Page 56 of Heart Match

‘Then he asked me if I thought someone was ever going to love me the way he did. Again, I felt brave enough to say what I really thought. I said it wouldn’t be the hardest thing. That was the last thing I told him. The next memory I have is of waking up in a hospital bed. My Mum crying by my side. My family only managed to find me the next day. My phone had disappeared. Someone anonymously brought me to the hospital and I had no ID with me. The hospital staff said the guy who brought me in left before identifying himself.’

‘Fuck, what a bastard,’ says Luc, raking a hand through his hair in frustration.

‘We never told Dad. Nate went after Josh when he found out, but he was nowhere to be found, the coward. That’s when I moved. It worked out perfectly that Lexi was already planning on moving in with Thomas. I got a new phone, new address. That’s when Nate banned him from their group of friends. That’s when I said goodbye to social media; even fake profiles. I wanted to give him as little chance as possible to find me again. Lucky for me, I also got promoted at Secretive and my office was in a new location too.’

‘And you never pressed charges against him?’ asks Luc.

‘No, despite the insistence of my friends and family. I just wanted to put it all behind me as fast as I could. Pressing charges would prolong my torture,’ I say.

‘Do you ever regret not doing it?’

‘Sometimes. But then, I remember how painful it was at the time. I couldn’t see anything beyond what I was going through, you know? I couldn’t think clearly,’ I say.

He exhales sharply, taking in what I just told him. Then he holds me, tightly, and supportive, burying his face in my neck.

‘I’m really sorry you had to go through this. I wish I could do something to make it go away,’ he says.

‘It’s ok. It was a long time ago,’ I say, both reassuring him and myself, but glad for the words he just said.

‘Is that the reason for your nightmares?’ he asks as his warm hand takes the side of my face as his eyes lock on mine.

What?

I’m stunned, my eyes focused on his. I didn’t know someone could tell I had those dreadful nightmares. No one has ever told me that. It might be because I almost never sleep with anyone, other than the girls.

‘Yes. I didn’t know you could tell. Is it bad?’

‘I wouldn’t say it would stop me from sleeping with you again,’ he says grinning, immediately brightening up my face with a smile once again. My shoulders relax a little, and I feel like I can breathe again.

‘You have tomato sauce right here,’ I wipe the corner of his mouth with my thumb.

‘All this time you were watching me with tomato sauce on the corner of my mouth and didn’t say anything?’ He holds back a smirk arching up one eyebrow. ‘You’re evil, Olivia,’ he says, then crashes his mouth against mine.

‘So you keep saying,’ I tease.

‘I like your kind of evil,’ he says into my mouth, then kisses me again. He tastes of tomato sauce and Luc, and he feels warm and soft in my mouth.

He helps me clean up the kitchen and once we’re done he holds me from behind, his hands firm and warm around my waist. His mouth brushes my neck and stops in my ear, sending tickles through my bloodstream.

‘I’ve gotta go. I have a very important day at work tomorrow,’ he whispers.

Though that sounds a bit disappointing, it doesn’t feel like it when he’s touching me like this and speaking with his French accent in my ear.

Chapter Seventeen

It’s late afternoon when I’m coming out of the supermarket—hands busy with my grocery bags—when Naomi calls. I see it on my watch, but I need my phone to answer it, otherwise I don’t listen to a word she’s saying. I lean on a wall so I can hold one of the bags between my waist and the wall and use the free hand to get my phone from the back pocket of my jeans. I don’t even have time to say hello.

‘Can you tell me why you’re on UK Gossip Today’s Instagram post?’ she blurts out, as if I’m supposed to know what the fuck she’s talking about.

‘What?’ I’m still trying not to drop my groceries.

‘Well, you are. You didn’t tell me you were seeing someone, let alone a famous guy.’

I think she called the wrong number.

‘Naomi, just … slow down. I have no idea what you’re talking about. Aren’t you supposed to be calling one of your clients?’

A bus drives by and that makes it even harder to hear her and think clearly.

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