Most stories start with a chance, a chance encounter, a risk, an unexpected outcome. This story is no exception.
For Mimi Force it started with a limousine, Kingsley Martin, two plane tickets to Paris, and one monosyllabic word, yes.
"We need you in Paris, Force. Will you come? Please?"
Mimi gazed into Kingsley's lustrous silver eyes, not a vestige of smugness remaining in them. He was pleading with her. A smile slowly emerged on Mimi's coral lips, accompanied by the word that would alter the course of her life indefinitely. Yes.
As the plane touched down on the runway of Charles De Gaulle airport, Mimi heard the audible sigh of relief from her fellow passengers. Then began the frantic flurry of parents unbuckling their children, unloading the overflowing luggage from the overhead compartments, and taking out their phrasebooks to attempt speaking broken French.
"Oh the joys of flying economy class" Mimi muttered, sarcasm dripping from her voice. But Kingsley just chuckled throatily, his lips forming a dazzling smile. The smile that made her inanimate heart fill with bubbles of joy, and elevated her spirits like a hundred overfilled helium balloons.
He leant over and kissed her gently, sending shivers racing down her spine as his cool lips brushed softly over hers. Mimi felt intense, voracious joy fill her, a thousand fireworks exploding on the receptors of her brain, glorious and alive. And it scared her. No, absolutely terrified her. Wanting someone, needing them this bad was as scary as it was exhilarating. Because she was vulnerable. Mimi knew that if anything ever happened to Kingsley, her heart would convulse in searing agony, and burst into tiny, shattered fragments. And everyone knows that County Paris will never suffice once you've found your Romeo.
The bing of the seatbelt sign quickly snapped Mimi out of her contemplation and back to reality. She picked up the venators pack Kingsley had brought for her, smiling as she noticed the Louis Vuitton valise he had packed it in and joined the queue the queue of shuffling people, all anxious to see the city of lights painted all the vivid hues of autumn. She smiled blithely as Kingsley entwined his hand with hers as they stepped onto the solid ground of her favourite city (well apart from New York), Paris.
