“
Sì,
and Damiano is the brother, and he carve the wood.”
Vitale had rid himself of his shirt and was stepping out of his shorts. It appeared he intended to shower with her, which made it even more difficult to think about the schedule he had arranged for her for Monday.
“You're sure Adrianna won't mind? I'll pay her for chauffeuring me around.”
He slid the shower door open wider and adjusted some cold water into the spray. “I talk to Adrianna. She want to do.” Taking her hand, he stepped inside and pulled her in with him. His arms circled her, holding her tightly as the warm water cascaded down their backs. She snuggled her head against his chest.
For a while, they just stood. She was vaguely aware the earth was still turning and an outside world existed beyond their small space, but for the moment that seemed inconsequential. They were untouchable from the outside. The only touch that mattered was Vitale's.
She felt his arms reach out behind her; then his hands were in her hair, massaging shampoo into a rich lather. It was heavenly, the alternating of his strong fingers gripping and releasing. Her scalp wasn't the only thing enjoying the sensation. His erection grew taut against her stomach.
She was about to stroke him when he turned her around and directed the spray to rinse her hair. As quickly as that was done, his soapy hands caught her shoulders and began a massage. She groaned in pleasure as his thumbs kneaded the muscles above and between her shoulder blades and then made their way slowly down each side of her spine.
When she let out a particularly lusty moan, he laughed and slid his hands around to lather her breasts and stomach. “You make the same sound when we make the love.” His hands slid lower for a few sensual strokes. His lips caressed her rear as he stooped to reach her calves and feet.
Removing the showerhead from its cradle, he ran the water over her slowly, rinsing her thoroughly and strategically aiming the spray to keep arousal just ahead of relaxation.
After the shower, he dried her off with brisk strokes that left a nice, healthy glow to her skin. The biggest surprise, though, came when he turned on the hair dryer and blew her tresses dry as he combed his fingers through them. The result was a strange-looking coif that bore no resemblance to the cute do Adrianna had fixed.
“Do not worry about how the hair look, Julietta.” His mouth turned up at the corner. “We make the mess soon, yes?”
He led her to the bed and immediately started to make good on his promise.
She'd left the last remnants of her inhibitions back at the beach apparently. Before the afternoon had played out, she'd not only gone topless, but had stripped off totally naked to change into the clothes for the restaurant. By that time, they'd had the beach to themselves, but the possibility that someone else might show up at any minute had only made it more exciting. They even swam naked for a while, something she'd never done except by moonlight. There was something immensely freeing about being naked in sunlightâlike she'd absorbed the light and now could feel it emanating from her.
She brought all of that vibrant, new energy to bed, trying everything that came to her mind to tease and tantalize. She soon had Vitale wide-eyed and panting and giving her looks that begged for more despite the teeth marks she left on his shoulder.
From the foot of the bed, he inched toward her slowly on his hands and knees, eyes full of lust, an animal in heat. She leaned against the headboard, poised for, longing for his attack.
“
Ti amo,
Julietta.” His voice was ragged with emotion. More words poured out, words she didn't understand, but the sensual growl of the tone made each pulse throb with need throughout her body. “I say to you the truth.”
“Show me.”
With a strangled cry, he caught her around the waist and dragged her beneath him. She wrapped her legs around his hips and guided him into her.
His whispered endearments and kisses fell softly on her ear, even more provocative and cajoling than before. He was meeting her challenge and upping the stakes, taking full advantage of the overtime he'd moved this game into by forcing her hand. And here she was, still at the table. Accepting his offer to stayâwasn't that simply feeding his line back to him? Making him believe she actually thought this fairytale could end with a happily-ever-after? The darkness of fear began to eclipse her light. Panic rose in her chest, cutting off her air. In a matter of seconds, she plunged from the peak to the valley, bringing her climax to a deathly standstill.
Vitale was too far gone to stop or even to notice. With only a few more thrusts, he erupted inside her, calling her name amidst beautiful, erotic words of passion.
She held him close as he caught his breath, feathering her fingers down his back and through his hair, hoping he hadn't noticed her faltering enthusiasm.
He noticed.
Hoisting himself up, he looked her squarely in the eye. “You did not finish.”
She shook her head. “I started thinking too much. Staying with you. Us.” She waggled a finger between them. “This might be a mistake.”
He shifted his weight off of her to lean on his elbow, propping his head on his fist. His free hand cupped her face, turning it toward him. “To stay she does not make you happy?”
“To act like I believe you love me is the mistake.”
“You do not act in this way. You say the love she is not true.” He slid a finger around her ear and stroked softly. “I say she is true. We wait and we see who is the winner, like in the race, yes?”
“No fixed winner this time,” she whispered the warning.
His bottom lip puckered. “I tell you before, the prize I want I work very hard to win. I feex.” He proceeded to use that lip and the rest of his mouth to its full advantage until he had her writhing under his tender assault. And when her body rocked with the glorious contractions it craved, the hazards of losing anything to Vitale seemed entirely inconsequential.
They fell asleep, tangled in the sheets and each other's embrace. Nothing was more important than the feel of his touch and the sound of his breathing.
Nothing . . . until the outer world broke into her reality once again, interrupting her life with a phone call at 2:17.
C
HAPTER
20
J
ulia grabbed for the phone, knocking it off the table. She quickly rolled out of bed and dropped onto her hands and knees, groping for the square of light. Only a few people had her cell phone number. They all knew she was in Italy. None of them would call her in the middle of the night without a good reason. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. Her heart thudded with dread as she hit the button to answer the call. “Hello?”
“Julia, it's Frank.”
And then her heart screeched to a halt as only a mother's could. “Oh God. Is Melissa okay?”
“Melissa's fine. I just spoke with her to get your number.” Emotion held his voice tight, his words jerky. “It's Mom. She's had another stroke. She's in a coma. They don't think she's going to make it.”
Not Melissa, thank God. But Hettie.
Julia's heart fluttered back and then kicked into a double-time beat. “Oh God. Oh, Frank.”
“Evidently, the nursing home tried to call your house first.”
The irritation in his voice put her on the defensive. If she'd stayed at home, Hettie wouldn't have been alone. Maybe she could've done something preemptive. “I'm in Italy.” Her voice shook. How she hated when it did that. “But they have myâ”
“Yeah, Melissa told me.”
“I'll have to get a flight out.” She started to tremble uncontrollably as the news sank in, odd sounds wobbling from her mouth. “That may take me a while.” Vitale lowered himself onto the floor beside her and pulled her close, cradling her head against his chest. “I'll get there as quickly as I can.”
Frank's breath shuddered across the line. “Me too. I'll have to get to Oahu and take what I can from there. I hope to God we're both not too late.”
The line went dead. He'd hung up. “Hettie's had another stroke.” Julia battled to hold herself in check. The words sounded flat and dull. “She's dying.” Her composure broke, and the sob she'd been holding back broke free with it.
Vitale pried the phone from her hand and pulled her onto his lap. As she sobbed uncontrollably, he rocked her gently, stroking her hair and arms, whispering kind, soothing words.
Once the flood of tears washed away the initial shock, her brain began to function in a somewhat normal mode. “I've got to get home.”
Vitale's hold tightened around her, his chin resting on the top of her head. “Give the information for the travel to me. I make the arrangements more fast than you, yes?”
She nodded but didn't get up. When she moved out of his arms this time, the world was going to be different . . . tilted to an uncertain degree off the axis she'd grown accustomed to. She wanted to hold on to her former world for a moment longer.
He seemed to sense what she was thinking and didn't prod. He gave her the time, gave
them
the time. He kissed her eyelids, the slight pressure squeezing out the last of her tears.
Taking a deep, fortifying breath, she pressed her forehead to one of his cheeks as she stroked the other. “Taking care of things would help a lot. I could use the time to get packed.” If he kissed her, she'd fall apart, so she twisted out of his embrace and stood up.
She located her flight information in her bag as Vitale got her luggage out and placed it on the bed. She gave him the papers, and he took off with her phone to the other room and the computer while she emptied the drawers and closet of her things.
A glimpse in the mirror showed her that her hair was a mess. Vitale's styling after their shower had deteriorated even more during the short night. She hurriedly showered again and washed and dried her hair. By the time she finished, Vitale met her back in the bedroom.
“
Il treno da Genova a Milano parte alle sei
.”
He spoke quickly, but she thought she understood. “The train from Genoa to Milan leaves at six?” Could she make it to Genoa by six?
“
Sì,
and
l'aeroplano,
she leave
Milano undici a venti.
”
“Eleven twenty?”
“
Sì,
I borrow
l'automobile
from Adrianna, and then we must hurry.”
“I'll call for a car or something, Vitale. I don't want you to wake Adrianna at three in the morning.”
He took her hands and pressed them to his lips. “I want to drive Julietta. Adrianna, she understand.”
Tears blurred her eyes again as the awful pain of leaving him so abruptly tore at her heart. Vitale brushed away a hot one burning a path down her cheek. “Do not cry,
bella mia.
I return quickly.”
“Be careful.”
He nodded and, with a kiss to her forehead, was gone. The roar of his Benelli echoed through the house. She listened until it faded away in the distance, reluctantly acknowledging it would be the last time she heard it. An image of Hettie ran through her mind then, and she remembered their last conversation the day before yesterday. Sobs built in her chest, compounding into a pressure that stifled her breathing.
She hobbled into the kitchen, determined to stay focused on some mindless task so she could make it through the next half hour without falling apart. There would be time to fall apart later. At home.
Muscle spasms twisted her stomach into a mass of hard knots and trying to eat would be futile. But Vitale would be hungry. She toasted some bread and fried some eggs and slices of pancetta, putting together a couple of breakfast sandwiches. She heated Vitale's thermos and filled it with coffee, and had everything ready and packed in his lunch bag when he returned with Adrianna's car.
He loaded her bags into the back and held the passenger door open for her. With a last look around, she climbed in, clutching the cane he'd carved for her like a lifeline. If she let it go, she might lose her grip on everything.
With no traffic to impede them, Vitale took the road at a fast clipânot that traffic would've made any difference. How calm she was with his driving now. What a difference a week had made. Had it only been a week since he'd terrified her on the way to his parents' . . . since he'd first kissed her?
How was that possible?
They stayed quiet for a long time. He held her hand when he didn't need to shift, and when he did, he'd drop her hand, shift, and then grab it again. He kissed her knuckles, ran the back of his fingers against her cheek, small gestures bearing voluminous messages that caused her thoughts to volley back and forth between him and Hettie.
Either direction brought her closer to a good-bye she didn't want to say.
She turned her mind to the passing cedar trees looming dark against the hillside. A margin of silver outlined them in the moonlight against the rocky backdrop. Any other time they would be hauntingly beautiful. Tonight, they were skeletal fingers, dark and ominous.
She trembled and closed her eyes against the sight.
“You are cold,
bella mia?
”
Julia shook her head. “Just frightened.”
They took the ramp that swept them onto the deserted highway, but gaining distance from the dark hills didn't lessen the icy grip that held her in its foreboding clutch.
With a gentle finger, Vitale eased her face toward him, looking away from the road long enough to indicate he had something important to say. “Hettie, she know you love her the much. She wait for you to say the good-bye.” His words ripped the unspoken fear right from her heart as if he'd seen directly into its depths.
She started to sob again, voicing the guilt she'd been restraining. “Oh, Vitale, it breaks my heart to think she might die alone, without me or Frank there.” Anguish flooded her, clogging her eyes, and nose, and lungs. She fought to get some air into her lungs, but it shuddered on its way in and out, never quite giving her as much as she needed. Her head spun.
She wasn't aware they'd pulled over until Vitale's arms tightened around her. Her sobbing was loud and beyond her control. “Breathe, Julietta.” He took long, deep breaths. “You are strong, but you do not have to do this thing alone. I hold you. You hold Hettie with your love, and I hold Julietta with mine.”
Somehow, his comforting whispers reached through her despair, taking hold and reining it in. Without any conscious decision on her part, her breathing slowed to match his. The dizziness subsided, allowing her eyes to focus again. She found a handkerchief in her hand. When she blew her nose, her head started to clear and the ringing in her ears faded away. Vitale allowed her to slump back into her seat.
She wiped the tears from her eyes and cheeks. “
Mille grazie,
Vitale.”
He nodded. “
Prego,
Julietta.”
Back out on the highway, she remembered the sandwiches. “Are you hungry?” she asked, knowing the answer. Vitale was always hungry.
“
Sì,
” he answered, which made her smile a little. She unwrapped one of the sandwiches for him. He eyed it as if some new creature had appeared before his eyes, but a smile replaced the wariness as soon as he took a bite.
She poured him a cup of coffee, then opened the second sandwich and tore off a fourth of it. She stared at it, trying to conjure up an appetite, but even that small amount was too much to force into her tightened stomach. Vitale made quick work of the remainder when it became evident she wasn't going to eat it.
The rest of the trip consisted of talk about his new Web site, what was being done, what else needed to be done. They both pointedly avoided any subject that might send her into a tailspin.
It seemed much too soon when they pulled into the parking lot of the train station. As she got out of the car, her legs and her heart both felt like they'd been encased in lead. Or maybe bronze.
By the time they got her tickets, passengers had started to board. They both got on and found her a seat, storing her luggage away; then she got back off with Vitale for a proper good-bye, determined not to make them both miserable with a dramatic show of emotion.
They held each other for a long while until finally he pushed away and rested his arms on her shoulders, his forehead against hers.
“I'm sorry it had to be like this.” She broke the silence. “So fast. Not the way I would've chosen if I'd had my choice. But I want you to know how wonderful this week has been, and I want to thank you again. For everything.”
He raised his head to look into her eyes. “We e-mail, yes?”
“Yes, when I can,” she promised. “Things at home are going to be hectic.”
“This I know.” He nodded and paused. “When do you return?”
Emotion closed her throat. She didn't have an answer, hadn't been able to think that far ahead. “I don't know, Vitale. I have a lot of things going on, and . . .” She bit her lip to stop it from quivering.
He ran his fingers from her temples through the ends of her hair. She closed her eyes, breathing in his scent, wishing she could stand there with him touching her like this forever. But an announcement came over the loud speaker, and she knew enough of the words to know they were calling for final boarding.
Vitale's mouth came against hers. Their lips parted and their tongues met, her arms clasping his neck, his tight around her waist. In the back of her brain somewhere it registered that they were making a spectacle, but she didn't care. She kissed him more fiercely, trying with one last touch to convey all she was unable to say.
The kiss softened, and they slowly, reluctantly broke away.
“
Ti amo,
” he said, and she sucked his words in on a shaky breath.
She started to board, had one foot on the step, when he caught her hand and pulled her back around to him.
He smiled and touched her fingers to his lips. “
Ritorna da me.
Return to me, Julietta.”
The train gave a forward lurch. There was time for one last kiss blown in his direction, but nothing more.
As the train picked up speed, she settled in her seat, only then realizing she hadn't given him an answer.