Never Say No to a Caffarelli

Morgan gave a tight smile. ‘Come this way.’

Once they were seated at their table and Morgan had left them with menus, Rafe raised his brows at Poppy. ‘Friend or foe?’ he asked.

Poppy picked up the menu with a huffy shrug of one shoulder. ‘I’d rather not talk about it if you don’t mind.’

‘Let me guess.’

‘I’d rather you didn’t.’

He leaned forward and pushed the menu she was using as a screen down with his index finger so he could mesh his gaze with hers. ‘The guy who runs this place...Oliver Kentridge...he and you were an item, what, about three months ago?’

Poppy pressed her lips together without responding.

‘And the Morag girl—’

‘Morgan.’

‘Sorry, Morgan—is the one who lured him away from you, right?’

Poppy let out a breath that sent her stiff shoulders down in a little slump. ‘I don’t think it’s fair to blame Morgan for all of it. Oliver wasn’t getting what he wanted from me so he went to her. If he cared about me he wouldn’t have strayed. Obviously he didn’t care enough.’

A little pleat of a frown pulled the skin together over his eyes. ‘What wasn’t he getting from you?’

Poppy shifted in her seat. This wasn’t exactly the conversation one had in a public restaurant, was it? Not that anyone was sitting nearby, but still... ‘Um...’

‘Sex?’

She looked at his incredulous expression and felt a blush steal over her cheeks. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’

‘You refused to have sex with him?’

Poppy leaned forward and hissed at him, ‘Will you please keep your voice down?’

He leaned forward as well, resting his forearms on the table so his hands were within reach of hers. His gaze was very dark and very focused as it held hers. ‘How long had you been going out?’

‘A couple of months.’

His frown deepened. ‘So what was the problem? You didn’t fancy him or something?’

‘I sort of did.’

‘What does that mean?’

Poppy gave a helpless shrug. ‘I think I wanted it to be more than it actually was... Our relationship, I mean. I was lonely after my gran died. I wanted to be with someone. I’d known Oliver for years. He was one of the guys I’d gone to school with. We had a lot in common, or so I thought. We both moved to London to do hospitality training. When he came back a few months ago we sort of got together.’

‘So why didn’t you sleep with him?’

Somehow one of his hands had found one of hers. Poppy looked down at the way his long, tanned fingers had curled around her lighter-toned ones, creating a circle of intimacy that would make any onlookers automatically assume their relationship was a sexual one. It made an involuntary shiver trickle down her spine. It made a liquid heat pulse between her thighs.

She took a scatty little breath. ‘I wanted to wait a bit...’

‘For what?’

‘To see if the chemistry was right.’

‘Clearly it wasn’t.’

‘No...’

The approach of Morgan with the list of the day’s specials put a pause on the conversation. But, instead of leaning back in his chair, Rafe kept hold of Poppy’s hand across the table. She was conscious of his warm, dry fingers curled around hers in an embrace that had an undercurrent of sensuality to it. She felt the slow stroke of his thumb against the underside of her wrist. It was a mesmerising movement that stirred her blood to fever pitch.

Morgan’s eyes went to their joined hands before she addressed Rafe. ‘Would you care for a pre-dinner drink?’

‘Champagne,’ Rafe said with an easy smile. ‘Bring us your best.’

Morgan’s eyes widened but she maintained her professional stance and nodded.

Poppy looked at him pointedly once Morgan had left. ‘Champagne?’

He gave her a twinkling look that was devastatingly attractive. ‘I finally convinced you to go out on a date with me. I think that’s worth celebrating, don’t you?’

‘You didn’t convince me.’ She gave him a slitted look. ‘You coerced me.’

He brought her hand up to his mouth, holding it against the slight graze of his newly shaven chin, causing a frisson of delight to pass through her entire body from head to toe. ‘You wanted to come. Go on—admit it. You wouldn’t be here now if you didn’t. You would’ve found some excuse or slammed the door in my face when I arrived to pick you up. But no, you were ready and waiting for me.’