I liked how selfless she was. That was why I listed it as one of the things I had learnt about her. But then I realised that it was not something new. I had always thought that about her. So I added two other things: that she was not a fan of wasps and that she loved orange juice.
There was no way that I would let Laila pay for the shorts. Especially considering she had said that my mother had paid for her to come here (although knowing my mother, she probably used someone else’s money), I guessed that every cent Laila spent would be significant for her. But I also knew that despite that, she would still insist on covering the cost. So I asked if she could bring me a pair of the shorts in white instead.
‘Choosing another light colour is just asking for trouble,’ she’d smiled. ‘Personally, I’d stick with the navy blue, but it’s up to you. Back in a sec.’
When she returned and saw that I had already paid for the navy shorts she was not happy.
‘So sneaky!’ she had said as she slapped my bicep and my pulse had quickened at the contact. Just like it had when I had rested my palms on her shoulders.
It was crazy how such a simple, innocent action could have such an effect on me.
I suggested that we take another funny photo in the store of her handing me the shorts like it was a gift and me clutching my chest with gratitude.
The shop assistant clearly thought we were strange, but was happy to take the picture anyway.
After that, we continued down L’avenue des Champs-Élysées, before posing for photos in front of the Arc de Triomphe.
By the time we had finished it was evening and we were exhausted.
The car took us back to the hotel. When I suggested that we have dinner together, Laila stuttered then mumbled something about needing to get back to her room.
I could tell from the look on her face that she was feeling guilty and that dinner would be too intimate for her, so I said it was not a problem.
In my eyes, we had already made good progress today and I did not want to push it. So I ate dinner at the restaurant whilst scrolling through the photos and sending them to Claude to be added to our Love Passports which we had returned to reception when we came back.
Then I went to my room, showered and selected the songs for my playlist. I chose ‘Hello’ by Sigala, Leigh-Anne, and Jonita Gandhi, ‘Hell Yeah’ by Ella Eyre, ‘If’ by Janet Jackson, ‘Into You’ by Ariana Grande, ‘Crush’ by Zara Larsson, ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’ by Prince and ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ by Michael Jackson.
Now I was ready for bed and something told me that I was going to sleep well.
I had not wanted to come to this hotel, but now, thanks to being matched with Laila, I was glad that I had.
It was a shame that she only planned to stay for another day.
Unless, of course, something happened to change her mind…
14
LAILA
I hit the snooze button for the third time before groaning.
There was no way I was ready to get out of this bed. It was like sleeping on a cloud. If my alarm hadn’t gone off so many times, it’d be easy to believe that I’d died and gone to heaven. The pillows, mattress and sheets were out of this world.
But that wasn’t the only reason I’d be happy to hide under the duvet. I was also worried about spending more time with a certain Frenchman.
Gabriel.
Just thinking about him made my stomach flutter like a teenager swooning over her favourite popstar.
So embarrassing.
As much as I hated to admit it, I’d enjoyed myself yesterday. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed so much.
Although I was sure that I’d be mortified forever about pouncing on Gabriel’s crotch in the incident I am now calling ‘Juice Gate’, every time I thought about what happened, it still made me chuckle.
The silly photos we asked strangers to take of me throwing juice at him then pretending that the replacement shorts were the best gift he’d ever received were also funny.
I couldn’t believe it when he’d tricked me into leaving so he could pay for them. I was hardly rolling in cash, but I still wanted to cover the cost. After all, it was my fault that he needed a new pair and I was sure he also needed to save money to use to promote his app. Which was why I’d slapped him on the bicep playfully because that was so sneaky of him.
