But as soon as my hand made contact, I’d regretted it.
His bicep was even firmer than it looked. It was like his muscles had muscles.
I was tempted to ask if he worked out, but that would’ve sounded pathetic. Plus it was obvious that he did. You didn’t get a body like that without lifting weights.
I was glad that we had the distraction of the Champs-Élysées and seeing the Arc de Triomphe in real life was amazing.
We’d taken the photos and visited extra locations to get the bonus points (although now that I thought about it, I didn’t know why I was bothering when I wasn’t even staying until the end of the week).
In the car back to the hotel, I’d even scribbled down one new thing I’d learnt about him (I deliberately put a very bland:he knows a lot about Paristo avoid crossing any lines) and chosen five songs for the playlist. Again, I’d gone for safe choices including ‘Paris’ by Taylor Swift, ‘Paris’ by Sabrina Carpenter, ‘Paris’ by Kenya Grace, ‘Paris’ by The Chainsmokers and ‘Paris in the Rain’ by Lauv.
Who knew there were so many songs about Paris?
I’ll be honest: Ialmostincluded ‘When Did You Get Hot?’ by Sabrina Carpenter too, but as accurate as it was, I knew it wouldn’t be appropriate.
Anyway, so given that I’d done all the required tasks, I knew that as soon as we got back to the hotel, I had to draw a line. Having an intimate dinner together was absolutely out of the question.
And when I got back to my room and saw that I’d had two missed calls from Juliette, I knew I’d made the right decision.
I couldn’t face calling her, especially knowing that I’d (accidentally) rubbed her son’s cock (the fact that I didn’t actually feel the size of it didn’t make me feel less guilty), so I texted to say I was having an early night and would call her today.
Luckily, she seemed fine, but I didn’t know how much longer I’d be able to put her off.
If I was only staying until tomorrow, I’d be fine. I could just tell her I’d catch up with her when I returned.
Then again, if I told her I was coming back to London, she’d want to know why. So either I’d have to lie and tell her that I didn’t like my match and pretend they’d set me up with someone else…
Or I’d have to tell her the truth. But then she’d be upset with me for not fessing up from the start.
It was all such a mess.
I couldn’t deal with this right now. I had to have breakfast and get ready for today’s briefing.
For a moment I contemplated going to the restaurant, but quickly saw sense and ordered room service instead.
This would only work if I kept contact with Gabriel to an absolute minimum.
The rules were simple: spend time with him for the activities and nothing more.
As long as I did that, I’d be fine and I’d keep my friendship with Juliette firmly intact.
Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy.
15
GABRIEL
‘Looks like we’re the first ones in the car again!’ Laila said as she slid onto the back seat of the Mercedes.
I tried and failed not to look at her long, smooth bare legs. She was wearing another beautiful dress and a pair of gold sandals.
She looked like a goddess and I wanted to tell her so, but Laila had said she was not here for romance so I had to respect her boundaries. And that meant not commenting on how sexy I thought she was.
‘Sounds like someone has a competitive streak.’ I smiled, then fastened my seatbelt.
‘I didn’t think I had, but I’m so used to failing that it’s a nice feeling to do well at something for a change. Not that us being first in the car has anything to do with me. Being matched with you has given me an unfair advantage! Have you lived in Paris for long?’
‘Non.’ I shook my head as I thought about why she considered that she was so used to failing. ‘I only moved here recently.’
