The Challenge

57

“Are you sure it was a good idea for me to wear this?” He asked, tugging on the tie that I had made him wear after I had decided to redress him. If Harry was going to be meeting my parents as my boyfriend, he should look the part.

I glanced over at him as the cab pulled up in front of the restaurant my parents had booked for my lunch. It was in Kensington, and judging from the outside of the restaurant, I was glad I had made Harry wear a dress shirt and tie. “Yes, it’s fine. Stop fucking around with it and you’ll be fine. What’s your issue?”

He sighed and ran his hands through his hair but it didn’t move since I had applied an overzealous amount of gel to it to keep it in place. “Because, this tie was around your wrists a few hours ago when I was fucking you, Georgia. And now it’s around my neck.”

I laughed and shrugged. “Sorry that the only tie you own is the one from the ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ collection at the adult store.”

“I look like a fool anyway, so let’s just add one more thing to the list, yeah?” He glanced down at his unusual dress pants and I could tell he felt ridiculously uncomfortable.

The cab driver turned and stared at us, waiting for us to pay and I gave him an evil look. I reached over and squeezed Harry’s hand. “Look, they like you already and you already met them. This is fine so stop freaking out. You look handsome and amazing and I love you. We’re going to get through this lunch just like we’ve gotten through everything else.”

He smiled and leaned over to place a kiss on my cheek. “I love you too.” He reached into his back pocket and felt around for his wallet. “Fuck, I forgot my wallet.”

I laughed and dug in my purse and unzipped my own wallet, handing the cab driver some cash. I caught Harry’s hand in my own once we had left the cab. “Cheapskate. Making your girlfriend pay for things when you’re as rich as sin.”

A smirk played on his lips as he glanced down at me and squeezed my hand. “You’re being an awful smartass today, woman. Keep that up and I’ll punish you later.”

I took a deep breath and calmed myself as my thoughts drifted back to our fun this morning. “You know I’d enjoy that. But enough of that kind of talk, please. We have to go meet my parents!”

He fidgeted with the tie around his neck once more and mumbled something about how I had any room to talk. I didn’t have time to respond before I was crashed into by an excited bouncing mini version of myself and wrapped my arms around my younger sister.

“Thank fuck,” she mumbled. “They’ve been driving me nuts with the questions about Harry.”

I glanced over to see Harry hadn’t heard Tina’s comment and was already shaking hands with my father and pressing a kiss to either side of my mother’s cheek. They greeted me, embracing me in a hug together and we all continued into the restaurant.

We were seated around a round table in the back of the crowded restaurant. The interior was decorated with white walls and dark hardwood floors. All of the tables in the restaurant were covered in white table clothes and an assortment of white bone china. The maître-d held out our chairs for us as Tina, my mum and I sat down and I found myself seated next to Harry on one side, my mum on the other, and felt a little sorry for Harry who had my dad on the other side of him. The table was small enough though that all of us could see one another.

The waiter had arrived to begin setting down the amuse bouche to which he described in French and I heard Harry speaking back to him in French and I glanced up to see everyone staring at him. Once the waiter had left, Harry smiled and told us how the chef’s amuse bouche was a parmesan panacotta.