“I study.A lot.”
“For what?”
After taking another sip, I reply, “For me.I have to be the best.”
“Why?”
“Because coming in second sucks.”
He chuckles.“You are tight, Kandace.”
“Tight?”I try to figure out what that means.“Ohhh, you mean uptight?”
“Yes, this uptight.That is you.Have you ever not planned and just acted before?”
“Sure,” I say, shrugging and hoping I believe my own answers.
“What about love?Have you loved?Deeply?”
“I’ve loved,” I reply a little on the snarky side and with a half eye-roll.
“I don’t know if I believe you.”
“I don’t care what you believe.”I direct my attention outside to the sidewalk and the people passing by.
“I think you do, but that’s neither here nor there.”He waves his hand dismissively.“I can show you what it means to be free from the shackle you’ve placed around your heart and then, only then, will you discover how to really live life.”
“I don’t have a shackle around my heart.Just because I like to work hard and for that hard work to pay off doesn’t mean I’m not living.”
“That’s the shackle speaking.”
“Shackles don’t speak.”Defensively, I snap, “And I do not have a shackle around my heart.”Leaning forward and with an irritated, hushed tone, I add, “So kindly refrain from talking about my heart or me when you really know nothing about either.”
Running his hand through his hair, his expression warns me I’ve hit a nerve as his aggravation takes over.“Espèce d’Américaine têtue!Même si elle a les yeux verts les plus sexy qui soient et un corps à faire rêver, elle est frustrante!” Spoken too fast for me to interpret, he then stands abruptly holding his hand out and says, “We shall leave now.”
“All of that meant you want to leave?”
“No, it meant...never mind.Let’s go.”
With the acceptance of his hand I know I’m agreeing to more than leaving the restaurant.Maybe it’s the champagne taking over my brain, but I’m okay with that.This passionate man has stirred all kinds of new sensations within me and if I’m not careful, I just might end up in his bed for more than sleeping tonight.“C’est la vie.”
Hand in hand, we walk out the door.Outside, we walk down the street in the opposite direction of the hostel.“Where are we going?”I ask.
“C’est la vie, Kandace.”
And like that, I let Olivier lead.
The last place I expectedto end up was in a loud, extremely crowded neon light flashing nightclub in the bowels of some dirty part of Paris.This is what I get for trusting a stranger...practical stranger.Whatever Olivier is to me now.
I stand against the wall where he left me to retrieve drinks.The couple next to me are so up on each other that I’m not sure laws aren’t being broken.But maybe French law is looser...like them.I shake my shoulders hoping to loosen up a bit myself.When I look toward the bar again, I’ve lost sight of Olivier.Panicky, I scan the entire length of the metal bar, but don’t find him.Lifting up on my toes, I search the club for his head above the crowd.When I still don’t see him, I work my way through the club in the direction of the last place I saw him.
My heart is racing as I hurry around, thinking he might have left me here.I stop at the edge of the dance floor, wondering if he decided to dance with someone...someone other than me.
I’m grabbed by the waist suddenly and his voice is at my ear.“Miss me?”
Calm washes over me as I turn in his arms.“Might have.”
“Good.”He holds me tightly, our faces close, our lips even closer.“I ran into friends.Our drinks are at their table.C’mon.”
