: ̗̀➛ part three of the
one for the road series
SNOWFALL / CL16
in which two childhood friends reunite. a formula one driver wants to learn how to snowboard and it just so happens that the daughter of his mum's be...
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✧ ˚ · . CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO . · ˚✧ skinny dip in water under the bridge
paris, february 2023
"Cappuccino with an extra shot of espresso..."My best friend's voice sounded over the familiar ruckus I had grown accustomed to in the small café in the little neighbourhood of Montmartre in Paris. "...for Charles?"
My head whipped up from my sketchbook, laid out beside my computer screen where I was finalising the last couple of details into the 3D programme for the Ritz hotel project. My heart thudded in my chest as my gaze landed on my favourite sight—my boyfriend, standing at the counter, chatting with my best friend briefly while taking his to-go cup from her. He was wearing a grey sweater and jeans, brown hair styled to perfection, and I had to admit it was my favourite look on him, besides when he wore nothing at all.
It was Wednesday morning and I was sitting at my favourite spot in the café, at the table with the most comfortable chair (which Lorelai had specially ordered for me because of the amount of hours I often sat here behind my laptop), with a perfect view of the sidewalk and picturesque Parisian architecture through the large window. It surprised me I hadn't seen Charles walk up to the café, I must have been deeply immersed in my work to have missed him. I blinked, and he turned around from his conversation with Lorelai and when saw me, he smiled.
My stomach did a somersault, my cheeks aching from the smile stretching on my lips. Within seconds, Charles had nodded at Lorelai and was walking over to me, setting his cup down on the table beside me and swooping down to press a kiss against my lips, one that sent a wave of warmth through my body.
His tongue swiped my bottom lip briefly, before he pulled away and buried his head in my neck, wrapping his arms around me from behind. "I missed you," he mumbled, pressing soft kisses against my neck. I shivered, hands reaching for his and relishing in the moment with my eyes squeezed shut.
After I arrived back in Paris in the last week of January, Charles and I had only spoken through FaceTime and quick phone calls in between meetings on both of our ends. He had to get in simulator tests before testing at the end of February, but he had somehow negotiated and put in enough work to get these two weeks before the session in Bahrain off to spend with me in Paris—but I had thought he would be arriving tomorrow, not today. The sneaky man had lied to surprise me.
"I can't believe you're here already," I said as I pressed a kiss to the back of his hand. "You've surprised me."
"That was the point, jolie." Charles chuckled, his lips brushing my temple before he pulled out a chair from beside me and folded himself onto it. Only that alone had a spark running through my body, straight to my heart.
A brief moment blinked by in which I had to gather my senses, not quite believing he was right there beside me, taking a sip of his cappuccino as if this weren't the first time he set foot in this café. For some stupid reason, it all felt as if it fit. Like all along, Charles had been the missing piece of the puzzle.
