30 July 2012
I rushed home to get dressed, fair enough I had to think this whole mess through, but he was extremely good looking and by the time I reached home I only had 3 hours to get ready and I didn't even have an outfit planned out. After getting ready I spent a few minutes practising my yoga deep breathing to calm my nerves and compose myself. Then I heard a knock on my door and checked my reflection one last time. I looked nice, my make up was spotless, my red dress looked nice in contrast with my dark hair and tanned skin, and my heels made my legs seem even longer and more sculpted than they already were. Yep I looked good, I opened the door and my date's expression confirmed my opinion. "wow, you look amazing" he said staring at me "thank you inspector" I answered "please call me Ric" "only if you'll call me Leah" "Deal" he smiled and the cutest dimple showed up on his cheek. I silently castigated myself for noticing and reminded myself how crazy this whole situation was, while collecting my purse. "shall we go?" he asked "lead the way” I smiled.
We walked to his car in silence, I felt awkward not carrying my gun like every other day, but I just felt that tonight it would be a bad idea…maybe not as bad as this date but bad none the less. He stopped walking and I looked at the car in front of us. A beautiful matte black BMW M3 coupe` sat in front of us, and I must admit I was very impressed.
“Nice ride” I complimented
“Thanks, you know a lot about cars?” he asked opening the passenger door for me
“A little” I replied getting in, and loving the way the leather felt so soft against my skin, the interior of the car was just how I would have liked it, simple and elegant.
“How much is a little?” he asked getting in and starting the engine
I smiled knowingly “little enough to know that I like this car…but mine is faster”
“Oh yeah? Wait…don’t you drive the same type?”
“yes but mine is in matte red” I laughed
His laughter was like diamonds falling on melted chocolate…so good.
“Then it isn’t faster, you just drive recklessly” he joked.
“So what’s for dinner? I asked
“It’s a surprise…but you don’t have any allergies do you?”
“Nope”
“Vegeterian?”
“Nope”
“Then you will love it”
I just smiled already knowing that we could have been eating soil and I would have enjoyed it as long as he was with me.
The reastaurant was on the north side of London and I could smell the wonderful aroma of roasted meat from across the street where we parked. It looked so inviting with its colourful sign and laughter filtering from it into the night air.
“El hogar de la comida feliz” I read out loud, “Do you know what it means?” I asked Ric
“The home of happy food” he answered taking my hand and leading me across the road, I didn’t even check for cars, the feeling of his skin on mine was too distracting. Get it together Leah.
We walked into the restaurant and were greeted by a smiling teenager who greeted Ric in Spanish and the two had a short conversation conversation filled with laughter in the language before we were shown to a table at the back of the room. As I sat down I took in my surroundings and fell in love with the homely atmosphere and the traditional Spanish décor, everyone seemed to be smiling and truly enjoying the food which looked absolutely delicious. A waiter came up to our table and handed us menus greeting Ric in Spanish after a few smiling sentences he turned to me and greeted me with a heavily accented English “Welcome to El hogar de la comida feliz I hope you will enjoy our food, my name is Enrique and if Ricardo here is rude to you tonight let me know and I will take care of him for you” he said a smile on his face and a amused glint in his eyes, I couldn’t help but laugh “I will make sure to let you know”.
After Enrique left I glanced at Ric and found him smiling at me, "you better be nice to me" I said "that's the plan, let's decide what to eat" he said laughing and looking down at his menu. I looked down at mine and found myself overwhelmed...everything sounded mouth watering. "wow...if I could eat everything I would order it" I thought out loud "what do you recommend?" " how about we share a mixed grill platter? It would basically be a little of most of the menu and it's designed for 2" he answered looking thoughtful, I agreed and he beckoned Enrique and made the order in fluent Spanish. While we waited for our food we talked and he told me a little about himself, growing up in Colombia and moving to England, he was telling me about the beaches in Colombia and as our food was placed in front of us I sighed "sounds beautiful, I have to go there" Enrique's chuckle reminded me of my surrounding as he said "I bet he told you about Colombia" I chuckled and said "yeah, I don't understand how anyone could live here after seeing that" "it's a mystery" he replied and walked away smiling. I looked at the table, Ric had ordered a huge platter filled with beautiful ribs, chops, steaks and chicken wings, legs, breasts and tights, all coated in sauces with different shades of the barbecue red. My mouth watered. He had also ordered us a salad each, roasted potatoes and tall glasses of some kind of fruit juice of a pinkish white colouring, I asked what it was and he replied "guava and coconut" I immediately took a sip and it was so good I moaned out loud, I looked at him startled at my reaction and found him smiling with an amused glint in his eyes " I had that reaction too the first time" we laughed and the rest of the dinner went on filled with laughter and comfortable chit chat, it took us almost an hour and a half to clear up as much food as we could and even though I was sure my stomach would burst I wanted more. Ric settled the bill insisting "it's what a gentleman does" and we set off, as he drove me home I was so full and comfortable I almost dozed off in the leather seat, and as he gently parked in front of my apartment I looked around me confused for a second. He walked me to the door and I looked into his eyes as I said "thank you for a lovely evening" "it was my pleasure" "you are a gentleman" I smiled He smiled back then frowned "have I done something wrong?" I asked puzzled "no but...I'm going to do something not very gentlemanly before I go" he said and leaned in, gently touched his lips to mine, and caressed my cheek tentatively, it lasted a second and too soon he pulled away gently pushed me through my door, said goodnight and walked to his car. I wanted to run after him and kiss him again but I was frozen to the spot, until this day I am not sure whether I was enchanted by the kiss or if was my thoughts that had frozen me, and as I heard his car pull away I whispered so gently "I think I love you" in the loneliness of my hallway letting the faint light from the window show my blush.
Assassin In Love - Leah's Story Part 2 • Opuss № I