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“Can I taste yours?” he asked and offered me his cone with pistachio.
“It’s good, right?” he said as I took a bite.
“It’s better than mine… I’m keeping this one,” I teased him and held it away from him when he wanted to swap back.
He laughed. “Hey, give me my ice cream back.”
“Never,” I said and took off running toward the sea, laughing out loud.
Gabriel was right behind me, balancing the soft ice while chasing me.
I didn’t stop when I reached the water, but kicked off my flip-flops and continued until the waterline hit my knees. Still laughing and with my hair blowing in the sea breeze, I stopped and looked back at him. He wore long pants and would get wet if he went after me. I on the other hand had the denim skirt that was just above my knees.
“Uhm, your ice cream tastes amazing, it’s like a little piece of heaven,” I said and took another big bite.
Gabriel studied me for a moment. “I hope your little piece of heaven is worth the hell you’re getting when you come over here, young lady.”
I kicked at the water to make him wet and grinned. “Ohhh, is Daddy going to punish his little girl for being naughty?” I said, but the expression on his face almost made me drop the ice cone.
“What did you say?” he asked, but he wasn’t laughing, and the way his Adam’s apple jumped in his throat made me go over what I had just said in my head. “Oh shit, no, I didn’t mean it like that.” I tried to explain. “I don’t want you to spank me or play the P game or anything.”
We both knew I was referring to Anna and Mark’s perverse games of age-playing. But we were nothing like them.
Gabriel stood there, staring at me with the soft ice dripping down his hand.
“Okay,” he said and blinked a few times. “No, of course I won’t spank you.” But there was no conviction in his voice and the way he looked at me made my heart beat faster.
“Here, you can have your ice cream back,” I said and hurried to him.
He looked down at the half-melted soft ice in his hand and then he threw it far into the ocean.
“Hey, that’s littering,” I accused him.
He squatted down to wash the soft ice off his hands. “No, it’s not. I’m simply feeding the fish.”
“I was going to give you back your pistachio, but now that you threw my ice cream away, I’m keeping it.”
He got up and surprised me with his speed when he reached out and grabbed my wrist. “We’ll share it,” he said and brought my arm closer to his mouth. Keeping eye contact, he licked a large chunk of the ice cream, and I swear it did funny things to my stomach. Then he pushed my arm back toward my mouth and by default I spread my lips and tasted the sweet pistachio.
I didn’t know what to do when he stepped closer and took another bite of the ice cream while it was still in my mouth. The way he leaned in while gazing into my eyes made me think of kissing, but of course our lips never met, as the ice cream was between us.
Yet with his closeness and the burning expression in his eyes it felt dangerous, and I was starting to freak out.
In reflex, I pushed the ice cream away from me and because he was so close, most of it ended up on his nose.
“I’m so sorry,” I said while he was trying to get the ice cream off him. He used the ocean to wash his face and hands and got pretty wet in the process. It was a good thing that the weather was so warm and sunny.
“Let’s do what we came here for,” he said and started walking toward the main street again. “Let’s find you some clothes.”
I followed him and when he reached his hand back I even took it. We were, after all, still playing the roles of father and daughter.
Gabriel found a small shop with women’s clothes. The selection wasn’t big but he was excited when he found a colorful stack of t-shirts.
“How about this one?” he asked and held up a yellow t-shirt with a v-neck.
I wrinkled my nose at his suggestion and picked up a black one that I liked.
He arched a brow. “No black, Cia.”
