Chapter 14 #2
He tried it and immediately shook his head. ‘No,’ he said. ‘Mine is definitely better.’
She rolled her eyes and laughed. ‘You’re just saying that. You know mine is much nicer.’
He shook his head again, laughing back at her. ‘Not so. I don’t think either of us is going to win this one.’
‘I’m not trying to win. I’m just stating a fact,’ Rebecca replied, with a cocky smile, enjoying the light-hearted exchange. Felipe was so easy to be with and she didn’t have to take him too seriously.
‘Okay, so I dare you to let me choose dinner tonight.’ Felipe smirked at her.
Rebecca wrinkled her nose at him. ‘Playing hardball now.’ He already knew food was a weak spot. ‘Exploiting my weakness.’
‘Challenging you,’ he argued, with a devilish grin that reminded her of a marauding pirate about to steal away the treasure.
‘What do I get in return?’ she asked.
Felipe’s eyes strayed to her mouth and his eyes darkened. For a moment her heart stilled and then her pulse picked up, beating hard.
Eventually– it felt like seconds later– he said in a low voice that she had to strain to hear, ‘I can think of lots of things,’ he paused, his expression suddenly intent. ‘One of them begins with O. And we’re not talking octopus.’
He sat back in his seat, his mouth curving in a slow, self-assured smile.
She wasn’t about to let him have things all his own way. ‘Promises, promises,’ she said, holding his gaze. ‘Let’s see if you can deliver.’
‘I promise.’ The smile he gave her made her toes curl with quick anticipation.
Ever the pro, he moved on seamlessly. ‘I suggest the burrata with orange jam, almonds and pepperoni, along with the tempura prawns– I’ll give you a break there, because I know you love your prawns– followed by the special pork tenderloin.’
‘That sounds acceptable,’ she said. ‘I have no idea what burrata is, but you had me at pepperoni.’
Once again he laughed, and Rebecca was grateful the sexual intensity had been dimmed because she was worried she might spontaneously combust on the spot.
She loved how they spent so much of their time laughing; it really was so easy.
Will, understandably, given his grief, was often sombre.
He didn’t laugh easily. Or maybe he never had.
The thought gave her pause but then Felipe asked her about wine.
‘You’re the one that was at a wine tasting today. I’m completely happy to concede that job to you, in view of your considerable expertise. How was the tasting? Was it very hard work?’
‘Terribly arduous,’ said Felipe, straight-faced. ‘I’m exhausted.’
She giggled. ‘I hope not too exhausted. I’m expecting great things of you later.’
‘You’re not questioning my expertise elsewhere, are you?’
‘I wouldn’t dare,’ she teased.
‘ Você gostaria de fazer um pedido ?’
Both of them looked up in surprise. Neither had been aware of the approach of the waiter.
Rebecca felt herself flush bright red but Felipe, with his usual aplomb, segued seamlessly into urbane customer. ‘We’d like to take a bottle of the white, Papa Figos Douro.’ He lapsed into Portuguese to order the food.
‘So, enlighten me, what is burrata?’ asked Rebecca.
‘It’s an Italian cheese, a casing of mozzarella around a creamy stracciatella. Very creamy and rich but quite delicate in flavour.’
Rebecca nodded as if any of that made any sense to her. She liked mozzarella, especially on pizza, so that was okay.
In fact, when the dishes arrived, she found the first taste of the cheese to be a bit bland, but she didn’t say anything, grateful for the tiny dabs of orange jam, the accompanying scraps of pepperoni and whole almonds that gave it a bit of oomph.
However, after several mouthfuls, she realised it was all about the combinations of flavours and the dish grew on her.
She had absolutely no complaints about the lovely crisp, melt-in-the-mouth batter around the lush, plump prawns or the amazingly sticky and sweet, accompanying teriyaki dipping sauce.
‘Oh, that is soooo good,’ she groaned, helping herself to another prawn and then she realised she was making a sex noise.
Felipe looked up and grinned at her at the exact same moment and she blushed a fiery red.
‘I hope you’ll be saying that later,’ he quipped, and, if anything, her blush deepened.
‘I’m counting on it. After all, a promise is a promise.’
The hill loomed in front of them as they began the ascent. After gin and wine, Rebecca felt nicely floaty, and when Felipe wrapped an arm around her, she was quite happy to nestle into him as they neared the top of the hill, closer to his flat.
‘So how come you gave up competitive cycling?’ she asked, feeling comfortable enough to ask the question that had been gnawing at the back of her head. She wasn’t being nosy, just genuinely interested. ‘You must have been good to get a scholarship in the States.’
Even though Felipe continued walking, she was aware of him stiffening– it was very subtle.
‘Cycling was too time-consuming,’ he said with an offhand shrug. ‘You need to be really committed and dedicated. I didn’t have time. There were other things I wanted to do. Like have a life.’
Rebecca was aware of a feeling of disappointment in him, although it was nothing to do with her.
From what Kimberley had said, he had talent.
It was wrong to be judgy but it just seemed wrong to give something up when you were so good at it.
How many people would have loved that scholarship?
It seemed a terrible waste. She realised her silence probably signalled her innate disapproval, although she’d never have said anything.
Felipe was more than intuitive enough to pick up on it.
‘Race you to the top,’ said Felipe suddenly, and took off.
‘Oy!’ she cried but wasn’t about to be left behind. There were about fifty metres to the top but the slope was so steep it was incredibly hard work. Felipe turned around and started running backwards.
‘Come on. Você é uma molenga .’
‘I’m th-thinking… th-that’s… rude,’ she huffed, between breaths.
‘It means, you’re a wimp .’
His ever-present grin made her dig a little deeper and she tried to run faster, although it was difficult enough on the one-in-five slope without the added disadvantage of the slippery cobbles. She saved her breath for running and not accusing him of cheating because he’d had a few seconds’ lead.
When she realised she was within an arm’s length of him, she stretched out and grabbed his sweatshirt, tugging him towards her.
‘Hey!’ he said with a laugh, trying to wriggle out of her grasp and turn around to face the hill.
She took advantage of the manoeuvre as they crested the hill and gave him another tug backwards.
‘Cheat,’ he grumbled as she surged ahead of him, giving him a wide berth and laughing gleefully as he tried and failed to grab her.
‘You lose!’ she yelled as she came to the edge of the pavement at the top.
‘I never said this was the finish line,’ he said, overtaking her and running across the road.
‘Grr,’ she said and ran after him. He had to dodge a pair of unsuspecting drunk guys, which slowed him down, and once again she weaved her way past him.
A second later he lunged and encircled his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against him to a stop. When she tried to wriggle out of his hold, the touch of his fingers tickled her bare waist, and made her giggle. ‘D-don’t do that!’ she gasped, squirming like a very animated worm.
Felipe’s eyes gleamed. ‘Ticklish?’
‘No,’ she squealed, giving away that the opposite was true.
‘You are!’ he said with delight, and for the next minute he showed no mercy, leaving her bent double, laughing and desperately trying to catch her breath.
‘S-stop!’ she gasped again, her hands on her knees, still giggling. ‘S-stop!’
‘You only had to say,’ he said and picked her up and tossed her over one shoulder, placing his hand on her bottom to balance her.
‘Put me down,’ she laughed, tapping at his back.
‘No, I’m getting you home without any more trouble.’
‘You started it.’
‘And you always have to have the last word.’
‘Always,’ she said with another giggle.
At the door to the house, he backed her up against the wall and slowly let her slide down the length of his body to her feet.
Penned in, she looked up at him, her blood singing at the look in his dark eyes as he caged her body. ‘Now what are you going to do with me?’ she asked, a quick thrill of anticipation thrumming in her veins as she laughed up at his gorgeous face.
‘Everything,’ he said before lowering his mouth to hers.