Lonely Hearts
By Tvdfanpam
Chapter 26
Celebrating your Success
The waiter took their orders and they helped themselves to an assortment of artisan breads while they waited for their appetizers to arrive. "Will you spend the night with me baby? I liked having you in my bed last night." Christian says huskily. "I slept better with you than I have ever slept alone. No nightmares or restless sleep." He commented as he buttered a small roll and handed it to Ana. She blushed.
"That will give Kate a chance to cool off and I liked sleeping with you too." She said shyly. "Do you think we should tell our parents that you gave me a promise ring?" She asked earnestly. "What's the protocol for that?" She mused as she sipped her unsweet tea. He grinned at her.
"I would tell everyone, let's send out a press release." He said playfully. "I don't care who knows. You know people will ask when we are going to get engaged." He said as he caressed her hand with the ring. "My ring looks beautiful on your delicate finger baby. A four carat princess cut diamond will look even better though." She smiled then snatched her hand away as the waiter brought their Alaskan Spot Prawns with melted butter.
"I asked Isla what she would like to do together and she said she wanted to take ballet lessons and have a spa day." Ana laughed. "She's six years old, how does she know about spa days?" Christian smiled indulgently.
"Do you know where you are going to do those things?" He wondered. "Mia used to take ballet lessons at All That Dance. My mother probably has the number somewhere in her day planner. I swear she doesn't throw anything away that has to do with schedules or phone numbers. She still has the phone numbers of all our preschool friends' parents!"
"That's okay, I can look it up online. Most places have a website now and you can usually sign up for classes online. We can meet once a week or however often we can get together. I thought if it was okay with her dad that we could take lessons once a week in the early evenings. My last year of college starts in two weeks and I won't be able to go during the day and she starts kindergarten this year."
"Don't you have a book coming out in November too?" He asked as he dipped his prawn in the butter.
"Yes, the follow up to Consequences. It's called Starting Over." She said casually, a little embarrassed to be discussing her latest book.
"Don't be embarrassed by your success baby. I'm very proud of you. You worked hard on that book. You earned your success." He said proudly. She smiled at him.
"I'm not. It's just doesn't seem real sometimes. I keep getting monthly royalty sales checks, my books are doing very well in Europe too." She said modestly. "There is interest in doing a movie about the Donkey Twins. It would be animated."
"That is awesome. What company is interested?" He leaned forward intrigued.
"Dreamworks Pictures. Disney wanted to buy the rights but didn't offer very much money. Plus they wanted exclusive rights to the plushy toys. I didn't think their deal was very good. Neither did my agent. We turned them down." She revealed. "Dreamworks offered Two Million up front then royalties off the film and DVD's and digital downloads."
He stared at her. "That is amazing baby. When will you know for sure?" He asked his eyes shining with excitement and pride.
"We should know something by the end of September." She said proudly. He signaled the hovering waiter over to them.
"We need a bottle of the 1996 Bollinger Champagne and two glasses." He said efficiently. The waiter scuttled off to get the champagne.
"Christian, people will really think we are engaged if we are seen drinking champagne in your restaurant." She gasped in surprise.
"To your success and our imminent engagement." He said, eyes bright with excitement as they touched glasses in a toast. She shook her head as she sipped the champagne.
"This tastes like heaven going down." She sighed as she drank it. "It's very good. Thank you for getting that. I've never had champagne before. I feel a little guilty drinking it underage." He laughed.
"You are so innocent. That is one of the things I love most about you. That and your beautiful blue eyes and the way you smell and your long hair that I like draped over me while we sleep." He said softly as he took her hand and kissed the palm. "Let's get dessert to go baby. We have some more celebrating to do."
A/N: Sorry no ballet class this chapter. Christian and Ana had a lot to talk about during dinner. Thanks for reading and reviewing and following and favoriting the story. I really appreciate it!