A Paris Affair by Tatiana De Rosnay Read Free Book Online

tooth?”
    “Exactly.”
    “Who will you choose?”
    “His best friend, Pierre.”
    “You’re crazy! Your husband will kill you.”
    Marguerite blushed again, but this time with anger. “Crazy? How would you feel, in my place? Imagine you go home unexpectedly, thinking about something else entirely a photo shoot, or a new collection, or a mailing list—and you walk into your bedroom and you see a vision of horror: your husband in bed with an eighteen-year-old Swedish girl.”
    Marie shivered. “What’s she like, this Swedish girl?”
    Marguerite took a drag on her e-cigarette. “Much too sexy. Blond, a gorgeous body. I should never have hired her. But, you know, I honestly thought Jean was above that sort of thing. He’s a very busy man. His time is taken up by the bank, the Dow Jones, the CAC 40, his golf weekends, and his polo games. I’m still in shock. Men are beasts, when it comes down to it, don’t you think?”
    “Oh, absolutely. You should have hired a fat, old, ugly Filipino woman. I could never have rested easily, knowing my husband was alone in the house with the next Scarlett Johansson. You should never tempt a man! Especially not a man in his thirties.”
    “Apparently it’s even worse when they hit fifty.” Marguerite sighed. “The midlife crisis, you know? My husband seems to have started a little early.…”
    “How will you go about it, with his friend Pierre?” Marie asked.
    “I’ll just get straight to the point. I’ll ask him if he wants to sleep with me.”
    “What if he says no?”
    “He won’t.”
    “Have you seduced many men since you got married?”
    Stung by this, Marguerite shrugged. “Seducing a man is like riding a bike—you never forget how. Even if you’ve been married for ten years.”
    “Have you talked to Jean?”
    “He doesn’t know that I know. I left the room without making a sound. He didn’t see me.”
    “Were they asleep?”
    “No, they were fucking. He was taking her from behind, doggy-style.”
    “Oh, that’s dreadful.”
    “Yep. In the middle of the morning, in my own bedroom. On my own bed.”
    “It’s despicable. How did you manage to sleep in your bed that night?”
    “I didn’t.”
    “So where did you sleep?”
    “I’m going to sleep in Pierre’s bed, tonight. It happened this morning. Look, I’m all ready.” She lifted up an elegant overnight bag.
    “Wow. I’m impressed, Marguerite.”
    “I bet you’d do the same thing, in my position.”
    “I think I’d have killed the pair of them.”
    “I must be calmer than you.”
    “And more Machiavellian. But what if Pierre does say no?”
    Marguerite picked up her cell phone and checked it quickly, put her e-cigarette in its holder, then asked for the check.
    “Marie, no man could refuse a woman who gives herself to him, the way I’m going to do with Pierre. He won’t resist, even if I am his best friend’s wife. In fact, I bet that makes it even more exciting for him.”
    “And afterward?”
    She pulled a face. “We’ll see.”
    “So you’ve never cheated on Jean before?”
    “I should have done. I feel so stupid, so na ï ve! If only I’d known…”
    Marie laughed softly. “I’ve done it.”
    “You’ve been unfaithful?”
    “Yes. I’d just had my daughter. I was feeling frumpy. It was in Touquet, during the summer holidays. My husband was working in Paris.”
    “And?”
    “There was this young guy—not bad, a bit of a rube—who was coming on to me. I was playing golf with my parents-in-law, and he followed me. I ended up saying yes, because I was bored. We lay down in the rough and had sex, very quickly.”
    “How was it?”
    “Not great. Afterward, I told him my husband was on his way, and that he should leave me alone. I never even knew his name.”
    “And since then?”
    “Since then, I’ve been faithful. I’m scared of catching AIDS.”
    “Oh shit!” Marguerite said, dropping her cell phone on the tablecloth.
    “What?”
    “The