Chapter two

Alex noticed Tanaka smiling from across the room. There was a swarm of people around her but he had managed to catch her smile. And for the second time that night his chest gave in. He had to get himself under control! Then the next thing his feet started moving towards her. What the hell! “Enjoying yourself much?”, He asked when he got to the bar. She looked up and smiled. Man that smile! “Yes, I am, are you enjoying yourself? I haven't seen you dance Alex.” “Is that an invitation to dance I hear Tanaka?”, Alex asked with a hint of mischief in his voice. Alex, what are you doing? something inside him asked. He totally ignored it. “Maybe it is she chimed”. “Well then I accept your invitation Miss Huchi.” Tanaka laughed and held out her hand for Alex. She led him to the dance floor just as the band started playing Quando, Quando, Quando. She felt good in his arms, he liked the way her body curved naturally into his. “I love this song!” she interrupted the forbidden thoughts he had started. “You do heh, can you sing it?” Then she just broke out in song. Just like the rest of her, her singing voice was amazing. He was entranced. She looked happy as she sang. She stopped singing and started blushing hard under his gaze. “I'm sorry, I just love the song so much.” “Well I'm the one who asked you if you could sing wasn't I?” “I was just supposed to say yes I can haha.”

“What do you do Miss Huchi?” You mean...?” “Your profession, in life.” “Oh, I'm a translator and interpreter”, she said. Fancy Alex found himself thinking. “So you speak more than English heh. Which other languages?’’ he asked. “French, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Farsi.” Alessandro opened his mouth in genuine shock. “What? How? when did you get the time to learn all those languages?” “What do mean time?”, she asked. “You don't look older than 25 and in my opinion 6 languages need at least 30 years to learn.” Tanaka laughed. He found that he liked the sound of her laugh. It wasn't forced like some of the laughs women tried on him so as to seem classy. “I’m actually 29 she said.” “No way”! “Yes way! Oh and I'm going to take that as a compliment by the way, the thing about my age.” She blushed because of him for the third time and his insides felt proud like they had accomplished something. “As you should, because I didn't mean it in any other way but as a compliment”, he said.

Tanaka had not in any way expected to see Alessandro Romero striding towards her and sparking up a conversation. And had that been an attempt at flirting she had noted. Don't get ahead of yourself Tanaka. He is just being friendly to his cousin's best friend. It was very easy to talk to him. She felt nervous at first when he had taken her into his arms and danced her around the dance floor. His biceps were very strong and hard, hanging on to them felt safe. She wondered if the rest of him was as hard as his biceps. His perfume was something spicy, like that sauvage she had sampled in a magazine. It was mixed with something that was just him. She found that she liked the scent of him and his perfume. “Tanaka, liking this guy and devising stuff you like about him isn’t going to get you anywhere” she said in her mind. She knew that but he was right there, looking good and swaying her in his arms. Maybe he had just taken pity when he saw her alone at the bar. Then she had made it worse by embarrassing herself when she sang. But he had seemed really interested. Or maybe he decided to be courteous. She had found herself blushing for the third time in a space of two hours under his gaze. She prayed to the gods that he hadn't noticed because what would he think of that. He would probably think she was acting like a school girl who had a crush. She couldn't risk him knowing that she found him handsome and attractive.

The song ended and he gave a little bow. “Thank you for asking me to dance Miss Huchi.” “Why the pleasure was all mine Mr Romero”, she said with a huge smile on her face. “Stop it Tanaka!” She scolded herself. Alessandro led her off the dance floor to a table. She automatically fell into a chair. “You seem tired”, he noticed. She gave a little laugh and said, “I am actually.” “And you let me walk you all around that dance floor, why didn't you say something?” “I told you, I love the song”. He raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “What it's true”. He raised his hands in surrender. “Fine whatever you say”, he told her. Tanaka realised that she was starving and picked up a menu. “Hungry? me too”. A waiter materialised out of thin air, startling her. The waiter noticed and said, “sorry miss next time I'll stomp my feet.” “Thank you”, she said and smiled sweetly at his sarcasm. Alex just sat there with a smile on his face watching the exchange. Then he scanned the menu and asked her what she was having. “I will get the chow mein and a side of lettuce salad please.” “And you sir?” “Same please just without the salad and extra prawns.” “Very good Sir.” As they waited for the food, Alessandro made it his quest to discover more information about Tanaka.Why? He had no idea. He couldn't deny it, she was likeable and although she wasn't the type of woman he found attractive, she really was.

“So Tanaka, you're 29”, he stated. “Yes I am,” she said easily. “How old are you?” She asked before he could proceed with his line of question. “Take a guess, how old do you think I am?”. She put her hand under her chin and feigned a look of concentrated thinking. “I would say 32?” “So close, I am actually 33.” “Almost got it.” “How did you learn 6 languages in less than 30 years?” “Haha, well I majored in French and Portuguese at university.” “Interesting.” “Yeah, and the rest I just taught myself along the way and made sure I acquired the necessary documents and certificates to be able to work. With Chinese though I had the privilege to go to China for 6 months so that helped a lot.” “So you just taught yourself four languages”, he asked. “You seem amazed.” “That's because I am. No one just does that. It takes time and dedication.” “Is that another compliment Mr Romero?”, Tanaka asked as she felt another blush creep up her face. He looked her straight in the eyes, “yes it is another compliment.” “Thank you she said sincerely.” The waiter appeared with their food. They thanked the waiter and dug in. “This is delicious”, Alex said. “Very”, Tanaka agreed.

As they ate, a comfortable silence fell upon them, which for Alessandro was rare. He never had comfortable silences with women. Tanaka had been easy to talk to which was why he found himself displaying characteristics he normally would not like being overly friendly. The conversation had flowed. Hard to believe he had met her a mere two hours ago. He even managed to forget about the party he was attending and all the people around him.

Then he suddenly remembered he had a cousin at this party. “Have you spotted Nathaniel at all?” “Not in the past hour. I think he has managed to accomplish his goal”, she said while winking. Just as she finished saying that Nathaniel materialised, clearly tipsy. He was wearing a huge smirk on his face. “You did it didn't you?”, Alessandro heard Tanaka ask him. “Yep and oh girl it was beautiful”, Nathaniel added with dreamy eyes. “Whoa Nathan! I don't want to hear what and what it wasn't,” he said from across the table. “You two can catch up at one of your gossip coffees okay.” He noticed Tanaka looking at Nathaniel with a look he could not decipher. “You told him about latte Friday. Come on man.” Nathaniel shrugged with a guilty look on his face. She then looked at Alessandro,” What else did he tell you huh.” “Okay that is my sign to leave this table”, Nathan managed to say as he stood up and fled. “Well he hasn't told me much”, Alessandro said with a straight face. “That's not what you said at the beginning of the night Alessandro Romero.” He raised his hands to the side and shrugged.

The waiter came and collected the dishes as Alessandro was making up his mind to ask her to dance one more time before he had to leave. Just as he was about to ask her, she suddenly announced that she had to leave, an early day faced her tomorrow. “What is it?” she asked, “Why?”, he said pretending not to know the reason for her question. Guess he hadn't been able to conceal his disappointment at her having to leave because she had certainly seen it on his face. “I'm thinking that I have to leave too soon. Can I give you a ride home?” “Oh I don't know.” “Maybe you're not on my route”, she said nervously. “Yeah so?”, He casually put in. “OK fine I will allow it.” “Great! Now the only problem is locating Nathaniel to say goodbye.” “I usually just text him when I can't find him”, she told him. His eyebrow creased in thought. “How come I have never thought of that, always struggling to find him thanks for that tip.” She gave him a small smile as she took her phone out of her purse to text his cousin.

Why had she agreed to a ride from this guy? She didn't even know him. Well she had heard a lot about him from Nathan but being alone in a car with him for 25 minutes was going to be torture. Maybe she should tell him she has changed her mind. Yeah and risk looking like she wasn’t sure of him. There was no way out now. “Good all done, I've texted him. Let's get going.” “Don't you have to get your coat?”, he asked. He had remembered that she had come in with a coat and she hadn't remembered. Why? Because her mind had been busy killing its self with worry about the ride that was coming. Sitting next to him, inhaling his scent and hearing that deep sexy voice in an enclosed space. “Let's go”, he said after they had retrieved her coat. He opened his arm for her and she put hers in the crook.