Page 39 of My French Love Affair

I squeeze my eyes shut, gripping the shampoo bottle like it’s a lifeline.

It’s just rage. That’s all.

The kind of pure, fiery anger that burns bright and hot, that lingers in your chest because no one has annoyed you that much in years.

That’s why I keep replaying our interactions in my head.

Yeah. That’s it.

That’s why I keep thinking about the infuriating way his lips twitched every time I insulted him.

And that’s exactly why I keep wondering what he’d look like if he ever actually lost that smirk and…

Nope.

Absolutelynot.

I squeeze my eyes shut and let the water pound against my back.

I’m going to get into my pyjamas, dry my hair and get to bed.

And tomorrow?

Tomorrow, I’m forgetting he ever existed.

Chapter Twelve

Poppy

Leah stumbles into the hotel suite looking like she’s just returned from a week-long luxury retreat.

She’sglowing.

Her dark hair is freshly styled, tousled in a way that screams expensive lifestyle. She’s wearing a new silk slip dress that I know for a fact she didn’t have on her yesterday, and to top it off, she’s also carrying a shopping bag from Tiffany’s.

Emma, Jas and I are still sitting cross-legged in our pajamas, all of us mid-breakfast as she waltzes in and dramatically drops her things down onto the floor. I watch in amusement as she collapses onto the bed, a wide grin on her pretty face.

“I’ve found him,” she sighs, starry-eyed as she blinks up at the ceiling.

Jas doesn’t even look up from her croissant. “Oh, here we go.”

“Just to clarify -whois ‘him’?” Emma asks.

“My future husband.”

I set my coffee down. “Leah.”

“He’sperfect,” she gushes, kicking off her heels and sighingdreamily. “His name is Jacques. He’s older, but in a distinguished way. Forty-two -”

Emma isn’t easily shocked, and yet she chokes on her juice.

“Leah, that’s almost twice your age.”

“And he’srich,” Leah continues, undeterred. “Like,disgustinglyrich. He has a holiday home here in Monaco, multiple cars that cost more than my entire existence,and-” she reaches out, stretching so that she can lift the Tiffany’s bag from the floor, displaying it to us all dramatically “- he took meshoppingthis morning.”

Jas finally looks up from her food. “Already?”

“I mean, I was hardly going to sayno,”Leah shrugs.

---