Draped over his lanky body, Amaranta lay in shock for a heartbeat before wriggling off him. "Federico!" she accused with a laugh, dodging the Auditore son's flailing arms as best as she could.

The brunette simply grinned at her and relaxed, turning his head to beam at her, "I like it."

"Huh?" the Spanish girl shifted her head to look at him in puzzlement. "What is it that you like?"

A lightly calloused hand grasped her weathered own, surprising Amaranta. He had more callouses than she had expected, for a firstborn son of a noble family. Federico let out a light laugh, "I like it. The way you say my name."

"Ah," Amaranta stuttered, a soft blush rising up her throat and onto her cheeks, and she turned away to hide her quickly reddening face from the boy-man's golden gaze. "I…"

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," he waved his hand, quick to chase away her embarrassment. "I just…all the girls in the town have a local accent, but you do not. My name sounds foreign on your tongue. And I like it."

Her fingers unconsciously tightening on his own, Amaranta turned her head to look at him out of the corner of her eye, cheeks still stained a light pink, "Well, then I shall call you by your first name more often, then?"

A sly smile quickened on Federico's lips and he shimmied closer to her, his lips near her ear, "Please do, bella."

His low voice sent shivers down the Valdez girl's spine, her cheeks blossoming into red once more, now that she was aware of their close proximity. The heat of his palm in hers seemed to send waves of warmth up her arm, and down her body, infusing her with a sense of comfort that she had never found in the presence of someone who was not her family. She had been dismayed to know that the eldest Auditore son was her target, but now that she had gotten to know him a mite better, her mission did not seem so daunting after all. If only she could will away the fire in her cheeks and throat that threatened to have her stammering and shivering in front of the handsome boy-man like a simpering lady.

"Ah! Don't do that," she jerked away from him a second too late for it to be anything other than a ploy to play hard to get, Federico thought. Though this woman may be a tough nut to crack, Federico was certain that he would enjoy teasing her all the more, if nothing but to see her blush and stammer. He got the feeling that she was not the type to do so very often, seeing how abrasive she was when he first met her.