Last Chance Saloon - Marian Keyes [156]
‘I’m meeting a Mr Roth,’ she told the maître d’.
He checked the list, then he checked it again. ‘I’m sorry, there’s no table in the name of Roth.’
Katherine’s stomach yawned with fear. Panicking she looked around the room and, with frantic relief, saw Joe sitting at a table behind a partition. He’d just seen her too and had hastily got up.
‘Oh, there he is, it’s OK.’ She smiled, indicating Joe.
‘That’s Mr Stallone,’ said the maître d’, his face unreadable.
‘Is it…?’
Joe had reached them.
‘Your guest has arrived, Mr Stallone,’ the maître d’ said politely.
‘Er, yes, thank you. This way, Katherine.’
‘Mr Stallone?’ Katherine whispered, as Joe held her chair for her.
‘It was the only way I could get a table at such short notice,’ he muttered.
There was a tiny, stunned pause, then a heave of mirth burst up through her. ‘Mr Stallone,’ she exploded, and began to laugh and couldn’t stop, doubled on to the table, crying tears of hilarity. Patiently, indulgently, he watched her. ‘Oh, God,’ she wheezed, wiping under her eyes. ‘I haven’t laughed so much in years.’
‘I’d hoped you wouldn’t find out. I was keeping an eye out for you but that bloody great partition blocked the view.’
‘I’m delighted I found out.’ She leant across the table towards him, her face radiant with sincerity. ‘I swear to God.’
The menus came and they ordered their food and wine.
Though there was so much that they didn’t know about each other, they mostly talked about their food. He described his deep-fried Brie to her and she told him all she could about the warm bacon salad she’d ordered. Almost like a conversation I’d have with Tara or Fintan, Katherine thought in surprise. Especially Tara.
This didn’t seem like a bad thing.
When the main course arrived, Katherine asked, genuinely interested, ‘Is your sole nice?’
‘Yes,’ said Joe. ‘Would you like some?’ He was already proffering his fork at her.
‘Er… no.’ She squirmed, heat in her cheeks.
‘Go on,’ he urged, in a low voice. ‘It’s delicious.’
‘That’s one of the corniest lines I’ve heard in a long time,’ she said, embarrassment making her want to deflate him. But it didn’t.
‘Go on,’ he repeated.
And aroused by his voice and the intimacy of the gesture, Katherine leant forward and let Joe put his fork in her mouth.
‘Nice?’ Joe asked her, meaningfully.
‘Nice,’ she agreed, shyly.
He watched every mouthful that she ate, focused on her mouth as she put food into it, his eyes warm on her lips as she chewed. She was embarrassed and aroused, and after the main course had to escape to the ladies’ for a breather from the sexual tension at the table.
At pudding time, in honour of Tara, she had the double chocolate mousse. As she was sliding a spoonful of white and dark chocolate into her mouth, she looked up and found Joe watching her intensely. The combination of the chocolate exploding on her tongue and the promise in his look, made her tingle like she’d just had a mini-orgasm.
Her body prickled with such anticipation she was almost afraid. It might happen tonight. It really might.
58
Afterwards they stood outside in the cold night.
What now?
‘We could have coffee at my place?’ Joe suggested.
‘In Battersea?’ she replied, her tone implying that it was a ridiculous notion. Reclaiming her right to be a schoolmarm.
‘Why not?’ he asked, seemingly unfazed by her derision.
Make him wait, she begged herself. Make him wait. Don’t give it away too easily.
‘No,’ she said.
Watching his anticipatory smile fade away gave her a moment of fierce pleasure before she said, ‘We’ll go to my place instead.’
In the taxi they held hands in silence. Without speaking she let them into her flat, then carefully shut the door. And prepared to embark on the first carnal