WANTED: Love of my Life

42. The secret places of the city

Where did he lead me? Honestly, I didn't know. It got darker and darker the farther we went. But not because clouds were beginning to cover the moon, no. There were fewer and fewer functioning street lamps around. The rows of houses became higher and narrower. I started to hear a faint sound in the distance, somewhere between rushing and rumbling.

And then we stepped out from between the buildings. In front of us stretched a short, rocky beach and beyond that, the ocean. So that was the sound I had been hearing! The Ocean was beautiful in the moonlight. It glittered brightly near the shore where the waves broke, and slowly faded into darkness farther ahead. In that darkness, lights moved. Red, white, yellow. It looked like giant Christmas lighting moving slowly across the water.

“Where are we?” I whispered.

“Can't you guess?” Giacomo came up beside me. I could feel the grin on his face without looking. “I thought you knew this city.”

“Yes, but.. I've never been out much in the dark before. You don't see anything apart from these lights... they're beautiful, Giacomo. What are they?”

“Ships of course. Ships coming in through the Golden Gate.”

“I can't believe this beach isn't full of people watching them.”

“It's the middle of the night.”

“True. But I would get up any time to watch this.”

“I thought as much. That's why I brought you here. Well, part of why I brought you here.” He put his arm around me, and I leaned against him. It felt so good to have him at my side. “But you don't need to worry about coming across anybody here. Nobody ever comes here. Hardly anybody knows that this beach exists. It's small, secluded, it just gets overlooked.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I just can. Believe me, I made sure.”

And I did believe him. There was something in his voice that told me: nobody ever came here. Nobody except us. We just stood there and looked out over the water for a while. Then I blinked, and my eyes refocused. There was something else in my view. In the dark, I couldn't make out the oblong object clearly. It had several blinking lights of different forms and colors, but it wasn't a ship. It was much too close and too small for that.

“What is that, Giacomo?” I whispered.

“You remember I said the view was only part of why I brought you here?”

“Yes?”

“Well, that's the other part.”

“You haven't answered my question.”

“True. But since when do I answer any questions of yours?”

I elbowed him playfully in the ribs. “Jerk! Tell me what it is!”

“Oh no, I won't make it that easy.” He smirked. “Go and take a look.”

I hesitated.

“Or are you afraid?” he teased.

Immediately, I shoved his arm off. Squaring my shoulders, I started to stalk forward. Behind me, I could hear someone chuckling. Damn him! Whatever it was he had dragged me out here for, I was determined not to be pleased about it. Why couldn't we have just stayed where we were? He always had to make things so complicated. And he never, ever...

My thoughts broke off suddenly, as I recognized the object on the ground before me for what it was. Slowly, I turned to him.

“A boombox? You brought me all this way just to show me a boombox?”

“Well, not quite.”

He seemed to have to work hard to keep a straight face. With a few steps he was at the boombox, knelt down and pushed a few buttons. When he came to his feet again, the first notes of the dance music were already floating through the air. My mouth dropped open. He smiled at me. His teeth shimmered in the moonlight like silver, his eyes shone like the sun. He held out his right hand to me.

“May I have this dance?”

I gulped.

“Giacomo... I... I know I said I... but I can't. I can't.”

“What? You can't dance?”

“Yes.”

“Why not? Because your parents won't let you?”

His grin widened, as he used his left hand to indicate the empty beach around us. “Just in case you haven't noticed – they aren't around.”

“I know. I didn't mean that I wouldn't like to... I don't know how to. I've never been taught.”

“Well, then it's high time, don't you think?”

Before I could stop to think what I was doing, I was in in his arms, and we were moving. Everything after that was kind of blurry. I didn't know whether I stepped on his feet a lot. If I did, he didn't complain. It was over so quickly that I could hardly believe we had moved at all. But we had. The way Giacomo held me, my quick breath, the glint in his eyes... all these things were evidence that I was living a dream of mine. The music started again. I tensed.

“A tango?”

He smiled down at me.

“I thought that would fit your character.”

Ignoring the jibe, I said: “Isn't that supposed to be one of the more difficult dances? Shouldn't I stick to the easy ones in the beginning?”

“Yes, of course. Because you always make the easy choices in life.”

I couldn't help grinning back.

“I suppose you're right. And I must admit... I like the rhythm.”

“I thought you would. Shall we?”

I nodded eagerly, before my fear could get the better of me. Please don't let me step on his feet, I prayed. Please, not on his feet.

I didn't. Instead, I glided with him over the rocky beach as if in a dream. As if I were a prima ballerina. It wasn't that I had suddenly learned to dance within the span of a heartbeat. Zap. Like that. Like magic. I'm sure I stumbled, and tripped, and made a fool of myself just as any other girl on her first dance might do. But I didn't notice or care, because I didn't look at my feet. I only looked into his eyes. And they were staring into mine with a fire that made my body quiver and my heart sing.

The rhythm changed from tango to rumba, and Giacomo changed his moves without faltering. He was an amazing dancer. In his arms, I felt like I could dance all the way across the Golden Gate, over the water, to the other side. Each time the rhythm brought us nearer together, I pressed myself against him as tightly as possible, probably a bit more tightly than was required for dancing. But he didn't correct me. Apparently, that wasn't against the rules.

“Where do you learn to dance like this?” I wanted to know, breathless. My eyes were wide with joy. Never in my life had I imagined a night like this. I was dancing. Dancing in the dark, in the arms of my boyfriend.

His mouth, smiling just a moment ago, tightened. “It was considered a necessary skill where I grew up.”

“Like perfect knowledge of just about every school subject there is?”

“And a few other things.”

“Gosh. You must have had a hard life.”

His lips twitched, but there was no real humor in it.

“You could say that.”

“Well, in comparison,” I asked, wording my question very carefully, “how do you like it here so far?”

He bent down, and let his lips skim over mine. “How do you think?” he breathed.

And for the rest of the night, we didn't let go of each other. Although there might have been times when we were too busy to dance.