As I pour him lapsang souchong and offer him a tiny Marie Antoinette cake, I realise I'm going all doe-eyed. I have an awful feeling I'm doing what friends describe as my 'Princess Diana thing', gazing up at him geisha-like from under downcast eyelids.
It's hard to pinpoint where the crackling electricity is coming from. Is it the teatime hour, what the French describe as le cinq sept, that unaccounted-for window of the day when illicit liaisons flourish?
Is it the contrast between the quaint tea tray and the thrilling hint of danger presented by the half-open door with its glimpse of a very large bed? Or is it simply that Marco is looking at me with interest and appreciation, holding my gaze with manly vigour?
Remarkably, the man is stone-cold sober. ''Of course,' he beams. ''Flirting is much better without the hallucinations that drink gives you. It means you can really perceive the other person.'
So what is the secret of a good flirt? Marco, who has collaborated on a book on Mafia gestures, says the most important thing is eye contact and the ability to maintain it.
''Gazing is one of our weapons as Italians,' he says, fixing his cappuccino eyes on me. ''But British men and women avoid eye contact because they're scared.'
Another common error is talking too much
Source link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2007/11/24/ftflirt124.xml
Related:
Hometrends curtains