AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The restaurant was only a short drive away. Carrie paid the driver and walked with a confidence she was far from feeling up the steps.
“I’m meeting Gael Vivas,” she said to the suited man on the front. Her eyes scanned the restaurant, searching for his head. His face. His ey
es. Nerves were eating through her now.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. Mr Vivas waited almost an hour before leaving.”
Shit, she swore under her breath, scanning the restaurant in the hopes that he’d got it wrong.
But there was no Gael.
Carrie ran back down the stairs and flagged a cab. For the second time that night, she got lucky; a taxi stopped almost instantly.
“Where to, love?”
That was a good question. Where was he staying? Would he be back at the Pyrmont? Or somewhere else?
She reached into her bag to call him, to explain, but in her haste to get ready, she’d left her phone on her bathroom counter. She’d go home and get it. That was all there was to it.
She gave the cabbie her address and tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for it to retrace the drive she’d just made.
When it came to a stop outside her home, and she saw Gael’s car, a feeling of intense euphoria came over her. She pressed some money forward and stepped out, her eyes scanning the footpath.
And there he was. Sitting on the front steps of her home, his head bent forward.
“Gael,” she said as she approached, a curious expression on her face.
He lifted his head so fast he might very well have picked up a case of whiplash. “Dios Mio,” he exclaimed, standing and wrapping his hands around her waist. He lifted her to him and kissed her, not caring that she hadn’t decided what she wanted. Carrie kissed him back, her fingers pulling through his hair.
“I was late,” she said against his mouth.
“I know.”
“You came here anyway?”
“I brought dinner,” he responded with a smile.
Carrie’s laugh was tremulous. “That feels familiar.”
“We don’t seem to do restaurants very well,” he confided with mock seriousness.
“No,” she agreed. She lifted her finger to his cheek and touched it, as if to ascertain that he was real.
“May I come in?”
It was a loaded question; he was asking more of her than she knew how to give. She bit down on her lip, then eyed the brown paper bag. “For dinner,” she agreed finally, her voice clearly expressing her wariness.
Gael wasn’t going to argue. Any inroad was better than nothing. He followed her up the stairs, and into the lounge. “Burger okay?”
There was a silent challenge in his question.
And Carrie understood why. She sighed, but nodded. “A burger will be fine.”
Saying it hurt. She took it from him suspiciously, trying to remember when the last time was she’d eaten something like this.
She unwrapped it and spread the paper on her lap then bit into it tentatively. Gael was watching intently, his dark eyes scanning her face. He sat opposite her, but didn’t make an attempt to open his own food. Carrie took another bite, and swallowed.
Having lived on light and lean food for as long as she could remember, the burger felt greasy and unpleasantly substantial in her mouth. She swallowed, but she was forced to admit it was harder than she’d anticipated. She put it down on the paper and reached for her bottled water.
