My first thought was that maybe he’d left. That he was tired of me pushing him away and he’d gone to find a woman who would be interested in pursuing something with him romantically.
And let’s face it. He wouldn’t be short of offers. He was easy to talk to, kind, caring, considerate, funny and, of course, incredibly sexy.
Gabriel was a catch. If things were different, I’d give my right arm to date someone like him.
But they weren’t.
He was off-limits.
End of story.
Just as my overactive imagination started creating images of him cosying up with some gorgeous, young French supermodel, a delicious scent surrounded me.
I didn’t even need to look up to know who it was.
Every atom in my body came alive.
It might only be my fifth full day at the hotel but I already knew his scent.
‘Salut,’ Gabriel whispered in my ear as he sat down beside me. His warm, sweet breath tickled my ear and goosebumps erupted across my skin. ‘Ça va?’
‘I’m good,’ I whispered back, struggling to get the words out. ‘You?’
‘Bien,’ he replied softly.
I turned my head to look at him and my breath caught in my throat.
Jesus.
It’d only been twenty-four hours since I’d last seen him, yet somehow, I’d forgotten just how incredible he looked.
We’d been told that the dress code was ‘modern smart’, so it might have something to do with the fact that he was wearing a smart pair of trousers and a crisp white shirt which of course had its sleeves rolled up. At this point I was convinced he did that on purpose because he knew his forearms were my weakness.
And I kind of loved how he was wearing trainers with his trousers. Well, I called them trainers, but they weren’t like the scuffed ones Ricky insisted on wearing. These were smart and brilliant white and looked fresh out of the box.
I swallowed hard then quickly turned to face the front and attempted to focus on what Claude was saying.
He reminded us to collect our printed photos from reception every morning for our passports and said that the Love Alchemists had brought up the envelopes for people who hadn’t already picked theirs up.
I’d forgotten to do that this week, so I needed to remember to get them at the end of the briefing. Not that I wanted to.
Gabriel had taken all of the photos on his phone. He’d held on to the portraits too, which in my haste to leave I’d forgotten about until now. I hated that he probably had dozens of shitty pictures of me but there was nothing I could do about it.
Once Claude finished talking, our phones pinged with the clue.
I looked at the screen.
This flows beneath thirty-seven bridges including Pont Neuf, Pont Alexandre III and Pont des Arts.
‘That’s easy!’ called out one of the guests.
‘I am glad you know the answer, but please do not say it out loud,’ Claude smiled. ‘Discuss it with your match, reply to the message as usual, then go to reception. Tonight, because everyone needs to arrive and depart from the location at the same time, we will be travelling in one vehicle together.’
Oh, thank God.
That meant I wouldn’t be alone with Gabriel.
‘Do you know the answer?’ Gabriel asked.
