Discretion (The Dumonts, #1)(14)

Don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it.

“Because you want to sleep with me.”

Ugh. I said it.

He grins, and once again my world tilts on its axis. “I never said that. I won’t say that you’re wrong, but perhaps a better way of putting it is that I’d like to get to know you.”

“I’m sure you have many people you’d like to get to know.”

“Not particularly.”

Okay, I’ve already blurted out what should have been filtered, and I don’t want to get all insecure and whatnot right now with him, but honestly, I have no idea what this guy could even want with me. I’m not some model; I’m not French; I’m not rich. I’m anything but those things, and yet this guy wants to spend time with me and get to know me? He has no idea how boring I actually am.

“You don’t seem to believe me,” he says with a shrug. “I’m not sure what to say to that. All I know is that you don’t have to be anywhere. You’ve already missed your train. You’re going to need to take it easy for the next few days with your ankle, and I hardly think you should travel in your condition. So why not make things easier on your health and your heart by just staying here?”

Heart?

He reads the confusion on my face and explains, “Stress affects your heart. You’ve been stressed. I can tell. Not just because of the terrible thing that happened to you last night, but other things as well. Let your heart beat freely for a while, nothing weighing it down, nothing holding it back.” He gestures to the doors and the bright-blue sky outside. “Out there is the sea. The waves come in, the waves go out. Slip into its rhythm for a while.”

It all sounds so tempting and nearly too good to be true—which is why I think I need to keep my guard up, despite all the poetic things that keep pouring out of Olivier’s mouth.

God, that mouth.

I tear my eyes away from his face.

“Have you seen the movie Vertigo?” I ask him.

He blinks at me. “Of course. You just saw me smash the cup. I’ve seen everything Hitchcock has done.”

“Then you probably won’t blame me for thinking you’re getting a little Jimmy Stewart with my Kim Novak.”

“Because I think you’re a ghost?”

“Because she jumped into San Francisco Bay, and he saved her life. And what was the line he used? ‘The Chinese say that once you’ve saved a person’s life, you’re responsible for it forever.’ So, as he said, you’re committed.”

He folds his arms across his chest, amused again. “Actually, the Chinese have no such saying. It was invented for the film. And if I do recall, last night you acted like you were never in much danger at all.”

He’s right, and I feel awful for it.

“Well, let’s just say I was in shock. But I mean it when I say I do owe you my life. I’m trying to just ignore what happened but—”

“Don’t ignore it. Never ignore trauma. It will only traumatize you from the inside out. You had quite the ordeal, and it’s going to take you some time to come to terms with that. So you might as well come to terms with it here. With me.”

My God, he’s persistent. I can’t believe I’m putting up as much of a struggle as I am. My friend Chantal would be hitting me upside the head right now if she knew how stubborn I was being, especially since she’s been harping on me to just find some hot European guy and sleep with him as a giant “fuck you” to Tom.

But that’s not in my nature. I didn’t have any boyfriends in high school. I lost my virginity at seventeen with my best guy friend, just to get it over with. I’m uncomfortable and shy with men, especially with anything sexual, since Tom has been my world for so long.

And yet, here I am feeling a level of familiarity and comfort with Olivier that I haven’t felt with anyone before. Not with a stranger, anyway.

It probably has everything to do with the fact that he saved you, I tell myself.

But so what?

Why not just go for it for once, even if it’s against my nature?

I glance at him and really take in his face, pushing past all those handsome barriers that take my breath away to really get a feel for who he is. It’s in the curve of his lips, the warmth of his eyes. And, yeah, the fact that he’s probably a billionaire.

“Okay,” I say softly.

“Okay?” he repeats, brows raised.

I nod and bite back the grin on my face.

“I’ll stay,” I tell him, then add quickly, “but only until I’m better, and even if I’m not, I’m not missing my plane back home. I’ve got school; I’ve got my mother; I’ve got . . . a life I need to get back to.”

“But that doesn’t mean you can’t live another life until then,” he says, like he already knows this isn’t something Sadie Reynolds normally does.

Another me, another life.

Just for a bit.





CHAPTER FOUR

OLIVIER

I don’t think I’ve ever met any girl so stubborn before, though that’s probably part of the reason why I’m so taken with Sadie. As callous as it sounds, I’m used to snapping my fingers and having a lineup of women at the ready, so the fact that now she knows who I am and still needs extra convincing to stay makes her an even more enticing challenge.