Roman Holiday | h.s

Seven

Harry felt like his stomach was twisting as they walked hand in hand down the lit path to where his date was planned. They were both nervous wrecks.

They reached the end of the path where Harry pushed open a gate to reveal a small clearing, filled with hundreds of gorgeous flowers. Anna looked around in awe as Harry studied her face to analyse her reaction - good or bad.

In the centre of the clearing there were a couple of mats placed on top of the grass with some lit candles, a basket and a drinks trolley.

"Wow," Anna breathed, taking it all in. It was very special. Especially under the pale moonlight. Anna felt like Harry knew things about her that were impossible to know - almost as if they had known each other for years, or in a previous life.

"Is that a good wow, or bad?" Harry asked nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with his knuckles.

"Amazing." She confirmed, which made his face crumple in relief. He had no idea why he was so nervous, normally he didn't care if things went well or not- but he really wanted this date to go well.

They sat together under the pale moonlight, Harry had his arm around Anna's shoulder and she snuggled in closely. They were like two parts of a puzzle. It just fit and felt right.  After a few minutes of cuddling and staring at the moon, Harry broke the silence.

"Soo.. I didn't know what you liked so I brought a selection of wines. We have Rosé, prosecco, while, red, merlot.." Harry listed pointing to his drink trolley which housed five bottles and some glasses.

"Prosecco?" She suggested and he nodded and grabbed two flute glasses which made Anna stifle a laugh.

"Harry," she placed her hand on his to stop him, he looked confused.

"Wrong glass, amore mio. With prosecco, we need to smell to really taste it and the flute is too small." She informed him gently and grabbed the tulip glasses instead. Harry nodded, mentally noting that information for if they ever had the opportunity to drink prosecco together again.

Harry loved the sound of her calling him her darling or love. There was a smooth sweetness to her voice which had him infatuated. He couldn't help it. He was falling hard.

"Here you go, m'lady." Harry joked and handed Anna her correct glass of Prosecco.

"Perfect," she commented and inhaled the aroma of the drink (which Harry copied, he normally wasn't bothered - just drinking wine to get drunk not for enjoyment).

"Smells lovely doesn't it." Anna noted and Harry scrunched his nose, it wasn't particularly an enjoyable smell to him. But each to their own.

"Uh, not going to lie to you. It doesn't smell too great." Harry chuckled nervously which caused her to burst into soft melodic laughter which made him just about burst into flames on the spot.

"Ahh, Harry! Do you want to know a secret?" She asked him, taking a sip of her wine. He watched as a drop of it left the glass and dripped down her chin and neck until it pooled on her collarbone.

"Always." He told her, swallowing hard to distract himself.

"I didn't always like wine," she spoke like it was a scandal, Harry's mouth twitched into a smirk.

"- my family are avid wine enthusiasts. So one day, when I turned sixteen they gave me my first glass of Prosecco," she continued and gestured to the glass as she swirled it and gave it another sip. Harry nodded, hanging on her every word.

"So I drank it, and I said ugh, digustoso! But they all made fun of me, so I actually trained myself to like it - and it worked. Because now it's my favourite." Anna finished, reminiscing on the times when her family were all under one roof. Those were the days.

He took a sip of his own and locked eyes with her as he savoured the flavour, trying to keep a straight face but his nostrils flared and his eyes crinkled subconsciously which made Anna laugh.

"Oh, Harry," She mused.

They drank their wine, and Harry unpacked the picnic filled with little snacks for them to enjoy. They spoke about everything and nothing all at the same time, their cheeks flushed and warm - and sore from all the laughing and smiling.

The chemistry between the pair was undeniable, and they both subconsciously noted that they wanted to make a move on the other - without realising. So when they were laying down on the blankets next to each other, looking up at the stars, the air had become thick as they were waiting for the right moment.

"Is that a Hercules constellation?" Harry pointed up at the sky, Anna personally couldn't tell - she had no idea about stars, but she was looking at him instead. Her heartbeat was in her ears as she observed the wiggle of the tip of his nose when he spoke and the movement of his Adam's apple when he swallowed.

"I think it is anyway," Harry murmured and then he turned his head to realise Anna had gone quiet and was just observing him.

"Is there something on my face?" He panicked and began rubbing his hands on his face in worry. Anna shook her head softly with a smile.

"Are you okay?" He asked, and they were now both laying on their sides, faces a few inches apart.

"I'm fine. You're just very lovely." She told him.

"Thank you," he whispered, having an inkling of what was going to happen next.

"You're lovely too." He commented, slowly reaching his hand up to brush some stray hair behind Anna's ear and rest his hand onto the back of her neck.

"Is this okay?" He whispered, as he shuffled his face a little closer to hers. They were close enough that he could feel her rapid shallow breaths agains his cheeks and smell her fruity perfume which was intoxicating to him.

"Is this?" She asked back, before placing her own hand on his cheek and closing the distance between them so their lips were mere millimetres apart. She noticed his pupils dilate and the way he quickly darted his tongue out to wet his lips nervously.

"Yes,-" before he could even finish what he was saying, she had connected their lips together and the warmth from the kiss was sending shockwaves down their systems - it was an experience like no other. A gentle kiss laced with so much lust and connection.

Anna could taste the merlot he had just drank, on his lips as he parted them to deepen the kiss. Anna looped her hands around the back of Harry's neck, to gain control as she encouraged him to roll on his back so she could straddle him.

Harry moaned into the kiss as she did so, holding her hips steady as she took the lead. It was exhilarating. Neither of them expected that their run in - in the middle of Rome would lead to this moment, a moonlit date ending in a blissful embrace.

"You're a bella regazza." (Beautiful girl) He mumbled against her lips, taking a breath. She started to breathe heavily and couldn't help the smile that spread across her cheeks.

"You are just the sweetest, my belissimo girasole." Anna replied, gazing into his emerald eyes which had darkened a little.

"Care to enlighten me?" He joked, he was trying to learn Italian but he wasn't leaning that quickly.

"No." She smiled sweetly and pressed a chaste kiss to his top lip before sitting back up, still on his lap. He had moved his arms so they were now wrapped around her waist and had no intentions of removing them - unless he asked her to, of course. He just felt so blessed that she had actually given him a chance.

"Why?" He asked, bemused. He just hoped it wasn't mean.

"It's my little secret for now."

If only Anna knew about Harry's big secret.

L'amore sboccia.
~~~

just prewarning for the next couple of chapter 👀👀

- c x