They walked together, close but not touching, along the busy street bustling with tourists and locals alike, then detoured down one of the small side streets and through a labyrinth of roads crowded on both sides with a mixture of brightly lit pavement cafés, designer clothes shops and trinket stalls, until they reached the Gothic Quarter, where their final destination was located.
According to Caleb, El Gótico had served its famous fusion of Spanish and Mediterranean fare for the past ten years and was a favourite with Barcelonans, as well as the handful of tourists that occasionally stumbled across it.
The décor was a mixture of warm, earthy colours with rustic wooden furniture and a tiled terracotta floor which contrasted sharply with the angular metal and glass of the staircase and bar. Bright splashes of primary colours were picked out on the back wall, which were also reflected in the small lamps and glass water carafes on each table, giving the place the impression of chic modernism. The whole effect was both comforting and uplifting.
The delicious smell of the place wrapped around Elena’s senses, making her mouth water as they made their way to the bar, where the greeter stood waiting to welcome them.
Caleb spoke to the woman in rapid Spanish and a moment later they were whisked towards the staircase leading to the upper mezzanine of the restaurant, which had a long glass balcony affording diners views of the lamplit tables below.
Just as he was about to mount the stairs, Elena put her hand on Caleb’s arm to stop him. She wanted to make sure they made the most of this opportunity to charm the Americans and for that to happen Caleb was going to have to rein in his more dominating side for a while.
‘I’m sure I don’t need to say this, but go easy on the man tonight, okay? Just until everyone’s had a chance to find their feet here.’
Caleb’s eyebrow shot up. ‘You think I’m going to dangle him from the balcony if he doesn’t agree to a partnership?’
She batted a hand at him, suppressing a smile. ‘No, of course not. But I know you; you’ll want to go in all guns blazing. I recommend a lighter touch. If he’s here with his wife he’s not going to take too kindly to being bullied and harangued.’
‘I wouldn’t—’
She put up a hand to pre-empt his angry rebuttal. ‘Not intentionally, I know, but you can come across as a little bit abrasive and intimidating until someone gets to know you. Show him a bit of your soft side too, that’s my advice.’
Caleb blinked at her, his brows drawn into a tight frown as he appeared to consider what she’d said. After a moment he nodded slowly, his frustrated expression clearing and being replaced with a wolfish grin. There was something else in his eyes too that made her tummy flip and her blood begin to race. She stared at his mouth, wondering erratically how she would react if he leant forwards and kissed her right now.
‘Okay, I’ll be nice,’ he murmured.
Shoving away her lustful urges, she nodded. ‘Good.’ She let out a gasp of surprise as he suddenly slipped his hand around her back and drew her closer to him.
‘Just relax, cariño. You seem tense and that’s going to look strange to our guests.’
Swallowing hard, she gave him a jerky nod, her heart banging hard against her chest and her nerves jangling due to their intimate proximity.
‘Perhaps I should practice my soft side on you before they get here,’ he murmured, his dark eyes boring into hers.
‘How are you going to do that?’ she asked, but before she could draw breath he leant in towards her and brushed his mouth against hers.
Fireworks seemed to go off deep inside her body and she wondered wildly for a second how the other diners would react if she suddenly burst into flames in front of them.
Caleb’s lips were warm and firm, his mouth fitting perfectly with hers. She stood frozen to the spot, too befuddled to react, as a crazy surge of desire unfolded deep inside her, spiralling out to the very ends of her fingers and toes.
His hands slid into her hair and instinctively she sank against him, her body craving the hard press of his against it.
A moment later she was left gasping for air when he drew away from her, giving her a strange knowing kind of smile and nodding towards the upper mezzanine, his arm pressing into her back as he encouraged her to mount the staircase with him.
‘Let’s go and find our seats, ready for the show,’ he murmured into her ear, his breath tickling the sensitive skin on her exposed neck and making her shiver with longing.
Oh, goodness, it was going to be impossible to keep her cool if he was going to be this physically attentive all evening.
Somehow she managed to make it up the stairs on rather wobbly legs and had just settled herself into a chair that Caleb held out for her when Carter and his wife arrived and she had to stand up again to greet them.
In a fit of continued nerves at Caleb’s proximity, Elena managed to knock her knife onto the floor, which then skidded under the table, causing a flurry of amused response as they all tried to locate it so she could retrieve it, apologising profusely as she did so, which fortuitously broke what could have been an icy start to the meeting.
There was something so healthy and vibrant about the couple, Elena thought dazedly as she smiled a more composed hello to them once she’d straightened up after her little mishap. She guessed that was what people who had incredible wealth and an inclination to take care of themselves looked like—polished and dauntingly self-assured. They put Elena in mind of a high-powered couple from the eighties’ American soap operas she used to watch for guilty pleasure late at night during her university days.
Mrs Carter, who must have been in her early fifties, wore a flattering shift dress with wide shoulders and her hair was so coiffed it looked as though every strand had been sprayed separately into place. Mr Carter, who looked to be of a similar age, was just as polished in a dark grey double-breasted suit and blindingly white shirt to match his blindingly white teeth.
Caleb took the lead by holding out his hand for them to shake and introducing Elena as his girlfriend—which only added to the fluttering sensation in the pit of her stomach—then gesturing for them all to take a seat.
The atmosphere was a little awkward at first; Mr Carter appeared to be on the defensive, as if waiting for Caleb to become angry about the fact he was considering walking away from the partnership they’d been discussing, but after a few minutes of attentive questions from Caleb about how he and his wife liked Barcelona and being given a few pointers on the places they must visit whilst here, he appeared to relax a little.
The waiter came over and they ordered a bottle of local wine and a selection of food for the table on Caleb’s recommendation and the conversation turned to business.
At first Elena sat back, drinking her wine a little too fast and watching Caleb lead the discussion with something close to awe. She found his clear handle on the market and technical, as well as fiscal, knowledge truly breathtaking and he seemed to be impressing Carter too, because the man was actually sitting back in his seat now and had taken his hand off his wife’s lap, where they’d been holding hands.
Putting down her glass, Elena gave the woman a smile and was rewarded with a genuinely warm grin back.
‘So how long have you two been together?’ Brie Carter asked her with an inquisitive glint in her eye as the two men expounded on the state of the rechargeable battery market in the States.
Elena’s stomach lurched. ‘Er...well, we’ve known each other since we met at Cambridge. Caleb was doing an Erasmus exchange year and we became good friends.’
‘And that turned into more, I see,’ Brie said with a hint of a plea for some juicy gossip