Page 100 of The Paris Roommates: Dean
“Now, see here,” Dean began.
Jacqueline shot out of her chair, clenching his hand tightly. “It is not like that, Yvonne. He knows—”
“We are not going to sink into personal matters,” Kyle interrupted firmly. “Madame Beaumont, I am telling you straight. The Paris Roommates Group has wanted to buy your cave all along. Dean only met your half sister because of the article inLe Monde. It upset her to see Pierre was with us. There was no subterfuge in their meeting, and I can assure you we do not make business decisions based on personal biases.”
“Kyle—” Dean began, feeling like he needed to set the record straight as he was the one being discussed.
“Kyle is correct, Madame Beaumont,” Madison added, rising and crossing to where he stood. “I am the executive chef now at Nanine’s, under her tutelage, of course, and I give you my word that we planned to buy the cave before Dean met your half sister.”
Jacqueline pulled her hand slowly out of his. He could see the betrayal filling her brown eyes, now hot with anger. But he couldn’t deny what they were saying or their bid would be in jeopardy. This was their only way to convince Yvonne to allow them to make that bid.
Nanine touched Yvonne’s hand gently. “It is as they say.”
Yvonne studied her silently for a moment before nodding crisply. “I will take your assurance into consideration. Good day.”
She left with the chandelier clanging harshly in her wake. Jacqueline took a few steps away, gazing at Dean.
“You wanted the cave from the beginning and you never said?” she accused hotly. “You lied to me.”
“Here we go,” Sawyer muttered.
Dean thrust out of his chair and put his hands on her shoulders, feeling the others’ eyes on them. “Look, it’s more complicated than that. Yes, we did want the cave first, but then I met you—”
“Your friends just told my half sister our relationship had nothing to do with business,” she shot back, slapping his hands away from her. “Were they wrong?”
He glanced around the room, and it was likedéjà vu.Thea, Brooke, and Sawyer were all shaking their heads while Kyle, Madison, and Nanine held the line, their arms crossed tightly across their chests, all business.
“Please, Jacqueline,” he implored, gesturing to her chair. “Let me walk you through what happened.”
“Walk me through it?” She shoved away. “No. I asked you for help. For my dream. You gave it. And now it seems that was all a lie. Even after I told you I loved you and you gave me the same words.”
“Oh, shit,” Kyle uttered as Thea gasped.
“Jacqueline, I do love you—”
“You have a fine way of showing it.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I personally don’t know how you could live with yourself and your deceit. I never want to speak to you again.”
His heart rapped in his chest painfully as he took off after her. “Jacqueline, it’s not like that. I told my roommates that I wanted to give you half the cave. The moment I found out you wanted it.”
“Dean did tell us that, Jacqueline,” Kyle admitted. “And we agreed to discuss it if we won the cave. I told your sister what I did because it was the only thing that would get any of us what we want.”
The chandelier clanged again.
She glanced around the room, her face pale. “How am I to believe that when you just told my half sister you do not plan to give me half of the cave as Dean promised—”
“Because your half sister might have barred us from making a bid,” Kyle interrupted with a harsh breath. “Think. Jacqueline, your presence in this bid is a liability. We’ve worried about that from the beginning.”
Dean could see the train wreck as his roommates all nodded in agreement.
“We did what we needed to do to protect our business assets,” Kyle finished. “Period.”
“Kyle, man, I’m not sure this is helping,” Dean said, coming to stand in front of Jacqueline. “Look, I know this sounds bad, and I struggled with whether to tell you about our initial interest, but I have my roommates and our business to consider. We need this cave for Nanine’s. Or half of it.”
“AndIneed it for my business,” she said, her voice breaking. “I can’t forget the fact that you lied to me, Dean.”
“Technically, he didn’t tell you everything,” Madison broke in. “Jacqueline, you strike me as a smart businesswoman. Would you have blown a business deal on a guy you’d just started seeing?”
Dean wanted to slap his hand to his forehead. “Madison, really—”
