She did not open the door.
A mature woman stood in the doorway, though right away, I knew her spirit would be forever young and flirty. Her hair was auburn, her eyes hazel, and she had a smile that would knock a grown man to his knees. The scent of her brought back memories of warm lemons dangling on trees, bright flowers rolling along the hillside, and sharing wine with a lover. Romeo whistled low from behind me.
“Hi, Handsome!” She beamed at me. In the next instant, her entire face fell. She studied the three of us and took a step back, as if she might close the door in our faces.
“Signora,” I said, taking a step forward. “We are here to see Scarlett, ah, Fausti.”
She took two giant steps back, for a woman of her size, and shook her head. Another woman with blond hair and a leopard print bathing suit appeared from somewhere in the house, side stepping the stunned woman and greeting us. Both women were in bathing suits, my mind registered. The new woman was around Scarlett’s age, perhaps.
“Hi! Did I hear you say you were here for Scarlett?” She seemed hopeful, then mumbled to herself, “Sandy has been keeping a secret from me.”
Perhaps this Sandy was Scarlett? I did not know, but I could hardly escape the first woman’s wide-eyed gaze on us. Her head was shaking as if a conversation was going on silently inside of her mind and she was disagreeing with the voice.
“Woman.” I spoke to her in Italian, and her eyes crashed into mine. “Are you okay?”
“Come in,” the new woman said, taking a step back and accidentally running into the other woman. “Scarlett is upstairs.”
Nodding, I fixed my suit and sent my brothers a warning look—stay clear of the anxious woman—as we entered the house. The younger woman closed the door, and darkness fell over us, except for the light filtering through the windows on each side of the door.
We stood there.
“I am Rocco Fausti,” I said. “These are my brothers. Dario—” I nodded to him “—and Romeo—” I nodded to him, then held my hand out for the first woman. “You are?”
The second woman nudged the first, but she would not be budged. “This is Maggie Beautiful,” the second woman said.
MaggieBellissimostared at my hand before she took it, a sigh escaping her lips. I brought her hand to my mouth. “Affascinato,” I whispered to her in Italian. Releasing her hand gently, I turned to the other woman, but she had her hand out for me already.
“Violet Castellanos,” she introduced herself and smiled.
I repeated her name, and she shivered when I kissed her hand.
Dario stepped up next, repeating the gestures. When Romeo did the same, he kept Viola’s hand, quirking up a brow, saying,“If I called you an angel, would you treat me like the devil,SignoraCastellanos?”
Violet giggled, almost as a girl would, which did not fit my first impression of her. She was a woman who did not seem to know herself yet, or perhaps what she wanted in life.
FollowingMaggieBellissimo, we turned straight for the kitchen. As we passed the steps, Viola shouted up,“Scarlett, can you come down?”
We filed into the kitchen. I stood against the wall, crossing my arms and legs. My usual stance. My brothers took their places beside me. Scarlett stepped inside of the room with us, and it almost seemed as if an invisible string was trying to pull her out of it. She resisted, forcing her feet to still, it seemed, her eyes wide.
“Holy Mary,” she breathed out.
MaggieBellissimo’s eyes had started to harden once the light hit us, but at Scarlett’s reaction to us, she completely hardened.
Interesting.
Viola snatched Scarlett’s arm and whispered something in her ear. I could not pull my eyes from thebellaballerina. She was wearing a swimsuit that accentuated her physique. I had not seen her since I spoke to my father on the phone, and time had created a hunger inside of me for her. She was stunning in so many ways. Some explainable. Some not. A true enigma created by our creator Himself.
However. I did not like the way she seemed to want to cover herself. A woman of such beauty should never cower or cover in the face of anyone. Or perhaps it was our timing.
“Did we come at a bad time,bella?” I asked.
MaggieBellissimoturned her fierce stare on Scarlett.
Scarlett cleared her throat. “Rocco, this is?—”
I straightened, taking MaggieBellissimo’shand once again. Perhaps she would soften to me as she had, or I could read her hesitance a little deeper. “MaggieBellissimo. We have been introduced already.” Her pulse raced, her breaths were ragged, but her eyes were still made of stone.
Viola offered her hand once again.
