Before Ever After by Samantha Sotto Page B

Paris had, like a flower, been safely pressed between the pages of her memory. Now it was drying out and crumbling under Paolo’s scrutiny. This was excruciating, but necessary, she thought. As was keeping a single petal of the past to herself. She held it close to her chest.
    PARIS
    Five Years Ago
    WHAT SHELLEY DID NOT TELL PAOLO
    S helley watched the barge pull away from the embankment. She overheard Max giving the Templetons advice on the best place to have lunch near the Louvre.
    “Hey, I’m having lunch with Brad and Simon. Would you, um, like to join us?” Dex asked.
    Shelley sighed. It was better than eating alone. “I …”
    “Do you have plans for the afternoon, luv?” Max asked.
    Shelley spun around. Max was standing behind her. “Well, uh … no.” She bit her lip and looked back at Dex.
    Dex gave her a small smile. “I’ll see you later. Enjoy your lunch.”
    “Brilliant,” Max said. “I’m seeing an old friend and I’d love for the two of you to meet.”
    “An old friend?” The image of another gorgeous redhead popped into Shelley’s head. She winced. “Sure. Sounds like fun.”
    “He lives up in Montmartre. Let’s take the metro. You’ll need to save your energy for the race.”
    “Hang on.” Shelley cocked a brow. “What race?”
    “Trust me. It will be fun.”
    “I win.” Shelley gripped her burning sides. The race, as it turned out, was a sprint up the two hundred and thirty-five steps to the Sacré Coeur Basilica. The sprawling view of Paris’s radiating boulevards and monuments from the city’s highest point would have been breathtaking if she had had any breath left to lose.
    “Congratulations, luv,” Max said, “but I think clinging onto my back for the last fifteen steps may be grounds for disqualification.”
    Shelley tried not to look too sheepish. This wouldn’t have been the first time she had broken the rules this morning, she thought. She was certain that having this much fun talking about everything and laughing at nothing with a man she barely knew was illegal in some parts of the world. But she told herself that Max was just another train she could hop off of anytime she wanted to. Just not right at this very minute. She could do it tonight. Or tomorrow. There was plenty of time. Really. “Fine. A tie, then.”
    “A tie it is. What’s my prize?”
    “I think the fact that I let you drag me all the way up here to meet your friend should be reward enough,” she said. “We could have taken the funicular, you know.”
    “But then I wouldn’t have had the chance to know how Adam felt, would I?” Max said. “I can now in all honesty say that I don’t blame him at all.”
    “Adam who? And what aren’t you blaming him for?” Shelley’s face was flushed deeply from the sprint up.
    “Eve’s better half, of course. I now know why he couldn’t help taking a big juicy bite out of that wickedly red apple.” Max stroked the side of Shelley’s glowing cheek.
    “Is that so? Well, sir, I suggest you keep your teeth off my cheeks and your snake in your fig leaf. That’s a house of God we’re standing in front of, you know.”
    “I’ll try my best.” He took her hand and cut a path through the sea of tourists surrounding Sacré Coeur. “Come on, let’s go inside. Pierre’s waiting.”
    Shelley found sanctuary inside the basilica’s hall. The cacophony in the street faded as she breathed in the fragrance of incense and candle smoke. Her heartbeat slowed for the first time since she had met Max—only to start racing again when he rushed her toward the stairwell of one of the church’s towers. She winced as she stared up at the winding stairs. More freaking steps. This was an odd place to meet Max’s friend, she thought, unless that friend turned out to be one of the pigeons perched on the tower’s ledge. From what she was quickly learning about Max, this was not exactly far-fetched. She was panting when they reached the top.
    “Ah, here he