Page 30 of Bella Rosa
She steps forward and extends her hand. "It's nice to meet you. Thank you for letting us take over your shop today."
Gino takes her hand and kisses it. That fucker. "The pleasure is all mine, bella."
I take a step toward them and place my arm around Rosa's waist. Gino lets go of her and looks up at me with a shit eating grin and pure mischief written all over his face. That double fucker. Rosa sinks into my side and my heartbeat starts to return to a normal level. What the hell is wrong with me?
He takes a step back and begins rolling up his shirt sleeves and washes his hands. "I thought I would stop by and get the machine going. Since this is such a small batch you can come by later tonight and pick it up." He dries his hands and turns to look around the room. "Where's the mixture?"
He looks at me and I point to the top of the freezer. He goes over and pulls it down. He gives me a puzzling look. I hold my hands up. "Don't ask. How's the new baby? Gia recovering well?"
A beaming smile takes over his face as he begins moving around the room. "Baby Amara is amazing. Gia is doing okay. She's over the moon of course, but the recovery has been hard on her."
"Fatherhood looks good on you." I rub the back of my neck. "I'm sorry you had to leave Gia to come out like this today. I didn't think about that."
He shakes his head as he pushes a few buttons on the gelato machine. "Don't be. Gia and her mom needed some time alone with the baby. Her mom will only be here for a few weeks, so I'm glad they get some girl time."
I find myself absently playing with the ends of Rosa's hair. "Who would have thought you'd be the first one out of all of us to get married and have a kid?" I turn to Rosa and gesture at Gino. "He was the wild one of the bunch in culinary school. Always getting the rest of us in trouble."
She laughs as Gino walks toward us with his hands up. "Hold up. That's not how I remember it at all." He cups his hand to shield his mouth from me and stage whispers to Rosa, "I seem to recall a certain someone convincing us all to go cliff jumping after graduation."
I roll my eyes. I'll never live this story down. "It's not like I forced you into it or anything."
Rosa laughs as she looks between Gino and I. "What's so bad about cliff diving?"
Gino leans his elbows on the counter and leans forward slightly. "Turns out the place Matteo took us has a very clear no cliff diving policy. And for good reason, Roberto almost broke his leg that night."
I run my fingers through my hair. "It's not like I pushed him. He just didn't listen to our advice on where to jump."
Rosa smiles up at me, the remnants of laughter on her face. "I knew you were a trouble maker."
I lean down and kiss her on the nose, before I start leading her toward the door. I'm not going to give Gino another chance to talk about any other embarrassing stories. "Do you need anything else from us?"
He shakes his head. "Nope. You're good to go. I'll text you when it's done so you can come pick it up, or I can bring it to your place on my way home. Just let me know."
Rosa turns to Gino as I pull her out the door to the kitchen. "Thanks again!"
I can barely hear him say goodbye as we walk out onto the street. I slow our pace now that we're alone. Rosa situates her sunglasses with her free hand as she looks around the street. "This is a beautiful area. I didn't get to see it before since I had to keep my eyes closed."
I pull her across me and slip over to the other side of her so I'm on the street side of the road. She gives me a smile as we join hands once again. "This is actually where I live. Right up there actually." I point to a four story stone building a few hundred feet ahead of us. "We just need to stop by the car and get our dinner supplies before we go up."
She stops walking and pulls on my hand to make me stand in front of her. She looks so excited. "You're cooking what we bought at the market for dinner?"
I shake my head no and her face falls. I reach down and gently pull her chin up so she's looking at me. "We're cooking what we bought at the market for dinner."
"No way!" She pulls me so hard toward my condo I almost lose my balance and face plant. "Hurry up! This is going to be so fun! What are we making?"
I shake my head and smile even though she can't see me. "That's another surprise. You're going to have to wait and see." I don't know when I turned into the guy that plans dates like this, but after I left Alda's last night I knew exactly how I wanted to spend my first date with Rosa. I just hope I can pull it off. I've never cooked something like this before.
She squeals again. I can't believe how much I like that noise. "I can't wait. Teach me everything!"
She suddenly comes to a dead stop. I was wondering how long it would take her to realize she has no idea where the car is from here. She turns around and looks at me. She puts her hand over her mouth trying to hold back a laugh. "I guess I'm a little lost."
"Let me show you the way." I pull her down a side street to start walking toward the car.
It takes a few turns to make it to my usual parking spot. I let go of her hand and pop the trunk. She comes up next to me and grabs a few bags. I gather the rest in one arm and close the trunk. We start walking to the condo I've had for five years now. It's within walking distance to the restaurant, and the few friends I keep up with all live nearby.
I spent an hour last night making sure everything was clean so Rosa wouldn't find any dirty clothes laying around when she came over tonight. I never bring girls back to my place, so I'm suddenly feeling very nervous. What if she hates my place?
What if it freaks her out to be alone with me at my place? I know we've been getting closer, but this takes things to an entirely new level. Maybe I should have asked her if she was okay with this?
