She hadn't been able to find out what hotel he was staying at, it would have taken too long, and this time she didn't have hours to spare. The little place she and Nicole found was nice, she could admit that, but that didn't change the queasy feeling in her stomach. She was just nervous, it definitely wasn't dread building up. That had to be it. Everything was going to go great. If only she knew where the café was. There were hundreds of them.

"Come on, Sami, let's just check in. We'll find the place later."

Nicole led the way to the front desk and she tried to ignore the fact that her friend was annoyed with her. Well, what did she expect? Eric was her twin, of course she would try to fix things. Nicole didn't have to be so bitchy about it… or start flirting with that guy over there.

She had pulled her away as discreetly as possible, but the guy probably heard her hissed whisper of, "What do you think you're doing?" anyway.

Nicole jerked her arm away with a huff of impatience, "He's going to help us find the café, so I don't know what you're complaining about."

"How about the fact that you're married? To my brother!"

"I also left your brother."

Sami rolled her eyes, it was way too soon to rebound, "Don't do the revenge thing, Nicky."

"Relax, he's just a nice guy. He wants to helps us."

Eyeing the guy carefully, she couldn't help but notice his eyes on her friends ass, "Yeah, us," her voice turned serious as her thoughts turned to her twin, "I can't stop you, just don't sleep with what's his name, okay?"

Nicole smiled at the resignation in her friends voice. It wasn't wrong to want to feel special every once in awhile. "You must think I'm the worst kind of whore," she hooked her arm through Sami's companionably and leaned in to whisper, "And his name's Claude."

………………………………...

"Okay, Claude said we need to hang a right a flower shop and then we'd see it," Nicole stopped right in front of a little outdoor café filled with people, "Should we sit?"

"Yeah."

She looked back to find her companion wringing her hands and she knew that wasn't good. Sami was nervous and Sami was annoyingly insecure when she was nervous, "Come on," she waved her over and added, "And don't worry so much. You look hot."

Sami laughed a little at the complement and smoothed her dress again. It was a deep red that fell a little past her knees and showed a little more cleavage than she was used to. It was supposed to make her feel confident, but she couldn't help shaking her long blonde hair over her shoulder to cover up. He should like her for who she was anyway.

They had been sitting at their table long enough for her to finish a cappuccino, it was like she'd thought before: annoyingly insecure, "Shouldn't you ask a waiter or someone if he's here?"

"How would they know? And anyway, I want to see if he'll notice me first."

Sami looked around as she spoke, like she was expecting him to appear out of thin air or something.

"You pick now to play hard to get? Sami, you flew across the Atlantic to met this guy! And you used my credit card!"

"You offered, and this is fate. He could notice me first."

Nicole stood up, already tired of this game, "I'm asking."

"Wait," but it was too late and she was already gone. Sami sunk down in an effort to be swallowed by the floor as Nicole gestured to her. She couldn't explain the feeling taking over, but it felt a whole lot like fear, with a dash of embarrassment.

Nicole was back in a matter of seconds with a cat-who-caught-the canary grin, "Well?"

Pointing off to her left, she answered, "He's over there."

Lifting up from her seat, Sami scanned the crowd, "Oh my God," excitedly she grabbed Nicole's hand, "I can see his sleeve!"

"Yes, yes, this must be a thrilling moment," she countered sarcastically, "Go talk to him."

"Okay," she took one last deep breath and nodded to herself.

This was it. A few more steps and she'd see him. There was a hint of dark hair, oh, and he was wearing a dark blue jacket. Around one more corner and then… a line of waiters. There had to have been hundreds of them, that was her only thought. Desperately, Sami strained her neck to get a glimpse, but it was impossible. Stupid waiters! The last one was about to pass by, but the space between him and the wall seemed big enough. There was no reason not to squeeze through.

Pandemonium. Mass pandemonium, that's what she had created. Almost in slow motion, Sami watched the poor waiter try to avoid her impatient pushing, and then catch himself on a table leg. Vainly she tried to keep him from falling, but it was too late. The crash of glass and tiny French food was heard throughout the café.

At least fifteen people came out of nowhere to help clean up and check on the server, but Sami was already off. Austin had to still be there, he just had to. Finally she reached the designated table, and her heart sank down to the pits of her stomach. He was gone.

How did this keep happening! It was beyond frustrating, another close call. She had missed him by seconds. But maybe she could still catch him.

For the second time in two days, Sami forgot everything else. She forgot that Nicole was waiting for her at the table. She forgot that there was a huge mess behind her that had been all her fault. She forgot that she was wearing heels. And she ran.

There was really no way that she could know which direction he had gone in, but she ran anyway. She didn't stop when the people stared at her for yelling at the top of her lungs. She didn't stop when she bumped into some dark haired guy and lost her shoe. She just didn't stop.

…………………………..

Lucas had been having a fairly nice evening. Yeah, seeing a movie alone kind of sucked. And, yeah, Will Ferrell wasn't exactly funny dubbed in French, but all in all, the night wasn't too bad.

His evening would have continued on in a wonderfully uneventful way, had it not been for the blond tornado that had come barreling into him. She barely had enough time to throw an apologetic glance over her shoulder before she was off again. Without one shoe, no less.

Deciding to be the gentleman he grabbed the red pump and started jogging after her, "Arrete! Votre chaussure, Cinderella. Arrete."

He was about five feet away from her when another blonde, this one tall and thin, grabbed her friends arm. Slightly out of breath, he stopped in front of them, "Finalment, votre chaussure."

He held the shoe out in a gesture for the girl to take it, but she just sank down on the bench without looking out him. Her friend offered him a small smile, "Thank you."

"Oh, good, you're American," he almost gave her the shoe, until he noticed that the heel shook a little when he moved it, "Why don't you let me fix this, and you can help your friend."

Lucas sank down on his knees next to the bench and tried to hide the way his eyes kept drifting to the owner of the shoe, or the fact that he was listening to their conversation.

"Sami, are you okay?"

The tall one turned next to the one he couldn't stop looking at. So her name was Sami, he liked it. Somehow it fit the way he would imagine she'd be. She snapped out of her daze to look at her friend and he could see a little sparkle in her eyes.

"Alright, so I lost him again, but I've got a plan. First, we're gonna rent a car, and then we need a loudspeaker. See, we'll hook it up, and then drive around paging him."

Finally, he got the heel to feel reasonably secure and moved to give it back to Sami, but he didn't want to leave. There was more he had to know about her, like who she was planning on paging. Without really giving it more than a second's thought, Lucas gently picked up her ankle and slid the shoe on. Dear Lord she had the softest he'd ever felt. Too bad she didn't even look up.

"What do you think?"

Her friend nodded her head at him and added pointedly, "That was really sweet."

Sami looked at him for barely a second, yet somehow her preoccupation intrigued rather than annoyed him.

"I meant about my idea, Nicole."

"Oh," she took a breathe to add effect, "Well, I think it's time we got some professional help."

Sami's eyes widened in discovery and he couldn't tear his eyes away, "Like a detective."

Nicole shook her head gently and he almost laughed out loud at her tone, "Like a psychiatrist."

Her nose crinkled in genuine confusion and he found it adorable, "How's a psychiatrist gonna find him?"

"Oh, Sami, honey," her friend's voice was heavy with loving pity, "why don't we go back to the hotel?"

His stomach was doing jumping jacks. He didn't want them to leave. He didn't want her to leave. He had been wishing for something interesting to happen to him all week and it finally had, in the form of an angel (who he suspected had a devilish side underneath). But she was walking away to get a cab and they hadn't even exchanged words. Thinking quickly, he walked over to Nicole.

"What's up with your friend?"

She looked at him speculatively and he could tell she wanted to shock him, "She's looking for her soul mate, who she's never seen before."

"Huh," he watched Sami trying to flag down a cab, "Well, if she's never seen him before, how does she know he's her soul mate?"

Seeing that her friend was getting frustrated, Nicole started to walk away, with him following closely behind, "She got his name off a Ouija board when she was eleven."

"Oh, of course," his heart nearly stopped when he saw a cab slowing down for Sami and he finally had to address her directly, "Look, maybe I could help you guys out. I mean, I speak a little French."

She looked him over for a second, "I don't think so."

He stepped in front of the cab door and took a second to enjoy the fire in her eyes, "I can help you. Just tell me his name."

"We've got it covered."

Lucas held the door tighter as she tried to pull it again, "Come on, just tell me."

She was really getting annoyed now, and he found it exhilarating, "Fine, it's Austin. Austin Reed."

It was a split second decision, one he didn't understand completely. But looking at the woman in front of him, he knew he couldn't walk away, "You're kidding," carefully he schooled his features into shock, "I'm Austin Reed."

And now you know.There are plenty more surprises ahead, so stay tuned. I apologize if my french isn't perfect. I do study it, but I'm no where near an expert.