Page 41 of Flat Out
I leaned over, dropped a kiss to her cheek, and whispered, “Just don’t let her pick the flowers.”
"I already know what flowers will be at the wedding," she stated matter-of-factly, then dropped the shirt in her lap when she realized what she'd said. Oh yeah, she was as gone as I was.
"Oh? And what's your decision, love? Lavender?"
Her eyes rolled so hard I thought they might disappear. She folded the shirt back up and put it in the bag. "You and this lavender obsession."
"You started it."
"Oh mon Dieu, all of you are so childish. No, Callum, notlavender.Pink peonies."
I froze. That was all I'd bought her this last week. She winked at me before turning back to the boys. “As for you two. Shut the fuck up. I already know you’re both—” She pointed her butterknife like it was a sword, dramatic and deadly. “—how do you say...biting the chomps?”
They tilted their heads at her, and I just fucking ate it up. Her little Frenglish fuck-ups were arguably one of my favorite things about her.
“Chomping at the bit,” I said, fighting a grin. “The timing is impeccable as always, love. You're adorable.”
She opened her mouth to retort, but my hand slipped right back between her thighs under the table, tugging at the lace. Her voice cracked mid-syllable. Shegaspedand slapped a hand to her mouth.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Marco muttered. “This is torture. Aurélie, I thought you grew up bilingual.”
“She’s French, as Fraser continues to point out. Always dramatic,” Kimi said with a sigh. “Her parents believe English is an inferior language and chastised them for using it around the house.”
"This is true," she muttered, then held her finger up as she did an impression of what I could only assume was her father in a thick, pompous accent. "English is only useful for two things: airline safety announcements and binding legal agreements. If it is not earning you money or keeping you alive, why speak it?"
"Pretty pretentious for a man who doesn't own a private jet," I muttered. "Or at least doesn't pay for his daughter to fly private."
Aurélie snorted. "Please. They sponsored my time in F2. That was it. For all the money we come from, they believe in making us all work for our own dreams, which, don't get me wrong, is a good lesson. But they never picked my sister Emilie and I up when we needed them. Only Étienne." She sighed. "He also said he only taught us English so we could negotiate contracts, not so we could gossip like Americans." She scrunched her nose, and it was positively adorable. "Kind of xenophobic, actually."
"Wait, so you know words likexenophobicbut you don't know common English phrases?" Marco was appalled.
"Ce n'est pas gentil, Marco."That's not nice."My English is not perfect. Not all of us are Italian royalty who grew up knowing four languages."
"I didn't realize you knew so much about me."
"Don't worry, she knows a lot about me, too," I offered and took a long sip of water.
Aurélie sighed heavily. "You don't understand. I wasn't convinced I'd ever make it to Formula 1. My brother was always the important one. Kimi knows that."
"It's true. Étienne was the golden child in their eyes. Aurélie was always in the background even though she's always been more successful at each level."
"Well," Marco said as he crossed his arms. "I feel like I've been insulted and audited at the same time."
"It's both. I've admired a lot of drivers over the years from afar. I was a wee bit starstruck at the beginning of the season meeting all of you. To be sitting at the table with two world champions was not something I imagined a year ago."
My lips twitched. "Did you just say 'wee bit'?"
"Your mother must be rubbing off on me."
"Or maybe you were always destined to marry into a Scottish family," Kimi joked.
Aurélie bunched up her linen napkin and threw it at him. "Enough from you."
I chuckled. “Try again with that English phrase you tried earlier,” I whispered. “Let’s see how far you get this time.”
"You're an asshole," she sneered. "How's that fortrying again?"
"And yet, you said yes to being his girlfriend."
