Page 39 of Until You (Forgive Me)

Adorning their aprons, Isabella snapped a picture of Christian before taking a selfie of the two of them together. She wanted to remember this moment and replay it when their time together had passed. She pushed down the hollow feeling that threatened to swallow her whole. There was no time for that... not yet. She wanted to cherish their time together. She refused to let melancholy take over their final hours.

After two hours, they had finished cooking their food and were ready to eat.

Christian took a mouthful and grimaced. “What on earth?”

Isabella sent him a questioning glance.

“This is disgusting...” Christian spluttered.

Isabella took a mouthful of her own dish, the fine mix of herbs and textures exploding on her tongue. “Oh,” she said. “This is gorgeous.”

Christian wrinkled his nose. “How can you say that?” he said, looking at his dish in disgust.

Isabella smiled sympathetically. “Thai food can be an acquired taste,” before taking a clean spoon and tasting his dish. Her eyes opened wide before she grabbed her napkin, spitting it out. “Ew,” she said, grabbing her water and taking a large gulp. “What did you do?”

Christian looked at her in horror before grabbing her bowl and tasting the dish she’d prepared. “Oh,” he said. “This is delicious.”

With a mischievous grin, he added a portion of her food to his rice.

“Excuse me,” Isabella said, holding out her hand for her meal.

“Sharing is caring,” Christian fired back. “Plus, this was your idea. The fact I can’t cook is not my fault. Do you want me to starve? Waste away?”

Isabella laughed as Christian gave her his little boy lost gaze.

“We can’t have that,” she said. “I have to ask—what did you do? That’s really bad.”

She wrinkled her nose to hide her grin. They’d found something the perfect Mr Dupree was not good at.

The chef came over to join them.

“How are your dishes?” he asked.

Christian and Isabella started laughing. The chef looked on, confused, until Isabella pointed at Christian’s dish, tears now rolling down her cheeks. He nodded in understanding, taking a clean spoon and tasting the dish for himself. His horrified expression made Isabella and Christian laugh harder.

When Christian finally got his breath back, he looked at the chef and added, “I think I’ll stick to business.”

Isabella wiped her eyes on her napkin. She couldn’t believe how well he’d taken it. The chef nodded before patting Christian on the shoulder and moving to the next table.

Isabella looked up, her heart catching in her throat.

“Thank you,” he added, taking her hand over the table.

“What for?” she asked, her brain foggy from the look he gave her.

“For this weekend. I haven’t felt this happy and carefree in a long time.”

Isabella’s features softened as she stared back at him, turning her hand over and squeezing his back.

“Me too,” she added, knowing she’d lost her heart to this man.

“Shall we get out of here?” Christian asked, his eyebrows raised, his eyes darkening.

“Most definitely.”

Isabella grinned back, her pulse racing in anticipation.

They made a hasty goodbye to the other members of the group before racing back to the villa like teenagers, laughing and talking non-stop about their morning. Isabella realised she had never been so at ease with someone else before. She didn’t want their time together to end, but that was the problem. Their time together was due to expire. Life would return to normal after he left, but Isabella was unsure what that normal would look like.

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