‘I’ll send you an email, of course.’

There was a sudden tense atmosphere between us, which we both filled with finishing the delicious stew in front of us. Floriano ordered another beer from the attentive waitress, but I refrained, settling for a glass of ‘undrinkable’ wine instead. In the background, the band began to play the sensuous music of the hills, and two couples took to the floor. I focused on them as they began to dance, their careful movements mirroring the exquisite tension that hung between Floriano and me.

‘So,’ I said, as more couples began to take to the floor, ‘will you teach me how to dance the samba?’ I offered my hand across the table to him, and he nodded. Without speaking, we rose and joined the crowd.

Putting one arm around my waist and using his other hand to encircle my fingers with his own, he whispered in my ear. ‘Just feel the rhythm running through you, Maia, that is all you need to do.’

I did as he suggested, and the pulse began to move through my body. My hips started to sway in time with his and our feet began to move, mine clumsily at first as I studied his and the other dancers’ around me. But soon, something instinctive took over and I relaxed and let my body move with his to the rhythm.

I’m not sure how long we danced together that night. As the floor became more crowded, I felt that we had all become a single homogenous mass; moving as one, a group of human beings simply celebrating the joy of being alive. I’m sure that to any professional outsider, my samba was amateurish and imperfect, but for the first time in my life, I didn’t care what anyone thought. Floriano steered and twirled me and held me close until I was laughing out loud with the sheer exhilaration of the moment.

Eventually, with both of us sweating profusely, he led me from the dance floor, grabbed the water from our table and drew me up the steps into the street for some fresh air, immediately polluting it by lighting a cigarette.

‘Meu Deus, Maia! For a beginner, that was incredible! You are a true carioca.’

‘Tonight I feel it, thanks to you.’ I moved my fingers towards him to take the cigarette and a puff of it. I felt him watch me as I did so.

‘Do you know how beautiful you look at this moment?’ he murmured. ‘Far more beautiful than your great-grandmother. Tonight, you have a light burning inside you.’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘and it’s thanks to you, Floriano.’

‘Maia, I’ve done nothing. It’s you who has decided to live again.’

Suddenly, he pulled me into his arms, and before I knew it, he was kissing me. And I was responding with equal fervour.

‘Please,’ he whispered as we pulled away to take a breath, ‘come home with me tonight.’