Away We Go • 2 • Formula One

Chapter 41

A small smile twitched at the corners of my mouth. "I wasn't aware that they knew we were together. What time do we have to leave?"

"They said to be at theirs around half eight, so we'll need to leave about fifteen minutes before. Pierre doesn't live too far away, a short walk at most. And, to be honest, I wasn't aware, either. They invited me over a few days ago but I told them I was with you in the UK until today. They jumped at the opportunity to have you there, too."

I glanced to the large clock on the wall. The large hand was on the seven, and the little hand was in between the seven and eight. I knew that I'd need half an hour to get myself ready at the very least. I also wanted to have a quick shower considering I've been travelling for the past five or so hours. After letting Max know what I was doing, I leaned up to kiss his jaw and headed into his bedroom. I had spent enough time here to know where he kept the towels, and where I could find a shirt of his to wear whilst I do my makeup in the mirror and decide on an outfit.

With five minutes to spare, I secured the final bobby pin into my ponytail. I didn't have many clothes with me, but luckily I still had a few dresses to choose from. Neither Pierre nor Cate would care too much what I'm wearing however I still wanted to make an effort. I decided to wear the same deep blue dress I had worn for Max and I's date in Belgium. The fabric was floaty to allow for some comfort in the humid conditions and stopped mid-thigh. To create some more shape, I cinched the waist in with a belt. If I hadn't had secured that Michael Kors deal, I was almost certain that I would never have anything nice to wear. Their gifts make up the majority of my current wardrobe and I couldn't complain.

Max's head poked around the door. I spotted him in the reflection in the mirror and matched his smile. "You nearly ready?" I nodded my head in reply as I adjusted the golden necklace around my neck. The shaky breath that I shook didn't go unnoticed by Max, who walked across the room to gently caress my sides. Our eyes remained locked in the mirror, and I couldn't bring myself to look away from his crystal irises. His cologne consumed my senses. His white button-up shirt was rolled up to the elbows and the top button was casually undone. The shirt was tucked neatly into some smart jeans, which were the same shade of blue as my dress.

"What if they ask about Canada?" I nervously asked as my fingers drummed against the outside of my thigh.

Max softly pressed his lips to the exposed skin on my shoulder. I felt him inhale deeply, most likely savouring the sweet smell of my perfume. "You only need to tell them what you're comfortable with," he reassured as his hands moved to hold my shoulders. "This is Pierre and Cate we're talking about. They're not going to force anything you don't want out of you, but if you do want to tell them, they'll be very supportive. You can hold my hand for as long as you want, too. I'm not going to complain."

"And what if they ask about this?" I lifted my left hand to admire the beautiful ring that sat on the base of my fourth finger. The warm glow of the lamp made the three diamonds glitter. Just looking at the engagement ring made my heart swell with love and I had absolutely no regrets about saying 'yes' to Max's surprise proposal. Sure, there was a slight guilt that he was having to settle for a lesser future, but I knew that Max didn't look at it that way - it's just going to take some time to convince my mind that we both want this.

A part of me wished that I didn't have a social media following or else I would be showing off the symbol of our love on every single one of my socials just so people knew that what we had was real without the consequences. No-one knew about our engagement, not even our closest friends and family. It's not that we didn't want people to know, but we were rather content at the moment enjoying this as just the two of us. I twisted the thin golden band nervously with my right hand until Max stopped the movement by holding both of my hands in his.