Page 51 of Tempt Me Forever

"Let’s enjoy this evening. Nothing more," he stated.

Oh, that was right up my alley.

"Good, I'm dying to try the wine. Pity they don’t have any Maxwell wines."

"You never stop thinking about your family, do you?" he asked.

"No. I mean, there are so many of us that just thinking about everyone takes quite a while."

"But you don't mind?"

"Of course not. Why would I mind? They’re my family, my everything. Sometimes I wonder why I even wanted to go to Paris."

"I’ve been meaning to ask about that. You hinted before that you were... sowing your wild oats?” he asked as the waiter brought us a bottle of merlot.

He opened the bottle, pouring us just enough for a couple of sips.

I twirled my glass, sniffing it before drinking. "It's good."

“I like it too,” Drake said, then nodded for the server to pour.

He generously added to both glasses.

After he left, Drake looked at me intently.

“Where were we?" I asked.

"You were about to tell me why you moved to Paris."

I looked at the glass, searching for the right words. Even I wasn't sure why. “While we were growing up, my cousins, Reese, and I lived in a bubble. My aunt and uncle did their best to raise us with good heads on our shoulders, and they succeeded. But still, there were always, you know, these little comments from friends and even teachers that we wouldn't have to work too hard and everything would drop into our lap.” I cleared my throat. I hated talking about my upbringing. I thanked my lucky stars for all the privileges I’d had, but people automatically thought you were different and didn’t really take the time to know you. “They were right. The Maxwell name is well-known, especially in the Chicago area. I appreciate the hard work my grandparents did, and also my dad, aunt, and uncle, but I started to resent those comments. I know now that I shouldn't have paid attention to gossip, because it's one thing that will never stop, but back then, it bothered me a lot. It made me doubt myself, and because of that, I wanted to achieve something on my own."

“I can see that. Coming from money doesn’t mean life is easy. I think that’s a misconception most people have.” Drake’s understanding meant a lot to me.

He then said, "So you decided to cross the world to a country where people have no clue who the Maxwells are."

"Exactly. I think it did me good. I missed my family terribly, but I liked being with people who didn't know what being a Maxwell meant. And I'm proud of all that I achieved. I started as an intern at a travel agency and worked my way up to vice president of sales. I think I would have even been VP of the company if I hadn’t messed things up with my boss."

His eyes flashed in question. "What do you mean?"

Biting the inside of my cheek, I took a sip of wine, finding liquid courage.Well, this is me. I’m an open book, so I might as well get this out in the open."I got involved with my boss. For a while, things went well. We were ‘casual.’ But for me, casual still implies exclusivity. For him, it meant we were still free to look for our next catch.”

"He cheated on you," he said in a cold voice.

"He went on a long vacation and then went radio silent. He came back one month later—married.”

Just saying it out loud still stung. Though not because I still had feelings for him, the rat bastard.

“The second he introduced his new wife, she called me his 'little friend.' I wanted to disappear in a puff of smoke. I couldn't get past why it hadn’t been me. I'm not sure if I even would have wanted anything long-term with him. But he'd been dragging me around for two years and then got married in a month to a stranger. It just made me wonder, had I been a placeholder all along? I hated the lack of transparency. If he would have just said, 'I don’t love you anymore' and left for vacation, that would have been easier to take than him coming back a married man. Who does that?”

"You were not a fucking placeholder," he sneered. "He wasn't man enough for you."

"That's a very sweet way to put it," I said, trying not to feel melancholy.

"I mean it in every way. So that's why you're not a fan of Valentine’s Day.”

Our waiter came with the appetizers: vegetable spring rolls and fried chicken strips. It was an odd combination, but it somehow worked, especially because the plate arrangement was very elegant.

“Anyway," I continued once the waiter was gone, "what that experience taught me is that there are imbeciles everywhere, home or abroad. The great part of being home is that you have your family to lean on, to be spoiled, and just to feel surrounded by love. I knew then that I didn't want to be there for too long after. We ended up getting a new boss, so I stayed on for a few more months, but I’d already made up my mind. I wanted to be closer to my family. My sister had gone through a rough time, and I hadn't been there for her. I wanted to change that.”

---