“I do believe she told you to get lost,” I interrupt.
“I wasn’t talking to you, man.” He turns back to Erin who’s now giving me a disgusted look as she rolls her eyes.
“Obviously she doesn’t want to be bothered. If I were you, then I would tuck my tail like a good little doggie and walk away,” I say to him.
“I guess you can’t hear so good, dude. Do I need to talk more like this, so you can understand me?” he asks, mocking my Russian accent and giving Erin a goofy grin.
He steps closer to my face and makes a gesture as though he’s going to either touch my shoulder or shove me. I don’t wait to find out which one it’ll be. I’m up out of my seat and on him in a flash. Grabbing the hand he used to reach toward me, I twist it around until he’s forced to turn his body as well. He falls to his knees and bends over until his face almost touches the floor.
“What the fuck? You’re crazy,” he gasps out.
“I. Said. Walk. Away,” I repeat through gritted teeth.
Bouncers move toward us. I’m not in the mood to get roughed up, to have to manhandle anyone else, or have my face plastered all over the
Corriere
before a big performance. I’d never hear the end of Mother’s or Frederico’s complaints if I did something like that at this point in my career. I release the guy’s arms. He stands up and moves away without another glance in Erin’s direction.
I smile and wave at the bouncers. “We’re leaving. Don’t worry,” I shout at them. But Erin doesn’t quite make it off her stool. She sits slumped over, and her face has turned a sickly shade of green. Not good. I help her get down off the seat and support her by the waist as we head toward the exit.
“Alek, I’m not feeling so great,” she mutters. We do manage to get out of the heated atmosphere of the club before she loses her food and no less than four mixed drinks on my shoes. Hagar steps out of the car, and comes to our side.
“Will the young Miss be alright?” he asks.
“She’ll be fine,” I answer, still holding her ponytail away from her face while she finishes using me as her human toilet.
* * *
The next morning, I awaken to a sight that scares the shit out of me. My sister stands less than a foot away from my face, and she wears this crazy grin making me think she has lost her mind.
“Well well, what’s going on here, big brother?” she gushes, unable to stop smiling. I take one look at her disheveled hair and the purse she’s carrying, and then I check my watch and say, “Maybe I should be asking you the same question, little sister.”
Her grin does fade this time and she gives me the innocent face. I’m well aware that Adriana has found someone. So have I. We’re unintentional partners in the same crime, defying the woman who turned us both into child prodigies. “Relax, I won’t tell Mother,” I assure her.
I glance down at Erin. We fell asleep on Erin’s couch, holding on to each other sometime after she managed to stop vomiting and dry-heaving.
“Yeesh! Somebody doesn’t look so well,” Adriana says and drops her bag on the floor. She moves toward us and places her hand on Erin’s forehead. Her head lies on my stomach, and her chest rests on a dangerously provocative spot. Her body hides the hard on I have each morning when I wake up.
Inhaling sharply, Adriana says: “I think she has a fever. I don’t know if we have any medicine for things like this.” Her affection for Erin touches me. She has never gotten so close to any of my previous partners. I can’t help but to smile.
“It’s just a hangover. Her best remedy will be time and sleep,” I answer and move to help Erin sit up.
I’ve fallen asleep on a couch with a beautiful woman I didn’t wind up fucking the night before. Something has definitely gone wrong in my head.
“I’ll go fetch some fresh clothes for her while you two, um, talk,” Adriana says, still grinning wide as she walks toward the hallway.
I glance down at Erin. She’s focused on me now. “Well hello there, Jaybird. Why do you have your hand over your mouth?”
She releases a short sigh. “Are you kidding me? I have both morning and puke breath. You should’ve put me in the bed and then left my ass.”
“What kind of jackass do you think I am?” I get the raised left eyebrow in return for my answer. “Don’t answer that.” We both share a small laugh.
“If I would’ve left, then I wouldn’t have been able to watch you sleep,” I answer truthfully. I don’t tell her about the part where I heard her talking to someone as she slept.
“Why would you want to do something like that?” she asks, her hand easing away from her lips, her eyes focused directly on mine.
“Sleep is a mystical thing, kind of like sex in a way,” I answer. “You can learn a great deal about a person while they’re sleeping.”
Scratching her forehead, she sits up and leans over on her knees. I reach over and move her hair away from her face. Taking her hair down was the one thing she managed to do before she completely passed out. She rarely wears it loose this way, and the length of it fascinates me. Men love long hair. On a strong-willed woman like Erin, the long locks can add the right amount of softness to drive me wild. I get a smile in return. I love how she has gotten more comfortable with me each time we go out together. I feel like some type of impossible mission has been accomplished.
“Tell me, Erin, am I worthy of your attention?”
“What a one-track mind we have, Maestro,” she answers and turns her head away, but not before she lowers her head down in her hands. The hangover headache has caught up with her.
“Hey. Take it easy. And I do have one goal at the moment,” I begin, “and it belongs to you, Ms. Angelo. That is, if you’ll have me.”
“And if I say yes, does that mean we’ll be kissing on the lips? The top lips, let me add.”
I don’t understand her reservations with kissing someone on the mouth. I’m a commitment phobic person too. But I can honestly say that Erin makes the first woman I’ve ever met who didn’t enjoy being kissed on the mouth.
“No kissing on the mouth,” I confirm.
“Deal, then.” She gives me a tiny smile, but I can tell she’s nervous about what we just agreed to do. Hell, I am too. I’ve never made an arrangement with a woman who I was falling for in the past.The more I think about it, I’m not sure I want this to remain just an agreement based on sex. Maybe I want more
Erin
I lift my head up out of Alek’s convertible Aston Martin. The air pushing against my face
both smothers and excites me. His final destination for us will be a surprise; but he did tell me we were headed to the mountains closest to the Amalfi coast. I could almost kiss Luca for letting me have a few days off this week, giving Alek and me some time to try out this arrangement thing before his performance.
I plop back down in my seat and tighten the scarf I wear around my head. My eyes can’t take in enough of the sculptured mountaintops and the villas built into them at one time. Experiencing all of this with Alek makes the purity of the white sands stretching along the coastline so much prettier, and the blue in the water so much brighter.
This mini getaway is just the thing Alek and I need, a much deserved break from the constant hustle of life in Milan. It’s as though I can feel the weight of the world lifting off of my shoulders the longer we travel along the mountainside. Soon, he steers off the roads running alongside the coastlines, and heads into the mountainous regions, our destination.
He eases the Aston Martin to a stop just outside of a group of apartments built inside of the mountains.
“This is it? Where we’ll be staying this weekend?” I ask, trying hard not to gasp too loudly as I check out our surroundings. “Whoa.”
“You’ll love it. Trust me. The Valle Delle Ferriere is where I go to clear my head before any big performance,” he explains.
It’s gorgeous. I can’t deny it. The whole scene kinda reminds me of a hyped up version of a Rick Steve’s travel video. But this isn’t an armchair traveling thing. I’m really here with my Maestro. I can’t help but to grin wide.
Inside our room which is pretty much an apartment built inside of a hole in the mountain, he wastes no time with essential things like resting, for example. I don’t even get the chance to sit down and get comfortable. Instead, I’m ordered to change into my hiking gear. But his excitement about wherever he’s taking me to makes me feel the same way; so I don’t mind losing a bit of breathing time.
We set out toward his secret hideout, the place where I’ll get to learn more about the mysterious Maestro.
For about forty-five minutes, we walk through a valley that reminds me of one of those old Indiana Jones movies. My hair feels like it’s fried, my thighs are on fire, and my ass cheeks have gone numb from climbing so many hills. This is what I get for skipping yoga class all those times. I’m about ready to give up and turn back when Alek comes to an abrupt stop, causing me to run into the back of him.
Easing his arm around me, he beams a smile at my distress—which is not funny—and says, “We’re here.”
I turn my head in the direction of his gaze and inhale sharply. We stand in front of a small waterfall, a gorgeous one inside of a place where Alek says he comes to meditate before each performance.
It’s the one thing my sister always said she wanted to see one day. Shaking off somber thoughts, I redirect my energy back to the scene before me.
“Right. This is your special hangout? A waterfall?” I ask, thinking of the day when Nadya asked me if Alek had brought me out here yet. I can’t help but to wonder if he does this with all of his new “partners.”
“I wanted you to see how I get ready for a performance, yes. By purifying my body with nature’s showers.” He walks over to a boulder, sets his backpack down on it, and removes his shirt and boots.
Oh dear.
Standing in the sun, I get a full view of his complete package: tanned skin, ripped abs, the kind that tapers down to a perfect ‘V’ women love so much, and a smile that could convince you to hike up the side of a volcano if he wanted you to. He strips down to his briefs and struts over to the waterfall as though we’re the only people hiking inside the valley. My stomach clenches and my nipples harden as I experience the familiar surge of tingling heat that always happens when I’m around Alek. I release a long sigh and wonder just how prepared I am to follow through on this little agreement of ours.
“Don’t leave me standing out here looking like a fool. Join me, Erin.” He holds out his hand toward me. I rip my mind out of the dirty-girl pit and refocus on his words.
“Wait. You’re not going to actually stand under a waterfall, are you?” I’m complaining, but my feet are also moving toward him while I’m saying these things. The little traitors.
“Why not? It’s great therapy,” he answers.
I set my backpack down beside his. “I’m not stripping down to my underwear. Forget it.”
“The water feels fantastic. It’s like nothing you’ve ever felt before, I promise,” he coaxes, standing inside the area where the water pools at the bottom of the falls.
Glancing around, I wonder what people will think when they catch two idiots swimming inside of something that’s probably off limits to sightseers like Alek and me. “Live a little, Erin. Don’t be afraid.” He’s teasing me now, and it’s sexy as hell.
“I’m not scared,” I correct. He grins and plunges into the water. “Holy Hell. I’m so going to regret doing this.” I remove my shoes but leave on my jean shorts and tee shirt.
“What’s this?” Alek asks as he wades towards me, a smile spreading across his lips. I haven’t stepped into the water yet.
“It’s called modesty,” I answer.
Doubling over, his shoulders begin to shake, and he laughs so hard I start to feel quite strange. Even I have to admit I feel overdressed standing there in my clothes, but still.
Stepping out of the water, he makes his way over to me. Water drips off of his chest and glistens in the sunlight filtering through the trees around us. I drink in the appearance of his muscular frame, savoring every gorgeous detail.
“There isn’t anyone around for miles. Be brave, Jaybird. You can touch my body. I’m no longer off limits,” he says in his deep accent, the scent of water and a faint trace of cologne lingers around him.
Dark hair that has grown a bit longer since we first met last month hangs in his face, making his eyes become a lighter shade of brown-blue. His well-toned body packs a triple punch of abs, muscular legs, and dark olive skin that puts a tanning booth to shame. Oh, did I mention his V-line? I’ve never seen a more perfect pointer. Ever! Alek Dostov goes beyond perfection. He is divine.
My mouth goes totally dry.
Holy moly. Is this guy for real?
I can’t touch him. If I get started, I have the feeling that I’ll never stop. “Turn around,” he says. I open my mouth to question him, but he silences me with two fingers on my lips. “No questions. Trust me for once. Please.”
I turn around and close my eyes. For some reason, trust is a big deal to Alek. “That water is going to be cold as hell. I know it.” He better have a good reason for making me do this.
“This waterfall belongs to Mother Nature. She knows what she’s doing. We’re going to take a moment to listen to her voice.” He slides his hands along my waistline and up under the shirt I’m wearing. Slowly he lifts it over my head. I reach out to steady myself and wind up stumbling against his chest, his strong arms circling around my waist.