An Arranged Affair

chapter 29 - breaking the ice

I reached up to grab a book off the book shelf, I had to tiptoe, it was so high up, when I felt a warm arm snake around my waist which was exposed as my top had crept up and the other arm reach up and took out the book I was after.

‘ You’ve been avoiding me.’ He said simply, I turned around and he pinned me against the bookshelf. His brown green eyes bore into mine.

‘ No I haven’t,” I lied, blushing pink, my skin still tingled where he had grabbed me. I cursed myself inwardly, the memories of my dream flooded my mind.

Why did he have to look so good, smell so good and why the hell did he have to affect me so much?

I had been avoiding him but also hiding from myself. His confession had rocked me to my core and now I had been double guessing myself and my feelings ever since.

This wasn’t part of the plan.

The plan was that after marriage he was supposed to find me completely repulsive, somehow manage to get the contract, avoid him for the next few months, graduate from university, get a job, find a way to save my parents hotel, and eventually get divorced.

Having feelings for him was definatly not part of the plan.

“ I’ve just been busy.” I said slipping out from the small gap he had left.

‘ This ,’ he said reading the title of the book, ‘this doesn’t look like anything important.”

I took the book from him.

‘Thanks for your help, but even I need to take a mental break from the exciting world of accounting.”

‘ Ancient Greek stories?  Why don’t you just watch some TV like a normal person?”

‘ Because your TV room is massive and freaks me out. Honestly a murderer could be hiding in the shadows and you would never know!”

“ Its Saturday, haven’t you got anything better than to be cooped up in my study ?”

‘ Umm, if you haven’t noticed, that’s all I’ve been allowed to do since I got here so...”

‘Well what would you normally do on a Saturday pre marriage?”

I looked at him surprised. “ You really want to know what I did?"

He nodded.

‘ well mostly I worked at the hotel but when I got days off...... wait, how about I show you?"

‘ Sure, what should I wear?”

I laughed . ‘"what you are wearing is fine, let me just grab my bag and lets go.”

‘ Are you not getting ready?”

‘ Ready for what? Where we are going, its strictly causal.”

He led me to the basement where he kept his cars, and as the lights blinked on I was instantly amazed and impressed. I knew Phillip was wealthy but it was easy to forget , life with him was easy going but looking at his car collection I was reminded about it again

There was a Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini, a Mustang, a Jaguar, a Bentley and a few cars that I couldn’t even name. There were more cars that any one person should legally own. I walked over to one and ran my fingers of the smooth and flawless finish.

They were beautiful.

they were a far cry from my old beat up car, but that car was worth more to me than all these expensive cars combined. I had bought with my own hard earned money and even though I had'nt gone far in it, that sense of freedom that I got whenever I drove it was priceless.

And then there was a car I was familiar with, the black 2 door sporty Aston Martin.

‘ Take the black one, the others are too conspicuous.” He grinned as he got in.

‘ Where exactly are you taking me?” he turned the ignition of the car and it roared to life. I loved the sound of the big engine.

‘ You’ll see!” I grinned back. For weeks he had been taking me to these super high end restaurants, now it was time for him to visit my favourite place.

It was going to be completely out of his comfort zone.

After driving him into the city we drove a further 20 minutes in the opposite direction, to a neighbouring town. After negotiating back allies we found parking on the side of the road.

“ You’ve got insurance right?” I asked looking around as he locked the car. ‘ This isn’t exactly the best neighbourhood.”

‘ Yes, don’t worry. Its insured and extremely well protected. I didn’t even pay for this car, it was a gift from my mother.”

‘ Oh great! Even better!” I said sarcastically wishing in that moment he had a normal car like a Toyota or a Honda or something. No one better try and steal the mother in laws gift to her precious son.

‘ ok we need stop at an ATM along the way, where we are going its cash only.”

He raised an eyebrow at me but didn’t say anything, and pulled out his wallet to show my the wad of bills inside.

“ Geez! Put that away! You’re gonna attract every pick pocket in neighbourhood like that!” I yelled, grabbing the wallet and shutting it and pushing it back into his hands, ‘ all I need is probably about two hundred at the most!”

I hated the way his chuckle sent flutters to  my stomach, how the curl of his lip seemed so irresistible, and also that smug look on his face when he caught me staring as he handed me the money.

I led him through an old stone archway, that led into a dimly lit tunnel, from the outside it looked like a scenic little back alley, with old styled cobbled streets and ornamental trees lining the footpath, but as we left the daylight into the dim alley and walked to wards the light on the other end the noise, a faint hum at first became a deafening roar.

The sight before us was one I had always loved, there were rows of outdoor stalls selling everything from exotic fruits, spices, ethnic clothes , shoes and bags, imitation jewellery , the list was endless. Behind them were stores selling food, curios, pots and pans, anything and everything your heart could desire were found in these allies.

‘ Welcome to  Kashmiri Street Bazzar, or as everyone else calls it, ‘the Grand Bazzar.’ I told him as I watched him look around in horror.  There was noise, hustle and bustle, the food safety was questionable and people were jammed in like sardines in a can.

‘ This is possibly my most favourite place on earth.”