“Normally, it’s one hundred and fifty thousand dollars,” he said. “But for you, the future Mrs. Russo, to wear it at the Legacy Ball? One hundred and thirty thousand. Even.”
It was a no-brainer. “I’ll take it.”
That night, Dante returned to a hotel suite littered with shopping bags on the floor, tables, and half the bed.
Yves would send my gown directly to New York, so I didn’t need to worry about ruining it on our flight back, but I may have gone alittleoverboard on the shopping.
“Should I have booked a separate room for your purchases?” Dante eyed the pile of Dior hat boxes on the bed.
“You should’ve, but it’s too late for that.” I locked my new Bulgari diamond necklace in the hotel safe before I fished something from one of the smaller bags. “I bought you something too.”
I handed him the small black box and waited, heart thudding, while he opened it.
His eyebrows shot up when he popped open the lid.
“They’re ice cream cufflinks,” I said brightly. “I know a jeweler on Rue de la Paix who makes customized pieces. The onyx is the soy sauce. The ruby is the cherry, even though you don’t eat it with cherry, but I think the red ties the design together.”
It was a half-joke gift, half-sincere. Dante owned dozens of luxury cufflinks, but I wanted to give him something more personal.
“Do you like them?” I asked.
“I love them.” He removed his current cufflinks and replaced them with the new ones. “Thank you,mia cara.”
The warmth of his voice caressed my skin before he cupped my face with one hand and kissed me.
We never made it out to dinner that night.
Our other nights, however, were filled with whatever activities struck our fancy. We wandered through the charming book-lined nooks of Shakespeare and Company, explored the Louvre after hours, and pretended to watch black and white French indie films in an arthouse cinema while secretly making out in the back like teenagers.
I’d visited Paris many times, but exploring it with Dante was like seeing it for the first time. The smells wafting from the bakeries, the texture of cobblestones beneath my feet, the rainbow of flowers blooming all over the city—everything was brighter, more vivid, like someone had sprinkled fairy dust over the city.
On our last night, Dante took me to a private dinner at the Eiffel Tower. The monument had three restaurants; ours was on the second floor and offered spectacular views of the skyline. He’d booked the entire space, so it was just us, the seven-course menu, and the city laid out at our feet in all its glittering nighttime glory.
“Okay, what’s one food you can’tstandthat everyone loves?” I swallowed a thin slice of sea bass before adding, “I’ll go first. Olives. I hate them. They’re a blight to humanity.”
“I want to say I’m surprised, but you’re the same person who eats pickles with chips and pudding, so…” Dante lifted his wine to his lips. “Enough said.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I’m not the one who cleaned out our pickle supply two weeks ago because he couldn’t stop stealingmysnack.”
“Don’t be dramatic. Greta bought more pickles the next day.” He laughed at my frown. “To answer your question, I can’t stand popcorn. The texture’s weird, and it smells awful even when it’s not burnt.”
“Seriously? Then what do you eat during movies?”
“Nothing. Movies are for watching, not eating food.”
I stared at him. “Sometimes, I’m convinced you’re an alien and not an actual human being.”
Another laugh rolled over me. “We all have our quirks,mia cara. At least I don’t sing Mariah Carey in the shower.”
My cheeks warmed. “I did thatonce.I heard the song in a commercial and it got stuck in my head, okay?”
“I’m not saying it’s a bad quirk.” The corner of his mouth tipped up. “It was cute, even if it was off-key.”
“I wasnotoff-key,” I muttered, but my indignation lasted only seconds in the face of his smile.
“How’s the prep for Cannes?” I asked when our server swapped out our empty plates for the third course. “Did you get everything done in time?”
“Yes, thankfully. If I had to sit in another meeting discussing what champagne we should serve at the after-party, I would’ve been arrested for murder,” he grumbled.