Page 36 of The Paris Roommates: Dean
An awkward moment hung in the air, and Sawyer was desperate to say something, anything, to break it. “Or whether you’re considering the cost to the human heart,” he teased at last, waggling brows for emphasis.
No one laughed, and for a moment he searched his brain for a Voltaire quote but came up empty.
Kyle cleared his throat after a beat, the sound nearly echoing in the close space. “How’s the duck with cherries coming along, Madison?”
His tone was downright professional. What was wrong with them? Another long moment passed between them, and Sawyer thought about starting to clean up his palette.
“Fine.” She lifted her shoulder crisply. “Great. I’ll get back to it then. Wanted to make sure you’d seen the texts since it was pretty quiet up here.”
When she left, Sawyer turned his head slowly. Kyle was staring at the doorway, his face a complete mask.
“You wanna talk about the energy you were just throwing off?” he asked softly.
“Nothing to worry about, Doc.” He knocked him lightly in the shoulder before cringing. “I need to remember you’re covered in paint while painting.”
“I paint dirty,” Sawyer told him, still wondering at the lingering elephant in the room. “A rebellion to my ultra-clean upbringing. Soap and hot water works.”
“I’m going to finish some work.” Kyle took off for his room. “If Dean comes back, let me know. We’re going to have to give him shit about this.”
A parrot, a beautiful woman, and a joke about a booty call. Poor Dean. “Yeah, a ton. I’ll holler. And thanks, man. For trying to make me feel better.”
Kyle paused and turned around, nodding. “Always, man. Anything you need, I’m here.”
As his friend left, he couldn’t help but turn philosophical. What was itKyleneeded after that awkward moment with Madison?
He wasn’t sure he wanted to know, because he worried it would change everything.
CHAPTERNINE
Dean expected to be teased the moment he returned home with a happy Pierre in tow.
Of course everyone was waiting for him. Even Nanine and the indominable Jean Luc. French boy looked very amused. This was going to be fun.
“Bonjour,everyone!” he called as Pierre mimicked him from under his cover.
“Did you have a bootyliciously good time, Dean?” Brooke asked, decked out in one of her power-walking yoga outfits in aqua blue.
Sawyer gave her a high five. “Nice one.”
She smirked. “I’m just getting myassin gear.”
“I’m all about the booty,” Dean replied with a grin, putting Pierre and the picnic basket and shopping bag down and unveiling his very delighted friend. “Was someone upstairs in the tower as a lookout or something, or have you idiots been waiting here since my quasi-date went viral? Nanine and Thea, I exclude you from the idiot comment.”
“I might have asked Antoine at Café Fitzy to text me when you walked by with Pierre,” Brooke informed him. “He told me you caused quite a stir.”
“What can I say.” He opened Pierre’s cage and helped his friend out. “This guyisa famous parrot.”
“A booty call,” Pierre told them in French, laughing in that eerie bird-human way of his. “So funny.”
Raucous laughter sounded, of course. “Hey, I’m good with her wishes,” Dean said. “I want more from my dream girl, and now she knows it.”
“So does the world,” Madison said with a chuckle. “Café, Dean? You’re probably dehydrated from all your drooling.”
“I’d love one, thanks.” He surveyed the room. “All right. Get it out of your systems. Kyle…”
“I don’t think I can improve on Pierre calling outun plan culin Luxembourg Gardens with your dream girl bent over laughing at the thought,” Kyle said as he brought up one of the videos and played it to the room, causing everyone to lose it again.
“Here you go.” Madison reappeared and passed him a café showcasing a perfectly shaped butt in the milk foam.
