He wasn’t sure why he felt differently today. Maybe it was just the fact that they were in Rome. You couldn’t walk around this city without feeling the romance. Everything was so old and so beautiful; just walking around was like being in a labyrinth full of hidden treasures.
Just this afternoon, he had walked around a corner and found himself face-to-face with the Trevi Fountain. You couldn’t do things like that back at home. You couldn’t be taken by surprise by that kind of beauty. Everything that was remarkable or noteworthy in the United States made a big deal about itself. You had to pay to see it, or you had to join a tour.
But Lucas had walked right up to the fountain today. He had been steps away. He could have reached out and touched it, if he had wanted to. Even now, hours later, he felt breathless just thinking about it.
He had felt the same way when he set eyes on Elise.
He didn’t know why. But she seemed like the fountain to him, like a kind of magical experience that could only have happened here in Rome.
He looked up to see her coming in the door. She was wearing a white cocktail dress that showed off her tan, and she had pinned her long brown hair up off her neck. He got to his feet and went to the door to greet her.
Elise looked up at him and smiled. “I was sort of worried you might not be here,” she admitted.
“Why wouldn’t I be here?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “There’s something…fantastical about all this. A handsome man saves me from being the victim of a purse grabber and then offers to take me out to dinner.” She blushed. “I’m sorry. I feel silly telling you that.”
“You’re afraid I’m going to turn into a pumpkin?” he asked her, smiling.
“Something like that.”
He was flattered. “Did you want to get a coffee before we go eat?”
“No, I’m all right,” she said.
He nodded. “I’ve picked out a restaurant. I hope that’s all right.”
“That’s fine,” Elise said. “Honestly, I’ve been having dinner in my rental apartment every night, so I don’t know what the best places to eat around here are.”
“Are you serious?” he asked. “You’re in Rome and you’ve been cooking your meals at home? You haven’t gone out to eat at all?”
“I go out for lunch,” she said. “But no, I cook my own dinners.”
“Why?” he asked.
“I’m going to be here for another week,” she explained as he led her out of Gianni’s and onto the sidewalk. “I have to make my budget last.”
He frowned. “I hope that thief didn’t damage your trip too badly, with what he took from you.”
“It’s all right,” Elise said. “I’ll end up spending more than I meant to on this trip, but that was probably going to happen anyway.” She grinned. “I have a weakness for gelato.”
“Oh, so do I,” he agreed. “There’s a great little place down that way. They have the best gelato in the city.”
Her face lit up. “That’s where I go!” she said. “My apartment is that way too. Maybe we should go get some after we finish dinner. That part could be my treat.”
He looked at her, at the soft curves of her dress, wondering if she was suggesting what he thought she might be suggesting. It was impossible to be sure.
She’s probably just talking about gelato. Don’t go making assumptions.
“That would be nice,” he said, smiling.
They had reached Mangia, the restaurant he had planned to take her to. He opened the door to usher her inside.
Elise looked up at him, frowning. “Are you sure about this?”
“Do you not like this place?”
“I’ve never been here,” she said. “It just…looks expensive.”
“Well, if you haven’t had any dinners out since you’ve been in Rome, it’s time you tried the best,” he said. “Besides, we have a reservation.”
“We do?”
“You can’t eat at Mangia without a reservation.” He winked at her, then went to the hostess and gave his name. The woman smiled and nodded, beckoning the two of them to follow.
As they sat down, Lucas held Elise’s chair, noticing the smooth skin of her neck and shoulders. Then he ordered a bottle of Chianti as the hostess placed menus on the table. The hostess smiled and nodded again. Lucas got the impression that she didn’t speak English. He wondered if Elise spoke any Italian.
Elise picked up her menu and bit her lip. “There are no prices on here,” she said.
“Don’t worry about that,” he said.
“You’ve eaten here a lot, I guess?”
“Enough that I know what everything costs,” he said. “Get whatever you want. It’s not a problem, I promise.”
She still looked uncomfortable, and he realized he was putting pressure on the situation.
“May I order for you?” he asked her.
Immediately, relief crossed her face. “I’d like that,” she admitted.
“Do you like seafood?”
“I love it.”
“Perfect. I know just the thing, then.”
Their server appeared. In halting Italian, Lucas ordered a pasta dish for himself and a seafood dish for Elise. He managed to indicate that he wanted extra plates as well. After a few tries, the server seemed to understand. She flashed him a smile and went away.
“I didn’t know you spoke Italian.” Elise looked impressed.
“I don’t, really,” Lucas said. “Just a little bit that I’ve picked up here and there.”
“So you must come to Italy a lot,” she inferred. “Does your company send you here frequently?”
“We have a business partner here in Rome,” he said. “They’re actually the ones putting on the conference I’ll be attending. But yes, I’ve been over on several occasions just to meet with them.”
Elise nodded. “I wish my job sent me to Rome,” she said enviously. “I get to travel too, but I’ve never been farther from home than California on a work trip.”
“Where’s home?” Lucas asked.
“Albuquerque,” she said.
He nodded, trying not to show his disappointment that she lived far away from him. “My company has a branch there, actually.”
“But I take it that’s not the branch you work for.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I work in Boston.”
“And you said it was a pharmaceutical company?”
“That’s right.”
“You said you’d tell me more about that if I came to dinner,” she reminded him, taking a sip of wine and looking up at him through her lashes.
He raised his eyebrows. “That was a line. Do you really want to hear about my work?”
“Sure I do,” she said. “There’s a branch of this company in Albuquerque, right, and they send their salespeople to Rome all the time. Maybe I need to consider a career change.”
He laughed along with her. “The big thing we’re working on right now is a contraceptive, actually,” he said.