Emboldened, she focussed her gaze on the words and slowed it down. ‘Carne...meat...with green beans. Potatoes.’
‘Perfetto,’ he complimented.
Her heart warmed. ‘Truffle fettucine.’
‘You know more than you think.’
Pride swelled inside her. ‘Thank you.’
‘Piacere.’
The waiter returned. ‘My wife will order,’ Thanos said with an encouraging nod of his head.
‘What would you like?’ she whispered.
He reached across and pointed to the steak on the menu.
Alice, in halting Italian, with the server waiting patiently, listed a few dishes. The waiter asked questions, speaking slowly, and Alice gave the full force of her concentration to him, so she didn’t see the way Thanos was regarding her, his expression a mix of admiration and pleasure.
When the ordering was done, and the waiter had disappeared, Alice’s cheeks were glowing pink with happiness.
‘Wow. I think he actually understood me.’
Thanos nodded. ‘You spoke well, and have a good accent.’
More pleasure. ‘I’m not sure about that. But it’s my first time attempting to use my Italian with a native speaker.’
‘I think if you spent more time here, you’d be fluent in no time.’
‘Maybe.’ She sipped her champagne, the bubbles popping against the sides of her mouth. ‘How many languages do you speak?’
He considered that a moment. ‘Greek, English and Italian fluently, passable French and German, conversational Spanish and Cantonese.’
Alice’s jaw dropped. ‘Whoa.’
‘Whoa?’
‘Yeah. How did you learn? I’m struggling just to become passably good at Italian.’
He shrugged. ‘I had the advantage of travelling, often, living in many of these places. And our piano teacher was Chinese—an exceptional musician with barely any English, so we learned how to speak casually with her.’
‘I’m impressed.’
‘Languages are just communication, and communication is inherent to all people.’
She sipped her champagne,
considering that. ‘It must make your business easier, that you can communicate all over the world.’
He dipped his head in silent concession.
He was an incredibly intelligent man, focussed, dedicated, successful. That took a fire and aptitude that was incredibly rare. Yet he was renowned for being a playboy, a party animal, someone who was more comfortable with a glass of Scotch in his hand than a billion-dollar business deal in his grip.
Alice ran her fingertip around the rim of her champagne glass, lost in thought, and a moment later, the waiter appeared with plates of food.
‘I got it right,’ she joked, as exactly what she’d ordered appeared. ‘I was half worried ox tongue might appear.’
Thanos’s wink was purely friendly, but it fired desire deep in her gut, and suddenly she didn’t particularly feel like eating, she wanted to be alone with him, somewhere with a bed and a lockable door.