On their second day in Paris, Alexis felt like she could conquer the world. They'd seen and done so much already on their first day, and today would be even more action packed. They had breakfast in the restaurant at the hotel before setting out for the centre of the city where they would go to the sites they wanted to see that day.
'Why are they called that?' Shane asked as they departed the Metro at the appropriate stop. 'Arrondissements?'
'Back in the day, the city planners of Paris organized the city in a spiral pattern. The higher the number, the farther away you were from the city centre,' she explained. 'And the places we want to go today are all in that centre.'
They started at the Fragonard perfume museum, which had Alexis a little baffled as to why he wanted to go there. Then she stepped into the tour room of the museum where the guide gave them the run-down on the history of the company and realized this was far different than what she'd expected. By the time they got to the boutique, Alexis was in heaven - everything smelled like a boudoir or a fresh meadow.
'May I help you, Miss?' The sales associate in her trim suit came up to her, speaking in English, then switched back to French when she heard Alexis' response.
'I'm so overwhelmed by everything, it's all so beautiful.'
'What fragrances does your boyfriend like on your skin?'
'Lavender, and I love when he smells like cedar and roses. I'd really like something I could wear out at night, and maybe something for romance, and maybe something for everyday-dress, like going to the office or an afternoon of shopping with the girls.'
'Of course.' The woman turned to the shelves of aluminum bottles behind her with discreetly colour-coded labels. She picked a few bottles, sprayed one's contents onto a test strip. 'This is called Ile d'Amour, very popular for young women with their young men.'
Alexis sniffed the paper strip, went a little gooey. 'That's like sex in a bottle.'
'There is also this one, called Etoile de Sud, also quite popular.'
'No, I like Ile d'Amour better,' she decided. 'What about this one?'
'This one is our signature scent, called Fragonard. Very rich and spicy.'
Alexis inhaled the scent, closed her eyes. Visions of silk dresses, white evening gloves, and diamonds twinkling like stars in candlelight danced in her head. 'Oh yes, that one is gorgeous. I definitely want a bottle of that one.'
'An excellent choice, miss. There is also this one, called Miranda.'
One whiff of the perfume had Alexis grinning; though she was in a foreign country, the scent was as familiar to her as the espresso-beans in the loft. She took the spritzed strip over to where Shane was doing the same thing with the men's fragrances. 'Babe, who does this smell like?' she asked, holding it under his nose.
Shane flared his nostrils to try and clean out the fragrance of the cologne he'd just sampled, then breathed deeply. 'Meredeth!' he exclaimed without a hesitation. 'That's the stuff Meredeth wears. You can always tell, too, whenever Espo's got her car, it gets trapped in the air-ducts and lands on him.'
'Meredeth says he loves the way she smells, like cucumber soap and French perfume. I'm not getting this one, I'm getting a different one.'
'I'm going to get this one,' Shane held up a bottle. 'Day-ser, did I say it right?'
'Just lovely. And that is a gorgeous scent, makes me wanna loosen your top button,' Alexis added with a wiggle of eyebrows. 'And I'm buying it for you.'
'Lex-'
'Your birthday present, since I've been a little busy lately getting packed. Besides, I knew I wanted to buy you something in Paris for your birthday. Plus, if I buy you this, you can wear it to our fancy evening out tonight.'
'Exactly.'
Shane held onto the bottle, walked back over with Alexis, where she had him test out the different fragrances she'd selected and agreed with her the best one was the Fragonard signature line. Smelling it gave him visions of the two of them in a rustic, secluded log cabin, sipping wine in front of a roaring fire and deciding whether they should wait to make love upstairs or go for it right there on the animal skin rug in front of the snapping and crackling flames. Conversely, the fantasy was followed up with another one, only this time, Alexis was in white silk and satin with his ring on her hand and he was wearing a tux as they waltzed around a ballroom floor.
'That one,' he told her. 'That's the one for you.'
'That's the one I'll take, then.'
Alexis paid, even had the cashier gift-wrap Shane's bottle since it was his birthday gift after all; once back on the street, Alexis had her camera out right away and was snapping pictures of the Opera Garnier, which was directly across the street from them.
'Did you know the Opera Garnier was Gaston Leroux's inspiration to write The Phantom of the Opera?'
'Was it?' Shane replied blithely.
'Yep. It was considered a pulp fiction novel when it came out, then it was translated into English and they went bananas for it, made it into the Lon Chaney film and of course the musical. God, wouldn't that be something, to see The Phantom of the Opera in the Opera Garnier?'
'Funny you should say that.'
Alexis turned to her boyfriend, watched him reach into his wallet and produce two tickets. She could actually feel her eyes bug out of her head as he passed them to her. 'Shane, what is this?'
'This is our surprise, or the first part of it. There is a limited engagement performance of Phantom running until December fifteenth, and we are going to be front-row balcony tonight.'
'Are you serious!'
'Curtain is at seven-thirty.'
'Oh my god!' Alexis threw her arms around him. 'Shane, this is wonderful! That's why you had me put my black dress in my suitcase!'
'And now you've got the perfume to complete the look.'
A night at the opera in Paris, Alexis thought with a giddy little spring in her step. They'd spent the night at the opera in Paris. Okay, The Phantom of the Opera wasn't precisely an opera, but it was a musical about opera in an actual opera house so it was pretty damn close. She'd wished she'd had some kind of thick fur-lined coat with cashmere gloves, for she'd never felt more like a princess in her life than hearing her high-heels clicking over the cobble-stones combined with the fragrance of her boyfriend's new cologne and the crisp, wintery air of Paris in December.
'Oh, Shane,' she sighed, leaning on his shoulder a little bit. 'That was so beautiful.'
'I know, I could tell you were just loving it, even when you bawled your eyes out in the cemetery scene.'
'She reminded me so much of Meredeth, missing her grandmother. But the guy who played Raoul, he was awesome.'
'That is quite the dilemma for a woman to face. I still think Christine should have picked the Phantom,' Shane decided, looking up and down the street at the other theatre goers.
'Should we head for the metro back?'
'We're not going to the hotel. Well, not yet.'
A sleek black Citroen taxi pulled to the curb and Shane held the door open for her, then showed the card the woman at the hotel front desk had given him to the cabbie. With a curt nod, the driver pulled the car away from the curb, moving through the streets swiftly but safely.
'Where are we going now?' Alexis asked.
'You'll figure it out soon enough.'
Shane picked up her hand, laced his fingers through hers. He wanted this moment of this night to be absolutely perfect.
A few minutes later, the driver stopped and Alexis was once again dazzled, as was Shane: They were on the Quai Branly, which served as the northwest edge of Champ de Mars and the edge of the base of the Eiffel Tower.
'Oh Shane, this is gorgeous,' she breathed, getting out of the taxi; she waited while he paid the cabbie and took his hand in hers once more. 'We're in Paris at the Eiffel Tower. Doesn't get much more romantic than that.'
'Yes it does. We have a reservation for a late dessert and drink.'
Alexis could only stare as they went inside, up to the second level bistro, 58 Eiffel, where the waiter took them to a window seat that overlooked the Champ de Mars park, giving them a beautiful view of the city. They were presented with the dessert and wine menus; once their selections were made Shane took her hand, gazed into her eyes.
'Do you remember what you told me when we decided we wanted to come here to Paris?'
'That to drink champagne at the Eiffel Tower would be a dream come true.'
'And I want to make sure that even if I can't always live up to that promise, that you'll love me for trying.'
'I always love you, Shane,' Alexis told him with a gentle smile.
'Good, because there's something I want to tell you.' He took a deep breath. 'I want you to marry me.'
'What?'
'Not yet. It's not a proposal, Alexis,' Shane explained, 'we are still getting to know each other, but I know that you're it for me. I'm done looking for someone I want to spend the rest of my life making laugh and cry tears of happiness. I love you very much, Alexis Harper Castle.'
'I love you too, Shane Asa Weaver. And I'm done looking too.'
The waiter brought over the champagne they'd selected, poured it into crystal flutes with such subtlety he was almost a ghost. Alone once more, they raised their glasses.
'To promises,' Alexis said, touching her glass to his.
'To promises,' Shane agreed.
R&R&Enjoy
