Her arms tightened around his neck. “You’re forgetting something.”
The longing he felt was undermining his good intentions and wreaking havoc with his state of mind. “What’s that?”
“Iknowyou,” she said simply. “I know you’re a stand-up guy. And I understand that you’re in the middle of something you’re struggling to navigate. So if you’re not ready to open up aboutwhatever’s troubling you, don’t. I won’t hold it against you. I promise.” Rising up on tiptoe, she pressed her lips to his in a sweet peck that quickly grew into something more when he put his hand to the back of her head and deepened their kiss.
“What you do to me,” he murmured.
“Allow this to be the escape it was intended to be—for both of us. We’ll figure everything out once we get home.”
He rested his forehead against hers. “Don’t ruin it,” he said, echoing what she’d told him last night.
A smile played at the corners of her lips. “Exactly. Don’t ruin it.”
“But by then I’m afraid you’ll be in love with me.”
Although he hadn’t been joking, she started to laugh, so he did, too. “I admire your confidence,” she said. “But right now, I can’t promise you anything, either. My life is a mess. Soyou’dbetter be careful not to fall in love withme.”
That was the problem. He was pretty sure it was too late. But he didn’t say so. She’d just given him nine more days he could spend with her in Italy as if nothing in the world was wrong—and he knew they’d probably become the nine best days of his life. How could he refuse that?
“No matter what, we’ll always remain friends,” he said solemnly, trying to make it a pact so he could feel a little less selfish about accepting her offer. Then he allowed his hands to travel down her back, pressing her lower body to his.
“Now you’re getting the idea.” She sounded slightly breathless, which let him know she was as affected by his close proximity as he was by hers. “Let’s go back to the villa before you tell me you’re too tired.”
“There’s no chance of that,” he said.
“You never know,” she teased. “Brooding can drain you.”
“Brooding?I can’t even remember the last time I heard that word,” he said and swept her off her feet, laughing as freely ashe used to while letting her slide down the front of him—until she found her footing and he found her lips.
There’s no place on earth quite so romantic as Italy, Charlotte thought as she lay, exhausted but content, in Julian’s arms. They’d gone to his room again. Because of the layout of the house, they had less chance of being discovered if they used his room. But he was now snoring lightly, fast asleep, and she felt he’d likely remain that way for the rest of the night.
She had to get up and find her own bed—she just couldn’t move yet.
Closing her eyes, she reveled in the warmth and comfort of his body for just a little longer. The shutters were cracked, letting in a slice of moonlight that silvered his bare shoulder and the sheet tangled around their legs—a welcome sight. Giving him license to simply enjoy what they were feeling had changed him, removed whatever had been holding him back, and that made being with him even more intoxicating.
But what was it he had to reveal? And how would Sloane react to them being together?
She heard a toilet flush somewhere else in the house. Sloane or Lilly was up, she realized, and dragged herself out from under Jules’s arm, causing him to stir.
“You’re leaving?” he mumbled.
“Yeah, before I fall asleep, too.”
“Damn.” He sounded disappointed.
“There’s always tomorrow.”
“The rest of our time in Italy will go too fast,” he predicted.
“Don’t start worrying yet—I’m not ready to face it,” she said and kissed him before climbing out of his bed.
The next day, when Sloane asked to speak to her as soon as Julian took Lilly to the market to pick up a few things fordinner, Charlotte couldn’t help growing apprehensive. Her friend looked so serious. Nervous, too. Sloane had been acting strange all day, not that Charlotte had had much occasion to notice. It was Julian who’d texted her about it while she was writing. He’d been hanging around the villa for a change, showing Lilly some editing software for pictures while waiting for Charlotte to get off work. Sloane and Lilly were planning on making a fancy dinner—Charlotte had heard them talking about it at breakfast—and she and Julian had been hoping to escape to the beach for an hour or so while they cooked.
“Of course you can talk to me,” Charlotte said. “You can always talk to me. What’s going on?” Against all odds, she’d managed to finish her sample chapters and get them off to her editor. She’d been absolutely exuberant after she hit Send, and given her pact not to fall in love with Julian, more excited than she probably should be to spend more time with him.
Now she was worried that she’d been wrong about Ben’s involvement with his new coworker, however, and that was the reason Sloane was acting so fidgety and on edge. “Don’t tell me it’s about Ben.”
“Not really, no. I mean... he’s involved, but...”
