With a surprisingly gentle touch, Lorenzo assisted her with removing the bobby pins.
It must come from having two sisters.
The mask slipped. Her hair cascaded down her back. He ran his fingers through her locks, massaging her scalp.
That feels so good.
Sabrina set her mask on top of the planter and moved in closer to Lorenzo. With the intensity of a cheetah stalking its prey, her lips slammed into his. She tasted the sweet, tangy cherry punch on his lips. The stubble on his chin was like sandpaper across the tender flesh of her face.
His strong arms wrapped themselves around her waist and shoulders. She arched her head backward, granting him access to her neck. With his breath hot upon her skin, he planted a trail of kisses up her neck and whispered of sweet Italian nothings as he spent the rest of the evening showing Sabrina exactly how he felt about her.
Twenty
A Morning at the Roman Baths
The euphoric high Sabrina had experienced from the ball the night before lingered. She smiled widely. Her feet were so light, it was as if they weren’t touching the ground at all. She squeezed Lorenzo’s hand as they strolled through Bath early the next morning.
“I’m still here. No, you are not dreaming,” Lorenzo joked.
They were both dressed in the same clothing they had worn to the ball. Sabrina would never grow tired of seeing her boyfriend in Regency attire.
Pacific Skyways did me a large service by losing his overnight bag. Should I plot for all his modern-day clothing to suddenly disappear from his wardrobe and replace it with Regency attire? Or is it a step too far?
“What time do we need to have you back at your bed and breakfast to check out?” she asked.
A harried man with cropped red hair, clad in a navy-blue pinstripe three-piece suit, jogged toward them while glancing at his wristwatch. Sabrina and Lorenzo pressed their bodies up against the window of a shop displaying Regency-inspired hats, reticules, and intricately painted silk fans.
Paying them no mind, the man waved his arms wildly to flag down the departing bus.
“Lucas is going to take care of checking out when he wakes up. As long as I leave Bath by noon, I should be able to catch my flight from Bristol without any issue.”
“That leaves us four hours to enjoy this romantic city together.” Sabrina grinned.
They resumed their stroll up High Street toward the Roman Baths. Mothers pushed buggies overloaded with shopping bags. A queue of people twenty deep stared at the screens of their smartphones. The bells of Bath Abbey rang in the background.
“Should we jump into the line? I know the site doesn’t open for another hour, but Nora mentioned that they only let in a handful of people at a time.” Sabrina rested her head against Lorenzo’s arm. “Of all the sites in Bath, this is the one I’ve wanted to see the most.”
Lorenzo wrapped an arm around her. The heat from his body provided warmth against the morning chill. “As the lady wishes.”
To Sabrina’s surprise, however, he directed them to the front entrance, bypassing the queue and a few disgruntled tourists.
A door attendant in a lightweight purple jacket hid a yawn with a hand. “Can I help you two?”
Lorenzo waited patiently before saying brightly, “Good morning. We’re booked in for the sunrise tour under the name Toscani.”
Sabrina gasped, her pulse racing. Lorenzo beamed at seeing her smile extend to her eyes.
A sunrise tour. A private sunrise tour. How did he know?
The attendant unlatched the red rope barrier and beckoned them inside. “Do you have the QR code accessible on your mobile device?”
As Lorenzo fiddled inside his pockets for his phone, Sabrina stared up at the impressive, intricate carvings depicting the four seasons on the ceiling of the Victorian Hall’s ivory dome.
From the outside, the building looks like another unassuming historical site, but it’s so massive and grand inside. I’m standing in a place Jane Austen herself might have once stood.
“The attendant mentioned that this site has four levels. There’s the sacred spring, the Roman Temple, the baths, and a small museum dedicated to the artifacts they’ve uncovered from the site.” Lorenzo cleared his throat. “I declined the audio guide. I thought since we have the entire site virtually to ourselves for an hour that it would be more fun to explore at our own pace.”
When we were in Rome, we rented audio guides at the Colosseum and at the Pantheon, but we only really used it for the first couple of displays. It was too much information to absorb. I’m more of a “read the signs if something interests me” kind of gal.
