Chapter Text
Morse helps Adele out of the car at the club and turns the keys of his Jaguar over to the valet. He hasn’t been so happy with his life in a long time and he can’t help but smile when he sees the concierge grab their bags out of the boot of the car. She is such a sweet person and he feels very lucky. He checks in and asks for their bags to be taken to their room and to make sure there’s a nice bottle of red wine in the room for later. “Shall we have dinner?”
She smiles at him. “Dinner sounds wonderful. Where did you have in mind?”
“I have heard excellent things about the restaurant here and it means that we’re closer to our room for later.”
“Sounds perfect to me. I hope very good wine comes with the excellent company.”
“Of course it does. Although dinner with you would be just as pleasant without wine.”
“You are a flatterer, Morse. I was only teasing about the wine, you know. I love that we’re getting to spend some time together and I don’t need wine to make it better.”
“Do you always know just what to say? You seem to.”
“No, of course not. You just make it easy for me to be honest. I trust you, Morse, and that is wonderful.” She sits down in the chair he has pulled out for her. She loves that he’s such a gentleman. He’s a bit old fashioned, but it makes him a character.
He sits down across from her and reaches across the table to hold her hand. The lighting in the room is low and the majority of the light comes from the candles on each table. He immediately notices how lovely she looks. He sighs happily and kisses the back of her hand. The wine he orders is expensive and fabulous.
She quickly notices how much more relaxed he is than she has ever seen him before. He seems calm and at ease and he looks more handsome like this. He leans back in his chair and sips his wine. With their food orders already in they have a chance to relax and chat, but Morse seems to be happy with the silence. She is surprised at how bold she’s being. She doesn’t really know Morse at all really, except that he finally told her what his first name is.
“What is it?” He asks curiously.
“I don’t know a lot about you, Morse, and yet I feel absolutely at ease with you. I’m rather surprised at how little I know about you and yet we’re doing this.”
“You’re not second guessing this, are you? There’s no reason to second guess.”
“No, I’m not. It was more an observation than anything else. I would never have accepted the invitation if I wasn’t certain about this.” She assures him. She’s glad the tablecloth is long because it gives her a chance to be cheeky. She can tell he is a little bit nervous. Teasing has always come easy to her and so she slides her shoe off and runs her toes up and down his calf.
“You are a terrible tease, Adele.” He leans forward and whispers to her.
“Oh really? You’re a tease too. Sitting there with the candlelight on your face you look very handsome and you know it.”