Hours later
The room is warm and the steam rises in puffs. It’s late, long after a respectable bedtime but we can’t seem to go to sleep.
I smile at the man sitting opposite me in the bath. His hair is wet, hanging sexily over his forehead. His legs are spread, and my feet are resting on his chest. We’ve been in here for an hour. We keep letting the water out as it goes cold and topping it back up.
“We need a bigger bath,” he sighs.
“I think it’s the largest you can get.” I smile dreamily.
It’s perfect. I’m in a steamy hot bath with a sex god. I mean, what else is there in life?
“Tell me about your family?” he says to me.
“What do you want to know?”
“You said your parents got divorced when you were young.”
“Yes.” I pick up a sponge and squeeze the water out of it. “They did.”
“Why?”
“My father had an affair. He…” I pause. It’s been a long time since I’ve thought about this. “He was in love with someone else and… he left us.”
Enrico picks up my foot and kisses it, not saying anything in response.
“It changed me. I’ve never been the same since.”
“Why not?”
“A piece of my love for my father died with his admission.” I splash the water up over my breasts as I think back to my painful childhood. “I felt like my whole life was a lie. If he didn’t love my mum, how could he possibly love me?”
Enrico watches me intently.
“I remember crying myself to sleep, wishing I’d been better behaved because then he wouldn’t have left us.”
He picks my foot up and kisses it again.
“I’ll never understand how a person could be married to someone and have feelings for someone else,” I sigh. “I mean, how can that happen?” I sigh.
We stay silent for a while.
“He’s definitely not you,” I add.
“Meaning what?”
“Ferrara’s marry for life.” I smile softly. “Remember when you told me that?”
He clenches his jaw.
“It was one of the most honorable things any man has ever said to me.” I smile.
His eyes hold mine as his face falls.
“Dad went on to marry some other woman. He didn’t even marry the woman he left us for.”
“He didn’t leave you,” he says.
“He did. He left us because my mother was never the same, either. She went a little crazy herself, dating every man that looked her way.”
He runs his hands up my legs as he listens.
“As soon as they brought other people into their lives, it felt like my brother and I didn’t matter to them anymore. I know we did, deep down, but they had a separate life to us then-one we weren’t included in. A secret society for lovers. Children weren’t invited. I knew they both looked forward to their weekends without us so that they could do what they wanted with their new flings. I always felt in the way, and so did my brother.”
Enrico exhales heavily.
“I’m not going to be like them,” I whisper. “Over my dead body will I ever be like them.”
“Is that why you don’t sleep around?”
I think on that for a moment. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. I’m just not wired like that. I have to really feel something to want to have sex with someone.”
“You sleep with me.”
“It’s the weirdest thing. I feel like I know you,” I whisper.
Our eyes lock.
“Have you ever had that feeling that you already know someone, but you don’t?” I ask.
“Yes.” He smiles softly. “I have it with you. I had it from the moment we met.”
I sit up in a rush, and water sloshes everywhere. I lie over his broad body, and his hands come to my behind. “Maybe we were lovers in ancient Roman times.”
He grabs my face and smiles against my lips. “I know we were.”
* * *
I smile up at my partner as he twirls me around the dance floor.
The room is lit by candlelight, and there are beautiful people everywhere.
The mood is sultry and romantic, like my outfit. I’m wearing a smoky gray backless dress with spaghetti straps that falls to the floor. It’s Valentino, of course. Giorgio really has injected some serious sexiness into my wardrobe. Not that I’m complaining.
Rico is wearing a black dinner suit. We are in the swankiest restaurant club I’ve ever seen. We’ve had the most amazing day. We woke up late and had a lazy breakfast. After that, Rico took me sightseeing, we’ve laughed and talked and my poor heart may never recover. Having his undivided attention has been perfect in every way. He’s different here-more relaxed. Only a few men are trailing behind us. I didn’t realize how different it is for Enrico in Italy. He has a reputation to uphold there. Everyone double takes when they see him, he is so well known. Here, he can go relatively unnoticed.
This afternoon we went back to the yacht. We made love and drank cocktails on the deck as the sun set over the water.
This is living.
Monte Carlo is beyond incredible. I now know why it’s known as the playground for the rich and wealthy.
It’s the weirdest thing, when I’m with Enrico, I don’t feel out of place. Wherever he belongs, I do, too.
I smile up at him as he moves us to the music.
Wearing his black dinner suit, Enrico’s back is rigid, and his hand is at a respectable height on my waist. Always the perfect gentleman in public-polite and respectful- but he’s always the Devil in private.
He’s two versions of the same song. The good and the bad. I like the good in him, but it’s the bad that I love. He brings out the bad in me, and I happen to love this new version of myself. I’m keeping her.
A song comes on, and I smile as soon as I hear it. “I love this song,” I say. “It’s called ‘Someone You Loved.'”
He frowns as he listens. “Hmm. Not my taste.”
“Why not?” I laugh. “It’s a beautiful song.”