Page 72 of Away With You
Chocolat.
“You brought me to a hotel made of chocolate?”
“Not quite,” Nathan chuckles. I blush, annoyed that I’d asked that stupid question out loud. “This is what we’re doing.”
I look closer at the large sign in front of us, bubbles of excitement taking over my hungry stomach.
Chocolate Tree to Bar Tour.
“We’re making chocolate bars!” he announces with a delighted laugh.
“We are?”
My eyes dart from here to there. We’re standing in the foyer area of an exclusive-looking hotel, nestled in the rainforest, surrounded by what I now see are cacao groves.
“I’ve died and gone to chocolate heaven.”
A petite woman with spiral curls steps forward and introduces herself as Brigette, our tour guide for the morning.Biting back my squeal of pleasure, I fall into place beside her, leaving Nathan to trail behind us.
“Tell me everything,” I gush. And so, she does. For the next two hours, we are guided through the cacao groves, while Brigette teaches us about sustainable cacao-growing. Along the way, she shows us how to graft a cacao tree and allows us to taste cacao pulp from a freshly cut pod. I soak it all in, wishing I’d brought along my trusty travel journal so I could take notes. It’s the sort of experience I want to capture on paper.
“And now it’s your turn to craft your own chocolate bar,” Brigette concludes the guided tour with the best sentence I’ve ever heard.
“Thank you so much.” I shake her hand and squeeze with gratitude for the little slice of heaven she just shared with us. “This has been a wonderful experience.”
She beams back at me. “It was my pleasure. And now I’ll leave you with our expert chocolatier, Francois, who will show you how to make the chocolate bar of your dreams.”
“You should see your face right now,” Nathan murmurs in my ear. For the entire tour, while I was listening and learning, he was standing close beside me. His eyes never straying from my face.
I wave one last time to Brigette and then crane my neck to gaze up at him. “This is perfect, Nathan. Thank you for bringing me here.”
The amusement in his eyes fades as he zeros in on my mouth. In slow motion, his face lowers closer to mine until there is nothing in between us. I hold my breath, and he softly brushes his lips over mine, offering a small sample of the kisses we’ve shared, before pulling back.
“I’m happy you’re happy.”
In a daze, I wrench my gaze from him and turn to where a smiling Francois is waiting to teach us how to make chocolatefrom scratch. It’s like Nathan designed the entire day to hit all my pleasure centres: learning new things, chocolate, and time with him.
“Shall we?” Francois asks.
I step towards him with an eager nod. “Let’s go.”
Thirty minutes and many, many chocolate samples later, Francois (my newest best friend—sorry Jade) takes our individually crafted bars of chocolate away to set, while Nathan and I find ourselves an alcove, out of the way, to relax.
“How long until we get to eat it, again?” I ask, peering around the corner in the direction of the long-gone Francois and my lusted-after chocolates.
Nathan leans back, his arm stretched out along the seat behind me, almost but not quite touching me. “He just left, Kitty Kat. Give the chocolate time to set.”
I sink back, fighting a pout. Sure, we’d sampled some (okay, many) chocolates while making our own, but my stomach wants more.
“And in the meantime,” he continues, like he’s reading my mind. “We can indulge in these.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth, like magic, a tray of desserts appears on the table in front of us, along with two tall, frosted glasses.
“Our signature iced hot chocolate,” the server tells us with a shy smile. “Enjoy.”
“That’s quite the oxymoron,” I mutter as she leaves, drawing in a long sip through my straw and almost expiring from the flavour explosion on my tongue. “Ohmigosh, Nathan. This is amazing!”
I suck down another mouthful while he chuckles, watching me drink in favour of drinking himself.
