It was hard to remember we were in a public place as he deepened the kiss, his tongue sweeping into my mouth. Tasting him, touching him, losing myself in him – the world fell away. Eventually I pulled back, aware that there was a time and a place – and tonight we had both.
“God, Caro!” he whispered and closed his eyes, just holding me to his chest.
“Come on,” I said, after a long moment, “let’s go for a walk.”
He frowned, looking puzzled. “Are you okay?”
“Sure, why?”
He shrugged. “I just wasn’t expecting to see you tonight. I mean, I’m glad you’re here, but…”
“Well, I’ve got everything packed up in my car. I… I just need to tell David. I was going to do it in the morning, but, well, he didn’t come home… and I wanted to see you.”
“Good,” he said happily.
I smiled up at him.
“Are you hungry or is that a dumb question?”
He laughed. “Yeah, I could definitely eat something.”
“Let’s head to Little Italy.”
“Yeah! We can pretend we’ve got that motorcycle and we’re on our road trip!”
We didn’t get quite that far before we found a small Sicilian café serving couscous al pesce, one of my favorite dishes: I was finding it hard to walk on by.
“I don’t know, Caro,” said Sebastian, scanning the menu hanging up outside, “it’s not that cheap.”
“I know it’s not, but tonight I don’t care: tonight I start my life over. Thanks to you.”
He smiled down at me and his eyes glowed with love.
“Really?”
“Truly. We’re celebrating… and I’ve got another surprise. But that’s for later.”
I tried to tug him into the café but he resisted. “Tell me!” he said his voice suddenly husky.
I shook my head and smiled. “No, it wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you.”
“Caro, you’re driving me nuts! Please!”
“Well, okay, as I don’t want to be the cause of your insanity… I’ve booked a hotel for us.”
His breath hitched in his throat and his eyes widened. “A hotel?”
I nodded and had to swallow when I saw his expression change from love to lust.
“Let’s go now,” he said, pulling on my hand.
“No, I want to eat – and you said yourself that you’re starving.”
“We’ll get take-out!” he growled, tugging me down the street.
I planted my feet and tugged back. “Sebastian, no!”
He stopped, staring at me in hurt surprise.
“Why not?”
I couldn’t help but smile at the expression on his face, but my voice was serious. I’d spent quite a while thinking about this.
“Because after tonight we won’t be able to afford to do this again for ages and for tonight, at least, I don’t want to hide. I just want to have a nice meal in a nice café… I just want to have… a date. With you.”
He grinned. “A date? Yeah, I’d like that. With sex after?”
I laughed. “Oh, yes. A lot of sex after.”
We sat at a table in the window and the elderly waiter lit a candle and stuck it in an old wine bottle encrusted with wax.
I spoke to him politely in Italian and he smiled hugely.
His accent was very strong and he explained he was from Trapani on the toe of Sicily. I could tell Sebastian was finding it hard to follow the conversation so I switched to English.
“We hope to visit Sicily one day soon,” I said, throwing a quick glance at Sebastian who grinned back.
“Ah, then you must visit my home town and wish her well for me,” said the old man, “and you will weep before the beauty of our Madonna di Trapani.”
He wandered away, happily chattering to himself, as he reminisced about his home town. I smiled at Sebastian as he held my hand across the table, but then his eyes widened in shock.
“You took off your rings,” he whispered.
I nodded silently.