"Hot Chocolate Kiss"
Henri Bellmont
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x❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤♋❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
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x❤This was truly a day his journal needed to know about. With the crisp January air whipping his cheeks and snow dancing on the wind, Henri Bellmont strolled through the heart of Paris in absolute bliss. He was on a date. A date with his fiancée. And she’d initiated it. Was there anything greater in this world than having your precious fiancée finally want to be seen in public with you?
Granted, she was only holding his hand because hers were cold, and she’d only asked him along because he may or may not have pouted a bit, but all of that was beside the point. And that point was that he was a on a date with Danni Rinaldi. In public. Holding hands.
Swinging their arms a bit, Henri grinned, his smile only widening when Danni glanced over, her lips twitching in bemusement. After a moment, however, her eyes slid back to their destination. For more than an hour now, they’d been circling around the Eiffel Tower, viewing it from all angles. When he’d asked her why she was so intent on studying it, she’d simply said that she liked the look of it.
After what had to be their twelfth time circling the Tower, Henri squeezed Danni’s hand a bit, tilted his chin towards a little café that smelled of gloriously hot coffee.
"Shall we warm up a bit in there, chérie? They’ve the best pastries." He spoke entirely in French, the words thick with the accent of his homeland. Discovering that she was fluent in French –and too many other languages to count- had been another gift. Neither or them noticed when they switched from French to English and back again in a conversation, nor was there ever a language barrier to confuse things between them. Such as now.
As expected, he need only to have mentioned pastries to have her eyes lighting up, to have her nodding in agreement even as she switched directions to drag him towards the café. He was laughing when they entered the little shop, and almost the little smile she gifted him with before her eyes shifted to the baked goods displayed behind glass at the front counter. Though he could tell she wanted nothing more than to run up and press her nose to the glass, perhaps hoping to inhale the treats through the barrier, she stayed at his side, her hand tightening slightly around his as she held herself back. Had they been at home in the pantry, it would’ve been an entirely different story.
"Go on, chérie, and get whatever you wish. It will be my treat." He took great joy in watching her face brighten, listening with only half an ear as she leapt forward, likely scaring ten years off the young worker’s life expectancy before delivering her order in rapid-fire requests. His brow rose, however, when she began ordering coffee. She didn’t even like coffee. Thinking perhaps she’d used the wrong word, Henri placed a hand on her shoulder, stopped her stream of one-sided conversation.
“Are you sure you want coffee? I didn’t think you cared for it.” She blinked, tilted her head to the side.
“It is for you. You like it.” With that, she turned back to the girl at the counter, picking up as though she hadn’t been interrupted. “He will take a large coffee, light with two and a half scoops of sugar. Real sugar, mind you, not the sugar in the little packets. He is picky. He would like it flavored with just a bit of caramel, a dash of cinnamon, and a peppermint stick. Disgusting, perhaps, but his tastes are his own.”
He didn’t hear the rest of what she said after that, wasn’t able to listen. She knew what coffee he liked. His exact order, really. He hadn’t thought she’d ever paid attention once her eyes found a pastry. Blindly handing money over when the total rang up, Henri watched Danni as she carried their purchases to a booth towards the back of the little shop, sliding in next to the window. Rather than sit across from her, he slid in beside her. Used to it by now, she didn’t even react, merely sliding his coffee over to him, wrapping her hands briefly around her own cup of hot chocolate.
Waiting until she’d arranged her small pile of pastries to her liking –he noticed she’d chosen an éclair for him- Henri reached out, twisted his finger around a lock of her hair. Rather than bat his hand away, she merely blew on her hot chocolate, taking a careful sip. He watched her eyes close in simple contentment, her lips curving. She’d always had a weakness for chocolate.
“This pleases you then?” Her eyes opened once more at his words, and she directed her smile at him, setting down her hot chocolate.
“This pleases me very much. It was a kind gift.” She paused, briefly turning her attention to one of the treats in front of her. Naturally, she went for the chocolate first.
“What would you like in return?” The question wasn’t uncommon, or unexpected. It seemed she never assumed something to be free of charge. With a chuckle, he draped an arm over her shoulders, aimed a cheerful grin at her.
“A kiss would do,” He was joking, of course. He’d never dare request something like that and risk ruining the mood. Lord knew she was always testy when it came to…
His thoughts trailed off when she glanced over at him, shrugged her shoulders.
“It hardly seems enough, but all right.” Before he could think to react, Danni reached out, laid her fingertips on his chin and tilted his head towards her. The kiss was light, brief. A simple thank-you that tasted faintly of chocolate.
Speechless, Henri could only leave his mouth hanging open in shock as she turned back to her food, concentrating completely on the pastries. And on a cold January day in the heart of Paris, Henri and Danni shared their first kiss. And while she hummed to herself and feasted on tarts, Henri Bellmont, renowned charmer, sat in silence as his heart quite simply fell at the young woman’s feet. He never even considered picking it up again.
Later, much later, with the woman in question sleeping soundly beside him, Henri would relive the kiss again and again in his head. Besides thinking that he’d have to buy her pastries more often, Henri thought as well that next time –and oh yes, there would be a next time- he would make sure she was the one left speechless.
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