Author's Note: Edited verision of Chapter 16.
The waiter shows up then with their food. He quickly sets the plates down not daring to look either of them in the eyes. "Thank you," Fiona tells him sweetly and only then does he look up at her, "You're welcome." He glances at Michael checking with him making sure he hasn't crossed some unspoken boundary. Seeing something that upsets him, he quickly hurries away.
Fiona gives Michael a look and he defends himself, "What? I didn't do anything." She smiles innocently and pulls out her compact mirror and hands it to him. "What?" He asks taking it and she taps her finger against her lips and Michael takes the cue and looks at himself in the tiny mirror. Seeing the smeared lipstick on his face he scowls and wipes his mouth with the white cloth napkin.
Fiona takes a bite of her food and sighs in pleasure, "This is delicious." Michael begins cutting up his steak. Fiona giggles when he stabs a piece and eats it off the end of his knife. "So dangerous," she teases before sliding her chair closer to his and reaching over she steals a fork full of his mashed potatoes. He watches her lick them off the fork.
They are over half-way through their lunch and they haven't said anything of real substance. Michael drags his fork through his dessert and pushes what's left of the delicacy around aimlessly. He flicks his gaze up from his plate to her face and finds her staring at him. Their eyes lock for a second before she looks away pretending to stare at the ocean but he could tell her thoughts were elsewhere. He shoves a forkful of his dessert into his mouth. The earlier light heartedness had dissipated and they were left quiet and awkward until finally Fiona couldn't seem to take any anymore.
"Michael I…" She starts softly but stops when she notices he has a little bit of whipped cream and chocolate on the side of his mouth. He stretches his arm out to her across the table and lays his hand on top of hers. She shifts closer to him and his fingers enclose her wrist in a firm grip not allowing her to escape. That's okay she wasn't planning on running anytime soon as she flicks her tongue over his lips before fully licking the side of his face causing him to let out a sweet strangled laugh. She reveals in the sound he makes.
"Fi. Fi stop!" He cries out with a slight laugh trying to hide the fact that simple act of laughing makes his chest burn.
Someone clears their throat interrupting them and Michael realizing it's their waiter with their ticket gives him a cold stare.
"You ready to go?" He asks as the waiter walks away.
"Yeah." She breathes out and stands up.
Michael stands and tosses his napkin to the table and reaches for his wallet. He looks at the bill and then back again to his wallet finding that he's short a few bills. Fiona huffs and opens her clutch and helps him out. He kisses her on the cheek in thanks and they leave with his arm around her waist, holding her close to his side.
Michael's curiosity gets the best of him and he questions Fiona who is currently driving, "So, do you want to tell me where we're going?"
"We're almost there," she replies elusively.