CHAPTER 25: Carbonara
"ok les gars, merci pour aujourd'hui. assurez-vous de m'avoir soumis vos articles et vous pouvez laisser" the lecturer shouts over the large auditorium like room. Checking I have sent Professor Couture my article, I close my laptop and gather my things into my bag. Slipping my fleece cardigan back over my arms, I check the time;
12:06
Perfect.
As I climb down the rows of stairs, I exchange small smiles with the other members of the class.
"excusez-moi mademoiselle steele, puis-je avoir un mot?" Professor waves at me front his desk, smiling I nod and approach him.
"So, you are American?" He asks very slowly, his thick French accent lacing every word.
"I am" I say with a smile, wondering where the conversation will take us.
"Your French is very good, it is clear in your writing that you have a talent" he says whilst packing his stuff back into his bag.
"Thank you" I reply conscious of Christian waiting outside for me.
"I look forward to seeing your work" he does up his bag and swings it onto his shoulder. "I will let you go now" he nods at me, obvious he became aware of my pointed shoe tapping on the floor.
"Thank you" I smile before adding, "votre américain est très bon". He giggles at the comment.
Opening the large oak doors, I instantly spot Christians car. Noticing a few cameras hiding in the edges, I slide on my sunglasses and climb down the stairs towards the car. Christian hops out and opens the door for me before I have the change to open it myself,
"Would madam care for lunch" he grins at me an arm folded in front of his chest and one held behind his back.
"Why thank you" I smile, taking his hand in mine and climbing into the car.
He dashed round the front of the car before jumping into the drivers seat.
"How was class?"he asks as he starts up the engine.
"Really good, how was your meeting?" I plug in my seatbelt as he pulls out of the car park. The trees flashed before me and soon we are driving into the quieter part of town that is more pricey.
"I thought I would spoil you" he grips my hand which is sitting on my knee as he pulls into the carpark. The car park is full of rather pricey cars and I'm intimidated to see the inside of the building. It's large white exterior stands proud as windows line most of the walls. Pulling into a space we hop out of the car and head inside.
"Mr Grey, follow me" the woman at the door greets us and leads us through the expansive restaurant. The modern restaurant has white walls and dark table clothes. The windows bring in lovely waves of natural light.
We are led to a table out of the patio, handed two menus and told she will be back with waters and wine.
"My lady" Christian pulls out my chair for me to sit and I oblige, placing my bag in between my feet. My purse is completely empty so it's an odd gesture but I'm sure the bag Christian got me is worth more than the house I own.
"votre vin et votre eau" the waitress comes back with a small trolly, placing the elegant jug of water onto the table and showing us the bottle of wine before pouring it into our glasses.
"nous aurons deux carbonaras s'il vous plaît" Christian orders for us, and smiles across the table at me.
"Carbonara?" I question, leaning on the table slightly smiling at him.
"You have to try it. The sauce is made from local Parmesan cheese" excitement fills his eyes as he raves about the meal that is about to be given to us. I can't help but zone out and focus on how animated he gets while talking and how he waves his hands around as he explains. What am I doing?! I can't get attached because this is fake and these feelings, whatever they are, are fake.
Soon enough a late plate of carbonara is placed in front of me and I can't help but gasp at the size of the portion,
"Just wait till you taste it" Christian smiles before digging his fork into the pasta.
Christian was right. This is an amazing carbonara.
————————————————————
"I see you have decided to join me for my movie marathon" I smile up at Christian coming back into the large apartment. He left over an hour ago to the gym and now stands a very sweaty- very attractive- man.
"Oh god" he says with a smile, "what are you watching" he approaches the sofa.
"I'm just finishing 27 dresses" I say sitting up slightly in my blanket burrow.
"Oh well I'm going to shower and then I may join you" he says walking towards the rooms, before passing the opening to the hallway with a towel on his shoulder.
About 10 minutes pass before Christian come back into the living space. He's currently making a lot of noise in the kitchen and I'm starting to get concerned.
"Christian do you need a- oh" I turn my head and see him approaching the sofa, tray in hand.
"I thought I would make us a cup of tea and I bowl of fruit each" he paces the tray to me before sitting next to me and placing it between us.
"Oh wow"I say admiring his work.
I pick up a mug and sniff the contents, it smells more floral than the tea we have at home,
"It's Earl Grey tea" he informs me, "lightly more floral, I love it" he says noticing my confusion.
"So what do we want to watch" I put my tea down and grab the remote.
"How about we just talk, I have something to try" he says with a weak voice, "we could put the radio on" he suggests shyly.
"Yeah sure" I turn to the first radio channel which is obviously French and adjust the volume.
"So I thought to get closer we should get to know each other better" Christian says tapping around on his phone, I sit facing him to allow him to feel more comfortable.
"That sounds good" I say, lifting my tea to my mouth. Oh god that too hot. Oh my that's burning my mouth. Do I spit it back into the mug?
No you can't do that.
Swallow it, okay okay.
1,2,3 swallow. Oh god that burns my throat oh my I can feel it scorching my stomach.
"Are you okay" Christian asks, amusement playing on his face.
"Hot" I say putting my tea back down.
"Okay so there's a New York Times article which was essentially a social experiment to see if answering some questions can make couples fall in love" he says with his eyes focussed on his phone in his hands. "At the end of the experiment they stare into each other's eyes for 4 minutes without saying anything and I was wondering if we couldn't try it" he shyly asks looking at me for the first time.
"Let's do it"
YOU ARE READING
Billionaire business deal
Romance"What is it like to be engaged to Christian, the most attractive business man of our generation?" She fluttered her extensions at me as the microphone edged closer to my mouth. "You can call him Mr Grey" --------------------- Anastasia Steele is...
