Chapter Twelve #2
When she finally made her way around the table, smiled and threw back her hair, he rose to kiss her cheeks, aware of her tiny hesitation, probably as she remembered how last time they’d attempted cheek kisses their mouths had found each other.
Despite the regard of his family members and uncaring if they noticed how he clasped her shoulders, he murmured, ‘Jade, you look amazing,’ and pulled out her chair.
‘Thank you.’ She seated herself in a waft of perfume that did strange things to his insides. In the lights above the tables, her hair looked shot with spirals of copper.
As if he’d only been waiting for Jade, a waiter arrived with dark green menu folders, Ristorante Roma in slanting gold script on the front.
Everyone fell to discussing antipasti options and debating wines.
Jade listened while Ferdinando explained to her why the only wine she should ever drink was red – Italian red, obviously, and preferably Lombardian – and then ordered vino rosato or rosé.
From across the table, Sofi claimed Jade’s attention. ‘I’m so jealous of that miniskirt. I’ll soon be in maternity dresses.’ She pretended to pout, but her sparkling eyes betrayed pregnancy excitement. When Massimo whispered something in her ear, she beamed before kissing the tip of his nose.
Leo hadn’t needed the miniskirt highlighting, as Jade’s bare thigh was in his peripheral vision every time he glanced down at his menu, disturbing and distracting. His hand itched to slide down and touch that naked skin.
Soon wine and water were placed on the table along with a mocktail for Sofi and beer for Massimo, who betrayed his Italian genes by not really liking wine.
The volume around the table rose as olives and bruschetta, cubes of soft burrata and frills of salami appeared on two large, circular boards of olive wood, one for each end of the table.
For some, antipasti was enough until it was time for secondi, but Massimo and Ferdinando indulged in primi too. And all the time, Leo was acutely conscious of the woman at his side. And that she chatted to everybody but him.
In fact, Jade waited until the meal was almost over before she turned to Leo. ‘Did you buy the hotel?’
Unsure whether her eyes were glittering at him with interest or simply a couple of glasses of vino rosato, he answered lightly. ‘Not yet. But it’s a great set-up.’
‘Tell me about it,’ she said.
‘Let me show you the photos.’ He fished for his phone. First, he showed her the exterior – they laughed again at it being called ‘Leonardo’ – and the garden. Then the terracotta-tiled reception area with a glass-topped reception desk.
Head bent close to his, she examined each image, listening as he talked and asking questions. He could swear she wore the same zingy perfume that used to cling to his pillows after she’d left his bed. Lightly, she said, ‘You sound enthused. I’m sure Riva will be a great place to live.’
‘It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for.
’ He didn’t tell her about the doubts that had stopped him in his tracks at the last second.
Her eyes reflected the flames from fat white candles on the table.
The nakedness of her shoulders almost begged him to dip his head and brush his lips across her skin.
Would it still be as silky? All the other people around the table seemed to fade into the background.
Then he found himself speaking impulsively, as if the words were coming from his heart, or lower, rather than being routed through his brain. ‘It’s great that you’re here, but I would have called around to see you tomorrow. I was going to ask you out to dinner.’
Her neatly drawn eyebrows quirked. ‘You were going to? But now you’re not?’
He wasn’t sure whether she meant to be flirtatious or to put him off. He tried to read the answer in her eyes. ‘If I asked, what would you say?’
Her eyebrows arched higher, as if she were weighing the question. ‘Would you take me somewhere good?’
Flirting, then. He took a moment to pretend to consider. ‘Pretty good.’
‘Only pretty good?’ Her pretend indignation made him laugh.
They were interrupted by Ferdinando rising to his feet to propose a toast to the family. ‘Alla famiglia! Including the member who is on its way,’ he added, raising his glass to his pregnant daughter-in-law, who giggled delightedly.
Under cover of the toast, Leo leaned close to Jade and whispered in her ear. ‘Somewhere as classy and beautiful as you.’
Applauding the toast after taking the obligatory sips of wine with beaming smiles for the happy parents-to-be, Jade sent him a sidelong glance.
But when she turned to look at him fully, all laughter had vanished.
‘When you have one foot out of the door again?’ she asked softly.
‘Once I thought you were my happy-ever-after. Yet, clearly, you saw me as someone to pass the time with while you pulled together your important plans to be happy somewhere else, and now you’re trying the same thing again.
Well, no, mi dispiace. All my emotional energy is taken up in dealing with unexpected sisters and missing Gran. ’ Her smile was full of pain.
‘Oh.’ Though recognising that she was protecting herself, he still blundered on like a moron. ‘But . . .’
A raised hand thwarted his reply and she turned away.
Leo sat silently, his heart lurching around his chest like a drunk in an alley. What had been stopping him making an offer on Hotel Casa Leonardo struck him like lightning.
It wasn’t Como he didn’t want to leave.
It was Jade.