Her Unexpected Admirer Page 0,45
was all carefully packed away and she was ready in only a few minutes. It was easy to pack when one didn’t have a great many items to fold and arrange.
“Ready?” he asked when she stepped out again.
She nodded slowly, feeling strange. Tugging at her tee-shirt, she asked, “Where are we going?”
A knock sounded on the door again and she looked over, wondering who was there this time.
“It’s the bell hop again. I sent him away and asked him to come back when you were finished.”
She looked down at her small roller bag. “I can carry it myself,” she said, feeling silly.
“They are going to ensure that the bags reach the airport while we go off and do something else,” he told her, admitting the bell hop who bowed again, looking between the two occupants of the room. Obviously having been sent away once and asked to come back, he wasn’t sure what he should do.
“The other bags are in the master bedroom,” he said. “Kate?” he prompted.
Kate looked up, excitement bubbling up inside of her. A Saturday where she didn’t have to clean her apartment or slave away at boring spreadsheets? “You still haven’t told me where we’re going.”
He took her hand and led her out the doorway. “I’m going to take you to the Garden of the Gods,” he told her.
She wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not, but the ride down the elevator was filled with a strange tension. There were others on the elevator so they couldn’t really discuss anything private. But as soon as they were out in the lobby, she looked back up at him. “Are you kidding?”
He shook his head. “No. I get the sense that you have lived a very secluded life. Am I right?” he asked.
She nodded her head hesitantly.
“I thought so,” he nodded. Outside, the doorman handed him a set of keys. “Your vehicle is ready, Mr. Alfieri.”
Davis took the keys and stepped to the curb, holding open the door to a stunning Maserati coup. “Your chariot,” he teased.
Kate slipped into the amazing leather seat, feeling decadent once again. “You certainly know how to travel in style, don’t you?” she said, but it wasn’t really a question. The evidence was surrounding her.
“I work hard and I play hard,” he told her as he started up the engine. “And really, this is the best way to view the Colorado Mountains.” A moment later, they were speeding out of town. Because it was relatively early, and a Saturday, there wasn’t as much traffic on the roads.
“So tell me why you went into accounting if you don’t like it,” he asked as the city started to disappear behind them and the mountains appeared in the distance.
She looked out her window, astounded by the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. “Um…my father thought it was best for me.”
He thought that was an interesting answer. “If it had been up to you, what would you have studied?”
She bit her lip, almost letting “art” slip out. “Oh, I don’t know. I guess there are things I’d like to learn.”
“Such as?”
She thought quickly. “I’d like to learn to speak foreign languages,” she told him. “How did you learn to speak French and whatever it was you were speaking the other day?”
“All of us learned to speak Italian because we lived in Milan over the summers. My dad has a house in Milan and another that looks out over the Mediterranean Sea.”
Kate smiled, wondering what it would be like to live like that. Spending summers in a foreign country, learning about different cultures and all the exciting things about traveling. “I suppose that was fun,” she suggested.
“It was great. But my Dad taught us Italian along with the housekeeper and various other household staff, plus the villagers wouldn’t let us get away with anything other than Italian. So when I started to learn French, the languages are so similar, it was pretty easy. Spanish as well.”
“So you know four languages,” she sighed. “Goodness, you’re a handy man to have around.”
He laughed but kept his eyes on the road. “I speak Arabic as well, but that one was harder and I’m not completely proficient at it yet.”
“That’s amazing,” she smiled.
“What language would you like to learn?” he asked.
“French,” she replied quickly.
As they drove down the highway, she pushed her sunglasses higher on her nose. She enjoyed talking with him and, in the car, the discussion seemed risk free. He had to keep his hands and his attention on the