: ̗̀➛ 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 THIRTY-THREE. · ˚✧ chasing through the streets of monaco
monaco, february 2023
Monaco was everything Charles had said it would be and more. Where Paris was grey and cloudy at this time of year, Monaco was sunny and golden. It had been a good couple of years since the last time I had visited the principality, and watching the beautiful buildings flash by as the taxi drove down the swerving Riviera roads had my breath catching in my throat.
Charles had sent a chauffeur to fetch me from the airport in Nice, and my heart was beating rapidly in my chest with excitement to see him again. Although it had only been a couple of days since Lorelai's little get together and the Ritz gala, Charles had left the morning after the event and we hadn't spoken much since, due to his preparation for the testing session occurring this weekend. That, was, after all, the reason I had jumped at his idea to visit Monaco before he left for Bahrain. I would join him there a couple of days before the Grand Prix, but that was still a good week and a half away.
It was strange, how quickly Paris had become our little hub in just three weeks. However, excitement curled in my stomach at the thought of the new season of life we were entering—this would be the first time I got to support Charles loud and proud while he, hopefully, got a real shot at the championship this year. I could tell he was more focussed than ever this year, and, it was clear how excited he was to get back to racing.
The taxi slowed to a stop outside one of Monaco's many expensive-looking buildings, the front wall of the bottom floor almost entirely made up of tinted glass. The chauffeur helped me with my luggage, and I quickly thanked him, about to dig into my wallet, when there was a voice from behind me.
"It's all covered for, ma jolie. You don't need to worry about it."
Immediately, I spun around, my heart jumping in my throat at the sight of Charles in a pair of grey sweatpants and a navy hoodie. I hadn't expected him to show up outside his door to meet me, but here he was, and on top of all that, he was holding a bouquet of crimson red roses.
Charles thanked the chauffeur and as the man got back into his Tesla, Charles walked up to me and handed me the bouquet. "I missed you, so I—"
I cut him off by pressing my lips to his, my arms wrapping around his neck in a series of movements that had become so completely natural to me that my body did it without a second thought. If it weren't for the bouquet of roses now in my hand, I would've traced the slight edge of stubble on his jaw with the sensitive palm of my hand. Charles' reaction was immediate and just as instinctive as mine, his now-free hands immediately grasping my waist, one trailing under the hem of my—his—hoodie and sending sparks of desire pulsing through my veins.
