Running To Him - Forbidden Hearts Series Book 6

14| Be Careful What You Bet For

Okay...I'll give Ollie this one. Bringing me to that vineyard was an amazingly beautiful distraction that I desperately needed.

Going to vineyards all around the United States was something that my mom and I used to do ever since I was little. And even though it brought up memories of her, they were good memories.

Standing there and admiring that vineyard made me feel like she was there with me. And yes, of course there was an aching my chest. But I knew that was never going away as long as I lived; but that was the first time since I've been without her that thinking of her made me smile a little.

The downside was that, once again, Ollie seemed to know exactly what to do to get me out of my own head, even though he didn't know why I was in my own head.

And no way in hell was he going to know. Once he found out, I knew he was going to do whatever he could to try to snap me back to reality. It wasn't because of what we shared before or anything like that. It was just because I was the type of man he was.

Sure, I couldn't keep it a secret forever. Well, maybe if you stayed in Paris forever then I could. But I tended to be a bad luck magnet. If he ended up ever moving back to New York, he was definitely going to run into Harper or one of my friends without a doubt they would spill the beans.

I cleared my throat in an attempt to stop my train of thought and glanced around at my surroundings. The street we were on was surprisingly busy. A lot busier than I thought it would be in this city.

"I didn't expect the streets here to be so cluttered. It's almost like home."

Ollie chuckled. "It's not like this everywhere in the city. But one of the places I want to show you is here and it has amazing food."

Suddenly a small black and red car sped past us, causing me to jump and bump into Ollie. His hands gripped my shoulders to keep me from falling.

No touching, Jamie.

"Whoa," he said from behind me. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Sorry that car was just...Yeah. I'm fine."

There was a moment of silence before he ushered me to walk on the other side of him. That put him closer to the street.

"I'll feel a lot better with you not being so close to the road. After all, if something happens to you, then I have no idea what to tell my boss about you not paying your rent."

"Very funny, Ollie," I replied with a roll of my eyes. I knew he was kidding, but there was a very tiny part of me that liked that he worried about me. "So how much farther is this place? I'm going to waste away if I don't eat soon."

He pointed straight ahead. "Do you see those two metro stops up ahead? Pigalle and St. George's?"

"Yeah, I see it."

"It's right between there."

After taking a few more steps, I could finally see what he was talking about and read the name. "Buvette Paris? Is that it?"

"Yep. It's one of the first restaurants I ate at the first time I visited Paris."

"The first time? How many times have you been here?"

Ollie shared a lot about himself when we did that whole fake-date thing for Harper's wedding and got to know each other, but he didn't get into that many specifics. He told me was that he loved to travel, but he just didn't tell me where. And I didn't ask.

At the time, I was one hundred percent focused on just trying to convince my mom that I had a real date and that I didn't need her meddling in my love life.