her back. I wince.
Her nice dress is all roughed up from where I was fucking her against the wall, the stones tearing apart the fabric.
“I don’t think your dress will forget this,” I tell her, pulling at the back so I can see her smooth spine. “Your skin doesn’t look broken though.”
“I’m sure I will bruise,” she tells me, turning around and smoothing her dress out. “And I have enough dresses anyway.”
“That you do,” I say, my fingers trailing down her arm until I’m holding her hand. “So tell me, Grace. Are we done arguing for the day? Do we need to talk some more?”
She looks flushed from the sex, or it could be the sheepish look on her face.
“We’re done.”
“And so…? You’re not going to run from us, no matter how complicated I am? You’re not going to let your mind conjure up things that aren’t true? We can just … be? Claudio and Grace, two incredibly sexy people who like to fuck each other?”
She gives me a quick smile at that, and then wets her lips with her tongue, eyes roaming my face as she thinks. She nods. “We can just be … and I’m sorry if I’ve been…”
“Nothing to apologize for,” I tell her quickly. “I want you to talk to me, okay? About anything. Don’t be afraid to do that. Both of us … I think this is so new. I know I haven’t been with a woman in a long time, and I certainly have never been with a woman like you. It will take some getting used to, and I am sure we are both bound to get afraid or say the wrong thing, but as long as we keep communicating…” I gesture between us. “Then we will be okay. Maybe better than okay?” I say gently.
She flashes me a pretty smile, a touch of relief on her brow. “Definitely better than okay.”
Good enough for me.
Fifteen
Grace
“Vanni, where’s your father?”
Vanni doesn’t even raise his head, his eyes glued to his iPad, where someone with a very serious voice is talking about something. Probably a scientist.
“Vanni,” I say again, leaning against the railing. I had woken up late this morning since Claudio hadn’t come to wake me. Neither had Vanni. I’ve been up and down the house, peeked at the pool, and haven’t seen Claudio anywhere.
“Parla in Italiano,” Vanni says dismissively.
This kid, I swear.
“Dove tuo padre,” I say, pretty sure I’m saying it right. “Dove tuo padre?”
Finally, Vanni looks up at me and smiles triumphantly. “I am an excellent teacher, am I not?”
Truth is, it’s been Claudio that’s been helping me with my Italian lately. Though half the things he’s said, I can’t repeat in front of his child.
“Yes. Of course.”
He turns back to his iPad. “He is in the chapel.”
My brows shoot up. The chapel?
“He said not to wake you,” he goes on. “Said you needed to sleep.”
My face immediately goes hot and I’m grateful that Vanni is so involved with whatever he’s watching. The truth is, the last few days here, the only time Claudio and I have had time alone together is at night, which means there’s a lot of him sneaking into my room. We have sex for hours, feeling spent and exhausted, but he can never stay the night and sleep with me, just in case we get caught.
There’s a dirty thrill about it, the sneaking around, the keeping our liaisons a secret. Not that it feels all that good to keep secrets from Vanni, but in this case, the less he knows the better.
Besides, I don’t know what we are and I don’t want to put a label on it. I’m well aware that my time here is ticking away. I only have ten days until I’m supposed to leave.
Ten days left of having Claudio sculpt me, with both his hands, and with his tongue.
Ten days of trying to get as much of the book finished as possible, before I head back home and lose my inspiration entirely.
With the weather getting progressively hotter, working on the veranda isn’t cutting it anymore. I do what I can in my bedroom, with the fans whirring full blast, and sometimes I’ll go and write in the study. But the heat, plus the ever-present distraction that is Claudio, makes it hard to concentrate.
But in some ways it’s also been easier. I’m able to put my feels directly into the book, as my character starts to fall for her love interest. The only difference is,