If I were a better person, I’d feel bad for her.
She’s probably been pining over Jack for years, sticking around hoping he’d change his mind.
“You’re not going to ask about Romeo?”
“Nope, I realize now he’s not a threat to me,” he says confidently, then quietly starts chuckling.
“Why are you laughing?”
He shakes his head in disbelief. “I’m thinking how I saidadioslike an idiot.” He laughs again. “I was in a different headspace, raging like a lunatic.”
I laugh along with him. Heisan idiot.
Him saying that reminds me that I’ll have to apologize, because not only was Jack in the wrong, Romeo is still the client, and it was completely unprofessional.
“Did you have plans for later, or would you want to go to dinner in Siena?” he asks. “It’s maybe twenty minutes from here, and I’ve never been. If we’re here in Italy, we might as well take in some of the sights.”
“Yeah, a date night with my husband in Italy sounds amazing.” I yawn. “Right after a nap, I’m bloody knackered.”
My phone pings and we both groan at the idea of moving. I could let it go, but with Lola holding things down at the office and me staying in the DeLuca home, I should get up.
“What is it? You have a smile on your face.”
“Alessia emailed me. She wants to host a wine tasting for us tomorrow, not far from a town called Arezzo.” I look it up quickly. “It’s also only about twenty or thirty minutes away, just in the opposite direction.”
“Us?” he questions.
I smirk. “I was always going to ask you to meet me here, but then shit happened… you know.”
“Alessia is your client who got Sadie her first place here. Marco’s cousin?”
“Mmhmm.”
“Well, it all sounds amazing, and I’m happy to do anything as long as I have some time to work in the morning. This villa is insane, by the way.” He glances around the rustically decorated room.
“Brilliant, I’ll let her know.” I email her back, and then it hits me again that we’re in Italy.
Screw the nap.
Let’s go for that swim.
18
Annabelle
Music playsfrom somewhere in the villa, so I follow the sounds of—you guessed it—Queen, and find Jack in the kitchen, cooking us an early lunch.
He’s half-naked with a towel strung around his waist as water drips from his dark thick hair, still damp from the shower we took together.
It’s a serious sight to behold and every woman’s wet dream.
I’m the luckiest lady.
He starts swaying to the music as the beat picks up, and I watch in amazement at how every toned muscle in his back moves and bulges as he dances along.
“I can feel you staring,” Jack calls over the music, turning with a broad, genuine smile stretching his face, holding his hand out for me to take. “You look beautiful.” He spins me only to quickly bring me back into his chest.
“And you look very naked.” I tweak his nipple, and he smirks. “We need to leave in thirty minutes for the wine tasting.”
