Read Online French Kiss (Novella) by Abbie Duncan - Free Book Online

Chapter One
    The streets were bustling with life as Maria sat back in her chair.
    Positioned in the shadow of the imposing, but
majestic, Eiffel Tower she was enjoying the company of all the elegantly dressed
strangers as they passed by.  Maria had always wanted to visit Paris, but had always
been unable to because of certain “obstacles” in her life.
    Now, experiencing it for the first time was
enlivening and she felt as if she belonged, as if her life was always meant to
somehow end up in the City of Light where culture abounded.  It was a place
that so many sophisticated and unusual people had called home through the centuries.
She was suffused with the pleasant feeling that she was home, now only one more
ingredient was needed.
    Where the heck is Cameron?
    At the moment, Maria was still a little unsure of the
new man in her life; but at least so far, he had passed all her tests with
flying colors.  Not that her standards were high or anything – far from it. It
had been a while – a long while, since she had had any kind of experience with
the opposite sex. In fact this was the first time in years she had let someone
get this close to her…
    For this particular sojourn, Maria had selected one
of her favorite outfits: a crisp, snow-white blouse that was pristine and
unblemished. She hated stains, and thankfully there was never any chance of
that happening here. And to add to the professional, powerful aura of the
blouse, she had chosen a tight black skirt that was an inch or so above the
knee, just how she liked it. Not too brazen, but not so ‘mundane’ as to be
considered unappealing to the opposite sex.  
    There was only one such member of the opposite sex
she had eyes for anyway, it was he that she hoped to entice just a little more
this evening.
    The target look was professional yet adventurous.
With a pair of juicy Versace pumps to top everything off. She couldn’t believe
her luck when she found them there in the shop, she had been scanning as usual,
surfing through the freebies, almost in tears at the hopelessness of it all
when they had jumped out at her. In a free shop of all places!
    The pumps added the final gloss to her wardrobe and
as she sat and watched the street life unfolding around her, in the way that
she had grown accustomed to.  In this fascinating new world, she basked in the
intense feeling enveloping her.
    Happiness? No, that was too basic a word to describe her feelings at that moment ...
eagerness, yes! That was the word, much like the eagerness that little children
exude on Christmas Eve. Somehow, she knew it was much like a Christmas for her,
only this wasn’t celebrating the birth of Christ, it was the birth of Maria
Thornton, at least the one she had always wanted to be.
    For one night, she could throw off the restricting
mask that was the old Maria and become anyone she wanted. Her attire was
complete as were her hair, nails and lipstick - the three essentials she called
them, without which, she would feel naked.
    She sipped at her coffee, twirling her newly curled
and colored hair around her fingers, the burgundy dyed locks matching perfectly
with her burgundy painted nails, her favorite color, so intense and attention
grabbing, it was a perfect echo of her own character.
    If Cameron wasn’t impressed with what he saw when he
appeared, she would be disappointed to say the least. When they had first met
weeks earlier, in Rome, Maria had not even bothered to choose an appropriate
outfit or even take the short time to color her hair.
    Cameron, who had rolled up in a Limousine, leaned
out of the window and confidently said, “Hey, you look lonely, would you care
to join me for coffee?”
    She had gotten lucky, real fast.
    Maria had heard from friends that it had taken them
months to hook up with someone once they got out there and made themselves
available, but she had barely been actively looking for a day when the suave
and handsome Cameron had appeared to scoop her up.