“He’s gone back to my country.”
“That’s quite literally your country isn’t, it?
“Please tell me you’re not impressed by the fact that I’m a prince.”
“Okay, I’m not impressed.” I grinned and he laughed. “I guess they’re making anyone a prince these days.”
“I guess they are.” He stared at me with amusement in his eyes. “See, you’re not having such a bad time, are you?”
“I can’t say there’s no place I’d rather be than here.”
“Don’t spoil the afternoon by being petulant.”
“Fancy word for a fancy man.” I rolled my eyes and he grabbed my hands.
“Don’t make me kiss you and teach you a lesson.”
“How can you teach me a lesson by kissing me?” I raised an eyebrow at him.
“I’ll show you.” He leaned down and pressed his lips against mine tenderly. I was surprised by the lightness of his touch and then by the warmth of his tongue as it entered my mouth. He took my tongue in his lips and sucked on it gently before deepening the kiss. I felt my head growing light as his fingers played with my hair. I reached out to grab his shoulders, but he slowly withdrew from me. I sat there panting slightly and feeling dazed.
“Now you understand.” He grinned and pulled out his wallet. “What do you want to drink?”
“You can choose.” I blushed and looked away, not wanting him to see how right he was. I really didn’t want to like him. Everything about this situation screamed heartbreak waiting to happen.
“I guess I’ll get two lattes, then.”
“I wouldn’t say no to some shortbread cookies as well.” I grinned and he laughed. “What’s so funny?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“I don’t meet many girls that ask for cookies.”
“Oh, what, they ask for cupcakes? Are cookies too expensive?”
“They ask for salads normally.” He winked and me and walked away as I blushed. I wanted to call out to him, What sort of dumbasses are you dating that ask for salads at a coffee shop? but decided to keep my mouth shut. No point getting into a sparring match with him. I was pretty sure I’d lose.
“Thanks for the coffee.” I smiled at Xavier as we left the coffee shop. “It was good.”
“Do you feel like you have more energy now?”
“Oh, yes.” I lied, then yawned.
“Oh, Lola.” He grinned. “I guess the caffeine content wasn’t high enough for you.”
“Sorry, I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Why not?” His eyes narrowed.
“You know.” I shrugged, not wanting him to know I’d been thinking of him all night.
“Did you have a date?” His voice grew hostile. “Were you in—”
“I didn’t have a date.” I cut him off. “Not that I couldn’t have if I wanted.”
“I told you my brother is not—”
“Oh, shut up, Xavier.” I sighed. “If I hang out with Sebastian, that’s between us. I’m fed up of hearing you try and warn me off every other day. It’s annoying.”
“I’m just trying to help ...” he began, and I could see from his expression that he was disgruntled.
“Don’t try to help me outside of class, Professor. It’s not wanted or needed. And it’s definitely not appreciated.”
“You’re not so timid anymore.” His lips twitched as he stared at my heated face.
“I was never timid.” I glared at him.
“That’s true.” He paused and licked his lips slowly. “You do like to give as good as you get, don’t you?”
“It’s not hard when it’s not very good.” I smiled at him sweetly and his eyes narrowed.
“Are you trying to rile me up, Lola? Do you want me to prove to you how good I am?”
“I don’t have all year.” I replied tartly and he laughed.
“Come, let’s go to the museum.” He grabbed my hand. “I want to see your face when you look at the art.”
“Why?”
“It will remind me of the look you make when you come.” He whispered in my ear. “The look of exquisite pleasure and raw emotion.”
I gasped at his words and pulled away from him. There was something so desperately inappropriate about Xavier, and while a part of me hated that about him, the other part of me absolutely loved it.
“Welcome to the National Gallery.” Xavier extended his arms as he pointed at the grand white building in front of us.
“It’s huge.” I looked up at the white building in awe and then ran up the steps and stood on the balcony overlooking the city.
“That’s Trafalgar Square.” Xavier ran up behind me and pointed to the enormous black lions in the center surrounding a tall statue of a man.
“It’s amazing. I’ve seen the photos before, but never imagined I’d see them in person.”
“Do you know who Trafalgar was?”
“Not really. I know he had something to do with Napoleon right?”
“Napoleon Bonaparte?” He looked at me with a straight face.
“I think so.” I bit my lower lip. “But Napoleon is French and we’re in London, so I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Tell me.”
“Well, my question was slightly tricky.” He laughed and grabbed my hand. “See the statue of the man? His name is Nelson. Lord Nelson. And the column was built for him for his success against the French during the Napoleonic wars at the battle of Trafalgar.”
“I knew it had something to do with Napoleon.” I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed.
“Indeed you did.” He leaned towards me and kissed my cheek. “Let’s go inside now so I can impress you with my knowledge of art.”
“You don’t need to impress me,” I said quietly, and he stopped and stared at me for a moment before smiling widely.
“And that’s why I want to impress you more than anything.” We stood there for a few minutes, my heart beating rapidly at his soft gaze. Part of me wondered if he was going to be sweet to me from now on. Maybe he’d stop with the barbs. Maybe he’d show me a sweeter and softer side. I knew that if he called me a whore or insinuated that I was a prostitute again, that I’d be likely to slap him so hard his cheek would be stinging for days.
“We shall go directly to the Impressionist room.” He grinned at me as we entered the museum. “We go up the steps and make our first right.” He strode ahead of me and then stopped. “We can go in the gift shop afterwards if you want.” He pointed to a store a little further up on the left.
“That would be nice.”
“I’m excited to hear your thoughts about each painting.” His eyes lit up and I realized just how into art he was. Part of me was impressed and the other part was scared. I didn’t want to sound like an idiot on front of him. I didn’t know how to speak very intellectually about art.
“Hopefully, I don’t sound like an idiot.” I grinned and he laughed.
“I don’t think you could ever sound like an idiot, Lola.”
“Really?” I raised an eyebrow at him and laughed. “You don’t think that at all?”
“Not at all. I think you’d be surprised to know what I think of you.”
“What do you think of me?” I stood there waiting on pins and needles for his response.
“You already know I’m attracted to you. You know that I want to teach you.” His fingers wrapped around my ear as he brushed some strands of hair away from my face.
“What do you want to teach me?” I watched as he moved his mouth closer to mine and closed my eyes.
“Excuse me, please,” a lady shouted at us. “That’s not a very smart place to stop.” She pushed past us with a big bag and five bored-looking kids.
“Sorry,” I made a face at her as she walked by. I was pissed that she had ruined the moment for me, but I knew the middle of the museum wasn’t the place to be getting down and dirty.