Chapter 18
LAILA
‘This is so good!’ I groaned with pleasure as I licked the ice cream.
‘It is,’ Gabriel said as his tongue slowly traced over his scoop of pistachio. My filthy mind instantly went to the gutter as I wondered what else he was able to lick so skilfully.
Jesus.
I knew it’d been a lifetime since I’d felt a man’s tongue roaming over my body, but it wasn’t right to be thinking about Gabriel in that way. If I was going to fantasise about a man, I needed to choose someone else.
Anyone but him would be appropriate.
‘The vanilla is not a little… boring?’ he asked.
‘Vanilla’s a classic,’ I said. ‘I thought about trying another flavour, but I was worried that I wouldn’t like it.’
‘In life you have to take risks. Sometimes you have the most fun when you are trying something different.’ He held my gaze and I wondered if he was still talking about the ice cream.
‘My life must be sadder than I thought if my definition of living life on the edge is choosing to eat nut-flavoured ice cream instead of vanilla.’ I laughed.
‘I think that you might enjoy eating nuts more than you think.’ A cheeky smile flashed across his face.
‘Oh, really?’ I said.
‘Oui. Perhaps you would like to have a taste now?’ He held his ice cream cone towards me.
‘What?’ I gasped, clutching my chest with mock shock. ‘You’re asking me to lick your nuts in public and in broad daylight?’
I couldn’t believe I was flirting with him so shamelessly, especially when I was supposed to be keeping things above board.
I blamed that visit to the I Love You Wall.
First, Gabriel said all that nice stuff about how he wished I could see myself the way he saw me and paid me all those compliments.
Then he encouraged me to love myself more, which wasn’t gonna happen any time soon, but it was sweet of him to try.
And then he said that he loved my laugh.
If I was being honest, up until recently I’d forgotten how it felt to laugh. It didn’t happen much, apart from if I was watching something funny on TV. But I’d probably laughed more in the past few days than I had in the last few years.
Which was probably also why I made the mistake of calling his accent ‘sexy’. It didn’t have to mean anything though. I was pretty sure that millions of people around the world agreed that the French accent was sexy, right?
So yeah, I challenged any red-blooded woman not to get compliments from a hot younger man who had a gorgeous accent, looked like a god, had a kind heart, was a good listener and conversationalist and made her laugh without accidentally flirting with him by going along with this whole ‘nuts’ banter.
‘I am sure no one will notice you doing it. And even if they do, like I said, sometimes taking risks can be fun.’ He raised his eyebrow.
‘Well, if you’re sure?’ I said. It did look tempting.
‘I would not offer if I did not want you to have a taste…’
‘Okay.’ I leant forward, moving my mouth towards the cone he was still holding.
I licked from the bottom of the scoop, up to the top, before circling it slowly with my tongue.
When I looked up at Gabriel, his eyes were the colour of charcoal and his lips were parted.
‘Mmmm,’ I groaned before licking the cream suggestively from around my mouth.
‘It tastes even better than I thought it would.’
Gabriel held my gaze and his Adam’s apple bobbed.
What the actual fuck was I doing?
I knew full well that my actions were wrong and that I was straying into very dangerous territory flirting with him like this. But the devil was dancing on my shoulder and I couldn’t seem to bring myself to stop.
Just as I was about to lick the ice cream again, my phone rang.
‘I’m not done with that yet, so don’t finish without me.’ I flashed him a cheeky smile as I reached for my phone.
‘Do not worry. I promise I will always make sure that you finish first,’ Gabriel growled.
Fuck.
Something told me he wasn’t talking about the ice cream and as my body lit up with desire, I wished that I could find out if what he’d said was true. But when I looked at my phone screen, my blood ran cold.
‘Shit. It’s your mum!’ Panic flooded my voice.
As the phone continued to ring, my heart thudded against my chest. I racked my brain, trying to work out what to do.
I’d already dodged Juliette’s calls yesterday. If I didn’t pick up now, she’d get suspicious.
I had to answer.
‘Juliette, hi!’ I squeaked. ‘Sorry I missed your calls yesterday. We’re just erm, at a… on an excursion, so we’re not supposed to be on our phones.’
‘How exciting! I just wanted to check that you are enjoying yourself.’
‘Yes. It’s, it’s going well. It’s good. Just hectic, y’know. Busy, busy!’ I repeated.
‘And how is your match? I was hoping you would send some photos. Please tell me he is not old and wrinkly? If he is, I hope he at least has lots of money!’
‘No!’ I said quickly. ‘He’s… nice.’ I looked at Gabriel sheepishly. ‘He just… doesn’t like having his photo taken.’
‘Oh,’ Juliette replied. ‘I hope he is not hiding something. Perhaps you could take a picture in secret, send it to me and I will ask Archibold if he knows someone who can investigate for you.’
‘No! I have to respect his privacy.’
‘Okay, sweetie. You are such a, how do you say? A goody shoes?’
‘It’s goody-two-shoes,’ I muttered as my stomach twisted.
If Juliette knew that just minutes ago, I’d been flirting with her son, telling him how much I was enjoying licking his ‘nuts’, she’d skin me alive.
‘I’m not…’ My voice trailed off and I hung my head with shame. ‘I have to go. I’ll call tomorrow, okay?’
‘Of course, sweetie! Enjoy Paris and of course have lots of naughty fun with your match!’ Juliette cackled and my stomach tightened again.
‘I… I’ll… Bye,’ I said before hanging up then dropping my head in my hands. ‘I’m such a terrible friend,’ I sighed.
‘You have done nothing wrong,’ Gabriel said.
‘Your mum thinks I’m a bloody angel. If she saw the way I was just licking that ice cream like it was your balls, she’d send me straight to hell.’
‘Is that what you were doing?’ He quirked an eyebrow. ‘And here I was thinking that you were just having a taste of my pistachio ice cream.’ Gabriel’s hand flew to his chest like he was clutching his imaginary pearls.
‘This is serious,’ I protested.
‘We were playing around. It was just some harmless flirting. It is not as if my mother caught us doing anything. And in any case, who and what you choose to lick is completely up to you. This is your life, not hers.’
‘I know, but I can’t betray her like this. It isn’t right. Thanks for a lovely day, but I’m sorry, I can’t stay out with you. I need to go back to the hotel,’ I said, walking away and scanning the streets for the nearest Metro station.
‘Laila! Don’t go!’ Gabriel followed behind me.
‘I have to! Look, I’ll see you at the activity tomorrow, but apart from that, we have to keep our distance. It’s for the best.’
This was what I’d planned to do from the start, but I’d got sidetracked. I’d lost myself just because he’d given me some compliments.
I couldn’t do anything about my lack of willpower over the past few days, but I could do something about my behaviour in the future.
There’d be no more getting ice cream together or flirting.
I would only see Gabriel for the activities until we finally went to the Eiffel Tower. Outside of that, I’d avoid him.
That was the only way this could work.
That had to be the plan.
And this time, I was determined to stick to it.