The Perfect Stranger

Chapter Four

After we had kissed the first time, we started moving remarkably slow. The night of our first kiss, still in Paris, we had walked home hand in hand, where he promptly led me to my room and went to his. We didn't talk for the rest of the night, and I had sat on my bed touching my lips in a daze after I had gotten in. I eventually texted Kendall and basically told her everything that had happened - leaving out anything that alluded to the marriage contract. She was practically begging me to 'smash' him afterward.

We spent a week in Paris, sightseeing and touring museums and shops together. He bought me nearly anything I laid eyes on - whether I liked it or not. I think he was trying to impress me. We went to the Opera on our last night there - something he enjoyed, while I, did not. I begged him to never take me to another one and he laughed.

"I will try, mon amour, but some things are required of us once I become Prime Minister. And a lot of those things will be very, very boring." He had told me.

We did not, however, kiss at all the remainder of our time in Paris. It was like we hadn't even discussed it afterward - I was confused. I wasn't expecting to act as if we were engaged immediately, but some light flirting was more than past due.

After we came home from Paris, he had to return to work. He worked almost all day, leaving before the sun would come up and usually coming home just as it would begin to set. He told me he normally got off earlier but had been working later to offset his impromptu vacation. It had been a week since we returned, and I was officially stir-crazy. I had spent the previous 6 days reading in the library, video chatting with Kendall, riding horses and exploring the gardens. I could not bring myself to spend one more day in the Laestrom's house.

I was nervous when I woke up early, to ask Alexzander if I could leave without him. I wasn't a prisoner - but this was a delicate situation. He walked to my door, where he stopped, looking inside my room with a confused look. "You're awake?" He asked me. He was half dressed, with his black work pants on and the plain white t-shirt he wore under his collared shirts.

"I had to ask you something," I said.

"Well, what is it?"

"Am I allowed to...leave? The house, I mean." I said slowly.

He raised his eyebrows, looking down at the floor for a second. "I will talk with my parents. Obviously, you're not a prisoner and may come and go as you please, but I will calm their nerves."

I sighed in relief. "Thank you," I told him.

He smiled at me. "Anything for you." I felt a flutter in my stomach again and smiled at him. He reached into his pocket, pulled his wallet out and shuffled through it, before handing me his credit card. "In case you need it."

"Alexzander, no! I don't need it."

"I'll get you one with your name on it so you stop feeling guilty about it soon, how does that sound?" He replied.

I rolled my eyes, touched that he knew I felt guilty about spending his money.

"I could get a job," I offered.

"We'll talk about that later." He replied. "For today, have fun and go see a movie or shopping or something. Let me go talk to my parents. I'll be right back."

He left to go downstairs, and I nervously sat on his bed, looking at the card in my hand. I hoped his parents didn't put up a fight with Alexzander, that I would be allowed to leave. I rolled my eyes at the thought and felt like a child.

He came back a few minutes later, in a blue shirt now, tying a black tie around his neck. "Good to go," he said.

"Really," I breathed. "Did they protest?" I asked.