If you like this online read you'll enjoy Rebecca Winters's books!

Crazy about her Spanish Boss + BONUS BOOK
 £2.99
 £2.99

The Brooding Frenchman's Proposal
 £0.99
 £0.99

Accidentally Pregnant!
 £2.80
 £2.80

Would he attend the Christmas party at her mother's home?

Jean-Jacques realized it was like it had been before ? Nicole standing there with those velvety-brown eyes beseeching him for an answer.

"I've already asked Giselle to accept your mother's invitation for me. Now if you'll excuse me, I must look up Madame Honfleur's address and drop off her bonus."

Anxious to put distance between himself and Nicole, Jean-Jacques pulled out his car keys.

"She lives above her husband's shop," Nicole said before he'd reached the door. "It's the bureau de tabac at the base of the rue Madelaine bordering the Place de Seurat. You know ? wh-where you and I used to buy chocolates on our way to the beach." She stammered the last.

Jean-Jacques wished she hadn't mentioned those marshmallow delights covered in chocolate. They'd take a sack of them to an isolated stretch of sand and water to watch the yachts in the distance. But he never did see anything except the invitation in her beguiling smile. There was nothing sweeter than her lips covered in orange, mint, and raspberry.

Even now they were a temptation he could do without.

Auguste Giraud had seen what was happening between his daughter and the boy who was completely unsuitable for her. For years he'd watched and waited until the exact moment to proffer the bribe that had sent Jean-Jacques out of his daughter's life.

Little did her father know that Jean-Jacques had already made plans to leave the Midi, the South of France region in which Vence was located. At 25 he was a man, hot with a man's desire, unable to bear the torture of her presence when he couldn't do anything about it. But he wasn't certain that, at some point, he wouldn't break his own vow and come running back to her. Lyon wasn't that far from Vence.

The bribe to go all the way to Paris was presented to him when he was at his most vulnerable. So many miles between them guaranteed that he wouldn't backslide and come back to Vence every weekend.

Until he'd found out Nicole wasn't getting married after all, Jean-Jacques had actually believed he was home free. Now everything he'd strived so carefully to orchestrate had blown up in his face.

As soon as he made his delivery to Mme. Honfleur, he'd go back to his apartment and phone Dominic Giraud in New York. Nicole's older brother was the one who'd picked Jean-Jacques to be CEO. It was to Dominic he would tender his resignation. Hopefully a replacement could be found and installed by the first of the year.

"Thank you for the information. À bientôt, Nicole." He left, determined to keep as far away from her as possible. If he worked his schedule correctly, there was no reason for him to see her again. He ignored the sinking feeling that thought gave him.

Long after Jean-Jacques had left the room, Nicole stood there trembling. Something was wrong. If her instincts were correct, and she had every reason to believe they were, he was afraid of being alone with her. Why? It made no sense, not after the history they'd shared.

Dear God, they'd known each other since childhood! For as long as she could remember life, Jean-Jacques had been part of the mosaic making up her world. At first as one of the older boys who teased and sometimes played with her while her father visited with Jacques's father at the lavanderie. Later, as the heartthrob teenager she idolized long before she grew up enough to feel physical desire and express it.

By her midteens they'd begun to share an intense personal relationship. In time she realized he was the man she wanted to be her husband and the father of their babies. He'd wanted her, too!

He might not have said the words. He might not have made any commitments, but she knew the depth of his feelings every time he crushed her in his arms, every time he devoured her mouth with an unrestrained hunger that matched her own. Too unrestrained for him to behave around her now as if she were nothing more than an old acquaintance.

Even if his feelings for her had died five years ago, prompting his sudden departure from Vence, how could he pretend an indifference that simply didn't ring true?

If he'd thought he'd had the last word, he was very much mistaken. She was tired of not having answers. He owed her an explanation. She was desperate for closure so she could get on with the rest of her life. Now that he'd been brought back to Vence to run the company, she wasn't about to waste another second torturing herself over the past.

Wheeling around, she locked up the day care center and headed for her car. Tomorrow wasn't that far away. Never before had she deliberately used her name to get something she wanted — not from Jean-Jacques or anyone else. But there was always a first time….

Starting in the morning, she planned to fight for him any way she could.

"Jean-Jacques?"

"Yes, Giselle?"

"Nicole Giraud is here to see you."

Jean-Jacques broke out in a cold sweat. It was one thing to be able to walk away from her yesterday. But it was quite another to refuse to see Nicole in his office when it was her family's money paying his salary.

Damn Dominic Giraud for being unavailable. His voice mail indicated he'd gone on vacation and wouldn't be back until the first of the year. All Jean-Jacques could do was leave a message that he'd made a mistake accepting the position, and was requesting a meeting with Dominic at his earliest convenience because he was handing in his resignation.

"Tell her to come in, Giselle."

He steeled himself not to respond. But the moment she walked inside and shut the door, the sight of her in a stylish cherry-red wool dress took his breath. Her brunette coloring, combined with the mold of her voluptuous body and long slender legs made it impossible to look anywhere else.

After a lifetime of seeking him out at one of the flower farms or the lavanderie, it must be quite a shock for her to have to come to her brother's former office in order to talk to him.

"Thank you for fitting me in. I know you're busy." She sounded a little breathless as she sat down in one of the chairs opposite his desk. He attributed the heightened color in her cheeks to the cold weather outside.

"You're always welcome, Nicole. You know that. What can I do for you?" He tried to sound as if he were addressing a member of the board of directors.

Mon Dieu. Her eyes always had that expectant look when they met his, as if she were excited to see him. Five years had changed nothing in that regard! But no degree or title could alter the fact he was still an Armentier. They were adults now. There were certain lines you didn't cross. Nicole had always been out of reach, and always would be. The sooner he left Vence for good, the better.

When her brother demanded an explanation for this sudden about-face, Jean-Jacques would tell him the truth. That he was, and always had been, in love with Nicole. Dominic was a man and understood these things. Once he'd heard that revelation, he'd accept Jean-Jacques's resignation without question.

"With the establishment of the day care center, Dominic and I started a tradition at the villa of giving presents to the children after their performance. We shopped together for their gifts and had a lot of fun doing it. I guess you've inherited that job now."

He groaned inwardly. For years he and Nicole had gone Christmas shopping for their families' and friends' gifts. On their last Christmas together, before he'd made the decision to leave Vence, he'd wanted to take her to a jeweler's and let her pick out an engagement ring.

But that was one of those fantasies no one else knew about, least of all Nicole. He didn't have the kind of money to buy a ring she could be proud of. Of course it was absurd to even entertain the idea when marriage to her was out of the question.

"With Christmas Eve only three days away, the gifts really should be bought today."

Dominic had forgotten to go over this duty with him. Come to think of it, he'd forgotten to tell Jean-Jacques several things…all having to do with Nicole.

"Giselle said you don't have a business lunch scheduled, so I thought we could grab a bite to eat, then run over to Toy World. But, of course, if you're too involved in something else…"

Nicole looked at him, her eyes bright and challenging, as if she were daring him to spend time with her. But that couldn't be right…or could it?