“Let me get that,” someone said, coming up next to me.

“Oh, that’s not necessary.” I turned toward the person who was trying to buy my drink and froze.

Henry smiled at my stunned look and switched out our cards with the bartender. “Good to see you again, Aribel.”

“I thought you were in Paris, not just a French-themed bar.”

He chuckled. “I was, but I came back on New Year’s Eve.”

“Oh, right,” I said, snippets of our conversation coming back to me.

“How have you been?”

He gestured for me to walk with him, and I complied.

“Fine.” Hardly, but he didn’t need to know that. “How was Paris?”

“Enchanting. Have you been?”

“Mmm…yes. Lots of museums.”

I noticed he was walking me away from where Aaron was seated, but at this point, it didn’t really matter. Henry was handsome and intelligent, and he’d just bought me a drink. I wasn’t going to think about anything else right now.

“Ah, you’ve only seen a tourist’s view. I can show you a side of Paris the tourists never see,” he said with a charming smile.

We took a seat at a small empty booth in the back of the room. He started chatting some more about his Paris trip just as a waiter came to our table. To my surprise, he dropped off a bottle of champagne. I hadn’t even realized that Henry had ordered the bottle.

Our conversation moved from Paris to his time at Harvard to the work that he did for my father. I drank one glass after another, finding myself enjoying the conversation more and more, as the night went on. My head felt as light as the bubbles. The room was suddenly so loud that I had to lean in to listen to him talk.

And God, he had a nice mouth with perfectly straight white teeth and full lips. I bet he was a great kisser. Something was nagging at me, telling me that I shouldn’t even be thinking about that, but I pushed that thought away. I’d been so sad for so long, and I just wanted to be…carefree. Not a word I’d ever use to describe myself, but I could be that tonight, right?

Henry made some joke that I honestly didn’t even follow, but I giggled anyway, and he only smiled wider. I glanced up into his blue eyes and saw something that should have made me back off, but I didn’t. I wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe…predatory. But that was ridiculous! This was Le Petit Parlor, not some backroom at The League. Plus, I hadn’t had that much to drink anyway.

A waiter came by and took the bottle of champagne.

I started to protest, but Henry put his hand out to stop me. “Would you like another?”

“We weren’t finished with the first one.”

He smiled at me, and his hand landed on my knee. “We could get another, or we could have the bottle I have chilling at my place. It’s not too far from here.”

“I mean…I’d have to let my brother know.” I knew I sounded like a kid, but I had driven out here with him.

Henry chuckled. “He already knows. It’ll be fine.”

“All right,” I said softly.

I stood to leave, but he pulled me back down toward him. I was nearly sitting on top of him at this point, and good Lord, did he smell good. He was wearing some really, really fancy cologne. He’d probably picked it up in Paris. It was intoxicating, and I was already drunk.

One hand held my leg tightly in his grasp while the other moved my chin up until I was looking at him. There was that look again, but I had no time to think about it as he dropped his lips down on mine.

He was kissing me.

No, I was kissing him back.

No, I wouldn’t do that.

But he tasted so good, and he really was as good of a kisser as I’d thought he’d be. My head swam with the energy of it all.

Yet, something wasn’t right. It wasn’t Henry I wanted to be kissing. It was hot. He was hot. But it just didn’t feel right. Kisses were supposed to feel like a burst of electricity mixed with fireworks and crackling infernos coursing through my system. The intensity and passion was supposed to radiate from me until I couldn’t breathe or think about anything but that moment.

And I’d been kissed like that—like it was life or death to feel his lips against mine, like there was nothing else that would ever exist in the world, like it was the only source of true happiness.

I broke away from Henry with a gasp. His returning smirk told me that he thought that was a good thing. After all, my face was flush, and my heart was pounding. But I felt wrong, all wrong. I felt like spiders had just crawled under my skin.

“I’m sorry. I…I can’t,” I whispered breathily through my drunken haze.

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Does it matter?”

“No,” he decided.

“I’m sorry. There’s someone else.”

Well, that took him by surprise, and he finally released me.

“I didn’t realize you were dating someone else. Funny how that didn’t come up until just now.”

“We’re kind of broken up…” And he’s sleeping around with other people.

He arched an eyebrow. “So, then…you’re not dating someone else.”

“The technicalities of it don’t really matter,” I slurred. “I’m not really all with it. So, it’s probably best for us to stop… whatever this.” I put some more space between us to emphasize my point.

“I was kind of enjoying…this.” He scooted closer to me. “So, maybe you should find out what’s going on with the technicalities. I’d like to get back to this.” His mouth dropped down on mine again. “And I think you’d like to as well.”

I pulled back again and stood. I didn’t want that. I didn’t want whatever he was offering. My parents had set up this entire thing. There was no real attraction between us. As far as I was concerned, this was an arranged-marriage deal that I was being forced into at the hands of my mother.

The heat of his gaze told me that he didn’t believe my unspoken thoughts.

With that, I turned around and walked out.

I would catch a cab home. I couldn’t be there a second longer. The point of the night out had been for me to stop thinking about Grant. And while I had momentarily forgotten him, it was only because I was drunk, not because I felt anything less for him.