Tried for Love (TSATD)

Chapter 10

Leah

I can't say that a drive back to Paris with Gabriel Valentine was pleasant. After those arguments I had with Nick and papa back in the lake house the silent treatment in the car was quite welcome.

It was kind of him, for a change, for him not to force words out of me the way he did in the lake.. Before— before certain things happened, that I had the least energy to worry about or discuss.

Tension was certainly something that existed between the two of us, but the silence during the drive had no such awkwardness.. To be honest, I don't think any woman could be awkward around Valentine. He simply didn't allow such discomfort around himself, mostly because meaningless kisses didn't effect him at all.

Good. The last thing I needed was to worry about such a bizarre thing. It happened because of some madness we were both controlled by, but that didn't mean it was ever going to happen again.

No, I had sworn to myself that I would never fall on that level, even though Nicholas had, long ago, and didn't seem to bother fixing it. What I shared with Valentine was a kiss and nothing more. So to bother overthinking about it was absurd.

All that was left to do was to tell Valentine that it would be very appreciable if we forgot about the whole thing, as if it didn't ever even happen. He had Tanya to worry about.. And despite what Nicholas did, I did not wish for him to find out either.

However, even as we drove in the city, I couldn't bring myself to say a word. It must had been two in the morning by the time we arrived, still driving a few blocks away from my condo while the music in his car was still blasting. It was annoying as hell, but it also helped block out my thoughts while we were on the road.

I turned the volume down, noticing how he followed my hand. "Do you think someone saw?" My voice broke in alongside the now faded music, but my question didn't seem to had taken him by surprise even slightly.

"Your fiancé certainly didn't. He wouldn't had stuck his tongue down your throat as a goodbye if he did." Oh. He must've— he must've seen that. Great. It couldn't get more humiliating than that.

He continued.. "I expect every man to be damned furious to see his girlfriend— no, fiancée, getting any kind of intimate with another man, but he most definitely wasn't. So I don't think you have to worry about that."

Intimate, he said.. Intimate. As if we— We were not getting intimate! In any way. It was a mere kiss. He must've been mad to think that I would ever lower myself on that level of actually betraying the man I was supposed to marry.

No matter how many wrongs Nick had done, disloyalty was never something I would commit. Even worse, Valentine obviously saw me as the kind of woman that went around and kissed whoever nearest.

The car came to stop. We had arrived and I hadn't even noticed from the shock from his words. "Did you talk to your father?"

His gaze wrenched to me. And I felt my blood boiling in my veins with anger.. With the need to deny those previous words..

Whatever it was he considered intimate, that kiss wasn't.. No, not even close to that. There was heat going up my cheeks, words at the tip of my tongue.. Yet I kept it to myself.

"No." I answered, keeping my voice as still as possible. Once I tell him to keep that stunt kiss for himself, I thought, I'll leave and won't have to see him ever again. I'd avoid him, if anything.. "He asked you to drive me, didn't he?"

"He didn't." I followed how he opened the door. "I offered." And he was out.

With an annoyed sigh leaving some dark place in my chest, I pushed my door open as well and walked out. He was rounding the car, walking towards the trunk. How he knew where my condo was, without me even saying so, I had no clue.