The Slut's Guide to Romance(ONC 2024)

9

My legs crossed over one another; I sit on my bed and take notes on Alexia's interview this afternoon.

"I can't explain what had come over me that night," she mused. "In his books, Owen said that Honor was drunk, but a lot of our experiences got blended into that character. He and Inez were drunk. Adrian snuck them whisky and a few innocent kisses led to her first time ever, but there was never anything innocent about Lucca and I. Everything was always so..."

My alarm cuts through the audio, alerting me that it's time for dinner. In the books, Honor couldn't cook to save her life, but I'm choosing to be polite to my host. Maybe poke around what seems editable and sneak some food from the guest pantry after she's fallen asleep.

Setting my equipment to the side, I head out the door and stroll down the long cream and gold-glinted hall with the ornate red carpet leading a path. It takes about ten minutes to reach the kitchen and check my Apple Watch. I am just in time.

At least, I thought I was.

My senses are overwhelmed as my eyes are met with a banquet neatly arranged around the small round kitchen table. Alexia smiles as she announces she didn't know what I wanted to eat and so she made a variety of dishes.

Smoked king salmon, southern fried chicken, rice and peas, steak au poivre with red wine pan sauce, and roasted potatoes. Sancocho, a variety of breads, and a bowl of fresh strawberries acting as the centerpiece.

It smells amazing. It looks incredible. I can't imagine that she made all of this herself let alone in four hours with time to glam up in a low-cut black dress with her curls pulled back in one of those messy buns that take way too much effort.

"You... made this?" I ask as I gravitate to the table across from Alexia.

An amused smile curls at Alexia's lips as she elegantly flutters into her seat, plucking a strawberry from the bowl, and bringing it to her lips.

"We're the only one's here," she says before taking a small bite.

Her eyes trail my body as I pull out my seat. Suddenly feeling very underdressed in a baggy T-shirt and sweats that swallow my small frame.

I didn't realize this would be a whole affair. My body is tense as I wonder if she's judging me, a smirk at her lips as Alexia finishes off her strawberry in another bite before telling me to sit.

I crash down without hesitation. A smile on her face, Alexia asks if I will be eating some of anything as she leans over giving me an accidental peek at her breasts while she quickly piles my plate family style.

"I uh–" I look down at the food in front of me. My cheeks warm to the touch. "I guess so. You um–"

I hesitate to tell her that at that angle I can see her large caramel mounds. I shouldn't be looking there. She will think I'm a creep.

"In the books–" I divert.

"Like I said," Alexia muses as she retakes her seat, serving herself as much as she had me and now I feel guilty because like it or not, I know there's no way I can eat this much. "Honor is a blend of Owen and myself. Yes, my brother and I are close, but I'm not exactly a relatable character."

There's a slyness to Alexia's words that I cannot place as she informs me that Owen is the wreck in the kitchen. The writer raised at his mother's skirt until he was five when he was then sent to live with his grandparents in England while his mother consulted for the Louvre Museum here in France and she traveled with her father for his cooking series.

"For better or worse, I am my father's legacy," Alexia explains. "He wanted a daughter as elegant and refined as the woman he fell in love with, while simultaneously being the son he had wanted. That's why they named me Alex, which I had changed to Alexia when I was a teen. Owen was an accident and my dad never treated him like anything else. I was the physical manifestation of my parents' love story so they poured into me equally. I can cook with the best of them. I was an art prodigy, I play six instruments and speak several languages. I am the pageant dog," she says, a bitter edge in her tone as she takes a bite.