AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hmm,” she mumbled. “That depends on your answer to my next question.”
“Which is?”
“Can we get gelato now?”
“Dear God,” I said, rolling my eyes and smiling.
* * *
“You know,” she said as we sat on the bench next to each other, her legs slung up on top of mine as we devoured the ice cream in the cool blue of early night, “you still haven’t told me what’s inside this.”
“Hmmm?” I asked, looking at her, confused, with my spoon hanging out of my mouth.
She laughed as she leaned forward to wipe the ice cream off my mouth. “You know,” she said, “you’re the only non-geriatric person I know who likes pistachio.”
“Call it an Italian thing,” I said. “We like our nuts and nut flavors.”
“There are about a million things that I could say in response to that,” she said, grinning.
I chuckled, leaning forward to capture her mouth with mine. This shit was fucking lovely. Chilling with some gelato and allowing myself to indulge myself in more than that.
My mind refocused on the sweet moment of tasting the flavor of her kiss that was tinted with the cold, icy undertone of her Nutella gelato. “Mmm,” I said, running my tongue over the seam of her lips before pulling back. “You made a good choice.”
“So did you, I have to admit.” She held back the small, white shopping bag in front of my eyes. “So? What’s in this thing?”
“Oh, yeah,” I said, grinning. “Open it.”
She raised her eyebrow but reached inside the bag to reveal the silk scarf I’d gotten at the small boutique next to the trattoria. It had a stunning teal, gold, and white pattern, and I’d thought of her immediately when I saw it.
“I saw you touching your hair all self-consciously when we got out of the car,” I said as she examined the filmy, smooth material between her fingers. “This is so you don’t have to worry about it when we drive with the top down.”
“It’s beautiful,” she said, holding up the fabric and admiring it. She put it down, her eyes lighting with happiness as she leaned forward to kiss me again. “Thank you.”
She pulled away and handed me the cup that had held her gelato. “Here, hold this for a second.” Then, without another word, she twisted her hair into a bun and wrapped the scarf around it as if she’d been doing it all her life. She tucked it in before turning back and raising her eyebrows at me. “What do you think?”
“You look like Grace Kelly,” I said, my words nearly catching in my throat, admiring how stunning she looked. “I don’t know how you instinctively know how to do that.”
She shrugged. “It’s a gift,” she said with a sexy wink. She pointed at my gelato cup, which now sat empty. “I’ll take that.”
“Thanks,” I said, handing it to her, still enchanted by her beauty.
Shit, I was so fucked if this didn’t work out. These feelings felt fucking awesome, and even though I didn’t know what to do with them, I was undoubtedly enjoying the hell of them.
She stood and looked for a trash can to dump the cups. “Just so you know, though,” she said, leaning forward, “this puts a lot of points in the hanging around with Spencer column.”
“I thought we were trying out dating? Not hanging out?”
I had to know where her mind was because I didn’t want to be steamrolled by emotions. I would need to punch the brakes—not indulge so much—if she wasn’t seeing this the way I was.
“I’m calling it hanging out,” she said with a chuckle. “I’m not sure the word dating is something I want in my vocabulary just yet.”
I laughed, sort of feeling the same as her. “How the fuck does anyone navigate a relationship? Dating? All of this shit is so fucking foreign to me.”
She arched her eyebrow at me, “Then we’re both fucked because all I’ve ever done is criticize my friends for it, so there’s that.”
“I say we just go with it, you know?”
“Exactly,” she answered. “As I said, hanging out with Spencer.”
