“Okay,” Sully quickly agrees.
“Why don’t you like your gap?”
“Got made fun of a lot for it.”
“That’ll do it.”
Sully lifts my hand to tenderly brush his lips over my palm. “Tell me about you?”
“What do you want to know?”
A shiver passes through me when Sully flips my hand over to kiss each knuckle, then the top of my wrist. “Why are you at a wedding alone? You’re amazing. You should be treated like a king every day, well-loved.”
I close my eyes as the pain lances through me. I’ve known him two days, and already he sees to the core of me. Evan never even saw me that well after our years of marriage.
“I’m divorced. It didn’t end well… he cheated, blamed me for his bad behavior.”
Sully’s eyes darken. “There’s never a reason to cheat, and most definitely no reason to cheat on you.”
God. If only he knew. I don’t want to talk about it anymore though, so I roll over, uncaring about the rocks between ourtwo towels now digging into my side. Sully’s skin is sun-warm beneath my palm as I caress the side of his face. He turns his head into my hand ever so slightly, eyes never leaving mine. I dip down and kiss him again, just a soft brush of mouths, but it says more than any exchange of words could ever say.
“Hey, Sully?” I murmur against Sully’s slack lips.
“Mhmm.” Sully hums, sounding drowsy, and oh so perfect.
“Does our fling include sex?”
Sully lifts his hand to wrap his palm around the nape of my neck. His eyes widen, lips frozen against mine. We stare at each other for a long time, the sun throwing shadows as the wind whips through the tree branches overhead.
“It could, if you want. But I’m happy just to kiss you, hold you. Sometimes that’s enough for me.”
“Yeah, me too,” I whisper softly. “Sex hasn’t ever been a big part of my life, but I think maybe, it would be nice to have sex with you. If you want. To have sex with me that is.”
“We’ll see where the fling takes us. Okay?”
I nod against his tight hold. “Okay.”
Then we make out under the warm Tuscan sun like a bunch of wild teenagers. Sully makes me feel young, makes everything feel limitless and like time is suspended.
The sun hangslow in the sky when we finally decide to drive back to the villa. A slight sunburn tingles the skin under my eyes and over my shoulders, but Sully’s golden skin has only turned a shade darker. Something about Sully just glows. His smile, and the crinkle of his eyes when he laughs, Sully is the physical embodiment of sunshine. I want to bottle him up and take himeverywhere I go, pull the stopper out when I’m just a little too cold. I bet he’d let me, too. Sully is the best sort of human.
“Wanna learn to drive stick?” Sully yells over the wind streaming in through the windows.
My heart beats rapidly in my chest. “Really?”
“Yeah!”
Sully pulls over to the side of the country road, and we hurriedly switch, not before Sully places a sweet kiss on my lips that has my heart pounding even harder.
Once seated in the car, I gently rest my hand over the gearshift. Sully grins at me from the passenger seat and puts his calloused hand over mine.
“I’m going to give you a quick and dirty lesson,” Sully says seriously, but his eyes glow with mirth.
I smirk back at him. “Just the way I like it.”
“The way you drive stick is you’ve got to feel the car, pay attention to it. The car tells you when to shift at certain speeds. After a bit, it’s just like riding a bike. Now press the clutch in, yeah, like that,” Sully painstakingly explains as I do what he says. “Now move to first gear, yes, exactly. And go.”
The car does not move.
