Authors: J. P. Kennedy
Slowly he let her hands go from behind her as she opened her eyes again and found his piercing green eyes staring into her own.
‘We have christened grandfather’s desk,’ he said, with a glint in his eyes, kissing her nose and laughing softly. ‘I couldn’t think of a better use for it.’
He straightened her dress and tied the spaghetti straps on her shoulders with care.
‘I think he would be rolling in his grave if he knew what we had been doing on it.’ said Cassie, smiling at him, as he refastened his jeans and ran his fingers through his unruly, dark curls. She looked down at the floor and saw her ripped panties lying there. Another pair gone she thought then remembered the first pair, still dangling from the chandelier. Oh heck, I have got to ask Marco to get them down. She shimmied off the desk and reached down to grab them, scrunching them into a ball and tossing them in the bin under the desk.
‘Would you like anything to drink Cassandra? Maybe a digestivo, a little limoncello? He didn’t wait for her answer, striding down the stairs to the cabinet below, returning a moment later with the chilled bottle and two small crystal glasses.
‘Now we talk. Come and sit over here with me.’ He led her to a sumptuous day bed with massive cushions propped at its head. Lying down, he pulled her with him and she snuggled in beside him, her head resting on his shoulder. Sipping from his glass, he began to talk.
‘It is hard for me to discuss these things as I have shut my feelings away for so long. I want you to know you are the first person I have ever wanted to confide in.’ He kissed her forehead before continuing. ‘I had a happy, carefree childhood. My parents were very much in love and I do not remember missing having a sibling because my cousin Luca and his family were always nearby. We lived here then, at Boschieri Estate and my world seemed secure and loving. I suppose I could have been considered precocious, spoilt even, given all the attention, but my father also disciplined me when I misbehaved. His father had been strict with him, it was their way, and I think because I had no brothers and sisters he did not want me to become soft and pampered, especially by my mother and Marta, which was in danger of happening everyday in their presence.’ He smiled at the recollection of him no doubt being indulged of his every whim thought Cassie.
‘Maybe with a brother or a sister things would have been different, but they were not able to have more children and no explanation was ever given. Not that an explanation would have been given to a child. Marta was always there, and Guido, and the horses. By the time I became a teenager, I was used to the way things were and I’m sure I was more than a little arrogant and full of myself. I started to confront my father when he came down hard on me for what I considered, little things of no consequence. We began to disagree constantly and I know it upset my mother but I felt he was being unfair most of the time because I was the only son and heir and he wanted me to be more like him. The last person I wanted to emulate. This attitude combined with teenage defiance made conversation almost impossible between us and things became very strained at home.’ Cassie looked up at him and he kissed her lips.
‘I stopped telling them where I was going and I started to sneak out of the house at night and meet up with friends from school. Friends he didn’t approve of, which of course made them desirable to me. He was not happy with the way his son was going, hanging out with the wrong crowd at school, becoming disrespectful, stealing alcohol from the house. He tried to stop me seeing my friends, but I always managed to get away. His disapproval was like a weight around my neck and I began to wish I had a brother or a sister who could have lived up to his ideals. I realize now that I was trying to hurt him with my behavior and to that extent I succeeded.’ He stopped talking and stared pensively out at the dark night, their drinks forgotten, still sitting with the bottle on the floor.
‘So far Marco’ said Cassie gent
ly, ‘It sounds like pretty normal teenage behavior. Certainly nothing like the youth cases I see on a regular basis.’ she added.
‘Yes, you are right. But I was their only child and they thought I was going off the rails
and would end up in trouble with the police,’ he sighed and continued. ‘One evening shortly after I had turned fifteen, I took Guido’s scooter and went down into town to meet my friends. We had some beer and a couple of joints and we went up to a look out point behind the town with some girls. It was nothing outrageous, just some dumb kids trying to be tough. I didn’t keep track of time but as it became later I knew I my parents would be worried, that I would be in big trouble. I think that’s why I stayed even later, until nearly midnight before I left for home.
I was on the final curve of the hill leading to the estate when I saw flashing lights ahead of me and had to stop. There had been an accident. A car had plunged throug
h a barrier and was lying on its side twenty meters down a slope. An ambulance was parked nearby and two men were struggling to climb down the bank with a stretcher to rescue the victim. I got off my scooter and walked over to the edge to look down. It was dark and there was smoke drifting up from the car, but I still recognized it. It was my mother’s car.’ He stopped and drew his breath in sharply, trying to control his emotions, as Cassie sat up and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, to let him know she was there. ‘My mother was in that car. She had come out to look for me on that dark night. Another car passed by too close. She over corrected on the corner and the car went over the edge.’ Cassie could feel the tension in his shoulders and had felt his pain as he told his horrible story. He must carry that guilt with him everywhere she thought and this would explain the fraught relationship between he and his father. The father who could never forgive him and Marco must feel that every time they met. One silly selfish teenage moment had helped to cause a tragedy and a lifetime of sorrow for his family.
He has been shouldering all the guilt himself she thought, all these years, and yet, his mother is not bitter and clearly adores him. She knows it was a tragic accident, but his father remains bitter and distant.
‘Marco, you have to stop blaming yourself. You will never have any peace until you do.’
‘You don’t understand. My actions put her in that wheelchair and sometimes I can’t bear to see her because it hurts so much. You see she had been a wonderful horsewoman and she loves the estate. You saw how much she cares for her garden, something she can’t do anymore. She and my father ran the estate like partners. She was very active in every part of it. My father could not stand it when she returned from the hospital after many months in a wheelchair. He became very bitter and retreated from the everything, the estate, his beloved horses, the wine and the olives.’
‘And you’ said Cassie softly. ‘He retreated from you.’
‘Si, but how can I blame him for that? She has an incomplete spinal cord injury. That means her spine was partially severed in the accident and she still suffers pain sometimes, which has to be managed with pain relief. She doesn’t complain but I can see it in her face sometimes.
After my mother’s return to the estate, my father insisted we leave and go to live in Palermo where she could have the best medical care available whenever she needed it. I think she misses the estate terribly, but he does not like to come here at all. I spent much time at my cousins house during those years and often spent the weekends here with Marta and Guido while my father took my mother all around Europe trying to get some one to fix her spine and make her walk again. For a long time he refused to believe that she would never walk again. It was so hard for both of them. I am so sorry you felt uncomfortable at the house the other day. It was not my intention, but now you can perhaps see the rather complicated relationship my father and I share. He blames himself for letting her go out that night looking for me instead of him, and I, I feel totally at fault.’ He seemed exhausted by the talking, and his head hung down, his eyes closed as if he could wish the whole horrible tragedy away. His breathing slowly became more even and Cassie thought he may have dropped off to sleep. She quietly got up off the day bed and found a throw rug, which she carefully draped over his legs. Better that he sleeps undisturbed now. She crept like a mouse to the head of the stairs.
‘Cassandra, where are you going?’ he asked. ‘Please stay here with me, I would very much like your company tonight.’ He held out his hand and took Cassie’s as she returned to his side, sliding over and making more room for her on the bed and rearranging the cover over both of them.
They fell asleep quickly, wrapped in each other’s arms.
She woke the next morning to find Marco sitting on the edge of the daybed holding a coffee for her.
‘Just in time princess. I didn’t want to wake you and thought I might have to drink it. That would have been my third one this morning.’ Cassie sat up and took the tiny cup from him, pushing her hair out of her eyes.
‘How long have you been awake for?’ she asked, noting the dark circles under his eyes.
‘Since about 5am
. I could not get back to sleep again so I have been working and watching you sleep instead. A big distraction, I can assure you.’ He grinned at her and Cassie felt relieved that despite his tired eyes, he seemed more like his usual self.
‘Marco, are you okay,’ she asked?
‘Of course. What I told you last night happened a long time ago and I have to let it go and get on with my life. I do not want to burden you with it anymore.’ He took her cup and placed it on the floor before lying down next to her and taking her in his arms. Cassie was not convinced but could also see that Marco had no intention of revisiting last night’s conversation. In fact, he had other things on his mind as she quickly discovered as he rolled on top of her and kissed her lightly on the lips.
‘You like to exercise, no? Therefore I am about to demonstrate the best wake up exercise for you’ he said, nuzzling her neck and tickling her ear lobe with his tongue, ‘ and it should part of your daily fitness routine.’ Cassie giggled and he tickled her under the arms. She squealed and squirmed against him but this only aroused him and now she could feel his erection through the thin cotton of her dress. He undid his jeans and slipped them down before kissing her again her and Cassie could feel herself responding instantly to his passion.
‘This exercise’ she whispered, ‘what muscle group does it work on?’ She took his lower lip in her teeth and bit down on it gently. He responded by lifting her dress up and touching her between her legs.
‘This part’ he whispered back, stroking her gently as she gasped. ‘And this part’ he said, taking her hand and putting it on his cock. He was rock hard and straining against Cassie’s hand. Pushing her legs apart, he entered her and they rocked together for a few moments both
focusing on the pure pleasure of their coupling. Cassie lifted her hips up and pushed herself against him with a groan wanting to take all of him into her. Marco put his hands under her butt and thrust into her, groaning as she found his nipples and tweaked them. Her unbridled passion made him want to possess her fully and he rode her hard as her legs clasped behind his back, lifting her to him until they came together, crying out at the same time, limbs entwined.
Marco flipped onto his back and they lay together, Cassie on her side, one leg thrown across him, while her head rested on his shoulder. His arm was around her shoulders and his fingers gently stroked her arm. ‘What are you planning to do today’ he asked?
‘Well, we didn’t go to the beach yesterday afternoon, so I think that’s the plan today.’ said Cassie.
‘Good choice. Make sure you go to the beach club to the left of the main stairs down to the beach. He is a friend of mine, Martino,’ said Marco.
‘Everyone is a ‘friend’ of yours Marco,’ said Cassie, teasing him and poking him in the ribs.
‘Si, it is true, I am a very popular man,’ he agreed, smiling, so Cassie poked him again.
‘I have another meeting in Palermo with Luca and the development team today. How long are you going to be at the beach? Maybe we can catch up later this evening.’
‘Okay, why don’t you text me when you have finished your meeting?’
‘No problem.’ He looked at his watch. ‘But now we have to get going, it is nearly 10am.’
‘I had no idea it was that time,’ said Cassie, jumping up from the day bed and
looking around for her sandals.
‘But it doesn’t matter for you Cassandra, you are on holiday. Relax, I will take you back to the villa now.’ He pulled on his jeans and taking her by the hand, they went down the floating stairs and out the door into the brilliant sunshine. Marco’s Spider was parked next to the carriage house and he opened her door before climbing in and starting up the growly sounding engine. The soft top was down and Cassie leaned back in her seat and gazed up at the clear blue sky, marveling once more at how each day was a perfect replica of the last. That thought also made her realize that her holiday was not infinite and neither was her time with Marco. Or with her friends, she thought. I can’t just make this whole thing about Marco. But that sort of logic had an empty ring to it now and Cassie realized with a sinking heart that she was in danger of breaking her heart over him. She glanced over at him and smiled. He looked so God damn handsome and rugged, even with little sleep. He caught her looking and smiled back at her and her heart melted. I am in love with him she thought, and while her uppermost feeling was one of unalloyed joy, there was an undercurrent of cold fear in her belly.