by Pepper Pace
Gio retreated with a slight bow and Sidney had an opportunity to really look around.
There were only two other couples present tonight. The Indian man and woman were talking quietly as they ate a meal that looked like rice and curry with several arrangements of breads, lentils and sauces.
The trophy wife, husband and son were present. The husband ate heartily, without looking up from his plate. His wife looked around as if bored. And the teenaged boy was texting on a cellphone not eating any of the food in front of him. He suddenly held out a glass which was already half full. His eyes never moved from the screen of his phone. Sidney saw the tall blond butler gesture with a raised finger and a server hurried forward with a bottle of soda, which he opened and poured into the glass.
The boy never looked up, never thanked the server and didn’t even take a drink. What a rude way to act. She checked to see if the boy’s mother would reprimand him, but she seemed oblivious. She sipped wine and kept looking over at her butler who was obviously trying to avoid looking at her directly.
She saw another butler speak to a different server who then refreshed the glasses of the Indian couple.
Gio returned then and poured her a glass of wine. She finally saw it. Gio was serving her directly unlike the other butlers who had a staff of waiters and servers at their command. Gio wasn’t utilizing his wait staff or servers.
“We have a nice Sauvignon Blanc paired with the grilled squid.” A server appeared at his side holding a covered tray before Gio who swept off the dome and quickly examined the meal. He took the plate and placed it in front of Sidney and the server quickly retreated with the dome as if he had been nothing more than an apparition.
“Grilled squid with lemon and olive oil accompanied by an artisan salad of arugula, vine ripened grape tomatoes, capers with a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette. Enjoy.” He turned and disappeared.
She took a slice of the grilled squid surprised that it was very tender. Fried calamari was sometimes too chewy but this was good. She followed it with a sip of wine and although she was no wine connoisseur it was nice—not Moscato but still nice.
The moment she put her fork and knife down Gio was once again at her table. “How was the appetizer?”
“Good, especially the salad.” She had only eaten a few bites of the squid. She’d killed the salad, though but the wine was left nearly untouched.
“And the wine?” He asked.
“Not Moscato but good.”
“Good.” He removed her half-finished plate of food without further comment and the server was suddenly there again, this time holding a tray. Gio placed the plate on the tray along with the untouched basket of dinner rolls. He leaned toward the server and whispered a command.
When that server disappeared another appeared holding a tray containing a bottle of wine and a serving dish with a domed top.
Gio swept the dome from the plate, made sure everything was to his liking and then he placed the plate before her. He dismissed the server with a silent gesture without taking the bottle of wine.
“Your main course is seafood paella. The seafood has been locally sourced from Palma de Mallorca. I’ve had it for dinner. It is exquisite.”
It smelled and looked delicious, Sidney thought. The first server returned holding a tray with a fresh basket of dinner rolls, only these were different from the first basket. He also had a chilled bottle of wine.
Gio placed the rolls on the table and then uncorked the wine.
“Moscato, Sidney.”
She looked at him quickly.
He winked at her. “It goes good with everything.”
All she could do was grin. He left and she dug into the delicious paella and drank her glass of wine down to the last drop. Gio refilled her glass twice before he took away her empty plate.
“Coffee?” he asked.
“Ugh…I’m so full. I don’t think I can eat another bite.” She yawned into her fist. “Sorry. Long day…well you know that.”
He smiled at her. “I hope it was as enjoyable for you as it was for me.”
She blushed and looked around to see if anyone would see her flirt with her butler. Trophy wife was watching them with interest, so she had to play it cool.
“When can I see you again? Super G, not the butler,” she clarified.
Gio burst out laughing. He leaned forward to pour her another glass of wine, and once he was close enough he whispered, “You can see me and have me anytime you want me, Beautiful Sidney.”
Jesus…
“One thing I can say about your guest is that she doesn’t take any shit.” Paolo said through the phone.
“Why do you say that?” Gio replied. He was in his room changing. Sidney had requested a visit from Super G tonight.
“Even though I was in the back I could hear pretty good. Her ex practically begged her to get back together with him. From what I can tell he cheated on her and got another girl pregnant.”
Gio paused. “Damn. He didn’t get loud or violent, did he?”
“No, he didn’t. And for once he didn’t sit in the lounge at dinner waiting for her to show up. He ordered a bottle of whiskey and refused dinner. Whatever you do brother, don’t get on that lady’s bad side.”
“Is he going on the Vatican excursion tomorrow?” Gio asked as he mulled over Paolo’s words.
“I doubt it. It looks like he’s going to leave her alone.”
“Good.”
“You want to hit the gym?” Paolo asked. “I need to work on upper body.”
“Uh…I can’t-”
Paolo just laughed. “Yeah yeah. I’ll let you know if anything changes. Have a good night.” His friend disconnected without giving him any shit.
When he got to Sidney’s penthouse, she was waiting for him in the bedroom wearing a sheer, black negligee and if he had any thoughts about needing a few hours of sleep he completely forgot them.
Gio and Sidney made love like they were on their honeymoon. Afterwards, she wanted to ask Gio to stay the night but she didn’t. And the next morning she wanted to invite him to join her on the excursion to Florence and Pisa, but she didn’t do that either.
It was one thing to sleep with a guy when there was mutual attraction. This was a new age, after all. The idea of slut-shaming was and old concept in the progressive age of female sexual empowerment. She refused to consider herself a slut because she slept with a man that she was attracted to. But anything more than sex was akin to pushing for a relationship. They were adults and sex was sex. Asking him to sleep with her and to accompany her on excursions was like talking about marriage after a first date. Wasn’t it? She didn’t want to move too fast and turn it into more. It was good sex period.
“Any plans today?” she asked just in case he decided to invite himself along. If he invited himself it wouldn’t be her asking him to come and that would be okay. It would be safe.
“Not really,” he replied. But he didn’t add anything more. He just continued setting the table for her.
“Do all the butlers work around the clock, like you?” She had actually planned to ask him this before. When did he get any free time?
“No, it’s only the penthouse that gets 24-hour butler service. We don’t always book the Penthouse.” He poured her coffee.
“I was wondering how you get any personal time.”
“That happens during the excursions. But also I have a back-up so when I really can’t attend to my guests another butler will take my place. I don’t like doing that. It’s not really fair to the guests. I work hard for them to be accustomed to my personal touch.” She gave him a swift look and she saw his cheeks flush. “I mean like the flowers and the peach nectar—not the Super G things.”
Sidney burst out in laughter.
“Understood.” Yeah. She needed to pull up her big girl panties and let this man attend to his personal needs.
The tour bus reached Pisa and the tour guide announced that they would have an hour to look around. Sidney was
about to be pissed until she realized that the city of Pisa only amounted to an empty field that was over crowded by tourists.
Somehow she thought that the leaning tower of Pisa would be more spectacular. Before entering the square there were stalls all crowded together, and all vying for the attention of the tourist in order to sell their inexpensive trinkets.
She bypassed them all wanting to enter the square so that she could take pictures of the tower before she ran out of time.
Once she passed through the gates of the square she was stopped in her tacks by the sight of a vast field with a massive cathedral that practically dwarfed the relatively small cylindrical building that was tilted vicariously next to it.
Was that it? Where were the houses and buildings and streets?
The square was crowded with hundreds of milling tourists and every single one of them was posing with their arms outstretched, pretending to hold the building upright.
She couldn’t help but to laugh. She pulled out her camera and took a few pictures of the distant tower, but she really thought the pictures of the people posing for leaning tower pics were better. She was not going to walk all the way to that tower only to have to walk all the way back. She was fine just where she was. Besides, she had the fear of most big girls, if she entered the tower her added weight would finally cause it to fall.
“Would you like me to take your picture, senora?” A lady asked. She was young and also alone.
“Okay. Yes thank you.” She chuckled to herself and did the obligatory pose mimicking the others. The young woman took several pictures and Sidney had to admit that they were cute. She then took pictures of the woman doing the same pose before they parted company.
Well that was corny as hell but she had to reluctantly admit that she liked doing it.
After returning to the bus they headed for Florence. The ride took over an hour and she dozed a little. This time when the bus stopped she was pleased. Florence Italy was just like she had imagined. There were stone roads and restaurants and building lined as far as the eye could see. It was wonderfully crowded, with cars an scooters vying for passage. It was surprising that no one got run over.
After a quick restroom break they were given ear sets and the tour guide began showing them around. She listened intently to the history lessons but quickly grew bored as she realized that she would much rather be shopping and exploring on her own—and yet she had no intentions of losing her group. If only Gio were here…Ugh, stop being so needy!
After several hours of touring cathedrals they made it to a palazzo where there were several statues. She immediately recognized the statue of David and began taking several pictures of it.
“That’s not the real statue. It’s a replica.” She gave her tour guide a look of disbelief.
“Are we going to see the real statue?”
“No. Our tour doesn’t go to the Accademia Gallery where they moved the statue indoors.”
“Oh,” she said in disappointment. “I guess I’ll do better research the next time I book an excursion.” She walked away from him. It was snotty but she was tired, hot, sweating and she’d just taken a million pictures of cathedrals and statues that she knew nothing about.
Luckily, they were released to have lunch and to shop on their own. The first thing she did was to get an individual margarita pizza at an outdoor restaurant. It was good to sit and people watch. Not once did she feel strange being alone because there were so many interesting things to see. A man stood on the corner playing guitar for spare change. A couple argued in Italian and they looked really sexy doing it. A scooter weaved expertly through the heavy traffic, car horns honked, people laughed as they drank wine and dined…and she was in Florence Italy witnessing it all.
After her pizza she went in and out of the many shops and talked herself into purchasing a relatively inexpensive leather bag. Now I have some real Italian leather, she thought to herself with a smile.
Once they were back on the bus under the cool air-conditioning Sidney gripped her new bag, running her fingers over the fine leather, happy that she had a tangible object to carry back with her to Cincinnati. She needed to purchase something in each city so that once she returned to her ho hum life she would be reminded that once upon a time she had been daring and carefree.
When she returned to the ship, Gio was waiting for her at the curb with a bottle of water.
“How did you know-?”
He just grinned mischievously and then he gestured to the cellphone that was clipped to the belt beneath his jacket.
“We’re notified when a bus returns.” He explained while taking her bag. He guided her onto the ship, not allowing her to scan herself in with her card but using his to scan them both aboard.
“How was your excursion?” He asked.
“I didn’t realize that there would be so much walking but I enjoyed myself. I especially liked Florence.”
“Yes, there is not much to do or see in Pisa. Most people visit it at least once but don’t typically return, preferring the sights of Florence to the wastelands of Pisa.”
She shook her head and smiled. “Yeah, it was a little surprising. And another thing was them taking us to see that fake statue of David!”
His eyes twinkled in merriment. “The guides aren’t very good if they didn’t explain the reason they took you to the Piazza della Signoria. You saw all of those outdoor statues, right?”
“Right,” she nodded.
“The gallery of statues represents the reason that Florence is the birth place of the Renaissance. In one place you see the works of Donatello, Michelangelo, Giambologna. There is The Fountain of Neptune and Perseus with the Head of Medusa. Art. History.” He shrugged as if there was nothing more to add.
She stared at him intently. “You would make one great tour guide. I actually…probably would have listened to you.”
He laughed and placed his arm around her waist, not seeming to care who saw them. “So, am I to understand that I should accompany you on all of your excursions? I mean just to make sure the guides do a thorough job?”
“And if you did that, how would your laundry get done and all the other personal things you take care of while your guests are on excursions?” She asked with mild sarcasm.
“There is that.”
Sidney waited for him to add more to that but he didn’t. Did she just put her foot in her mouth?
Chapter Thirteen
“Gio?”
“Yes, love?”
“What do you do for fun?” They were lying in her bed. Her head was nestled against his chest. She might not be able to ask him to go on an excursion with her but she had no problem inviting him to her bed.
“I workout in the gym.” She smiled and traced the hard muscles along his belly. “Sometimes I’ll go to one of the lounges to listen to music and unwind with some of the guys, or I’ll go to one of the crew parties. If it’s not too crowded I’ll go swimming, catch up on some reading, play some guitar, listen to music.” He shrugged. “I’m pretty simple.”
“I’m happy that you manage to get some relaxation time in. You’re always up long before me and awake long after me,” she murmured.
“I don’t do much that’s too strenuous in my job,” he chuckled.
“I beg to differ. I know that I’m the perfect guest, but you must have had your fair share of assholes.”
He leaned down and kissed her lips. “Never assholes…just challenges.” She supposed that was the best way to look at it.
“What’s your favorite food?” He asked, once again changing the subject from himself.
She raised her head to look at him. “Why? So you can make it for me?” He just smiled. “I’m starting to figure you out.” She got comfortable against him again. “Besides, it’s impossible for you to make my favorite food because only my grandmother can make it. My favorite food is my grandmother’s Thanksgiving feast. Her turkey drips with juices and her dressing is fluffy, not too wet and not too dry. She l
eaves the skin on her mashed potatoes and it gives it texture and more flavor. I love all my grandmother’s cooking but especially Thanksgiving dinner. I think that if I ever got married and had my own kids we’d still go to eat at my grandmother’s house.”
“That’s nice, honey,” he said while leisurely stroking her arm.
“What’s your favorite food?” She asked.
“I like pasta and Bolognese. I like grilled fish. I’m pretty simple to please. If the food tastes good then I enjoy it.”
“Yes, I’m a foodie and that’s my philosophy.” She yawned.
“Okay, honey.” He sat up. “I’m going to leave and let you get some sleep. But I’ll be back bright and early in the morning to get you set for your Rome excursion.”
She was too tired to protest. Rome was going to be another long day. One day she would probably want to slap herself for even having those thoughts, but for now she was just worn out. Sidney fell asleep watching Gio’s naked body as he dressed.
After escorting Sidney to the tour bus Gio returned and directed the housekeeping crew to clean and dust the penthouse. He then placed a fresh bouquet of flowers on the dining room table.
After doing a walk through and assuring that everything was in order, he dismissed the cleaning staff and stood out on the balcony staring out at the sea. In the past he would have left the ship to visit with one of the many women that he knew in each port.
But it didn’t even cross his mind to do that. Sex with any of the random women that he knew would be like eating fast food after dining at the finest restaurant.
It was insane that he couldn’t get Sidney off his mind. He’d only known her a few short days and yet all he wanted was to be with her, even if it was just to watch her sleep after an exhausting day.
He couldn’t keep his hands from resting on her waist especially when he saw the way her hips swayed as she walked. And he had to physically stop himself from reaching for her hand to hold whenever they walked side by side. Being with her was just too comfortable and that was a problem. She was not his girlfriend—no matter how much he would like to continue seeing her. But this was just a vacation and she would be leaving.
