Page 44 of Brooke
When they ended the call, Brooke tucked her phone against her aching throat. That Thea had spent any time telling Nanine that she was upset when she should have been celebrating finding her dress was Brooke’s fault. Her anger at herself renewed.
Why couldn’t she just let this go?
She glanced at her phone and realized she needed to hustle to meet Axel. Stomping on the pavement gave her some satisfaction as angry thoughts continued to swirl in her head.
She was being stupid.
She was a bad friend.
Nanine had called to tell her to get her head out of her ass—but in a loving way, of course.
There weren’t enough dragon breaths in the world right now to ease the tension inside her. Maybe she needed to call tonight off. Turning the corner to the street where the restaurant was located, she saw Axel’s tall frame under the awning. She took another step toward him on reflex and felt something squish under her shoe. The foul smell of dog shit touched her nose as she raised her Louboutins. A smear of the worst kind of filth coated the tip of her shoe and the bottom.
“Merde!”She dug her heel into the pavement and tried to scrape it off, to no avail.“Putain!”
“Your cursing is impressive,” a deep voice observed. “When I’m really angry, I swear in Norwegian. A harshFaen,which means fuck you or the devil take you, will help put the world back on its axis.”
Her whirlpool of inner self-rage and hurt was a swirling tornado inside her. “Not if you still have dog shit on your shoe! This never happens to me in Paris. I’m sorry. I’m in such a mood. Hello! How are you?”
He pulled out another one of his fine handkerchiefs and sank to the ground before her as pedestrians walked around them on the sidewalk. When he reached for her shoe, she tried to yank her foot from his large hands.
“Axel!Don’t you dare soil that handkerchief with dog shit!”
He paid her no heed, gently holding her ankle and wipingthe offending stain off with brisk efficiency and zero squeamishness. “There.”
He rose fluidly and walked toward the nearby waste basket and tossed in what had to be a hundred-dollar handkerchief. She wanted to howl at the fates, well aware she was in a state. She opened her clutch only to realize she’d left her hand sanitizer in her bigger purse.Putain!
“That was very chivalrous, Axel.” She could feel something hot and awful building inside her chest, threatening to burst. “Like way beyond anything I imagine Prince Charming ever doing for Cinderella.”
He was clearly biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. How could this be funny? They were on a date, and he’d squatted at her feet and wiped dog shit off her Louboutins.
“My shoe is still atrocious, and that’s a very nice restaurant you chose.” She gestured to the blue awning with the ornate white scroll. “Maybe we should take it as a sign and call tonight off. I’m not myself. Will you tell the?—”
He took her arm before she could finish and led her down to the end of the street, where they had more room and privacy. Facing her, he brushed back a wayward curl from her cheek with the hand he hadn’t used to clean up the mess she’d found herself in.
“What happened today?” he asked in his deep, grounding voice.
She wet her lips. “Why do you think something happened?”
“Because even though we haven’t known each other long, I feel like I know you.” The air grew heavy as she gazed up at the planes of his broad face. “You do not call off a date because you step in something undesirable on the street. Brooke, you are upset. Deeply so. Will you tell me why?”
Words came to her mind—bad ones—and her throatjammed them back down. “Let’s agree it’s better for everyone if I never speak of it.”
“Why is bottling it up the best course of action?”
Another dragon breath caught in the back of her strained throat. “Because then I can move on from being the worst friend and sister in the world,” she admitted, her voice breaking like a pane of glass. “Dammit! Did you hear that? My voice cracked.”
“I cannot imagine you being anything but a wonderful friend and sister.” He glanced over his shoulder. “I do, however, believe we need to make alternate arrangements for our evening. Do you trust me?”
Inside her, another plane of glass broke, along with her usual ball-busting, fix-it-no-matter-what attitude. “After you wiped dog shit off my shoe? I’d be the world’s biggest idiot not to. Not that I’m the greatest person, mind you?—”
He walked off toward the restaurant and disappeared inside. Parisians heading to dinner cast her a glance and saidBon soiras they passed her, and even their easy acceptance of her as one of them couldn’t lift her spirits.
Axel commanded her attention when he reappeared, his golden hair shining in the lamplight before he crossed the street. “I have explained the situation and extracted us from our reservation. I also took a moment to wash my hands. Now you can hold my hand without fearing contamination.”
She blinked. “You think this is funny?”
His mouth moved as if he were fighting laughter. “Yes, a little. Don’t you? If you could have seen how outraged you looked and heard the disgust in your voice as you swore in French, you would have wished you were a Hollywood director who could put that clip in a movie. Brooke, take my hand.”
