opened on the first floor and Johnny gestured for her to move out into the lobby first. He said, “I didn’t have to come here for the hearing. But I wanted to make sure it got cleared up as soon as possible. I do respect what the VA is doing. I know that I’ve made mistakes.”
Lizette stopped in the lobby and turned to look at him, her heart suddenly crawling up her throat. She had missed him. He was so handsome, so rugged, so different from other men in her life, both past and present. “Oh,” she said eloquently. God, she wanted him to touch her. She found herself even leaning toward him slightly, just to catch a whiff of his scent of soap and something else she had never quite been able to define.
“Are you busy?” he asked. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”
Then, he did touch her. He reached out and brushed the back of his hand down her cheek. “I’ve missed you, Lizette.”
Whatever walls she had erected around her heart came crumbling down without warning. “I have missed you as well. Would you like to come to my apartment? Most cafés are closed for the night.”
“That would be awesome.”
Lizette headed to the door and pushed it open. June in Paris was different from New Orleans. It was greener, not as hot. “How was your flight?” she asked politely, then hated herself for doing that. Manners were as much an armor as metal, and she wanted to learn how to be more open, more honest about her emotions. “I am sorry for leaving the way I did. That was not fair to you.”
They strolled down the sidewalk together. “That’s okay,” he said. “I know I was being an ass, and I’m sorry for that. I was thinking, you know, that maybe we could sort of put that behind us. Start fresh.” But then he seemed to doubt her response because before she could answer, he starting speaking again. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this is a cool neighborhood. I like it. It suits you.”
“It has been home for a long time.” She lived in the fashionable 18th district, where the river and the Eiffel Tower dominated the landscape, along with cafes and shops. It was primarily residential, though offices such as her own were tucked here and there. “I do love it here.”