Her quick side glance was a half-amused rebuke. “I drink five espressos a day. I love them.”
I chuckled at her joke. “Five? That would eat through my stomach like acid.”
“Keeps me off the cocaine.”
I laughed.
Clementine didn’t.
Nicolai was smirking as he stared into the depths of his coffee, though.
I braced myself by leaning back on one arm, the arm that was closer to him, and sipped my latte, which was sweet and tasted like cookies, just how I liked it.
Nicolai leaned all the way back on the couch, and then I felt the warmth of his fingers over mine on the cushion.
I didn’t move. I didn’t want the little moment to end, where his fingers lightly rested on mine, and I could believe it meant something for a few minutes.
But stupid, stupid me, I could not resist, and I asked, “So, are we okay?”
He kept watching the models as he sipped his coffee and swallowed. “That’s up to you.”
I doubted that.
Clementine leaned to talk over me. “We’ll be done in an hour. Since you didn’t allow me to drive, tell your goons to get on with it and ready the cars to take us to the spa.Chop chop.”
CHAPTER 13
blonde
LEXI
After the fashion show Clementine had arranged, Nicolai and his goons shepherded us over to the spa appointments she’d booked.
In the rear seat of the full-sized SUV, I crawled to the middle of the wide bench. It seemed only fair because Clementine had been on the hump yesterday, and I didn’t want to take advantage of her.
Nicolai sat behind Ueli, who was riding shotgun. He angled himself in his seat and rested his arm on the back of it behind my head, trying to arrange himself to consume less space. His broad shoulders and long legs limited just how much he could compress his form, though he tried to bend and lean back into the corner.
Instead of man-spreading, he was man-scrunching-up.
Clementine announced, “We’ll have facials, hair and makeup, and mani-pedi touch-ups.”
Touch-ups?
The eternal battle against my hair’s dark roots raised its brown-striped head. “How long are we going to be in Vegas for? I think I’ll need to touch up my roots pretty soon. I just need to buy a box of hair bleach from the drugstore.”
Clementine blinked rapidly and inhaled through her nose like she’d almost passed out. She did glance at the top of my head before she said, “John’s bachelor party is only four more days. You’ll be fine until we get back to Paris. I’ll need my roots redone by then, too.”
“Your color is amazing,” I reassured her. “The tone is simply beautiful, like moonlight, and it looks so healthy that it glows.”
Clementine looked a little pleased, I thought, that I noticed, by the way her head floated a little. “Yes, well, I’ll send you to the girl who does mine when we’re back in Paris. Don’t use a box at home.” She shook her head and shoulders like an ick-shiver had run up her spine. “I’ve heard about those—thosekits.Don’t worry, Lexi. I’ll beg her to take you on. It’ll be okay.”
“Well, your hair looks amazing. She must be the best.”
“Yes, she is talented. My particular process may not be the best shade for you, but my girl will sort you out with something you’ll like.”
“You don’t have to change your hair, Lexi,” Nicolai said, his voice low, a little quieter than usual.
“Oh, I’m not going to change it. Not much. Maybe just what Clementine tells me I should.”
