CORAL (A Romance Trilogy, Book 1) (18 page)

Tristan gazes lovingly at me for
a moment, then his expression changes his frown reappearing. “Let’s eat.” He
states somberly – And I wonder if I’ve fucked it all up again.

Sighing heavily, I pick up my
menu and start to look through it, but my appetite has completely vanished. So
I decide on a salad, it’s light and I don’t have to feel guilty if I don’t eat
much of it. I put my menu down knowing what I want and sneak a peek at Tristan,
he’s still perusing the menu. This guy seems to take his food seriously. I
wonder why? After a moment he puts his menu down, looks up and catches me
gazing at him, he smiles back at me, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.

I instantly feel gutted, I really
like his eyes lighting up when he looks at me.
God I’m so confused!

A waiter appears out of nowhere,
and I’m pleased that he’s male. I don’t think I can take another female ogling Tristan.
He smiles politely at Tristan then turns to me, his eyes nearly popping out; I
want to roll my eyes at him. He blinks several times then turns back to
Tristan. “Are you ready to order?” He asks a little nervously.

“Coral.” Tristan offers for me to
go first.

I look up at the waiter with a
stern face; I don’t want to give him the wrong impression. “I’ll take the
avocado & green leaf salad, hold the dressing.”

“And for you sir?” He turns to
Tristan.

“Chicken caesar salad.” Tristan
replies not taking his eyes off me, the waiter nods picks up the menus from our
table and quickly scuttles away. “Seems I’m not your only admirer. Do you have
any idea how attractive you are?” Tristan asks me.

I frown down at the table. If he
had any idea of what I think of myself…?

“Tristan, there are thousands of
women across the world that are far more attractive than I am.” I mumble,
feeling shy that he said that.

“So you have self-esteem issues
too?” He perceptively says. I choose to ignore it.

“Well the woman in Munchies
couldn’t take her eyes off you either.” I answer smartly.

“It’s just a face.” He waves his
hand in the air.

“Precisely,” I say agreeing
completely.

Tristan shakes his head and takes
a drink of his beer. “So what did you really think of the house?” he asks.

“I told you Tristan, I thought it
was magical,” I say. I have no idea if we’ve actually come to any agreement,
conclusion...

“Magical?” He beams.

“Yes.” I say feeling exasperated.
How many times does he want me to say it?

“What if I said I wanted to buy
it for you, for us?” I almost choke on the sip of water I’ve just taken.

“That’s not funny.” I bark,
considering the conversation we’ve just had.

“It wasn’t a joke.” He
counteracts, his face deadly serious.

“Are you frigging kidding me?
Tristan did any of the conversation we just had register at all? You don’t know
me, and you want to buy a house for me?”

“I want you to be happy.” He says
with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Is that why you asked me to come
with you today? To make sure
I
liked the house?”

“Yes.”
Shit!

“Tristan,” I moan. My mind feels
like it’s going to explode, too much information in one day. Tristan leans
forward and takes hold of my hand, he looks like he’s trying to apologise.

“Hypothetically speaking. If we
were dating and we moved in together, would you like that house?”
Oh my God!
I would love that house, but it’s impossible.

“Tristan...please, don’t make
this any more difficult than it already feels.” I say pulling my hand away.

“Hypothetically speaking I said.”
He says, waiting for my answer.

“Yes,” I whisper staring at my
twisted hands. “I love the contemporary styled homes, the sea views are
extraordinary and the fact that it has a swimming pool is just...” I laugh
staring out the window. For a moment I imagine myself in the kitchen cooking
something up, Tristan coming home, embracing me…

“Then I shall cancel the next
appointment, there’s no point looking at it.” He states pulling me from my
daydream.

“Why?” I question.

“Its old school, Edwardian. Lots
of dark wood, small windows…” He answers artlessly, then reaches into his
trouser pocket and pulls out his mobile. “You wouldn’t like it,” he adds
pressing a number on his smart-phone. “Susannah, my appointment today at 2pm;
cancel it please. Get Martin to make an offer on The Cliff, come in at
one-five, and see where we go from there. I want this house...yes if I have to
pay full price I will but, yes you got it…” Tristan smiles warmly, then listens
for a moment. “Thank you.” He hangs up and places his mobile back in his
trouser pocket.

“Please don’t tell me you are
buying that house because of me.” I squirm, feeling totally uncomfortable.

“You like it,” he shrugs. “A man
can dream,” he adds.

My jaw tenses, I shake my head at
him.

“Look Coral, say for instance one
day you change your mind, and I’m living somewhere that you hate. I’d have to
go through the whole process all over again, and to be honest, I find it all a
little...boring.” He admits.

I gasp in shock. “You find buying
million pound houses boring?” I’m choking on my own words.

“It is when you’re doing it on
your own,” he answers a little glumly. “Today was the best house hunting day
I’ve ever had, watching your face light up as we went through each room
was....magical,” he says, using my words, his eyes lighting up again. “You’ve
made me declare my hand far too early Miss Stevens.” He growls playfully.

“So sorry to have done that to
you Mr Freeman, but you’re living in a fantasy world.” I retort, and cross my
arms to create some sort of barrier between us.

“Coral...I’m sorry, but I had to
tell you how I feel. I’m already afraid of someone else coming along and you’ll
say yes to them’ – “Tristan,” I interrupt. “Believe me when I say, there’s
absolutely no chance of that happening, trust me.” I sigh.

“Hmm....well when I move in, I’ll
be fantasising about you being there with me.....every day.” His eyes gleam
wickedly at me, and I have to wonder exactly what kind of fantasies he’s
conjuring up in his mind? I swallow hard not knowing what to say to that. “I’m
sorry Coral, I don’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable, I just...” Tristan
drifts off and I’m acutely aware that I’m in it, big time!

And for a tiny moment, I imagine
what it would feel like to date him, have him give me his jacket in the winter,
or feel his protective arm around me in a busy bar, or curling up together in
the cinema room that we didn’t see watching a movie together eating popcorn, or
–
Stop!
I can't allow myself to think sexually about him, it’s just too
intense.

“Coral?” I look up at Tristan.
“You look breathless and your eyes have dilated. Are you ok?” I pick up my
water and take several gulps of it.

“I’m fine,” I say breathlessly.
“So what now?” I ask feeling frustrated.

“Sorry?” Just as Tristan says
that, the waiter appears with our meals.

“One avocado salad,” he says his
eyes flirting with me, his body way too close to mine and places the plate in
front of me. I frown at him in disapproval.
Back off dude!
“Without the
dressing,” he adds far too seductively for my liking.

I immediately tense up, and I
sense rather than see Tristan’s disapproval. The waiter then turns and places
Tristan’s plate in front of him. “One chicken caesar salad,” he says smartly.

Leaning back in his chair with
his forefinger pressed against his lips Tristan glares up at him.
Whoa if
looks could kill!
The waiter looks back at him and cottons on pretty
quickly that Tristan is not impressed, he quickly clears his throat.

“Will there be anything else
sir?” he asks, his voice a little shaky.

“Yes, the manager.” Tristan
snaps. The waiter hops from one foot to the other not knowing what do to, his
cheeks flame bright red, and a layer of sweat appears across his top lip. I
feel bad for him, he’s only a kid.

“Tristan, it’s ok, you don’t’ –
“Now.” He barks to the waiter who scuttles off as quickly as he can.
Uh-Oh!

“Tristan you really don’t need
to’ – “He was making you uncomfortable, I could see that, and what’s more
annoying is so could he. I hate blokes like that.” He says, then cuts a piece
of chicken and starts chewing.

Moments later a woman in her mid
fifties appears looking a little flustered. She smiles tentatively at me and I
return the smile, picking at my salad. Tristan swallows, wipes his mouth with
his napkin and stands, gesturing to the woman to walk with him. They only move
a few feet away, enough so that I can’t hear what’s being said.

I frown as I watch Tristan, I can
tell he’s annoyed, his hands moving around as he talks to the woman. As she
listens to him, I watch her face go from pacified to her eyes widening, then an
eyebrow cocking up and her jaw tensing, she does not look like a happy bunny.
Her head is nodding as she listens to Tristan, and from my bad lip reading
skills, I think she is apologising to Tristan.

Within moments he is back at the
table, and without a word he sits down and tucks into his food. I can't believe
he just did that, just because a waiter got a little flirty? Which makes me
think how would he be if I actually did go out with him? I know there is
absolutely no way I could go out with a control freak, that would drive me nuts
and make me feel trapped. I pick at my salad, mainly eating the small chunks of
avocado.

“Are you a control freak?” I blurt.
Oh my God Coral, shut up!

Tristan freezes. “Excuse me?”

“Well, are you?” I repeat.

“No,” Tristan chuckles lightly.
“You think because I made a complaint about a member of staff that I’m a
control freak?” I shrug and don’t answer, feeling as though I’ve just dropped
myself in it
again.

“I just...will you tell me what
you said to her?” I ask.

“No,” he retorts.

“Why not?” I grumble.

Tristan stops eating and eyes me
carefully. “Does it matter?” He’s trying to reason with me?

“Yes, I want to know.” I squeak my
voice a little higher than I want it to be.

“Why?” He questions.

I roll my eyes at him feeling
frustrated again. “Honesty is something I value, highly.” I say.

“Me too,” he says and continues
eating.

“Just tell me,” I snap, throwing
down the gauntlet.

Tristan smirks, finishes chewing,
uses his napkin and takes a long drink of beer. He’s teasing me! Prolonging the
agony of not knowing, he doesn’t play fair.

“I’d like to go home.” I sulk,
dropping my fork next to my plate, glaring at him venomously.

“Are you always this
argumentative?” He asks, his eyes sparkling.
Damn it!

“No...I’m not! I just...” I purse
my lips and cross my arms. I decide the best thing to do is shut up, and wait
for him to finish. He’s definitely not going to tell me. No-one’s ever wound me
up this good, yet weirdly enough, fighting with Tristan feels kind of...Ok?

“Ok…if I tell you, will you agree
to spend the day with me this Sunday?” He asks teasingly.

“No.” I snap.

“Not even as friends?” He asks
smirking at me.

“No.” I pout feeling as though
this is getting silly and way out of hand.

“Ok, if I tell you, can I come to
your niece’s birthday party on Saturday?”
What? Why would he want to hang
around a bunch of screaming kids?

“No.” I answer with a nervous
laugh.

“That’s a lot of no’s.” He says
smirking at me.

“I’m done.” I say. Throwing my
napkin on top of my plate, I pick up my bag and stomp out of the restaurant
without looking back. The moment I’m outside I see the car, Stuart jumps out,
looking behind me for Tristan and walks straight over to me.

“Miss Stevens?” I roll my eyes at
him.

“Coral,” I say through gritted
teeth. “I’d like to go home,” I state, my arms crossed, my foot tapping. Seconds
later Tristan comes out of the restaurant, he nods to Stuart who immediately
walks back to the car. Tristan stops when he reaches me, I glare up at him.

“I’m sorry. I thought we were
having fun?” He says leaning into me and running a cool fingertip down my
cheek.

“No, you were being cruel, not
playing fair. I don’t like to be wound up Tristan.”

“I can see that.” He states.

My throat burns and my eyes
sting, I feel like I could cry again -
What is wrong with me today?
I
mean, I know I’m normally a little under the weather after a heavy night, but I
think everyone is. Today I just feel like there’s a dam waiting to burst and I
haven’t cried since...I close my eyes trying to push the feeling away, and take
a few deep breaths.