Getting Under Nathan

13: "Grazie mille, Bella."

Chapter 13 - "Grazie mille, Bella."

“It absolutely sucks that our anniversary is in the middle of the week,” I sulked.

Nathan looked up from his steak that he was sawing in half. “I know,” he said lightly. “We’ll still have dinner together though.”

“I know,” I conceded. “It’d just be better on a weekend so I could spend the whole day and night with you.”

As arranged, Nathan and I had met up for dinner on Saturday night. We couldn’t spend the whole weekend together so we’d compromised by just meeting up for food. On Wednesday it would be our one-year anniversary, and since I always liked to find something to moan about, I was complaining that having an anniversary mid-week sucked.

“Well we’ll celebrate it properly next weekend then,” Nathan said. “You’ve not got plans, have you?”

I snorted. “When do I ever have plans that don’t involve you?”

“Well you’re at university now,” he replied. “University life can be very busy. Maybe you’re all going to the cinema. Maybe you’re all going shopping. Maybe you’re all having a meal out together as a flat.”

“Well you’re above all of those things on my list of priorities. Especially since it’s our anniversary.”

Nathan winked at me across the table. “Grazie mille, Bella.”

“Prego,” I shot back with a smirk.

Nathan’s smirk widened. “It’s so sexy when you speak Italian.”

“Well now you know how I felt when I found out you were almost fluent!” I told him. “Perhaps you should give me private tutoring…”

“You don’t know enough to benefit from tutoring yet,” he dismissed. “You can only say your name and where you’re from. Once you start learning difficult stuff, then I’ll help you out.”

“Thanks for the support,” I said dryly.

He winked again. “Anything for you, Bella. Are you gonna finish that pizza?”

“Nathan!” I gasped. “You’ve had a whole steak, portion of chips and salad all to yourself and now you’re preying on my dinner?”

“I’m a growing boy, Bella.”

“You’re twenty. You’re hardly growing.”

“There’s always room for improvement.”

“You’re big enough,” I assured him. And he was. I loved the amount of muscle on Nathan’s body. It was a sexy amount, not too much that he looked overly huge and not too little that he looked weedy. He was perfect.

“Well I’m glad my size satisfies you.”

I was about to slip a chunk of pizza into my mouth but froze upon hearing his words. A blush spread across my cheeks.

“That’s not what I meant. Don’t lower the tone.”

Nathan simply smirked, happy as ever that he was embarrassing me. “And they say size doesn’t matter…”

“Shut up, Nathan, we’re eating.”

“You’re eating,” he emphasised. “I finished ages ago and you’re just too greedy to share.”

It did come to a point during the meal, where I had to swallow my pride and accept that I couldn’t eat any more of the pizza. Nathan was more than happy to finish it off for me. He seemed to be in a very good mood today; he didn’t seem as tired as he had been and his manner around me in general was a lot more relaxed. Maybe it was because we were becoming more open with each other, keeping the spark alive even though we weren’t seeing each other as much.