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  “Oh,” Merrick said. “Party like a cock star, then. Breakfast in thirty.”

  Remi showered and brushed her teeth with a new toothbrush Salena had left for her. She then wrapped her wet hair into a loose bun and pulled on yesterday’s clothes. The entire time she rehearsed the speech she would have to give her father about where she’d disappeared to and why she hadn’t answered her phone. She was a terrible liar, especially to her parents. She was nineteen before she lost her virginity, because she couldn’t bear to lie to her parents about what she’d done on her dates. She’d had to wait until college. If they caught her with Julien Brite, plotting against both families, it would be a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions.

  “Croissant?” Merrick tossed a bag at her as she emerged into the living room.

  “Delivery. Nice,” she said, digging into the bag. Merrick sat in a large dark green armchair with Salena on his lap. He was feeding her bites of croissant.

  “Do you believe in hole ‘n’ stick medicine?” Merrick asked Salena.

  “Holistic medicine?”

  “No, this is a different thing.”

  Remi coughed loudly to get Merrick’s attention.

  “She must need more hole ‘n’ stick medicine,” Merrick stage-whispered to Salena.

  “Merrick,” Remi said and snapped her fingers. “You yelled at me to get out of the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in with the sexiest, most amazing guy I’ve ever met. Focus, please. What’s the situation?”

  “Seven missed calls now,” Merrick said. “Dad. Mom. Trainer. Mom. Dad. Trainer. Last one from your mother.”

  “Oh God, not my mother,” she groaned and collapsed onto the sofa. Julien emerged from his bedroom, fully dressed and looking adorably sheepish. Salena grinned at him, and he turned a becoming shade of scarlet.

  “What’s going on?” Julien asked, sitting next to Remi on the sofa.

  “Trying to figure out what to tell my parents about where I am. I can’t say I’m on vacation. That’s too suspicious. I’m not the whirlwind-vacation-taking type. At least I wasn’t,” Remi said.

  “You.” Merrick pointed at her. “You aren’t going to say anything to them. You’re a terrible liar. Just tell me when we’re going back to Kentucky, and I’ll handle it. When are we going back?”

  Remi shrugged. “I don’t know. We can’t stay here long.”

  “Yes, you can,” Julien said, giving her an almost pleading look. “At least stay as long as you can.”

  “Brilliant idea,” Merrick said, rolling his eyes. “I’ll just run out and get us two French citizenships and a bag of money so we don’t have to go back to our jobs, and we’ll move right in and eat croissants and fuck all the time. Wait. That’s actually an amazing idea.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Salena said, winking at him.

  “We can’t stay,” Remi said, smiling apologetically at Julien. It hurt to say the words, but it was better to say them now, get them out, and deal with the fact of them. “I have a job. So does Merrick. And while I might be furious at my parents for whatever they’re into, I can’t abandon the farm. I love the horses too much.”

  “You really love it there?” Julien asked.

  “I do,” she sighed. “I did. I liked being in charge. I liked being responsible for the well-being of the horses and the jockeys. I take really good care of them.” She was speaking in the past tense and it scared her. Something told her that her days as Arden Farm’s manager were numbered.

  “She does,” Merrick said. “Arden Farms has the lowest horse and jockey injury record of any Thoroughbred horse farm in the U.S.”

  She shook her head and exhaled through her teeth.

  “All this work I do,” she said, standing up. “Every safety measure we’ve implemented, all the progress we’ve made...if my family gets caught by the racing commission fixing races or taking kickbacks from the track? It’s all gone.”

  “I won’t let them fuck over your work, Boss,” Merrick said.

  Remi smiled at him, something she rarely did. “When I was a kid, I went to Keeneland Racecourse with my dad for the horse auctions. And he told me that in the 1950s, Keeneland paid for every preschooler in Lexington, Kentucky, to get the polio vaccine. He told me that and I said then and there, that’s what Arden Farms would be like. We would give back to Kentucky like that. And now...”

  It broke her heart to even think of it, to think of all her hard work being tarnished by a scandal she had nothing to do with. She couldn’t bear to face it. Eventually she would have to face it.

  “Tell my father we’re in New York,” she said. “Tell him we’ll be back by next weekend.”

  “Next weekend?” Julien sounded devastated.

  “I have to work,” she said. “I have responsibilities. I have to take care of the farm before my family makes everything fubar.”

  “Fubar?” Salena repeated.

  “Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition,” Merrick translated.

  “Lovely,” Salena said. “So where—”

  The buzzing of Remi’s phone silenced the entire room.

  Remi took a deep breath. Merrick held out his hand. Remi winced and handed him the phone.

  “Merrick here,” he answered. Remi grabbed Julien’s hand for comfort. She couldn’t bear to look so she put a hand over her eyes.

  “Remi? She’s still out,” Merrick said to whoever had called—her father, most likely. “I know. She misplaced her phone. We just found it. Women. Am I right?”

  Remi heaved a sigh of relief. Having such a bizarre assistant paid off sometimes.

  “Where’s Remi? She’s out in the stables with this guy...I don’t know his name. She got a hot tip on a couple horses.”

  Good, Remi thought. Dad loved it when she aggressively went after a good horse.

  “What horses?” Merrick repeated. “I don’t know. Brown ones?”

  Remi tried to grab the phone from Merrick. He slapped her hand away.

  “Any luck with the horses?” Merrick repeated. “Yeah, she’s found herself a nice young colt. She rode him last night.”

  Remi slapped a hand over her mouth to stop her from yelling at Merrick.

  “How big is the colt?” Merrick said. “That’s kind of a personal question. Big enough to enjoy the ride, not so big she can’t walk today, I guess.”

  Remi glanced at Julien through a slit between her fingers. He’d fallen onto his side on the sofa and lay curled in the fetal position with a pillow smashed on his face. He was either laughing or crying. She couldn’t quite tell which.

  “Yeah, I’ll have her try to call you once she’s back in,” Merrick continued. “We’re getting shitty reception out here in the country, so don’t freak out if she doesn’t call you back right away. We’ll be back this weekend.”

  Merrick ended the call and tossed Remi the phone. “You’re good,” he said. “I covered your ass.”

  “You told my father I rode a fine young colt last night,” she nearly screamed.

  “What? You did,” he said.

  “He had a point,” Julien said, waggling his eyebrows. He lay back on the couch, his ankles crossed on the armrest. All she wanted to do was drag him back to bed with her. But instead she had to think, to plan.

  “Come on,” she said to Julien as she reached out her hand to him. He took it and she started to pull him to his feet. “I only have a few days left with you before I have to go back. Show me Paris.”

  “No,” Julien said.

  “No? You’re not going to show me Paris?” Did he really think they could spend the next few days fucking? Well, if he wanted to try, she was game.

  “I will show you Paris, yes. But you aren’t going back.”

  “Julien, I told you. I have a job. A very important one and—”

  “We are going back,” Julien said. “All four of us. Right, Salena?”

  Salena smiled at Julien. “I go where you go,” she said to him, a display of loyalty that made Remi love Salena just a little bi