“Come, let’s go spread out the blanket and set up our picnic. I don’t know about you, but I worked up an appetite with all our outdoor activities.”
“I could eat. My last, er, meal wasn’t very filling,” she teased with a smile.
“Minx.” I shook my head as I put her away from me so I could pull up my pants. I buttoned my fly,then picked up the tangled material of my two shirts. I didn’t bother putting on either, as I was certain I’d just be taking them off in a few minutes. Then I grabbed Hannah’s hand, and we returned to our makeshift campground.
I shook out the thick blanket as Hannah rummaged through the coolers. In a few minutes we had the makings of a picturesque picnic laid out around us. Fruit, various salads,fried chicken, some shredded meat of indeterminate origin. There was enough food to feed a small army. I half wondered if the guys forgot to take their lunch with them, but I knew my staff’s tendency to overdo. We filled our plates and didn’t make a dent in the offerings.
“So you gotta admit—” Hannah said with her mouth full of chicken. She swallowed, then gave me a half shrug as she wiped ather mouth. “Sorry about that. Anyway, you gotta admit being a prince isn’t all bad. I mean blow jobs and fried chicken? What’s not to like?”
I burst out laughing. After a few moments, I paused and wiped at my eyes. “You got me there. I guess it’s not all bad.”
Hannah’s eyes smiled at me as we shared a sweet moment—which she promptly broke by taking a huge bite out of her chicken breast. Hercheeks bulging with food like a chipmunk, she held a hand in front of her mouth as she chewed. It was the strangest and most oddly liberating sight I’d ever seen. Much like at the food truck a few nights back, Hannah was unapologetic about her appetite.
“So tell me about your old life. Before your brother called you home. What did you do before in the French army?”
“I flew.” Resting on my elbow,I sprawled out on the blanket next to Hannah and watched as she daintily used a fork and knife to cut a piece of melon. The juxtaposition of her manners now to her cavewoman technique a few minutes ago was endearing. “Helicopters mostly. I went through the regular grunt training, then officer training, then flight training. It wasn’t easy, but, Christ, it was worth it. There is nothing like sittingbehind the controls of a Super Cougar while on a mission. I miss pulling pitch and rolling g-forces…” I sighed. “God, that was the life.”
“Doesn’t really compare with taking orders from your brother, huh?”
I gave a slightly bitter laugh. “No. Not at all.”
“So what’s the deal with you two? Has it always been like this between you guys? I mean, I couldn’t understand what I overheard of your conversation,what with all the French, but you didn’t sound happy. And I’m guessing, with the way you two ended things, he wasn’t happy, either.”
“I don’t know. I guess so.” My belly full, I leaned back on the blanket and idly watched Hannah pick her way through the melon salad. “But it was different. Before.”
“Before you lost Julien?”
The more I talked about him with Hannah, the easier it was becomingto hear his name. “Oui. He was our buffer, I guess. Plus the distance between Bastien and me didn’t hurt. Hard to be at each other’s throats when we’re hundreds of kilometers apart. But enough about me. Tell me about you.”
“Me?” Hannah laughed. “I’m easily the most boring person on the planet.”
“So helicopter rides and blow jobs out in the wide open are just another day for you?”
“Of course.”Hannah managed to hold my eyes for a whole minute before she broke and laughed slightly. “Okay, maybe not, but most of that was you.”
“Can’t argue that. It was my cock getting blown.”
“See?”
She was so captivating when she was being all cute and bashful and mine. “All joking aside, tell me about you.”
“I’m not all helicopters and palace living like you. I’m probably the most regular girl youcould meet. Middle-class parents, skipped college for cosmetology school, regular job, regular apartment. Boring.”
“Christ, you’re a tough nut to crack. All right: Tell me something you’ve never told someone before.”
“Something I’ve never told anyone?” Hannah made a face, then rolled her eyes. “There’s tons I’ve never told you. We’ve only known each other three days.”
“Agreed, but I want tohear something you’ve never told anyone else.”
“Fine,” she huffed. “I hate doing hair. I hate my job. I hate the feeling of other people’s wet hair on my hands. I hate the smell of chemicals from the dyes and perms. I hateeverythingabout my job.”
“Then why do you do it?”
Hannah laughed harshly. “I don’t even know how to answer that without opening up a whole ’nother can of worms. I just…Didyou ever play the game of Life? You know, that old-timey game with the little plastic cars and the pink and blue peg people? Well, I landed on that square where you gotta choose between college or starting a career, and it wasn’t even a choice for me. My parents were struggling, we didn’t have the money for college, and they really didn’t need another mouth to feed and support. So I took the easyoption. I went to cosmetology school—it was only like six months and cost a fraction of a semester’s worth of college tuition. I had a job within a year and started helping my parents pay down their bills. But I hated it. I’ve hated every minute of it.”
I nodded slowly as I thought about what Hannah had confessed. “Do your parents still need help?”
“Luc, I’m not letting you—”
