Cornered rabbit

They arrived at the bar, It was early, a little after lunch time. There were a few people scattered out on the saloon.

After ordering a bottle of beer, Leonardo watched the woman coming from the bathroom on a thin black tank-top and her army uniform tied around her waist, She's a D rank authority holder with enhanced eyesight. On her security squad, she's the one in charge of the rifle and long-distance disarm, she hadn't failed one shot to the present.

Cecilia, that fearless woman,was eyeing him with doubt, curiosity and suspicion as she came and sat across the small round table.

[She took off the coat to show the rifle with wings tattoo on her shoulder, and is acting more reserved, she's on guard. don't think this is nothing, if you push her just a little more, she'll make up an excuse to leave and from there on she'll only drift apart you. What are you going to do?]

Leonardo froze visibly, then laughed inwardly 'Dear Azumi what are you doing?'

[A little pressure is...tasty and spicy.] He couldn't be sure, but he thought Azumi licked her lips.

Before he answered, he caught a slight movement on Cecilia, her shoulders went down a bit and her exhaling lasted a little longer, it was almost a sigh.

Then he saw her teasing eyes and grin.

Leonardo breathed his own sigh of relief. Cecilia must've caught the moment he went stiff and thought he was a bit nervous, sheding a little of her warines towards him.

'I have to take this chance and melt her guard away.''

"That day, the last one we raced against each other, Claudia knew you let her win that's why she became angry." Leonardo said as the waiter laid the chilled glasses on the table and poured the beer.

Cecilia tilted her head at first, then as if remembering something, she widened her eyes and slapped the table. "Ah! She noticed!? No wonder! I thought I acted well enough!" She gave herself a light slap on the forehead "Ugh, it must've hurt, even then she was proud"

Leonardo smiled, Cecilia was pretending it wasn't a big deal now, but he remembered clearly that after that race, at the end of the day, she was all weepy with her mother, asking what she did wrong, even though Claudia just sulked and didn't complain. 

'You always cared for us.' He thought while gazing gently.

They slowly talked about a few years back, then Cecilia laughed at Leonardo's wince when he took his first ever shot of vodka.

 It was in third bottle of beer that Cecilia stopped moving altogether and slapped the table for the second time.

"You're distracting me!" She nearly yelled.

Leonardo, feeling a little buzz already was nearly shaken off of it. "W-What?

She gazed right at his eyes and squinted.

"I had so many doubts and suspicions when we arrived here, but we just laughed and got merry for the last half hour!"

She drank two shots more than him, and already had a bit of blush on her, but was not drunk.

Leonardo smiled wryly, "It was not intentional."

"Liar! You think I don't know when you lie!? And what you did to that Jeff kid? How did you tame him? What's your intentions with little Clau? And what's with the deal with your father, didn't you despise him!? And more importantly, why didn't you try to hold this elder sister hips? Didn't want it anymore after seeing the grown up little Clau?"

She bombarded  him with questions..

There were no more words on the table, she was looking at him in the eyes and he was gazing back into hers.

"Let me drive the bike, then I'll answer"

"Deal!"

They closed the tab, then Leonardo directly bolted when she mounted behind.

She started praying when he passed the 40km. But to Cecilia's relief, he stopped fast, at the gated community he lived in.

He drove slowly, and stopped on a house that was right in front of his.

They unmounted, Cecilia took off her helmed and squinted with suspicion. "This is your neighbors house." She stated.

He nodded and reached for a key underneath a plant pot. "They're on vacation, mom's taking care of the plants and dogs"

"What are you... planning?" 

A red light flashed by his eyes as the sun-setting rays covered them, But it went unnoticed by Cecilia because of the light blush of the alcohol.

"You asked a lot of questions but we didn't even ate lunch, and the answers require privacy, so I'll cook us a late lunch, then we talk, how about it?"

He opened the door as he asked, she couldn't see a single clue of bad intention on him, and his intentions for using another house was reasonable too.

But she still felt a faint voice telling her, to back off.

The door opened wide and him waiting beside it with the sun across painted an image that made her heart quicken, "So what if he isn't well intentioned? With that lanky frame, I can make him honest with a few moves."

She snorted and boldly entered the house while swinging her waist.

But the sound of the closing door came following her bold steps and she suddenly felt butterflies in her belly. It intensified as Leonardo locked the door.

The faint inner voice became loud as thunder, with each of his steps.

When he stopped, she turned around, he was a foot away from her with a lazy smile and disheveled short hair, the blush from the booze added even more charm.

'...I made a mistake.' She thought.