CRAVING U (The Rook Café) Read Online Free Page A

parents, friends, and simple onlookers who wanted to enjoy one of the
last evenings of summer weather.
    “Look, the others are over there.  Let’s
go sit with them,” Carlotta said.
    In fact, they were all there, Lucrezia
included.  Dario too, who obviously wasn’t playing.
    “Hi Carlotta!”  He smiled, scooting over
and making room for her.  “Hey Marika, how’s it going?”
    “Cool,” she said as she sat down and
joined the conversation about the likely winner of the match.  She had no
doubts about Matteo’s superiority, but she didn’t want to let it show.
    Before every match the referee was given a
list of the players’ names and an ID for each of them; without this, they weren’t
allowed to play.  If you weren’t on the list, you couldn’t even sit on the
bench.
    While the ref and the linesmen carried out
the usual checks on the correct pressure of the soccer ball and the stringing
of the goal nets, the players were warming up at midfield, preparing their muscles
so there would be no pulls or tears during the game.
    Matteo – just like every other member of
his team, after all – was wearing a jet black uniform with lime green trim that
ran up the inside of his arm and down the side, matching socks, and black
cleats with a yellow logo.  The adrenalin of the competition was a powerful
aphrodisiac that made him even more gorgeous: his damp hair brought out his
blue eyes, and his tanned skin beaded with sweat highlighted the taut lines of
his biceps and forearms.  Marika felt herself swept away from reality on a
tsunami of hormones, but the opening whistle brought her back down to earth.
    The match was hard-fought and balanced. 
The Palladio controlled the game for most of the first half, thanks in
particular to the excellent passing and ball-control of their playmaker Matteo
Zovigo.  The Bramante offered little more than deep passes trying to
connect with their sole forward, number 9, Marcello Bassani.
    The referee often had to cool off heads
during the first 25 minutes; the on-field tension threatened to degenerate into
a fist-fight.  Marcello in particular was playing very rough, often crossing
the line.  Nothing new here: his style of play had always been very physical.
    Meanwhile, in the stands....  “Dario, would
you go get a couple of popsicles for me??  Pretty pleeeease??” purred Carlotta
in a honeyed voice.
    “Yeah, Dario, a mint one for me!”  “Cherry
for me.”  “Get a couple lemon-flavored ones and one orange too.”  Everyone got
in on the act.
    “OK, OK, one at a time.”  He took everyone’s
order and got up.  He leaned over Carlotta and whispered, “Only because it’s
you....”
    “What did I tell you, he’s crazy about
you,” smirked Marika as he walked away.
    The score was 0-0 at halftime.  The
players wandered over toward the stands and were swarmed by friends who gave
them their best “armchair coaching” advice on how to play better.
    Matteo walked toward Marika, who was busy
licking her mint popsicle.  Overheated and without asking permission, he pulled
her hand toward him and took an icy bite, winking his left eye at her.
    Her level of excitement was at a million
rpm.  She took a deep breath and tried to put together two sensible words about
the match: “You know, you should try playing more on the wings....”  If she
could have seen Lucrezia’s face at that moment!
    “Next weekend, I don’t have to play...,”
Matteo broke off to high-five one of his friends before going on, “... and
Saturday night we’re going to San Siro Stadium to watch the opening home match
of AC Milan .  We’re meeting up at The Rook at twenty to six and
should be back by about one.  Do you want to come?”
    She would have followed him to the ends of
the earth, but entering an arena with an average of forty to fifty thousand
fans even for the bad games made her feel a bit uneasy.  “Wow!  You know, I
wouldn’t mind seeing some real soccer players for