Dancing in the Gray Read online

  He wanted to blame his long abstinence for the effect that Elise was having on him, but his interest in her was far beyond the physical. She was a smart girl and obviously had really great business sense for her to grow such a profitable company in such a short time. She was also funny and witty and was able to laugh at herself. And the gesture that her friend made with surprise gifts that she left for Elise spoke volumes to her character. Her friends loved her and wanted to see her happy which means she felt the same way about her friends. Trey was rooting for Elise to find what she was looking for in Paris.

  He got out of the shower and put on a robe heading outside to see if breakfast was delivered. He found a plate of fresh fruit, croissants, and coffee on the table out on the terrace. He went back inside and grabbed his laptop bag hoping to do a little work before lunch. He placed the bag on the empty chair next to his and something red caught his eye in one of the pocket areas outside the bag. He reached in and instantly recognized the bow and the already opened envelope. It was one of the envelopes that Elise had opened on the plane. That brought a smile to his face. When he turned the envelope over, he saw his name written across the front with two words right underneath – First Move.

  Trey laughed aloud and opened the envelope to find all the second tickets and vouchers her friend bought for her. He was flattered. It was a really sweet gesture on her part, and she wasn’t lying when she said she didn’t mind making the first move. Unfortunately, Trey wouldn’t be able to attend any of those events with her. He didn’t want to give her the wrong idea or lead her on in any way. That wouldn’t be fair to her.

  He really wished he had her number so he could call her personally thanking her for her consideration and explaining to her that he couldn’t attend. It would be rude of him to let her think he just stood her up, or he wasn’t interested. He put down the envelope on the table and grabbed a cup of coffee and a croissant and decided to Google her. Maybe he would get her corporate number in New York, and they could help him contact her.

  He stood up on the terrace and casually looked down into the courtyard as he punched in the number of her corporate office in his phone. He must have been tired or just had too much Elise on the brain because he saw a woman walking through the courtyard with shopping bags in her hand that looked just like Elise. But that was impossible. What were the odds that she was staying at the exact same hotel as he was?

  His call was interrupted by a knock on the door. He hung up the phone, suddenly remembering the time difference and promised himself he would make the call as soon as he could. When he opened the door to his suite, his brother, Will, was standing there.

  Trey had two younger siblings – Will and Sophia. Will was a very accomplished architect who worked out of the D.C. and New York area. His sister Sophia was a nurse, and she lived in Louisiana with her husband and two small children.

  “Hey bro! You just getting here?” Will came into his suite and shook Trey’s hand.

  “Yeah, I just finished showering and was grabbing a quick cup of coffee out on the terrace.” He and Will walked back out to the terrace where Will noticed the envelope once he reached the table. Will picked up the envelope, and instinctively, Trey tried to snatch it out of his hands, but he wasn’t quick enough.

  “Whoa….what’s this?” Will was taunting Trey by waiving the envelope in front of him. “Trey. First Move.” Will read the envelope aloud.

  “It’s nothing.” Trey was shaking his head.

  “Whatever, Trey! You tried to snatch this out of my hand like it held your deepest, darkest secret. My ass, it’s nothing!” Will was smiling at him in a way that made Trey want to punch him.

  “It’s just something I found in my laptop bag.” Trey tried to play it off.

  “Well, let’s see. The handwriting on the envelope is definitely female and let’s look inside.” Will opened the envelope and pulled out all of the tickets and the reservation. “Holy shit! A Foo Fighter ticket! I thought this was all sold out?”

  “It is sold out!” Trey rubbed that little fact in Will’s face even though he wasn’t going.

  “What is all this Trey? Roller skating, an evening cruise.” Will wasn’t going to stop until he got answers so Trey just came clean.

  “I met this woman on the plane, and she’s here in Paris. Her friends wanted her to have fun here, so inside her bag was all these different envelopes with tickets to the events that you see in that envelope. Her friend bought two tickets for everything in hopes that she found someone to have fun with. After my shower, I found that envelope in my laptop bag with all the guest tickets.” Trey shook his head and rolled his eyes at the thought of him having to explain himself to his younger brother.

  “So is she hot?” Will could justify anything, if the woman was hot. Henceforth, him falling in love and marrying a woman 10 years younger than him.

  His fiancée, Jessie, was an interior designer who just so happened to be the younger sister of their brother-in-law, Jake. Jake was Sophia’s husband, and through the course of their relationship, Will and Jessie were introduced. His brother fell very hard from the beginning and continues to fall further in love with Jessie every day. In some aspects, Trey was very jealous of what his siblings had.

  “It doesn’t matter. I’m not going.” He was trying to get out of this conversation.

  “So, she’s not hot.” That pissed Trey off. Elise was definitely hot.

  “Actually she is.”

  “Then why aren’t you going?”

  “Will, it’s not a good idea. In fact, I was just about to call her corporate office to get her personal number to thank her and decline her invitation.”

  “Once again, why aren’t you going? Dude, it’s the Foo Fighters.” Will did have one good point, they were great tickets.

  “I know, but I don’t want to lead her on. With the election, I don’t have time for a personal life.”

  “Dude, that’s fucked up! Did you hear what you just said? Dad has been in politics his whole life and he was always there for us and mom. I call bullshit!” Will wouldn’t drop it.

  “What’s bullshit? I don’t have the time to dedicate to a relationship right now.”

  “Who says you have to marry the girl? Go to the fucking concert and have a good time. You are already here. You’ve made the time in your busy schedule. Now just go enjoy yourself, Trey.” Will was trying to rationalize with him. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

  ~

  Elise told the car service to wait for her while she dropped her luggage off with the concierge. She headed straight to rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré to go shopping. She wanted to pick up a few things for all the new items that were added to her agenda thanks to Ashley. She was trying not to get her hopes up that Trey would join her, but she couldn’t help it. The items she bought definitely had an air of sexiness, and she hoped he like them. She even made a stop at La Perla and picked out a few items there. Ok, so he may not even show up, much less check out her thousand dollar underwear, but Fun Elise would always be prepared.

  She spoke fluent French and Spanish so navigating the car service around the city was a breeze. She had business trips in Paris dealing with buyers and suppliers. The fact that she spoke the language was one of the major reasons she was able to be successful in her endeavors here. It also helped with the snoody staff at restaurants and retailers who hated Americans and would give them a hard time for not knowing the language.

  She made it back to Hotel de Crillon around mid-morning and decided to take a long bath then try to grab some sleep. She was still jet lagged, and she knew she would need her energy for her night filled with roller skating.

  She walked through the courtyard of the hotel with her shopping bags and was very glad she chose to stay there. It was one of the top luxury hotels in Paris and was worth every penny. Her suite was beautiful. It had a ton of natural light that poured into the sitting room through her massive windows. The furniture was traditional French design with brocade
patterns in light blues, yellows, and gold. Her bedroom was spacious, and the bathroom was marble from floor to ceiling with a very modern look that contrasted the classic French design in her bedroom and sitting room.

  She went over to the bathtub and started the water. She stripped naked and climbed into the bathtub and just laid there until her skin was pruned and the water was nearly cold. Her thoughts were mostly of Trey as she reflected on their conversation on the plane.

  She hadn’t felt this way about a man in a long time; roughly six years, to be exact. She hated thinking of Rixby. His name caused an instant lump in her throat and her eyes to water. He caused her to run the emotional gamut in the nine months they were together.

  At first, she was just some girl in the crowd enjoying his music. Ashley got killer seats to one of his concerts that put them front row, center. When he looked down into the crowd he spotted the two of them and pulled them on stage. They sang and danced with him for a song or two then went back down into the crowd. After the concert was over, they were approached by his manager to come backstage to meet him. He was very charming and said all the right things, but Elise wasn’t fooled. She knew he was married. She and Ashley thanked him for the invitation and left the arena.

  That was when the rollercoaster started. He used every resource he had to find Elise sending her ticket after ticket to concerts all over the country. He even included plane tickets and hotel reservations. When Elise didn’t show up to any of his concerts, she got the biggest shock of her life - Rixby Storm at her front door.

  She was studying for a Business Law midterm when she heard the knock on her door. Ashley opened the door and was star struck; her mouth was open the entire time that Rixby was there. He demanded a reason why Elise wouldn’t accept any of his invitations to his concerts. Elise didn’t give a fuck who he was. She laid into his ass for coming into her home and disturbing her during her midterms. That’s when he dropped his rock star persona and sincerely apologized to her. He offered to buy her a cup of coffee as a piece offering, which she reluctantly accepted. The conversation from the apartment to the coffee shop and back was all about Elise. He wanted to get to know her. At that moment, he seemed like a normal guy, and Elise started to fall for him. At her door, he kissed her on her cheek and thanked her for going to coffee with him. They exchanged phone numbers and that’s when everything started. He called her that night to thank her again and that’s when Elise asked him about his wife. He gave her the old song and dance about how he wanted to end it but she wouldn’t sign the paperwork, she wanted his money, she was evil, they were married on paper but he hadn’t loved her in years, blah, blah, blah. Elise fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

  Then late night phone calls that lasted four and five hours turned into flying around the country to be with him. He treated her like a queen, and she loved him for it. He made Elise feel like she was the only one in this world and promises of forever were spoken. Their chemistry was undeniable which lead to hot physical relationship that they had.

  But their relationship ended just as quickly and intensely as it started. Elise walked into an after party to find Rixby. She found him with his tongue down the throat of some girl. When he noticed Elise standing there, he didn’t even acknowledge her. He called her bitter and a groupie and told her that she had to be delusional to think that she was the only one. Those were that last words that she ever heard Rixby Storm say.

  Jeremy and Ashley never knew why it ended, they just knew it did. She didn’t want to relive that moment ever again, so she asked them not to ever speak of him. Being the good friends that they were, they complied completely. And up until one day ago, the name Rixby Storm wasn’t spoken.

  She liked that her feelings for Trey were intense even though she just met him, and they could compare to the feelings she had for Rixby. It was like her spirit was mending itself and allowing her to finally feel that way again. It seems that her relaxing bath was not only good for her body but also good for her soul.

  Once she got out of the bathtub, she wrapped herself into one of the robes that the hotel provided and climbed into bed. She checked her phone for any messages from home. There were a few texts from Ashley and Jeremy wishing her safe travels and to have fun. She smiled as she set her phone to charge and climbed into her bed. Her eyelids got heavy, so she let the sleep take her over.

  Chapter 4

  Elise pulled up the directions for the roller skating route online and printed it. She asked the car service to bring her to 14th Arrondissement of Paris at the Place Raoul Dautry. That was where the route started and where it would end.

  Elise had reached out to the concierge at the hotel and asked them to find her a pair of roller skates. She didn’t want to run around Paris to find a pair, and the hotel’s concierge was known to find anything for their guests at any hour of the night. An hour after she made the request, a bell hop was at her door with the roller skates.

  She knew that she would probably be working up a sweat since they were going to be skating roughly 18 miles in the three hour block of time. So she decided to throw on her white Joe’s Jeans cut off shorts with a navy V-neck Prada T-Shirt and added her Dolce and Gabbana leather bracelet to the outfit. She was wearing her Stuart Weitzman espadrilles to get to the event and brought along her Louis Vuitton backpack purse to put them in while she was roller skating. She may be going there alone, and Trey may not meet her, but all her favorite men were definitely with her, and she looked cute in them.

  Elise was about to leave the hotel when her cell phone rang. It was Ashley.

  “Hey Ash!”

  “Leesie! You sound different. How’s Paris treating you?” It was good to hear Ashley’s voice.

  “So far, so good! I did a bunch of shopping this morning, and I am about to go roller skating thanks to you and Jeremy!”

  “YAY! So you got the package.”

  “Yes. You need to work on your subtlety. Two tickets for everything.”

  “No, Leesie. You need to work on your moves. The old Elise would have five different dates escorting her to each different event.”

  “I was never that good. Besides, maybe the same guy to all five events is now more my speed.”

  “Is there a specific one in mind?” Ashley immediately sounded excited.

  “It’s too soon to tell. But, you and Jeremy will be the first to know.”

  Elise’s hotel phone rang.

  “Hold on, Ash. Let me get that.”

  It was the concierge letting her know that her car service was here for her.

  “Hey Ash, I need to go. My car service is here. I love you so much! Thanks for the package.”

  “Love you too, Leesie. You are so welcome. Have fun!”

  Elise hung up the phone and raced down to the lobby to meet her car driver. The car service pulled up to the event, and Elise’s heart was racing. She was very excited to see if Trey would show up.

  “Pouvez-vous venir me chercher ici à 1 heures précises? S’il vous plait.” Elise asked the car service to meet her back here at 1 am sharp.

  “Oui madame.”

  She exited the car and made her way to a grassy area where she sat down and started putting on her roller skates. There were hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people there. The people from the roller skating association were passing out t-shirts that the participants could wear. Some of the roller skaters were dressed in costumes, others were there in mascot uniforms probably promoting or marketing a local product or business. There were tons of police officers on roller skates as well as medical personnel in case one of the skaters was injured.

  Once Elise had her skates on, she put her espadrilles in her backpack and threw her backpack around her shoulders. She stood up slowly since she hadn’t been on roller skates in a very long time. She tip toed across the grassy area onto some concrete and tested her skating ability. There were a few wobbles and near wipeouts, but after a few minutes she had the hang of it again. She laughed loudly with excitement. S
he hoped Trey would make it but even if he didn’t, she knew she would have a great time. She skated up and down the curved area of the Raoul Dautry that was closed off to traffic. She looked for Trey but didn’t find him.

  One of the event organizers called out over a loudspeaker or bull horn to let the skaters know that they were about to begin their route. The police officers on motorcycles began lining up to lead the skaters through the route. Elise took one last look at the crowd to see if she could find Trey.

  Nope. He wasn’t there.

  ~

  It was around 9:30 pm and everyone was leaving the restaurant heading back to the hotel. Le Jules Verne was built into the Eiffel Tower, and it had one of the most spectacular views of the city. The cuisine was excellent and aesthetically beautiful.

  Trey was happy for Will and Jessie who were both so in love with each other. Everyone toasted the couple with such loving words and well wishes. All Trey could say was that he hoped one day he could find the kind of love that Will and Jessie had. He really meant that. He was surrounded by couples that had relationships that were inspiring, and he hoped one day he would have someone to share his life with.

  He sat there through the entire meal absent minded staring outside the window wondering where she was. He never got a chance to call her personally and decline her invitations since Will came into his room this morning interrupting him. He was swept up in the whirlwind of the wedding events and spending time with his family that before he knew it, he was back at his hotel changing for dinner.

  Will nearly convinced him that he should go to the concert with her, but Trey talked himself out of it. He intended on remaining focused on his political campaign. But now, here he was, underneath the Eiffel Tower waiting for the convoy to take them back to their hotel desperately wishing he was with her.