Chapter Thirteen
And the third ‘date,’ or whatever it was she should call it, was just as good, if not better, than the first two.
Rico absolutely insisted on paying, which was a little annoying but Ashleigh was used to it by now. Maybe if they got around to a fourth or fifth meal out, she could persuade him to allow her to cover the whole check.
It was just as they were finishing their dessert that it happened.
There was a flash of light that seemed to come through the window, as if there was a storm brewing outside which, in a way, there was.
They both turned and looked from their comfortable window seat and realized that a small hoard of paparazzi was beginning to gather outside the restaurant.
“Oh God,” Rico groaned slightly.
Ashleigh gasped when she saw them. It was the first time she’d ever had to experience something like this.
One of them approached the window again, pressing his camera to the glass and getting another snap, the flash going off in their faces.
“Move away from the window,” Rico sighed, standing up and glancing around for another table.
“The press are going to write about this, aren’t they? Oh God, do you think they got a good picture?” She began to panic. She wasn’t used to this fame lifestyle, and wasn’t sure she wanted some blurry picture of her splashed all over the tabloids in speculation over who was Rico’s latest girl.
“Shh, don’t worry about it,” he insisted, finding them another table and then ordering the waiter to fetch their desserts over so they didn’t have to go back near the window.
The waiter apologized for the press being outside and said he would ask them to leave.
“That won’t work, but I appreciate it, thank you…” Rico smiled and shook his head to himself, sighing quietly as he picked up his spoon and carried on eating.
“If the guy tells them to leave, they’ll have to go, right?”
“Like I said…they won’t listen. This is paparazzi we’re dealing with. They’re not like normal people, they’re ruthless.” He chuckled and took out his wallet to pay. “They might step back around the corner or across the road, and make it seem like they’re leaving, but as soon as we leave that restaurant they’ll rush at us out of nowhere and we’ll be surrounded.”
“That sounds terrible…” Ashleigh’s eyes widened, her heart racing a little as she looked to the window, trying to think of what they could do to escape them.
“Yeah, it’s not great,” he sighed. “But, it’s just something you have to get used to when you live a life like mine. It comes with the territory.”
She didn’t respond. She was too busy looking around the restaurant, her brain ticking over, mind whirring.
She noticed a couple of waiters coming out of the kitchen door carrying plates of food, and then slowly smirked to herself, turning back to look at Rico.
“I’ve got an idea.”
“Mm, what?” He seemed distracted too, staring over at the window anxiously.
“I’ve got an idea for how we can escape them,” she continued. “Let’s go out the back.”
He raised his eyebrows at her. “What back?”
“Out through the kitchen.” She nodded her head discreetly over to the door and Rico followed her eyes, seeing the staff members walking in and out. “Most kitchens normally have some kind of fire exit, right? That leads into some kind of alley way? At least…they do in movies.”
“And people always run through them being chased by cops or gangsters or something, right?” Rico continued, turning to smile at her.
“Exactly!”
“And that’s what you want to do?” He raised an eyebrow and sat back, folding his arms across his chest and looking at her.
“Well, if we could get out the back, we might be able to sneak off without them noticing us, or find another street we can get onto that avoids that main road or…or something. It’ll give us more of a chance of being able to avoid them at least.”
“And it’ll be fun.”
“Exactly!” She grinned wide.
“You just want to do it cause it’s exciting, don’t you?” He smirked.
She blushed a bit and smirked back, then held up her hands. “You got me.”
Rico snickered and shook his head at her, smiling wide. “You’re fun. I like that.”
“Are you up for it then?” she asked excitedly.
“Sure. Why not?” He tossed some money down to cover the cost of the food and then stood up, putting his jacket on. “Are we going to ask the restaurant’s permission if we can do this first or–”
But before he could finish speaking, Ashleigh had set off, running towards the kitchen door, glad that she’d chosen to wear her flats that night. Perhaps it was fate.
“Wow, okay…” Rico laughed and ran after her.
Ashleigh took the lead, bursting in through the kitchen doors much to the surprise of the staff that were working in there.
She stopped, her eyes darting around the place until she spotted the fire exit door on the opposite side, dashing towards it.
“Hey!” she heard someone shout. “You can’t be in here!”
Well, too late. They already were.
But not for long.
Her hands slammed on the handle and it flew open, and within moments they were outside, in some kind of alleyway behind the back of the restaurant.
“See? I told you!” She shot Rico a triumphant smile. “There’s always an alley.”
Rico giggled and grabbed her by the hand. “This way.” He tugged her to the right and they both started running again, hand in hand.
At the end of the alley they took a left and it led them onto another main road.
“There they are!” someone yelled.
“They’ve spotted us!” cried Rico, his legs moving faster as they picked up speed, the two of them giggling. They raced across the busy road to the sound of cars beeping, and dashed down another side street.
Then a left, and crossing another road, turning right into yet another alley way.
They kept going and going, weaving this way and that, turning corners and stopping traffic, until they had put some sufficient distance between themselves and the restaurant, and the paps, and until their lungs were aching so much from running they could barely keep going anymore anyway.
“Stop…stop…” Rico panted, so out of breath he was unable to even laugh. He let go of her hand and they both leaned their backs up against the cool brick wall, gasping a bit and taking a moment to recover.
Eventually, Rico turned to her and pinned her to the wall with his body, leaning in and crashing his lips to hers in an eager, heated kiss that she keenly returned.
She wrapped her arms around him and ran her hands up and down his body, one of his hands reaching down and groping at her crotch.
She whimpered and pushed her hips into him, then moved her own hands around to the front, palming him through his pants as they kissed, their tongues clashing and exploring each other’s mouths while their hands fumbled and touched wherever they could.
For a moment, she thought they might have been about to have sex right then and there. She certainly felt him get hard beneath her touch, but after a few minutes of sensual, hot kissing, he broke off, grinning, and stepped back away from the wall.
“Wow…” He smirked and looked her up and down. “You really are something else. You’re gonna get me into trouble.”
“Hey, I got you out of trouble tonight, mister,” she teased.
“Huh. Yeah, you did.” He offered her his hand. “I think they’ll be gone now. We should probably get back.”
“Yeah, I guess we probably should. Early start tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
Because of their 6am call the following morning, and the fact that it was already so late, he didn’t invite her back to his hotel, but she got the impression he would have done so under any other circumstance. They were both turned on, and couldn’t stop looking at each other and touching each other as they made their way through the streets.
When he dropped her back off at her hotel, they shared another deep, slow kiss, before he waved goodbye and drove off on his bike.