From the minute she got in the car, she was in awe. She had never been out of her own country and passing through all the grand, marble buildings in Paris counted as the most awe-inspiring moments of her life. She marveled at the bakeries and the outdoor cafes and the markets that she passed. She wanted to get out and walk the rest of the way, skip through the streets and peak in every window.
They pulled up to an apartment buildings and the driver opened her door.
“Your apartment is on the second floor and you’re in apartment number two,” he said, extending his hand. “And your brother’s is on the first floor. He said he’d ring you in a few hours when you’ve had a chance to rest.”
When Alex walked into the apartment she was taken aback by the sweetness of her surroundings. There were vases of fresh flowers scattered about, and large, comfortable pieces of furniture that she couldn’t wait to sink into. The view from the ceiling-height windows in the living room showed a lively scene of the world below.
She drew a bath in the large, luxurious bathroom and as she undressed, she couldn’t help but feel like the luckiest unemployed teacher in the world. If this is what being as assistant means, she’d take it any day of the week.
Her best friend Beth called from New York just as she was about ready to slink into the tub.
“Tell me everything,” she said.
“Paris is gorgeous,” Alex told her. “No words can describe it.”
“Do they hire assistants for their assistants?” Beth asked, completely envious.
“Oh, I wish you could be here with me. You have to come visit sometime when we’re going to be here more than a week,” Alex told her. “I think we travel to Chile after this and then Northern California next. I’m eventually going to have to move to California full time, but I’ll be back in New York in a month so I can pack up my things.”
Beth caught her up on the all gossip from their Brooklyn neighborhood and asked Alex to send her pictures of everything she saw.
Alex slept for a while after her bath and was awakened by the phone ringing next to her bed.
“Hey, Sis,” her stepbrother said rather enthusiastically into the phone. “Welcome to the family business.”
“Thanks, Thomas,” she said, with a conciliatory tone. “It’s good to be here, actually.”
“I’m going to leave you alone for the time being,” he said. “Try to get on Paris time and we’ll start fresh in the morning.”
Alex noticed an envelope on the bedroom desk after she hung up. It was a note from her mother folded over two gift certificates--one for a spa and the other for a dress shop.
“You need to look every bit the part a Thomas Cooke assistant,” her mother wrote. “Don’t argue. Just go do it. They’re all expecting you first thing in the morning.”
Figures, Alex thought. Her mother had always been critical of her appearance, telling her she wasn’t playing up the gifts that god had given her.
She wondered what was in store for her tomorrow. She figured she’d leave the salon looking like French poodle.
But nothing could have been further from the truth.
*****
When she knocked on Thomas’ apartment door at 11:00, the old Alex Bill no longer existed.
Her long blonde hair had been layered and blow dried and her casual khakis from the Gap had been discarded and replaced with a beautiful suit with matching heels. She even had a chic purse she wore across her chest and that dangled down to the bottom of her suit jacket like she was walking down a runway in Paris.
When she was walking back to the apartment, the whole get-up felt foreign and indulgent, but Alex loved how she felt. She noticed the stares of the Frenchman whom she passed and she didn’t mind catching a glimpse of herself in the windows of the stores.
By the time she knocked on her stepbrother’s door, she was feeling sexy and confident—two new words in her vocabulary.
“My God… Alex?” Thomas said when he opened the door.
They hadn’t seen each other in several years. Thomas had been away on a hiking trip last time she’d visited. He didn’t recognize the 6’ tall beauty who was standing in front of him.
“Come in,” he said, stepping away from the door. “It’s just…wow. You’ve uh…really grown up.”
“You’re looking good yourself, Thomas” she said, gliding by him as she walked into the apartment.
They sat and talked over coffee, discussing the first things she’d need to learn, but he never took his eyes off of her.
“You’ve been blessed with your mother’s looks,” he said, feeling a bit intimidated. “So, I heard you just got your Master’s degree. Congratulations.”
“I was looking forward to getting into teaching,” Alex told him. “But I could certainly get used to this,” she said, looking around and smiling.
“You were one of the smartest girls I’d ever met,” he said looking nostalgic. “I think it’s great you’re going to be a part of this company. We can use someone like you,” he said, rather sincerely.
They spent the rest of the day working. She set up several meetings for him, arranged for travel to Chile next week, and transposed several letters. She answered the company cell phone he gave to her on and off throughout the day, picking up on who he wanted to talk to and whom he preferred to avoid by a yes or no nod of his head.
“Let’s go get dinner,” he said, when 7:00 had rolled around.
He brought her to one of his favorite places in Paris for dinner and they sat outside at a little table glowing with candles. He noticed everyone staring at Alex---even the Parisian women.
“Would you mind if I ordered for you?” he said. “I learned a little French in boarding school.”
“By all means,” Alex said smiling, enjoying the adventure she was on, and even more, she was enjoying her wicked stepbrother for a change.
He ordered a three-course meal in fluent French and a very good bottle of wine. If there was one thing Alex did know about the world, it was restaurants. That had been her and her father’s joy---trying all the new restaurants in New York. It had been his one indulgence in life and he’d taught her a lot about good food.
They toasted their future business relationship over a glass of crisp chardonnay and talked about old times at the house in California as they were growing up. They laughed at the memories of how horrible Thomas could be.
“Oh, I was incredibly jealous of you,” he said. “You were pretty and smart but you never seemed to care about what the world thought of you. You were incredibly self-confident. I, on the other hand, had my father breathing down my back, making sure I was worthy of being Thomas Cooke’s son. I envy you the relationship you always had with your father.”
“My father is a doorman,” Alex said laughing. “But you know, he taught me to reach high, and not because he wanted me to impress anyone, but because he wanted me to reach my potential.”
“I know that,” Thomas said. “And you’re incredibly lucky. You got to just be yourself. I had to do all kinds of things I didn’t want to do, like go away to boarding school or take tennis lessons.”
Alex enjoyed her first Parisian meal and was feeling a little tipsy from the wine. They decided to walk along the Seine River for a bit, and they stopped often to admire artists’ paintings or to sit on a vacant bench to chat.
It was a beautiful evening—one of the most special evenings of her life. No less surprising was the fact that she’d spent it with Thomas of all people.
“You were remarkable at work today,’ Thomas said on their way home. “I’m not surprised, but it was a really good first day.”
They said goodnight on the stairs of their apartment building and set a time for the next morning. Alex smiled at him as she started up the stairs.
“Thank you, Thomas for dinner and for showing me Paris tonight.”
“My pleasure,” he said watching her leave, feeling guilty for being attracted to her beauty. She was his stepsister, after all, but there wasn’t any harm in admitting she was special.
“Reign it in, Thom,” he said to himself when he’d shut his apartment door.
When Julia opened her own apartment door, she noticed all the outfits she’d been fitted for had arrived while she was gone and were now hanging on her bedroom door and in her closet. She had ten new outfits to consider, both elegant and casual along with six new pairs of shoes and a big box of accessories to go with it all.
She texted her mom to thank her, and she took a selfie so she could show off her new hairstyle.
She sat on the couch for a while and enjoyed another glass of wine, reveling in this new person she was becoming. She was out of New York!
She thought of Thomas downstairs in his apartment. It surprised her how much she’d enjoyed his company tonight. He even seemed somewhat proud to be with her, and he’d held her seat for her and almost fawned over her, as if trying to imply that they were together on a date.
He was 6’ tall himself with sandy blonde hair and incredible green eyes. He was muscular and well-built and Alex couldn’t help but sit across from him and admire the man he’d become. He also seemed to have a good head for business.
“Stop this,” she said to herself. “He’s your stepbrother.”
She fell asleep after texting Beth.
“You’re not going to believe Thomas Jr.,” she wrote. “He’s not the little boy I saw last.”
*****
The week passed in Paris and Alex and Tom spent several of the days visiting wineries. Alex kept careful notes of their visits, produced the right paperwork when prompted, and spent time on the phone, learning how to take messages and funnel the right calls to Thomas.
There was no doubt they worked beautifully together, and they made a striking team. Both tall and blonde and animated and incredibly capable.
At night, they walked the streets of Paris, indulging in pastries and ice cream and bottles of wine. Sometimes when she woke up in the morning, Alex had to pinch herself to be sure she was really there. She was having the time of her life—both in business and in pleasure. She loved the wine business, the beautiful old wineries they drove to outside of Paris and the gorgeous way in which the Parisians lived. She decided she wanted to be one of them---with their sweet little apartments and their way of life that seemed to invite pleasure. New York had been a place of ambition and the contrast was striking to her.
On their last day of work, Thomas suggested that they go to the infamous Parisian burlesque show, and they set out together with a feeling of adventurousness, a bit tipsy from having split a bottle of wine during dinner.
Alex loved the show, knowing it was what Paris was famous for, and when they ducked into a café to have a night cap after the show, they were both laughing and enjoying themselves more than either one of them cared to admit.
He took her hand as they crossed a busy street and Alex hadn’t even noticed that he didn’t let go when they got to the other side. She was still laughing and talking about the show.
He led her to a table and held her chair for her as she sat down.
Over a glass of wine he looked at her said, “I cannot get over how beautiful you are. It has really floored me all week. You’ve grown up to be quite a beautiful, talented woman, Alex.”
“You know, Thomas,” she said, trying to steer the conversation away from dangerous waters. “I’m so incredibly happy. This has been the best week of my life.”
They caught one another’s eyes across the table and that was the moment they knew. Not only did they both know it in their own hearts, but they were both aware that the other felt it as well.
“Oh, crap,” Alex said to herself.
They looked away---the same thing they’d been doing all week. They’d reach some moment of closeness and then they’d break up the moment as quickly as possible, knowing they were navigating a dangerous land.
This time, Thomas called her on it.
“I know you’re feeling it too, Alex” he said, looking pleadingly into her eyes.
“Thomas, this is crazy. We haven’t seen each other in a long time, and it must be the excitement of being in Paris…”
“Have you ever felt this way about someone before?” he said. “Because I haven’t. And I have a feeling I’ve been around the block a bit more than you. I’m not going to deny this.”
“Even though we’re not actually related,” Alex said. “What would our parents’ say?”
“Who cares,” he said, reaching out and taking her hand. “Right now we’re in Paris and it’s just you and me.”
They finished their wine and got up to walk home. Alex was confused, not sure if the excitement she felt was the new job or the new city…or, well, the gorgeous stepbrother.
They held hands on the way home, not even bothering to hide their feelings. When they got to the porch steps he looked at her intensely, and put his arms around her waist.
“I see a whole new Alex coming out,” he said. “Every day you seem to blossom more and more.”
He opened the door to his apartment and led her inside, walking straight back to his bedroom. He removed his suit coat and threw it on the bed, not at all shy about what was to happen.
Alex, on the other hand, stood frozen. This was all happening too quickly for her. She was the sort of person who needed time to sort things out before she made decisions.