Love Me Anyway

Chapter Eleven

Maya

"Baby? Are you ready for date night?" I called as I adjusted the white button up shirt I was wearing.
"Sì."
I turned and my eyes grew wide at the sight of my girlfriend. She was wearing a tight red dress with a slit up the side that stopped at her hip.
"You like? I've been saving it for a special occasion." She ran her hands down to smooth the front of the dress.
"I love. You, amore mio, look beautiful." I crossed the room to her and put my hands on her hips, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. I know she would kill me if I messed up her lipstick before dinner.
"Grazie bambina. You look very beautiful yourself." She tugged on the black jacket that I had over my shirt, pulling me closer to her body.
"If you keep looking at me like that, we won't make our reservations." I whispered as I stared into her eyes. She was taller than me already, but the heels she had on made the height difference even more noticeable. Even with the heels I was wearing.
"Later bambina. Come on, I'm starving." She chuckled as she drug me out of the bedroom.

"How did you get a reservation here bambina? It takes months to get in!" Carina asked excitedly as we walked into the Italian restaurant she's been looking at ever since she came home.
"We put out a fire here about six months ago. I called in a favor with the owner." I smiled as I took her hand.
"Ah, Captain Bishop. Welcome!" The owner, Bruno, came over and hugged me.
"Thank you Bruno. The place is looking great." I smiled at him.
"You'd never be able to tell there was a fire. Hi Mrs. Bishop, I'm Bruno the owner." He shook Carina's hand with a smile.
"Right this way you two." He led us off before either of us could correct him.
"A bottle of wine for my favorite fire captain and her wife." He smiled as he poured our glasses.
"Thank you Bruno." I felt my face blush redder every time he called Carina my wife. It's not like I hadn't thought about it before.
"I'll send Antonio over in just a moment." He set the bottle of wine down and walked off.
"He seems nice." Carina raised an eyebrow as she sipped her wine.
"He really is. He poured his entire life into this place. It's his baby." I reached over and took her hand in mine.
"I can see that, wifey." Carina laughed.
"Did that bother you? I can correct him-"
"Bambina, it doesn't bother me at all." She brought my hand up to her lips and gently kissed my palm.
"Good. Because it didn't bother me either."

"Well, here's to us." She held up her wine glass and I clinked mine against it.
"To us."

"Sir? Can we have the check?" I asked as the waiter boxed up our leftovers.
"Your meal is on the house. Bruno said to think of it as a thank you for saving his baby." The waiter smiled at us gently.
"Tell him we said thank you. And this is for you." I slipped him some cash as a tip.
"Thank you Captain and Mrs. Bishop. We hope to see you back here soon." He smiled and walked off.
"That was nice of him." Carina said as she stood.
"Definitely. Let's call our girl and see how she's doing before we go to our next stop." I pulled out my phone and FaceTimed Andy as we walked out of the restaurant.
"Hola! How was dinner?" Andy asked as she answered the phone.
"Amazing. How's our girl?"
"She's in the kitchen making cookies with Auntie Vic." Andy got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen, showing Cat mixing the dough together with a spoon.
"Ciao Carina and Maya!" She waved before she went back to mixing.
"Ciao Bambina! We miss you!"
"I miss you. Auntie Vic, we need more chocolate chips."
"On it Captain." Vic saluted and added more chocolate chips to the mix.
"She's doing great. Don't worry about us." Andy turned the camera back on herself.
"Thanks again for watching her guys. We really appreciate it." I opened Carina's door for her as we got to the car.
"It's no problem. Now, so s-e-x up that hot Italian girlfriend of yours."
"Oh I plan on it. Bye Herrera." I laughed as we hung up.

"So, you said next stop. Where are we going to now?" Carina asked.
"Our home for the night. I may have gotten us a hotel." I winked as I started the car.
"Bambina, you shouldn't have gone all out like this." She reached over and took my hand in her's as we started driving.
"I wanted to show you how much I love and appreciate you. Well, actually there's nothing in the world that could show you how much I love and appreciate you. But I can at least do this."