Anarchy of the Heart (10 page)

"Sounds right," Leo said. "I think that's
what Caitlyn was suggesting to me."

Sofia nodded. "Caitlyn seems very smart,
also. She is very beautiful."

Leo smiled, "She is. I always did have
trouble saying 'no' to her."

How was Caitlyn doing with Marco right now?
Were they having dinner in a place like this? Were they intending
to play things slow, as agreed? Perhaps they were grabbing fast
food before heading straight back to Marco's hotel room. Leo felt a
shiver course through his chest.

"I learned a lot from Maria," Sofia
said. 

"Did she and Paulo... keep it to their
vacations?"

"They did, mostly. Maria said there were
times when she thought he might have been off with someone else
back home, but for the most part, just the vacations. Of course,
they took a lot more vacations than Marco and I," she rolled her
eyes and laughed at that.

The waiter returned to take their order - a
salad with goat cheese for Sofia, a fillet of salmon for Leo - and
with food, he even permitted himself one small glass of rosé wine,
which seemed to take the edge of his nerves, and allow him to relax
into a wonderful dinner with Sofia.

They seemed to bond over a shared anxiety of
the whole situation. It became clear that for Sofia and Marco, he
had always been the confident type when it came to women, while for
all her beauty, she had always been on the shy side, so when it
came to their vacation sojourns, Sofia was the one who had to face
up to her nerves, while Marco simply bounded into whichever
situation they found themselves.

As they ate, the tension seemed to lessen
further, making the meal appear less like a business lunch than
simply a couple of friends enjoying some food together by the
scenic old harbor in Nice.

It was a leisurely meal, and for a while as
Sofia asked him about his life in the States, and he found out more
about her translation work and life in Madrid, Leo was even able to
temporarily forget about the heavy stuff, even stop thinking so
much about what might be happening between his fiancée and
Marco.

But as the evening pushed on into a wonderful
golden twilight, and the light began to fade altogether while they
paid the check, Leo found the apprehension building again inside
him, as he wondered what was next.

"So..." Leo said, trying to act calm as
he escorted the beautiful blonde to the exit while his heart
started racing once again.

"So why don't you show me this wonderful
villa of yours?" Sofia asked him

Leo took a deep breath. He said: "I'm not
sure we're going to get back in time to beat the sunset. You won't
see much of the view."

She took his hand and smiled, saying: "It
will be light again in the morning."

Leo nodded, and felt a sudden rush of
anxiety as the full force of her suggestion hit him - that
they would be spending the night and most of the next day together,
and Caitlyn would be spending all that time with Marco.

Sofia could sense his trepidation, and gave
him a reassuring glance as they proceeded around the little harbor,
skirting past other couples and tourists. 

"It will be okay, Leo," she said in that
serene voice of hers. "We'll have a good time, just the two of us,
and we don't have do anything that makes you feel
uncomfortable."

"Yes, I know," he said. "It just all seems a
lot to take in."

"Of course it does. But we'll take things
slowly, and as long as we are still having fun, then we can
continue, no? And if we feel like sleeping, then we'll do that
instead."

"Sounds like a plan."

She giggled, which did more to dispel Leo's
fears than almost anything, and point out: "Once you get us home,
you'll be able to have some wine!"

It was strange to drive back to the villa
with Sofia sitting beside him instead of Caitlyn. He enjoyed being
with the French girl, her unfamiliar but sweet scent filling the
rental car, not to mention the sight of her smooth, tanned legs
there constantly in his peripheral vision. 

The butterflies flapping around his stomach
were something to behold, however, so Leo was very much looking
forward to getting back to the villa and cracking open a bottle of
wine.

On the way up, they stopped at a supermarket
to stock up on supplies. Sofia went to look at the wine while Leo
picked out some fruit and a few pastries for breakfast. 

Returning to find her checking out the
bottles of rosé, Leo almost couldn't believe this girl was with
him, she was so stunning. How must Caitlyn be feeling that he was
with her? Marco was, of course, very charming and friendly, but he
wasn't very intimidating to Leo as Leo suspected Sofia might be to
his fiancée.

"What are you thinking?" Sofia asked
him. 

"Oh, you know," he said. "Whether Caitlyn is
rushing into things with Marco, whether she'll stop at any point to
think, and maybe change her mind about me being with you."

Sofia nodded. "I meant about the wine," she
grinned, and he noticed she was holding up two similar-looking rosé
bottles, which Leo was never going to make a decision on.

"Oh," he said, flushing a little.
"Sorry."

"It's all right. And we can talk about that,
but I was just asking whether you like your wine dry or
fruity."

He smiled. "I like both."

They bought three bottles of each wine and
were momentarily back on the road, the daylight now fading quickly
as they drove through the rest of Nice and up into the hills.

As they got going again, Sofia said: "Tell me
Leo, honestly, how do you feel about Caitlyn being with Marco right
now?"

Leo thought for a moment before he answered.
He said: "Honestly, it's probably not the right thing to be
thinking, but a big part of me just finds it kind of exciting."

"Exciting?" Sofia laughed. "That was not the
answer I was expecting from you!"

Leo shrugged, but smiled. "Honestly?" he said
to her, "I feel kind of impressed and kind of thrilled that she
wants to challenge herself - challenge us as a couple."

"Thrilled?" 

"It's kind of hot to think of her... with
Marco." Leo took a deep breath. "I mean, obviously it makes me feel
a little weird, because I've got all this baggage from... I guess
from the rest of society..."

"That you should be only with her?"

"Exactly. But the thing is, Caitlyn is hot.
She's so sexy, and she's even more sexy when she's really fired up.
And I just know doing this is really firing her up. That makes me
feel so... turned on, I guess. Even though she's with someone
else."

"That makes sense, I suppose," Sofia said.
 

Leo said: "I like Marco - you've got a great
guy there, it's obvious. So I don't feel threatened by it. Not
really, when I think about it."

"That's good. So where is the problem?"

Leo sighed. He said: "I don't know for
certain how she feels. I mean - obviously we talked all this out,
but it's still only yesterday she kind of sprang all this on me.
And I guess I'm just worried... well, that she will change her
mind. Maybe, even after being with Marco for the first time has
worn off, she'll be suddenly jealous that I've been with you,
Sofia."

The French girl nodded in contemplation of
what he was saying. After a pause, she said: "I think you're a
strange one, Leo."

"Aren't I, though?" he laughed - and made her
laugh as well.

"You're so supportive of your fiancée wanting
to do this. And yet you are worried that she will think you are in
the wrong because you follow her wishes, and spend time with
me?"

"I guess it must sound pretty dumb."

"No," Sofia said, offering him that beautiful
smile of hers, warming him up inside despite the poor light from
the streetlamps. "It just makes you seem like a really nice
guy."

Sofia was suitably impressed by the villa,
and particularly the pool - even though the darkness had taken away
the view. 

Leo gave her a whistlestop tour, feeling
strange to be showing her the bedroom, though rushing through so
that he could get back to the kitchen and open up the wine that had
been chilling in the refrigerator.

"What do you think they're doing right now?"
he asked her as he poured two glasses.

She looked at the little gold watch clasped
around her delicate wrist. "Ten o'clock already? Is that the time?"
she said. Then, "I don't know... they could still be touring the
bars around town, or..."

"They could be back at your hotel already?"
Leo suggested, mulling the thought.

Sofia took the offered glass, and then
clinked it to his in a silent toast, and after approving the
selection of cheap local wine bought by Caitlyn's uncle, said: "So
Leo, part of you is turned on by the thought of Marco and Caitlyn
being together, but what does the other part feel?"

Leo drained his glass, and poured another. He
smiled as Sofia laughed at his thirst, and said: "Well, I'm afraid,
I guess. I mean, I've thought it all through, and I know I have
nothing to worry about. I'm not losing her. Well, I suppose there's
a small chance she'll somehow think I'm no longer good enough for
her."

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"No," he shrugged, "I know that's not
realistic. But you know, there is that fear that both of us will
just change as people, and will no longer want to be together."

Sofia picked up the bottle, and suggested
heading out to the chairs by the pool. The cicadas were in full
song out there already, a sound that was not unpleasant.

"You can't know that you'll change as people
to that degree," Sofia was saying. "And if by then you have changed
like that, then you'll feel differently anyway, right?"

Leo sighed. "I know, it's just fear of
change. Nothing much I can do." 

"Even if you decided against this, you would
change," Sofia said, pouring another glass of wine herself. It
wasn't strong, but relatively fruity and not unlike drinking fruit
juice. "Maybe if you hadn't both wanted to do this, you would have
regretted not trying, and then found when you got home that the
regret was too much."

"I guess so."

They sat with Leo facing the pool, but Sofia
sitting against the arm of the chair, looking towards him, her legs
curled up underneath her. It amused him a little that in this very
place earlier that day, he and Caitlyn had made love, imagining
that it was Sofia with him, rather than his fiancée. But back then
he'd had no idea Sofia was this attractive.

"Do you think I should call her yet?" Leo
asked her, checking the time yet again.

Sofia took another drink. "No," she said at
last. "Not yet."

"I don't want to seem needy, right?" Leo
laughed. "God, it's like going on a first date all over again. When
should I call her, when should I call her?"

They both laughed at that. 

As if she sensed he needed to take his mind
off things, Sofia now picked herself up and went over to the edge
of the pool to test the temperature of the water with her toe. He
watched her balance on the edge of the pool like a gymnast, testing
the water in different places as though there might be some secret
corner where the temperature was a little warmer.

"It's so cold!" she was laughing, and Leo was
laughing, but also delighting in the sight of her in that stylish
little cream dress, which revealed her graceful curves and plenty
of smooth tanned skin.

"I will only go in there if things get very
hot."

"I don't suppose you brought your swimsuit?"
he asked her, to which she simply shook her head.

Leo finished up the last of the wine, and
slipped inside to retrieve one of the bottles Sofia had picked out,
which turned out to be a considerable improvement in quality. When
he returned, the French girl turned their conversation to trivial
matters, talking about places both of them had visited, on vacation
or otherwise. Places they wanted to go in the future. 

The wine was going down quickly - in no time
at all, he found himself fetching another bottle, pouring fresh
glasses for himself and Sofia, who appeared to be matching him for
volume, despite her relatively petite frame.

He found himself so relaxed with her now,
whether the alcohol had a large part to do with it. 

Eventually, even the thought of what Caitlyn
and Marco might be doing could not fail to dislodge his feeling of
wellbeing. 

"Maybe they'll drink so much tonight, they
won't be able to do anything anyway," Leo suggested, thinking that
might be a good excuse for himself, and perfectly possible at this
rate.

"Maybe," Sofia nodded. "I don't think so,
though."

"Do you think they're in bed yet?" 

"I think it's very possible."

"Do you think they think we're in bed?"

"Perhaps," she said, and he realized that the
way she was now sitting on the other end of the outdoor sectional -
cross-legged and facing him - he could see her underwear quite
easily. She was wearing blue and white checked panties with a white
lace trim - very feminine, very pretty. It made him tingle a little
between his thighs to see it.

She said: "Here's a question for you,
Leo..."

"Ask away."

"You're worried about Caitlyn changing her
mind, right? And then feeling angry for you for being with me."

"Right. I think that's one of the
biggies."

She leaned forward, now, so he could no
longer see her underwear, but also so that she was much closer to
him. She said: "At what point would you say... if she were to
change her mind tomorrow... would she be angry at you?"

"How do you mean?" 

She said, "I mean, for example... if I was
just kissing you..."

Sofia leaned forward and kissed him lightly
on the mouth, just briefly. It was so sweet, so soft, even a mere
momentary touch between their lips sent shivers coursing through
every muscle in his body.