Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 10:40:02 EDT From: Kuamyin@aol.com Subject: Basso Profundo 4 Basso Profundo 4 This story has adult situations; if you are under the age of 18 or 21 in your area you should not be reading this. The author will not be held responsible for corrupting your young and impressionable minds. This is a work of fiction, if you are diluted enough to think I know any of the famous characters in this story you probably don't read the disclaimers anyway. To my readers: I just want to say sorry for the long delay, and the not so long chapter. I've been really busy and suffering from writers block. I don't know when the next chapter will come out, but don't think that I have stopped writing no matter how long between chapters. As always emails are nice, money is better and marriage proposals are rejected (unless the ring costs over $450,000) smiles love and hickies Previously: "Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to Paris." The captain announced. Lance entered the airport not knowing what to expect. He scanned the crowd looking for a familiar face. He walked further into the airport reading the placards the limo drivers were holding up; but his name was not on any of them. Finally he saw something, at the end of the row was a woman holding up a sign that read 'Peanut Butter'. Lance walked up to the lady and said, "Jelly." "Hi lance, I'm Madeline, Brett's' assistant." "Nice to meet you." "Please follow me." Madeline led lance to a waiting limo. "You probably have a bunch of questions." "Just a few," Lance said with a touch of sarcasm. "What does Brett do; I mean he has his own plane, a personal assistant, this whole thing must have cost..." He trailed off realizing how crass that last comment sounded. "Don't worry about it." Madeline laughed. "It's a reasonable question, he is on the board of quite a few international companies, but the bulk of the money comes from some oil fields he owns." "When do I get to see him?" "We are going to the Ritz, you'll see him in about an hour." Madeline looked out the window. After what seemed to Lance like an eternity Madeline spoke up again, "In fact we are at the hotel now." Madeline directed Lance to the penthouse. "Why don't you take a bath, relax, and when you get out dress for dinner." Lance took a relaxing bubble bath in the Jacuzzi, soaking his travel-tired muscles. When he entered the bedroom found a tuxedo waiting for him on the bed. And now on to chapter four: Lance put on the tuxedo and sat down on the bed, wondering what could possibly be next. 'Knock, knock.' "Come in," Lance called, but the door didn't open. Instead another envelope slid under the door. Lance stormed to the door; "I'm tired of this." He said as he picked up the envelope and flung open the door. "So than I guess we're even." "Oh, Brett..." Lance replied startled. "You're not mad are you?" "No...No of course not; actually it's romantic you did all this..." "But?" "But why did you go to all this trouble? Why didn't you tell me you had all this money?" "Let's walk and talk, we don't want to be late for supper. First off, I don't tell anyone about my money, and even though you have money, I didn't want it to be a factor." "You make it sound like you have so much more money than us." "Well...I do." "Can I ask?" "Does it matter?" "No, just curious." "A couple hundred million. Now the answer to your other question; I did this to fulfill a 'fantasy' of mine." "What fantasy?" "I always wanted to have dinner on the roof balcony of the Ritz, looking out over Paris, with someone I love." "That's so sweet." Lance said giving me a hug from behind. "You're the first one it felt right to do this with. And you don't need to worry, I took every precaution so you won't be recognized." I open the louvered doors and we walked out onto the balcony. -- Lance's Point of View -- Brett really had gone to a lot of trouble to make sure we weren't recognized, and the story told to The National Enquirer. In the center of the patio was a table set for two, and off to the side was a tent where a chef was making dinner. "I wanted live music, but decided that a stereo would have to do." Brett said. "Brett, don't you think you're being a little paranoid?" "Maybe a bit, but we both have had our run-ins with the jackals of the tabloid world, and I don't look forward to meeting with them again." "Are you sure those are your reasons?" "What do you mean?" "Are you ashamed, of us, of me?" -- Brett's P.O.V -- I quickly turned around, "Baby, never think for one moment that I am ashamed of you, of us. I'll scream my love for you from the top of this hotel if you want." I kissed him slowly. " I am so proud of you." Lance smiled relieved. "Okay." We sat down and I popped the cork on the bottle of champagne. "To us," and fed Lance a strawberry covered in crème fraiche. "Shall we dance?" I asked. "Of course." After some initial awkwardness; who would lead, where to put our hands, we finally ended up just embracing and swaying to the music. "I love you Lance." I whispered into his ear. "I love you too Brett." I pulled back a little and then leaned in and kissed Lance; my tongue slowly tickling his lips, our noses touching. I tilt my head to the side and push our lips together. The rest of dinner passed quickly and soon we were back in the car heading for my apartment. "Why didn't we just stay at the hotel?" "Madeline and I are always in hotels when we travel, and even though I don't spend much time in Paris, I would still rather stay at my place than in some hotel." "Than why do anything at the Ritz?" "Because they have a better view." "But you paid for the room." "No I didn't, I've done a lot of business with them so I get some perks from time to time." The car pulled to a stop in front of a small office building. "I thought you said we were going to your apartment?" "We are. I'm not in Paris much so half of my office is a regular office, and the other part has bedrooms for me a Madeline." "Oh." "Oh, what?" I asked. "You live with Madeline?" "No, not really. Only when we are traveling to a few of my places, like Paris, Tokyo, when we are at home we both have different houses." There was a small pause in the conversation. "It's just like your managers and assistants who travel with you guys, Madeline works for me I mean she's my friend too, ya know." "Okay." "What's wrong?" "I just feel like suddenly I don't know you. There is so much I don't know, you have a lot of secrets." TBC Hopefully chapter five will be out sometime in mid to late sept. Kuamyin