Chapter 32 #2
He nodded. “After high school. Summer, my girlfriend at the time, moved out east for college. It went okay for exactly three months and was really fucking expensive.”
“Where’d you study?”
“I didn’t.”
I let out a surprised “oh,” which embarrassed me at the exact same moment because it sounded snobby.
“I didn’t study either,” I added quickly, and took a bite of my pasta.
“In any event, you were right, I’ll never be able to enjoy supermarket pesto ever again.
So, either you give me the recipe, or you accept the fact that you’re regularly going to find me out in front of your door. ”
“I’ll take the door.” Something in his tone of voice made me catch my breath. “You don’t give out family recipes,” he mumbled.
“True.” It was nothing but a shaky whisper, but it gave away my mood completely.
We stared into each other’s eyes.
“So…I know we haven’t really talked about how things will continue, but…I’d really like to kiss you right now.” He was looking at me so intently, all I could do was nod. “Is that a yes?” he asked, and came closer, a hint of a smile playing about his lips.
Instead of answering, I closed the remaining gap between us and pressed my mouth to his.
Our lips were oily from the pesto, but we didn’t care.
He opened his mouth slightly, and I took the invitation to move forward with my tongue.
Meeting his, I let out a sigh and softly began to make circles around it.
“You taste good,” he moaned.
I cocked a brow. “Are you complimenting your pesto again?”
“My…pesto Genovese.”
The sparkle in his eyes told me that he had emphasized it so strongly on purpose, now that he knew how smitten I was by his Italian.
His plan worked. I melted like snow in the sun.
He used the small interruption to put our plates on the table.
But instead of kissing me again, he stood up.
Confused, I looked at him, then at the hand he was holding out to me.
“I still owe you that sunset.”
* * *
“Wow,” I whispered as the sky turned a beautiful red, orange, and gold.
I had imagined that we’d watch the sunset from the beach.
Instead, Vince had pointed to the tree towering into the sky from the middle of his terrace.
We’d climbed up a few rungs to the viewing platform.
And there we stood, our elbows on the railing, our eyes fixed devoutly on the natural spectacle on the horizon.
“Do you come up here often?”
He nodded. “I think this is one of my favorite places on the island,” he said, his eyes focused on the ocean.
“Thank you for showing me,” I said quietly.
Silently we watched the sun sink into the water and night come down. Up in the sky the first stars began to wake, and the moon appeared to take up its duty.
“You should set up a telescope.”
He wrinkled his nose. “Nah, I don’t know enough about the stars for any of that. I can barely find the Big Dipper.”
I laughed, took his hand, and traced the seven stars in the sky with my index finger.
My knowledge of astronomy was limited to two or three constellations, but the Big Dipper immediately caught my eye.
When I tried to let go of his hand, he intertwined his fingers with mine.
It felt so intimate, so close, my breath got caught in my throat. He looked at me penetratingly.
“So, what happens next?” His voice was soft, a little husky.
“No idea.” It was the most honest answer I could give him.
He let a moment pass before saying, “I see it like this. I kinda like being around you.” He gently ran his thumb over mine. “It feels good. And I think…we have fun together.”
“Yeah,” I said carefully, unsure about the direction our conversation was taking.
He glanced at our entwined hands, then continued.
“I’m well aware that you’ll only be here another three weeks.
And that you’ve got a lot on your plate.
And I’ve got the hostel. But”—he took a breath and looked up—“there’s nothing against…
enjoying a sunset together now and then, right?
” The grin he gave me was ambiguous and insinuating, naughty and incredibly sweet. And infectious.
“Are you asking me officially if I want to be your summer fling?”
“My summer make-out fling, yeah.”
I gave him a lighthearted slap, and he let go of my hand and ducked, laughing. I immediately missed his warmth. With more seriousness he said, “If you aren’t interested, that’s cool too.” And added with deeply hooded eyes, “Assolutamente.”
“Hey! That’s no fair!”
“Just a bit of lobbying on my behalf, so to speak.”
Our back-and-forth was making me bold. “What about sunrises?”
He blinked.
“All you mentioned were sunsets,” I whispered, and my stomach fluttered. “Are sunrises part of the deal?”
“That’s…up to you.”
Again I felt his hand on mine, and only now did how close we actually were become clear to me. And how wonderful that felt.
“Okay,” I heard myself say.
“Okay, you’ll…think about it?” His voice sounded hopeful.
“I already have,” I replied with a smile that was anything but ambiguous.