Chapter 6

• He frowns, not understanding what I mean.
• “I feel hungover from last night. I feel a little sick,” I clarify.
• “Oh.” He smiles. “I see.” He opens the menu and peruses the choices, and I do the same. “What are you having?”
• In order to feel better, I need full fat and double of everything. But then in order to get Rico to kiss me, I need to appear less pig-like.
• “Maybe fruit?” I lie, testing the water. I’m so not getting fruit but I’ll ease into the conversation with that.
• He frowns as he reads. “You should eat something hearty. It will make you feel better.”
• “Okay.” Well, that plan worked fabulously. “If you insist.” I look over the choices. “What are you having?”
• “Granola and fruit.”
• “You know, I make a wonderful granola,” I say proudly. “I roast it myself.” I don’t make much, but I do make that.
• “Do you?” He raises his brow. “Well, I hope that one day you will make it for me.”
• I shrug casually, as if super-hot guys ask for my granola every day. “I’ll see what I can do.”
• He chuckles, and his eyes linger on my face. Nerves dance in my stomach under his gaze. I’ve never spent time with a man who’s this good looking before. Enrico simply oozes sex appeal, and it’s not missionary style sex appeal, either. I’m talking bone-shattering, wet with perspiration, fuck you into oblivion kind of sex. The stuff you see on cable and think about for weeks.
• “Can I take your order?” the waiter asks.
• Rico gestures to me. Such a gentleman. “I will have the avocado and eggs, please.” I frown because I want something sweet, too.
• The waiter looks to Rico. “And you, sir?”
• “She’s not finished,” he mutters, unimpressed with the waiter dismissing me.
• “Oh, apologies.” The waiter turns back to me. “Will that be all?”
• I’m flustered that they’re both watching me. “I was just going to get something sweet, but it doesn’t matter.”
• “Get the…” Rico quickly scans the menu. “The Maritozzo.”
• I shrug. “Sure. Sounds good.”
• “I’ll have the granola with a bowl of fruit on the side.” He folds the menus and gives them back to the waiter, and we watch as he disappears out of sight.
• Rico sits back and rubs his pointer over his lips as he watches me. It’s as if he’s assessing me.
• “What?” I smile.
• “Nothing.” He sips his water. “Just admiring the scenery.”
• I feel my cheeks flush with embarrassment, and I really want to ask him what he was imagining last night when he was pulling his dick. Of course, I won’t.
• “Do you come here often?” I ask.
• “First time. My apartment is on the other side of town. Old Rome.”
• “It’s a beautiful city, isn’t it?”
• “I love it here.”
• “Do you live alone?”
• “I do now. My brother Andrea and I used to live together but we haven’t for five or six years. He lives near the hospital now.”
• “You have just the one brother?”
• “No, I have another brother, Matteo. He lives in France at the moment. He’s a scientist and is working with a pharmaceutical company doing research.”
• “Wow.” I smile. “A doctor, a scientist, and a policeman. Your parents must be proud.”
• “I have a sister, too. Francesca. She’s only fifteen.” He smiles wistfully, and I can tell he has a soft spot for her.
• “Three big brothers to protect her.” I widen my eyes. “Lucky girl.”
• He chuckles as our drinks arrive. “Thank you,” Rico says to the waiter before he turns back to me. “Francesca doesn’t think so. Apparently, we’re the bane of her existence.”
• I giggle, imagining being on the wrong side of Enrico. What a nightmare that would be.
• “What about you? Where do you live?” he asks.
• “I live in Sydney.”
• “Who with?”
• “Alone.”
• His face falls. “You live alone?”
• “Yes.”
• “How old are you?”
• “Twenty-seven. How old are you?”
• “I’m thirty-two.”
• “Old,” I say.
• He chuckles and his eyes linger on my face again. “So, you…” He stops himself.
• “Go ahead. Ask whatever you wanted to.”
• “You have just come out of a relationship?”
• I shrug. “Yes and no.”
• “What does that mean?”
• “I broke up with my childhood sweetheart when I was twenty-four, and then…” I pause, embarrassed. “Then I met my next boyfriend and I was with him for a couple of years. We broke up over a year ago.”
• Our breakfast arrives. It looks amazing as the waiter puts it down in front of us. “Grazie.” I smile before we are left alone again.
• Rico looks back up at me. “Why did you break up with the last boyfriend?”
• “He wasn’t the one.”
• “Who broke it off?”
• “I did.”
• He picks up his coffee and sips it, seemingly mollified.
• “Why are you still single, Rico?”
• “I haven’t had a serious girlfriend in years.”
• “Why not?”
• “I guess I wasn’t ready to settle down.” He pauses and then shrugs. “I don’t know.”
• Alarm bells start to go off. Player.
• Feeling brave, I blurt out, “Do you sleep around?”
• He holds his cutlery mid-air, clearly surprised by my question. “Would it matter if I did?”
• “Not really, but it would give me an indication as to who you are.”
• “Do you think that the number of people you sleep with determines what kind of person you are?”
• “Maybe.”
• “In that case, how many men have you had sex with?”
• “Two.”
• He stares at me, and then blinks. Whether that’s in shock, horror, or awe, I can’t work out.
• “Two?” he gasps.
• I bite my bottom lip to stop myself from laughing. “Does that scare you?”