LAILA
My jaw fell open.
Gabriel just said that he loved me.
Wow.
And somehow I just knew that he meant it.
‘Shit,’ I said. ‘I wasn’t expecting you to say that.’
‘Really?’ He raised his eyebrow. ‘I told you the first night that we met at the hotel that I liked you. You will think I am crazy, but I believe that fate brought us together. My mother mentioned that you were going to the hotel on the same day that Nico and Cassie encouraged me to go. I secretly hoped that we would meet and we did. It was meant to be.’
I swallowed hard as I tried to find the best way to convey my thoughts.
‘You’ve been honest with me, so I’ll do the same. I like you – a lot. I’ve never been in love before so I don’t know if this is the big L-word, but it feels like it could be. And Idowant to try, but I need time. I think it’s better if I go back to London and evaluate what to do next, without this gorgeous setting and the bubble of being on holiday clouding my judgement. This,’ I gestured around us, ‘isn’t real life.’
‘It could be. We have not spoken about it much, but I have money. A lot of it. I know that is not a motivator for you and that is one of the things I love about you.’ Hearing him say that made my stomach flip-flop. ‘But money buys freedom. You would not have to worry about paying bills or working in a job that you hate. Let me take care of you.’
My heart bloomed. That was really sweet of Gabriel and it was so tempting to say yes.
‘Thanks. It means a lot for you to offer, but I’ve been let down by people who were supposed to care about me in the past, so I don’t want to rely on someone else. I know you’re different – I really believe that, but I also need to be sensible. I need to be sure that if for whatever reason, things didn’t work out, I wouldn’t be left high and dry.’
‘I understand. I just want you to know that you do not have to live an unhappy life. You have options. I would love to see you follow your dreams. You have always wanted to travel, so let us explore the world together. And whilst we do that, we can both think about what we would like to do for work or to give our lives purpose. Like I said from the start, I will never push you to do anything, but I have an apartment in Paris that I would love to share with you one day – whenever you are ready. We could have an amazing life together, Laila. You just have to be ready to take the first step.’
Excitement bubbled in my chest.
Could I really do that?
Could I really leave my life in London behind?
What if Ricky decided he wanted to come back home?
I desperately wanted to jump up and say, ‘Yes! Let’s do it.’
But I still had responsibilities. For starters, I’d have to give at least a month’s notice on my job.
And the sensible thing would be to save up for a least a few months so that I had a contingency fund if everything went tits up and Gabriel got bored of me.
Yeah. That seemed like the logical solution. If we waited a while, we could also see how strong our relationship was outside the luxury walls of the Love Hotel.
I needed to be sure that Gabriel would stay committed when we were hundreds of miles apart.
I wanted to see whether he’d be willing to visit me in London even if it meant bumping into his mum.
And I had to be certain that I could put past betrayals and experiences behind me enough to trust him when he was living in another country.
As much as the past couple of weeks had felt like a dream, this wasn’t a fairytale. This was real life, so I had to think with my head, not my heart.
‘I want to be with you. And I want to give us a try,’ I added. ‘But I need a few months to get my life in order. If that’s too long for you to wait, then I?—’
‘I will wait,’ Gabriel said without hesitation. ‘I have waited years to be with you, so I can wait a few more months. You are worth it.’
He leant forward and as his lips touched mine, I smiled.
We’d done it.
We’d discussed everything and decided on a plan without any drama.
