“Because I think ...” He made his hand into a fist and gently tapped my core. “You’ve forgotten just how fucking tough you are.” He turned away from me and walked back to the edge of the rock, looked down into the water, and then turned back to look at me. “Now, let’s do this.” He took his own fist and beat it once against his chest, like a gladiator who’d clashed his sword against his shield.
I wasn’t sure what it was about his words that made me snap out of my fear, but all my worries faded away. I’d spent the last few months hating and blaming myself, turning into a pathetic version of myself that I despised. I forgot who I used to be, how carefree I was, how self-assured.
I took a breath and moved toward him at the edge.
And the way he smiled at me, like he was proud ...
He offered his hand to me.
The guys below had swum back to give us space to jump. “You got this!”
“Come on, Aurelia!” Francesco shouted.
“On the count of three,” Constantine said, looking at me. “One ... two ...”
“Three.”
Together, we jumped, became airborne over the rock and the water, and then came crashing down into the cerulean water of the Mediterranean. When I opened my eyes underwater, a cloud of bubbles was around me. His hand released mine so I could swim, and I pulled myself to the surface before I breached the water.
The guys all cheered and clapped.
Constantine shook his head to get the water out of his face and eyes. He threw a fist in the air before he swam toward me, slipped his hand into the water to squeeze my ass, and kissed me. “Attagirl.”
“Let’s do it again!”
For the first time since I met Constantine, he laughed. Laughed at something I’d said, the amusement entering his gaze. The other guys joined in too. “That’s the spirit.”
The restroom was a distant walk away, across the patio and the bar toward the stairs. I did my business, fixed my hair as much as I could, swiped the bleeding lines of mascara, and then headed back to the cabana.
“She’s cute, Con.”
The cabanas only had two solid walls. The back was the cliffside and there was a gap in between, so it was easy for voices to carry. I should walk away or continue into the cabana like I didn’t notice anything, but I was curious to hear what Constantine might say.
“She is.” He said it with a smile in his voice. One that I could hear.
“Really fine,” one of the other guys said.
“She is,” Constantine repeated. “But keep it clean. Otherwise, I’ll have to punch you.” Without seeing his face, I wasn’t sure if he was joking ... or if he was serious.
“Where’d you meet her?” I wasn’t sure which one of the guys asked. I didn’t know them well enough to recognize them based on their voices alone.
“The bar at the hotel,” Constantine answered.
“Nice,” one of the guys said. “I love tourists. They come for fun, and then they go back to their lives.”
Constantine said nothing to that. Not that I expected him to. He never explicitly said it, but I assumed this was just for the week. Even though we both lived in Rome, just a couple miles apart, actually, I didn’t expect to see him after this. I wasn’t stupid. A man that handsome and that rich wasn’t interested in monogamy. He’d probably had a ton of these summer flings with other women he met when he visited home.
I was just one of many.
But that was fine with me. His purpose in my life was to bring me back to myself. To give me confidence again. To rehabilitate me so I could go back out into the world. I’d just gotten out of a long-term relationship, and the idea of getting into another one so soon sounded like a bad idea anyway.
When the conversation headed in another direction, I came around the front and entered the cabana. My aim was for the corner of the couch, but when I passed Constantine, he grabbed me and pulled me into his lap before sliding my legs across his thighs. He slipped his fingers into my jean shorts under the hem. He didn’t care about the PDA, not even in front of his friends. “They’re about to close the bar. Want another drink?”
“No thanks. I’ve already had too much today.”
One of the guys got the attention of the waiter, and Constantine closed out the tab. We all made the long walk up to the top of the cliff, said our goodbyes, and then Constantine and I got into the back of the black van and returned to Taormina.
We arrived at my hotel. Constantine got out of the van and stood with me on the sidewalk. “Pack your stuff and come stay with me.”
