Page 15 of Angel Eyes

Nora

I smirked, firing back another message.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Female Student

Date: June 8, 2024, 13:01 PM

I do—that’s the point.

- G

Her reply appeared less than a minute later.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Female Student

Date: June 8, 2024, 13:02 PM

Such gratitude …

Cheers,

Nora

I blew out a breath of laughter and powered off the machine.

In truth, I did owe Nora my gratitude, if only for being a good friend. Sometimes, I wondered what I had done to deserve her and James. The two of them had been my constants since I arrived in Paris as a naive and untested twenty-five-year-old. Paris could be overwhelming for newcomers, and while I hadn’t been afraid to fend for myself, I would always appreciate the two of them for taking me into their family and for being my anchor when I had little more than my determination to keep me grounded. I owed them a lot. One day, I would figure out how to repay them.

I crossed the room to switch off the lights and check the security system before grabbing my wallet from the counter and heading for the exit. But no sooner had I pushed the door open than I ran directly into someone standing just outside of it.

“Merde, sorry, I—”

The words fell from my lips as I caught sight of Juliet on the sidewalk, equally startled and massaging one elbow. She let out a nervous laugh, the sound of it like tinkling bells.

“Is it me, or are we fated to keep running into each other?”

I scratched the side of my nose, trying to stop the smile that was fighting its way onto my lips. “It would appear so.”

She didn’t leave after all. What did it mean that she had been waiting here this whole time?

“I really enjoyed the tour. Now I see why you offered to show me around. You definitely know more about the city than your average Parisian.”

“Yeah, well …” I let my sentence drop, unsure what else to say. It’s true I had offered to accompany her around because I knew a lot about the art museum scene. But if I was honest, there had been another reason, one I really didn’t want to examine.

A beat of silence passed.

“Look, Gabriel, I meant to call—”

“Don’t,” I said, my tone coming out more forceful than I intended. I inhaled slowly, then tried again. “You don’t need to explain.”

The only thing more embarrassing than being rejected was having it laid out for you in excruciating detail. If she didn’t want to spend any more time with me, it was well within her rights. But I wasn’t exactly eager to have it shoved down my throat.

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