"My god Ben, this past week - traveling through Germany, here in Nice, and the local sights of Texas! I leaned in a little, "Okay, a highlight has been having you to myself when we were at your place. Now the Cรดte d'Azure awaits us, right? I think it's going to be one of the best weeks of my, our lives!"
We'd spent two full days and three nights in Nice, only a short three-minute walk to the beach. After recharging from everything that we've both been through in the last month - plus I really needed some time lying around on the beach - the inner Aussie beach bum in me needed time on the beach in the sun.
"It's been fantastic out in the sun every day, Jamie. Look at my tan line." Ben dropped his swimming trunks a little, showing off his sexy white butt with a 'come here' sexy look on his face.
"Hmm," I growled, then groped in his general direction.
It was like the gods were smiling on us - the weather was fantastic: mid to high eighty's each day; plus, super bonus here, the compact rental Mercedes I'd booked wasn't available. Someone at the rental company stuffed up and while they were trying to sort it, the girl behind the counter heard us chatting about our drive from Nice to Marseille.
There were a flurry of messages on the two-way radio between the counter staff and someone obviously in the parking garage. Next minute, "Messieurs Spence et Rush," - she smiled brightly at both Ben and me- "I've have been able to upgrade you to a Convertible for no extra cost, to compensate you for the mix up with your car, if that is okay?" said Sara ( I read her nametag). "I hope your trip along the Cรดte d'Azure will be good for you! Bon Voyage, Messieurs!" Sara slid the keys and paperwork across the counter.
Ben and I looked at each other with a mix of surprise and disbelief. "Merci, Sara. Merci beaucoup." When we walked outside there was a sexy black BMW two series convertible waiting for us. Ben and I looked at each in shock, then laughed our heads off as we put our bags in the trunk and headed out of the city. "All this for the same cost - upgrade on the house - oh my god, Jamie, winning!!"
"Jamie, I'm loving this car. Can I have one?" Ben rolled his head back - it was almost one of those classic convertible shots, where the front passenger flicks off her head scarf and they drive carefree down the picturesque roadway. However, Ben's not a woman, not at all. Okay I'm going down a rabbit hole here, but if you met him in the store, you'd think he was just a regular joe sort of guy - he blends in well in whatever environment he's in. There's no flashing sign saying 'Hey look, here is an amazing Paramedic that saved my life, and this guy looks so cute when he's just woken up, looking all sleepy and sexy. I think the convertible suits him.
"Hmmm, nice... hey, Jamie, do you like it?" Ben was smiling from ear to ear.
I looked around the car, taking in the scenery both inside the car, the car and around us - everything just drifted past. God damn, he is fucking sexy!! Gets plenty of heads turning when just walking around, from women and yeah, I've seen you guys having a look too, but ha! He's mine, and he's pretty much oblivious to it. Go figure - when Steph was asking me what Ben looked like in my opinion - not the pictures, but what did I see - I was a pile of words and thoughts. I remember saying that he's someone that would easily be at home working a farm somewhere, well-defined, and at times a man of few words. He's got a metabolism that keeps him looking like he'd be able to run a marathon in a heartbeat too. Not saying that I'm not okay looking myself - I get a few compliments here and there - but we're always harder on ourselves, right?
"Earth to Jamie - is there anyone there or y'all gone out for lunch?"
His smart-ass comment, which was perfect, snapped me back to the here and now with a smile. "Ben as long as I'm not paying, have what you like," I poked my tongue out. "Maybe one day we can be the modern couple, a truck for day-t- day and family stuff, and a convertible for fun days?"
I realised what I'd just said... family stuff. I hope Ben didn't pick up on it. He did. With a cheeky smile he replied: "We'll have to draw a roster, you know, for who's doing the family stuff and who gets the convertible on other days. Can't let you have all the fun," Ben poked his tongue back at me, which caused us both to burst out laughing. That was classy Ben, very classy, letting me off the hook nicely but enough so that I knew that he heard me too. Hmmm... I don't think we had the roof down on the car for the next five days. By the end of it, what a tan we had gotten! Looked like we'd been sitting on a beach for a week - well we did most days anyways.
The trip to Cannes was short, not much to write home about. Maybe I was becoming accustomed to the beautiful surroundings. Both Ben and my family went crazy with the video diary we shot from the deck of some luxury yacht that we'd talked our way onto that afternoon. The guy we were renting our little apartment from in Cannes had a friend that knew a guy... anyway we got to spend the last night in Cannes on the Yacht, watching the sunset while enjoying the French custom of 'aperitif', loosely meaning 'let's sip on booze and not get too smashed', ha-ha.
"Jamie, what was that? Damn, I could drink that all night." Ben had, what I've just discovered, the elixir of life look about him, tipping his almost empty glass towards me while waiting for his drink to be refilled. "Well, why not?" I smiled, sitting on a yacht in the harbor with millions of euros of hardware floating around us, the warm night breeze on us - life felt pretty good right now...
"This," I handed his glass back topped up from the jug we'd almost finished off, "Is called 'Pastis' and am loving it too," I replied as I smacked my lips. "Jean says that the next drink on our menu is even better." I gave him a smug look. I've gotta say I was feeling the effects of the booze too. It was going to be a good night. "Would you prefer wine base or Champagne for the next?
Salut, mon
mignon (how you doing, cutie)
!"
Ben looked back at me like a double take. "What - you're adding French to your languages now, Jamie?"
I raised my eyebrows and smiled back. "I only know enough to get me into trouble,
canon (hot looking).
Let me get that drink for you." I stood up and the room spun for a second. "Wow!! That shit's got a kick to it," I said, reaching out and steadying myself with the counter where we were sitting.
Quietly, we sipped on the next drink - '
Kir Royal'
- then a few good old Manhattans, followed by slamming down too many Cowboys, till we staggered off the boat around midnight, finally falling through the front door of the apartment and sprawling out over the bed. I don't even know how the hell we got back to the apartment.