Chapter 13 #2
I sat up straighter, suddenly more alert to our surroundings.
I’d been hoping to compare notes on what, if anything, we’d managed to find out so far, but the tables were spaced barely two feet apart.
This definitely wasn’t the place for a private conversation about our mission, and we couldn’t exactly sit in silence while I psyched myself up for the next date.
The only option left to us was to spend the next five minutes pretending that we really were on a speed date, which was the last thing I wanted to do.
Could this evening get any more awkward?
I placed my hands flat on the table, pressing against it to centre myself.
All I had to do was act natural and not make a fool of myself, while at the same time being aware of my surroundings in case there was any suspicious behaviour going on elsewhere.
Easier said than done. I took a deep breath and tried to channel Moira’s air of easy confidence.
She’d never find herself stuck for words in this situation.
She’d just go for it and not have a second’s concern about being awkward or embarrassing herself.
‘Hello, Leo, nice to meet you. I’m Katherine.
I imagine I’m not the first to tell you that travel and good food are fairly universal pleasures.
So how about you tell me what your definition of good company is?
Or shall we make it fun, and I’ll guess?
’ I tried to inject a flirtatious air into my tone but, having never been very good at that kind of thing, I went too hard with the accompanying attempt at flicking a loose lock of hair back and ended up whipping myself in the eye.
I blinked hard then glared at Leo, my injured eye already watering, daring him to laugh at me. But instead, he gamely picked up my cue of fake flirtation and responded by slowly and deliberately lowering his gaze to my lips, then back up to my eyes, his smile growing wider.
‘I’m always up for fun,’ he said. ‘But I’d rather talk about you. How about I guess what you find pleasurable first?’
He deliberately lowered his voice on the word ‘pleasurable’, parodying a practised seducer in a manner which I couldn’t help reacting to.
I cleared my throat, hoping he hadn’t noticed my involuntary quiver.
He was far too good at this game, and that riled me, not that I wanted him to realise that. I had to go on the offence myself.
I shrugged my shoulders, and giggled like he’d just said the funniest thing I’d ever heard.
‘Sure. You can guess. I’m an open book.’ I toyed with fluttering my eyelashes at him, a come-hither move which always seemed to feature in seduction scenes in Doris’s romance novels, but given my already watering eye, I’d probably give the impression I was developing some kind of infection, so I decided against it and repeated the overly girlish giggle while twirling the lock of hair around my finger.
‘Your laughter is like a wind chime trilling brightly in the breeze,’ said Leo in a voice which I could only describe as a purr. His expression was of pure devilment. He was totally getting a kick out of watching my terrible attempt to play the flirt.
‘Sorry, I think I just threw up a little,’ I responded without thinking.
A couple of heads turned in our direction, eyebrows raised at my sudden change of tone.
I forced out another trill of laughter and fixed Leo with my best devoted expression.
‘What I meant to say is that your voice sounds like a safe haven in a storm,’ I improvised rapidly to save the situation, again drawing on my knowledge of the library’s cheesiest erotica.
I held my palm against my chest to emphasise the point, all wide eyes and breathy keenness.
If Leo was determined to mess about and go down the clichéd seduction route, I was going to give as good as I got.
Leo managed to turn his responding snort of disgust into a deep rumble of amusement.
‘You’ll always be safe with me, babe,’ he said, his voice dropping by half an octave and taking on a slightly Hollywood twang.
I raised an eyebrow at him. ‘Babe?’ I mouthed.
He shrugged apologetically, lips twitching with humour.
‘You give me good vibes too, sugar,’ I said, huskily.
Actually, the huskiness was an unintentional bonus caused by the effort of fighting to stop myself laughing.
This wasn’t getting me any closer to tracking down our target, but I had to admit Leo was a very amusing partner for fake flirting.
It actually felt kind of liberating to play at seduction with him and be as outrageous as I liked, safe in the knowledge that this was all for fun and there was no hidden agenda.
It was certainly making me feel a little less tense about the speed dates yet to come.
‘That’s me, all about the vibes,’ said Leo. ‘But we’re getting off topic. I was about to read your mind and deduce your greatest pleasures, Katherine.’
He sketched the shape of an imaginary crystal ball between us.
I reached out and pretended to pick it up and throw it over my shoulder.
He might be play-acting but, knowing my own tendency towards having subtitles in my facial expressions, combined with Leo’s uncanny observation skills, I decided I’d rather not subject myself to his fortune teller routine.
‘But sugar, they’ve changed since I met you. Just being here with you is now one of them.’ I couldn’t resist teasing him.
‘I feel the same. How is it possible to experience such a sense of connection in such a short space of time?’
For a moment I thought he was going to reach out and take my hand.
‘Having a good time, you two?’ asked Dom, suddenly appearing by our table, looking between us with great interest.
‘Just covering the basics, favourite colours and pizza toppings, that kind of thing,’ I said breezily, willing him to go and make small talk with another table instead.
‘Good stuff. You guys look like you’re hitting it off. Do you fancy longer than the allotted five minutes?’ Dom asked with a lowered voice. ‘It’s a one-time offer.’
‘We’ll stick with the prescribed five,’ said Leo. I couldn’t decide whether to be relieved or offended by the speed with which he answered the question.
‘Fair enough. In which case, I’ll disappear so you can make the most of your final minute,’ said Dom.
‘We need to be more careful. If you go too hard, our neighbours are going to expect us to run off together rather than staying for the rest of the evening,’ I hissed quietly.
‘Sorry, but it was fun while it lasted,’ whispered Leo, then continued at a more normal volume. ‘You said earlier that you’re an open book. I reckon that’s a dead giveaway that you like reading.’
I relaxed, glad that we were returning to safe ground.
‘You’ve got me there. I wear my heart on my sleeve, quite literally,’ I said, gesturing to the small stack of books tattooed on my inner wrist.
‘That’s a good quality to have. If perhaps one which can leave a person vulnerable,’ said Leo, a more serious note in his voice.
‘I bet you think the world of fiction is infinitely preferable to the real world. I can empathise with that, but it’s something to be careful about.
It can lead to all kinds of heartbreak. Real life doesn’t always play out into a happily ever after. ’
‘Thanks for the warning, but I’m quite aware of that. I’ve recently been thoroughly inoculated against those who seem like they could have walked straight out of the pages of my favourite novel. If they sound like they’re too good to be true, then they probably are.’
Leo nodded. ‘A tough lesson to learn.’
‘One I’d prefer not to dwell on any longer,’ I said lightly. ‘So, go on then, what else do you think I find pleasurable?’
Leo held my gaze steadily. ‘You have an open and bright expression, which tells me you’re the sort of person who wants to truly experience every moment and take joy in it.’
‘You sound like you’re describing a dog.
That’s exactly how Robin behaves when she’s following Gavin around the library…
where I often write. My friend Gavin who has a dog called Robin,’ I added hastily, remembering that Leo wasn’t supposed to know who I was talking about, and that I was meant to be pretending to be a writer this evening.
‘Dogs have the right attitude to life. It’s very simple for them– they want affection, good food and a comfy bed. And they’ll sacrifice the latter two for the first one.’
‘All very sensible things to long for. As you say, it’s a shame that us humans are so much more complicated than that. It takes far more to please us.’
‘I’m not sure if I completely agree,’ he said.
‘The affection and comfy bed sound good to me, particularly when they’re combined.
’ His eyes sparkled in a manner which shouldn’t be legal.
‘Your pleasures’—again, the word was unnecessarily drawn out—‘are positive ones, I reckon. I could guess the bog-standard long walks on the beach stereotype, or spending sunny afternoons with friends, or even better, lazy mornings with a lover, but I think I’m going to go deeper than that. ’
There was something hypnotic about how his lips formed ‘lover’, the way the word came out so softly.
And that was when I realised I was drifting into dangerous territory, that I was losing the ability to see the teasing edge in the funny flirtation game.
I couldn’t risk lines getting blurred and allow myself to believe that this exchange was turning into something potentially more serious, more meaningful.
My priorities were elsewhere. I needed to focus, and to take back control of the situation, before I got caught up in the fantasy of something that could never be and distracted from the real reason we were here.
‘Those all sound pretty good pleasures to me. I’m not sure there’s much more to be said. I’m a simple person, with simple tastes. How about you?’ Surely it would be safer to turn the tables on him?
‘Oh, don’t do yourself down. You strike me as being the kind of person who has many hidden depths. But perhaps you’re too scared to show them.’
No, he was determined to keep trying to get me off balance.
‘Maybe that’s because I’m yet to find the right person to share them with.
’ It was a stock answer, one I’d trotted out dozens of times in the library when well-meaning but busybody patrons had quizzed me about my relationship status.
But it was harder to say to the first real guy to make my pulse quicken in a long time.
The online fraudster obviously didn’t count.
He nodded. ‘Or maybe you have, but you just haven’t realised it yet.’
The aggressive ringing of Dom’s bell was a welcome interruption to a conversation which had become unnervingly intense.
‘Good luck with your next date,’ said Leo. ‘Parting is such sweet sorrow.’ The teasing voice was back again.
‘And there you go revealing yourself as a Shakespeare fan. Or maybe it’s the doomed love affairs that you’re really in thrall to.’
‘I’ve always been of the opinion that Romeo and Juliet could have solved all their issues by having a good chat. Mind you, they were too busy doing other stuff to talk properly,’ responded Leo with a twinkle. Then he lowered his voice. ‘Good luck, Holmes. Don’t speak to too many strange men.’
‘Hopefully you’ll be the strangest of the night,’ I countered, and made a beeline for the next empty chair before he could respond. Time to get on with what I was really here for.