CRAVING U (The Rook Café) Read Free Page A

bookish
type, but he had a long, thin, sinewy physique that wasn’t bad to look at. 
Graceful in his movements, he was very sweet, very thoughtful, and one of the
few boys who would listen to you when you spoke.
    Secretly, Marika hoped that Carlotta would
one day take notice of him: they would be perfect together, like two opposites
that attract and complete each other.  She was tall and curvy, with natural
cinnamon red hair, a temperament that sometimes got out of line and tended,
perhaps, to be a bit overly-sensitive, but which would compensate for him: deep
and romantic, but no less of a man than Valerio.
    Out of the general din, a chant was raised
from the table invoking the birthday girl to sit down with everyone for dinner.
    Between one bite and another, the guys
were busy firing off comments about soccer and other sports while the girls
occupied themselves with gossip, fashion, and the latest teen drama shows on
TV.  Lucrezia was the only one who didn’t pay any attention; she was too busy
laughing at Matteo’s jokes and trying to find a good excuse to make physical
contact with him.
    “What do you think, Marika?”  Sandra’s
soft voice was almost imperceptible to her ears, focused as they were on the All
Lucrezia All The Time radio station.  “Should Blair end up with Chuck or
Dan?  Or with the prince?”
    “Huh?”  She turned toward her girlfriends
with the look of someone who had just woken up after partying all night.
    “Hey there!  Earth to Marika!”  Carlotta
tried vainly to bring her center of gravity back into the solar system.  “Fine,
have it your way.  When you come back down give us a call, OK?”  she said,
giving up on her cousin and diving back into the gossip that had run on without
a pause.  “What were we saying, girls?”
    Marika couldn’t take her eyes off those
two, and had become totally disinterested in everything else.  Even worse, the
hormonal storm that was heaving up inside her meant that she could no longer
hide her feelings.  Worse than a heat flash in menopause!
    Without wanting to, she began to stare
fixedly at them until Matteo, who knew her well enough to see that something
was wrong, waved at her to come and join them.  “What’s up?” he asked,
squinting his eyes.  “You haven’t moved a muscle in ages, you look like a
Barbie doll.”
    Before she had the chance to say anything,
Lucrezia butted in.  “She’s just a spoiled little girl!  If she can’t have all
of your attention for herself, she pouts.”  She placed her hand on his knee,
stroking it as if it was the most natural thing in the world.  “She must be
pissed because you prefer my company to hers.”
    “Oh drop the soap opera dramatics,” he
said to Lucrezia, cutting her off and standing up noisily from his seat.  “I
don’t prefer anyone’s company.  Come on,” he said to Marika, taking her by the
arm and leading her to the gazebo under the fuming gaze of the local drama
queen.
    The touch of Matteo’s warm, golden skin
was enough to knock out any remaining sense of reason in Marika, leaving her in
the hands of hot, secret shivers and a thundering heartbeat.
    It was a lovely early summer evening, 70
degrees outside.  A light breeze carried intense natural aromas up from the
valley, and the chatter of the cicadas created a pleasant background aria.  “OK,
we’re free of Sharpay ,” he said, referring to one of the many nicknames
they had given to Lucrezia over the years, this one stolen from High School
Musical.  “So what’s the problem?”
    “Oh, nothing....” She was laughing inside
at the name she herself had given her rival.  “It’s just that I can’t stand
her!  She’s such a know-it-all and so stuck-up.”
    “Lucrezia has always been like that.  You
never know what she really thinks.  She talks nonsense and does everything she
can to annoy you....”  He gazed into her face with those limpid, honest eyes.  “And
it appears that she’s been