Carina nodded, and then started writing something in her book.
I’m going to watch it with my best friend, Ashleigh. You?
“I’m going with my family,” I said. “What about your grandfather?”
What about him?she wrote.
“Isn’t he going with you?”
She shook her head, and then wrote,Shop.
“Ah, gotcha.” I nodded. Mr. Ribeiro had told me all about the shop’s popularity and origin over a delicious spread of homemadeFarofaandArrozCarreteiroat lunch earlier. It was a surprise that I’d never visited, or even heard of,Vila do Açaíbefore. When I’d asked Taron about it, he’d told me that he ordered their baked stuff to his apartment every other day, but he didn’t know about the shop being owned by Carina and her grandfather until I’d told him so. It’s weird how the world can be such a small place, and then not so small at the same time.
Carina patted me on the arm to get my attention. When I looked at her, she showed me her open notebook. She’d written something new.
Do you have a nickname?
I raised a brow at her, to which she shrugged.
“I don’t know if it’s a nickname, to be exact, but my elder brother calls me Beauty,” I told her. “He says I’m the face, and he’s the muscle of the family.”
Carina laughed, an action so airy and breathless that I just couldn’t look away from her. Her face was partially illuminated by the raging fire before us, accentuating her mellow featuresdrastically, and her eyes – they seemed to glow like orbs of timber under the warm ambience around us.
“God, you’restunning.” The words escaped me before I even realized I’d spoken them out loud.
Carina inhaled sharply, and I reached out – Idared, more like – to push the curtain of her soft hair behind her right ear.
Fuck, was that too much, too forward?
Had I crossed the line?
She smiled that magnetic smile at me then, and gently wrapped her fingers around my wrist before erasing a little more of the distance between us.
“Rina…” I whispered, and then swallowed. “Can I call you that?”
She nodded, still smiling, and our noses brushed.
She smelled so good – like lilacs and almonds and vanilla, all mixed together. I wanted to pull her to me, feel every inch of her pressed against me, but I also didn’t wanna push my luck too hard.
“I wanna kiss you so bad right now,” I confessed. My heart was thrashing in my chest – literally – and as our breaths mingled, I tilted my head to the side.
Rina fisted the collar of my t-shirt and leaned in further, an indication that she wanted a taste just as eagerly as I did.
I sighed, and our lips brushed. Fuck, I was going to lose it. I was hard; I was burning up.
“Rina.” I parted my lips slightly, just as she did hers, but sucked in a breath and moved back when I heard the sound of Mr. Ribeiro’s cane against the stairs behind me.
Shit.
Rina clicked her tongue and frowned, but then pulled me to her before pressing a sound kiss on the left side of my mouth.
Damn tease.
I chuckled, and nuzzled my nose against her cheek for a lingering moment before getting to my feet.
She followed suit, and then began shoving her things inside her purse just as Mr. Ribeiro reached the last of the stairs.
“I thought I heard you two down here,” he said with a grin, and then looked at Rina. “Had a good day, hon?”
