All I ask | Chris Evans

11

We spent another hour on the boat before returning safely back to land. This time it was Henry who almost fell off the boat, making me cry out in laughter while he chased me. "What next?" I giggled once he had finally caught up to me.

"Next we shop!" He stated.

"We shop?" I questioned out of confusion.

"We shop" he repeated. Taking my hand in his, we walked down the path beside the canal. Once we were at the top of the stairs of the canal I realised that we were in Little Venice. I had never actually visited but I'd read about it and seen it online. It was truly beautiful. The time was roughly 4PM by the time we reached Knightsbridge. Gorgeous old architecture towered over the street. We walked toward the dark brown brick department store called Harrods. Henry insisted that we went in. Luckily it wasn't too busy and we were able to get around without him being noticed. The ground floor was covered in stands full of designer bags and purses. Big brand names like Gucci, Dior, Balenciaga were written across the walls. No doubt just one of these items were twice the amount of any bag I owned, the whole floor of bags was most likely twice if not triple what was in my bank account. I ran my fingers across the soft buttery leather bags, just touching them felt illegal. Without my acknowledgement, Henry had called over one of the staff members, telling them to put on hold anything I touched. Once we had finished looking around the bags and accessories section, we walked into the jewellery part. Each of the diamonds sparkled through the heavy duty protective glass. They were all beautiful in their own unique way, but only one stood out to me. It was a delicate Van Cleef & Arpels bracelet. A simple gold chain with emerald green clover pendants on the bracelet. "Try it on" Henry whispered into my ear.

"I can't, have you seen the price tag next to it!" I whispered back.

"Try it on darling" he repeated.

"Okay" I nodded, biting my lip excitedly. Henry called over the assistant working in the Van Cleef & Arpels stand. He unlocked the cabinet and carefully took out the circular beige leather cushion that it was on. Unclasping the bracelet, I held my wrist over the glass for him to put it on. I gasped at the cold metal contacting my skin. I gazed at the beauty of the jewellery on my wrist, watching it sparkle under the light. "Thank you" I smiled, indicating for him to take it off and put it back in its cabinet.

"We'll take it" Henry nodded from behind me. I shot round, looking at him.

"Henry! This bracelet is two months worth of my rent maybe even three, I cannot afford it" I whispered. "We are okay but thank you so much" I thanked the shop assistant.

"It's a good job I can then" Henry whispered into my ear. "Yes we will take it" he told the poor man who kept glancing between the two of us confused on whether to bag it up or not.

"You can't buy that for me" I protested.

"And why the hell not?" he questioned.

"Because. Because... you can't" I continued to insist.

"Too late" he bent down and kissed my cheek, leaving me stunned and unable to move. Before I knew it, Henry had his black shiny credit card out and put it in the machine. He returned to me with the sleek black bag with a silk ribbon and handed it to me.

"I-" I stuttered. "I don't even know what to say. Thank you. You really didn't have to do that"

"But I wanted to, now give me a kiss and we can go look at the rest of the shop" he stated. I rested my hand on his bearded cheek and kissed him, and I kissed him good, his moustache tickled my upper lip. He chuckled at my eagerness and slipped his hand into mine, leading me to the escalator.

I sat on the velvet chaise lounge waiting for Henry to come out of the dressing room. The curtain opened and my core started to heat up. He was in an all black suit with a white shirt, the jacket was tight to his arms and chest, making my heart skip a beat. I could of jumped his bones right then and there. "You like?" he smirked, and all I could do was nod. I stood up and walked over to him, running my fingers across his clothed bicep. The suit material soft to my touch. "You need to control yourself Miss Rose" he tutted, I looked up at him in shock of his boldness. "I'll take it" he grinned at the lady. He strolled back into the changing room and I flopped back down into the seat, completely speechless.

Next up was the women's clothes department. I sat Henry down in the corner with the two bags whist I wondered around the floor. My fingers running through all the expensive designs and fabrics. My eyes fell upon a red gown. It was undeniably beautiful. It was a strapless heart neckline with a corset like bodice, tight until the waistline. It then flowed into a chiffon skirt. A shop assistant nearby noticed my trance by this dress and asked me if I wanted to try it on, I eagerly nodded and she told me she would take it to a dressing room and I could try it on when I was finished browsing. I grabbed Henry from the corner and told him I was going to try something on. Of course he then wanted to see what it was so came with me to the dressing room. It took me a couple minutes to actually put on the dress rather than just staring at it in awe hanging up. I slipped the material over my head. I had to get some help from the lady to do the bodice up. My fingers grasping onto the velvet curtain fabric I opened it, revealing myself to Henry. I watched him look up from his phone and his jaw fall open slack. Once he had closed his mouth he stood up and walked over to me. He stood behind me whilst I looked into the mirror. He gently traced his index across my shoulder to my collarbone. "You need to control yourself Mr Cavill" I muttered in amusement and he let out a low chuckle.

"We will most definitely take this" Henry nodded to the shop assistant and I smiled at him through the mirror. "You are absolutely, magnificently beautiful" he whispered before spinning me around and kissing me. I sauntered back into the dressing room to get changed, I managed to bat Henry off trying to buy the dress. And I brought it myself.

By the time we had left the department store it was 6:30pm. He had told me that he'd made dinner reservations at 8 so we still had time to wander around London. Unfortunately Henry had been spotted by a couple of people, luckily they were all lovely and just asked for pictures which I was happy to take.

The time soon turned 8pm and we were on our way to the restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived at a smallish Italian restaurant. The waiter greeted us enthusiastically, and the room was buzzing with the laughter of customers and staff. It was my favourite kind of environment. We were sat in a corner and the waiter took our drinks order. "I had a lot of fun today" I smiled as he topped my glass up with wine.

"Me too. It was a really good day" he replied, filling his own glass up. My heart felt warm with content as we spoke about our childhoods. He was telling me all about growing up playing rugby with his brothers and cousins, how competitive they could all be. Hearty Italian music played in the background whilst we ate. I told him all about the mischief me and Scott used to get up to when we were teenagers, excluding Chris in all the stories.

"We used to have this little hidden hut in the woods by my house and I remember when we were 15 or 16, I'd stolen my dads scotch and we drunk it in there. And when my dad came to get us he had to carry me over his shoulder and that was the day I vowed never to drink scotch again." I stated, while Henry laughed at me. "Even now the smell makes me gag" I grimaced.

Once we had left the restaurant, we were both feeling slightly tipsy due to the amount of wine we'd consumed. He had demanded that I came back to his to see his lego collection from when he was younger. We got in a taxi and he told the driver his street. After we arrived, I paid the taxi fare and we stumbled our way up the stairs to his flat. He had multiple attempts before he managed to get his key in the door and let us inside.

He led me into the room with his lego and talked me through them. After we'd established that it was too late for me to go home and that I was going to stay the night, he cracked open another bottle of wine and began playing music in the kitchen. "Dance with me!" he insisted. I slipped my hand into his and my other hand rested on his shoulder, while his other hand rested firmly on my waist. I don't remember how it started but we began kissing. He placed his hands under my thighs and lifted me onto the kitchen worktop. My fingers were deeply entwined in his chocolate brown curls. He tasted like red wine and I'm sure I did too. before it got any further we decided to stop and go to sleep. Giving me an old t-shirt of his, I put that on and climbed into bed next to him. His bare chest pressed against my back keeping me warm. I felt overwhelmingly safe in the warmth of his arms.