My blog posts often relied on chance encounters rather than calculated plans. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to find in Rome, but after a brief conversation in very stilted Italian with the hotel's concierge, my day took a different route.

Misunderstanding my request for the 'real' Rome as a request for Italian practice, the concierge directed me to a café just ten minutes away. It turned out to be one of those happy coincidences, because his recommendation for where I could improve my language skills was exactly the kind of place I'd been looking for.

The café bustled with all nationalities, a cocktail of Italian and English conversations dancing through the air. Different accents, different ages, different relationships—it catered for everyone.

Even as I sat down by myself in a corner, nobody bothered me until the waitress asked for my order.

"Are you here to practise?"

"No." I smiled up at her warm expression. "Your café was recommended to me."

"Ah, cool. Well, if you do want to get involved, let me know and I'll hook you up with someone. If not, just enjoy your coffee."

Chatting with others—strangers or not—was a great way to ease loneliness or a sense of displacement in a foreign land. For me, observing the conversations and people-watching had the same effect. I felt involved without actively participating, the friendly nature of my fellow diners providing companionship.

I jotted down some points in my notepad as I sipped on my cappuccino. When the waitress passed by my table again to check up on me, I turned to a blank page.

"Any recommendations of family-run restaurants?"

She cocked her head to the side, a waterfall of ebony hair cascading over her shoulder.

"What are you looking for in particular?"

I briefly explained the purpose of my blog, and once she'd got over the flattery of her café being featured, she took my pen and wrote down the names of some local pizzerias.

"Tourists always go to the same places," she said. "Then those places rise higher up the TripAdvisor rankings, and more people visit them. It's a circle. It's understandable, but the lesser-known places are just as good—if not better. The service especially."

"This is perfect. Exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you so much."

Half an hour later, I was back in my hotel room, fingers flying across the keyboard as I rushed to express the special nature of that café before the memories faded. Engrossed in writing, I lost track of time until a brisk knock pulled me out of my own head.

I headed for the door, pausing to tidy up my face in front of the dressing table's mirror before unhooking the latch.

"Helen's driving me mad. Want to grab an early dinner?"

I stared at Teddy. He leaned against my doorframe, one foot crossed over the other in a relaxed pose. Although he was fully dressed this time, my eyes still enjoyed their brief appraisal of his tight t-shirt and ripped jeans.

"Hello to you, too," I said, folding my arms.

He flashed me a grin. "Sorry."

"And I already have plans. But thanks."

With his lips pressed together, Teddy drummed his fingers against the wooden doorframe and swept his gaze over my body. My stomach somersaulted under the weight of his attention, heat prickling each section of skin touched by his eyes. Hopefully I'd been more subtle when checking him out.

"First day and you've already scored a date?" he asked.

"Sadly not, but I have decided on a restaurant. I know your bodyguards like to scope out a place, but it's for my blog so I'd rather eating there was authentic instead of monitored."

"You talk faster when you're nervous—are you aware?"

"I'm not nervous," I said, hoping he couldn't detect the lie as well as he could detect my state of mind. "Just don't want to offend you."

He scoffed. "Soph, come on. Offending me is not a concern of yours."

Glancing over his shoulder, he leaned to check the corridor. His t-shirt rode up, revealing a slither of tanned skin above the bright red waistband of his boxers.

"I want to come with you," he said, and I lifted my eyes back up to his face. "Let me talk to Mark and see if he can be subtle."

"If it helps your case, I chose the restaurant because it's off the beaten track and not popular with tourists."

Teddy's eyes glinted, his lips curving upwards. "Keep saying the right thing and you won't have to imagine what the rest of my underwear looks like."

Maybe I lacked subtlety as much as he did, then. But I played along and laid my palm against his chest, the hard muscles rippling beneath my touch.

Amused, Teddy cocked an eyebrow, and his gaze shifted down to my hand. I arched an eyebrow of my own to mirror his before giving him a firm push. Taken by surprise, he stumbled out of the doorway, catching himself on the opposite wall.

"If you're not back in ten minutes, I'll assume you couldn't persuade Mark and I'll head to dinner alone."

"You know," he said, prompting me to freeze partway through shutting the door, "if Mark thinks we're dating then he'll be more likely to give us some space. Privacy. His observation would naturally become more subtle."

"Nice try, but I'm not being your pretend girlfriend."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Soph. I said dating—not a relationship."

"Semantics aside, it's the same concept."

"If it's the concept you don't like, we could do it for real?"

"Ten minutes, Teddy." And as I shut the door in his face, I got a small amount of satisfaction from seeing his smile falter.

*

Exactly ten minutes later, the sound of knuckles against wood echoed around my room. Teddy grinned as soon as I opened the door.

"Ready? Mark has agreed to be subtle, but I can't tell you my methods of persuasion."

"Great. Just so you know, try anything on with me as part of your pretence and you'll find yourself very embarrassed in front of your chief bodyguard."

"He's seen me in far worse positions."

"I'm sure."

I turned my back on him and crossed over to my dressing table to grab my bag. Before I left, I stuck my head in the bathroom to check I'd switched off the tap and then ensured all my cables were unplugged.

"So much for your ten-minute deadline." Amusement laced Teddy's voice, but I still felt the need to defend myself.

"I just like to be sure I'm not putting my room at risk of fire or flood."

An obvious exaggeration would hopefully echo his own humour, but in reality it wasn't too much of an exaggeration to me.

Finally satisfied, I ushered Teddy out. Just as I reached to pull the door shut, though, he cut in front of me, clicking the lock into place and trying the handle once.

"Protected from fire, floods, and burglars. But my men would stop any of those before they became an issue."

This time he didn't seem to be joking. I forced a smile anyway and made no effort to remove his hand as he rested it on my back to guide us towards the lift.

*

Mark and his colleague met us outside the hotel's side entrance, both dressed in shorts and polo shirts. I tried to hide my smile at their unusually casual attire, but Mark's narrowed eyes suggested I'd failed.

"Subtle enough for you, Sophia?" he asked.

"Mark didn't appreciate your request for subtlety," Teddy said.

"Mark doesn't appreciate a lot of the things I do that make his job harder. Who can blame him?"

The bodyguard in question didn't react. No surprise there. His gaze was already flickering up and down the side street, most likely on the lookout for any potential hazards.

We walked to the pizzeria in a triangle formation with Teddy in the middle, supposedly shielded from view. Not that anyone batted an eyelid. Nobody would expect to see an A-list celebrity strolling down the backstreets of Rome. Sometimes plain sight really is the best disguise.

A small disagreement ensued outside the restaurant doors. Mark wanted all of us to sit together, but Teddy wasn't keen. Neither was I.

"I gave you the courtesy of telling you I was coming here, so will you do me the courtesy of letting Sophia and me eat unaccompanied?"

I wondered if Helen had said something after our earlier confrontation. Perhaps she didn't want Teddy and me spending too much time alone before I'd signed the NDA.

"Compromise." Mark folded his arms, his tourist disguise slipping away to be replaced by the standard bodyguard. "We'll sit on the next table along."

"Come on, man. It's a small restaurant. You could sit five tables away and still do your job."

"How about we say three tables and call it quits?" I suggested. "Arguing outside is only going to draw attention to us, isn't it?"

That same unimpressed frown flickered in my direction, but Mark backed down and shepherded us inside.

Like with a lot of small, independent restaurants, the service was amazing. The staff fussed over us, bringing out appetisers while we waited for the pizzas. When one of them said he recognised Teddy, I saw Mark's shoulder twitch in the background.

"Just got one of those faces," Teddy said. "This bread is delicious. Thank you."

They said nothing more about it.

"Nervous about tomorrow?" I asked.

Shrugging, Teddy dipped another chunk of ciabatta into the oil. "Not really. Becomes second nature after a while."

"What if they ask you something you don't want to answer?"

"That's why we have the banned topics. Plus, Helen always jumps in on stuff like that, so she looks to be the bad guy and not me."

Our pizzas arrived, and I brought Teddy up to speed on my own day. Although his fingers kept dipping down to the food between us, his eyes never left mine. He nodded in the appropriate places, smiled whenever I cracked a joke, and stopped chewing each time I fought to think of the right words to describe something, like he was concentrating along with me.

I almost forgot we had company until Mark's shadow fell over our table and he suggested we call it a night.

With the light lower and the evening having unfolded without drama, Mark gave us some space as we ambled back towards the hotel. And when we reached our floor, he seemed to disappear altogether.

"You didn't tell him we were dating, did you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Mark isn't paid to judge." Teddy slid his hands into his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels. "But he is paid to be respectful."

"That doesn't answer my question."

Chuckling, he shook his head. "I didn't tell him that, no, but he's still going to give us privacy where he can."

"How considerate."

"Try saying it with a little less sarcasm next time."

"I'll do my best. Night, Ed." I plucked out my room card and swiped it through the scanner.

"Damn, Soph. I know we're not dating, but I at least expected a friendly goodnight hug."

With a sigh, I folded my arms and turned back to face him. "I called you Ed. Isn't that a step in the right direction?"

Teddy grinned and stepped towards me, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "Not scared that you'll enjoy it too much, are you?"

Being a few feet away from him filled my body with a treacherous warmth, like it knew what it wanted even if my head refused to accept it. Teddy Stone was fucking gorgeous, and nobody could deny that. It was a fact. Millions of people felt the same way—my body's reaction was to be expected. Out of my control and separate from my head.

Completely separate.

But I didn't have the strength to continue my playing-hard-to-get façade when he enveloped me in a hug, the solid planes of his chest pressed against my front. With his long fingers splayed across my back, and his left bicep blocking my line of sight, I couldn't help where my mind wandered. What could those fingers and arms do, given the chance?

Then, too soon, he withdrew—but not before planting a gentle kiss to my cheek, teasingly close to the corner of my mouth.

***

Thank you for reading :)xx

***

What did you all think of the chapter? Soph might be convinced she doesn't see Teddy in a romantic way, but even a friendship has its challenges -- I don't think I'd be able to cope with the lack of privacy that comes with Teddy's world.