Page 76 of More Than Just Friends

‘It really is.’

‘Good evening,’ a smiley woman with dark hair greeted us. ‘Table for two?’

‘Yes, please,’ Noah said. ‘We’re from the Love Hotel. Petros said he’d mention that we were coming. I’m Noah and this is Ali, which is short for Alicia.’

The hostess scanned her clipboard. ‘There you are.’ She pointed to the page. ‘Follow me.’

She led us to the perfect spot that was relatively secluded but also gave us a good view of the entertainment.

‘Madam,’ Noah said as he pulled out a chair for me.

‘Thank you.’ I smiled. ‘I can’t remember the last time we went out to dinner. Just the two of us.’

‘Me neither,’ he said. ‘But the important thing is that we’re here now.’

‘Yeah,’ I replied, my eyes instantly drawn to his. ‘We should order,’ I said, thinking I couldn’t just sit here staring into his eyes all night.

An hour and a half later we’d devoured a mixed grill platter, sampled the local beer and ouzo, and were just polishing off dessert.

The entertainers were still going strong and switched to a happy, upbeat song.

A couple in front of us got up and started dancing in front of the performers.

‘Looks like they’re having fun!’ I said.

‘We should join them!’ Noah suggested.

‘What? No! We can’t!’

‘That’s settled!’ Noah jumped up then grabbed my hand, pulling me up.

‘Noah!’ I cried out. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Taking you to dance with me.’

‘But—’

I didn’t even get the chance to fully protest because Noah had already spun me around in front of the whole restaurant, which resulted in lots of happy cheers and cries of ‘opa!’ which I guessed was the Greek equivalent to ‘¡olé!’

Although I thought I’d be mortified, once I relaxed and got into it, I couldn’t stop giggling.

More guests joined in and before we knew it, there were dozens of us on our feet.

As I danced with Noah, I belly-laughed so hard it felt like I’d done a thousand sit-ups.

The music stayed upbeat for several songs, before they switched the tempo to something slower.

I thought Noah would want to sit down, but instead he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into him.

The action was so swift it caught me by surprise, but the second that our bodies connected, I melted into him.

‘Hey,’ he said softly, gazing down at me. ‘You okay?’

I loved that he checked that I was comfortable with the close contact.

‘Yeah.’ I smiled.

‘God, you’re so beautiful, Ali,’ he said. ‘Do you know that?’