She turned back to Caprice, her insides vibrating like jelly. His sun-lounger was three spaces away. Had he been here before them this morning? Or had he only now picked his spot? It wouldn’t surprise her if he’d picked this spot so that he could take a better look at Caprice, she guessed. Men flocked to her as though she was giving away free money. Andrea had seen it all her life, from their college days onwards.
“I think he’s more interested in you,” said Caprice carefully.
Not one to raise her hopes, Andrea balked at the suggestion.
“You don’t think he’s hot?” Caprice, shocked at Andrea’s cool reaction lifted herself to a seated position and sat facing Andrea. She snuck another look at the man.
“Will you stop eyeballing him?” hissed Andrea, embarrassed that he would discover they were talking about him.
“You don’t think he’s hot?”
“He’s…okay.” Andrea drew her words out begrudgingly. If she admitted to finding him even remotely interesting her friend would goad her into making a move. They were desperate, both her and Talia, to pair Andrea up.
“Okay? If I wasn’t engaged,” Caprice paused to admire her huge solitaire diamond ring, “I might be interested. But I think he’s into you. He keeps looking this way.”
Andrea exhaled loudly. “Please, can you drop this?” She begged. For the past four days her friends, both in relationships, had been interrogating her about her single status. Talia was in a new relationship with a man she’d met at a court case and Caprice was engaged to her boyfriend of eighteen months. Because it had been a few years since Andrea had been in a meaningful relationship, her friends had been trying to ‘figure out what was wrong with her’ and had proceeded to carry out an analysis of her condition.
“What’s wrong?” asked Caprice, looking at her as if she’d had a nosebleed. “Why are you so uptight about a drop-dead hunk who keeps looking at you?”
“I’m not interested in having a relationship at the moment. I don’t have the time and energy to go for it.”
Caprice made a dismissive noise “It’s not an exercise class!” she snorted. “With the right guy, you’ll make the time. All your work ethic will go out of the window, you’ll probably spend your time in bed doing more fun things.”
Andrea glared at her friend and wished she would drop the talk. Besides, the man behind her was way out of her league and she wasn’t going to put herself out there. Not yet. She’d been humiliated enough to discover that she’d gotten things so wrong with Nico. These days her ego was fragile and she preferred to focus her attention on her business for now. Dealing with baby and children’s nursery furniture, toys and accessories was easier than dealing with relationships.
“Can’t we make the most of the time we have left and stop talking about men for a change?” Talia had left first thing in the morning and in a few hours Caprice would be going, too. Andrea had extended her trip to stay for one extra day because she had plans to check out a new crib manufacturer on her return journey.
“What else is there to talk about?” asked Caprice, retying the bow of her bikini top and hauling her breasts higher. Andrea watched in envy. There were times when she wished for a fuller figure like her friend’s. “And how can you go without sex for so many years?”
Andrea nearly choked on her breath. “Ssssshhhhhhhhhhh.” If Blue Eyes over there hadn’t been wearing his headphones, she would have died of embarrassment.
“It hasn’t been years,” Andrea retorted. Caprice was making it sound like it had been a decade.
“Your Rabbit doesn’t count. That’s not sex that’s—”
“Will you stop it?” This was the problem with her friends. Because they were so loved up, they were constantly fixated by relationships—whether it was the latest celebrity pairing or someone they knew. This weekend they had been trying to find out what Andrea’s problem was.
“But don’t you miss it?” Caprice insisted, obviously desperate to unravel the mystery of her celibacy.
“Having someone?”
“The sex. Don’t you miss the sex?”
Andrea thought about it. “I miss having someone to talk to, someone to go to dinner with, someone to spend a day like this with.”
“And the sex?” Caprice refused to let the matter settle.
Andrea squirmed. “I miss intimacy,” she whispered. Even though she had her back to him, she could feel Blue Eyes. It was a good thing there were a few sun-loungers between them. “But right now I have other stuff going on.”
“I don’t get why you’re not putting yourself out there more and working harder to find someone.”
“Because I’m busy working hard on my business and I want to expand, find bigger premises, maybe get a second warehouse in years to come.”
Caprice dismissed her words with a wave of her hand. “It’s always about your business. It takes over your life and it’s not a good thing, Andrea. It’s not right.”
“What’s not right?”
“Spending your life alone.”
Andrea set the bottle of lotion on the ground. “I like my business. I like being my own boss and having my own hours. I don’t have to return home today in order to prep for work tomorrow.” She pulled a face at her friend. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that to sound like a dig.”
“Luigi says he doesn’t mind whether I work or not.”
“He’s your boss. He only wants you at work so that he can keep an eye on you.”
“And other things,” said Caprice mischievously. “Sex on his desk knowing that his secretary was sitting outside his office was the biggest thrill. Have you ever—”
“No,” returned Andrea emphatically. She tried unsuccessfully to erase the image that Caprice had conjured up.
“One time I got under his desk and gave him a blow—”
“I get the picture! No wonder you can’t keep away from work,” muttered Andrea. Caprice hadn’t changed one bit. She’d had more boyfriends back in college than she and Talia had combined.
“Sex is more thrilling than ever,” she cooed.
“I bet it is.”
Your work is secondary, thought Andrea. This was where she had a lot more in common with Ava. Both were independent, strong minded women who ran their own businesses. For her friends their jobs were something that sucked up five days out of the week. Talia loved her work; she’d studied hard to earn her law degree and seemed to enjoy her career. Caprice was well taken care of, and work for her was a hobby, or a sex playground, mused Andrea.
It was different for Andrea. She worked seven days a week, maybe not the whole week at the warehouse but she often took work home. She never had a day when she didn’t do anything related to her business. It consumed her life.
“Let’s relax for another hour, then maybe grab lunch?” she suggested.
“That would work. Luigi wants to take me to dinner at eight so if I get the train by four at the latest, I’ll have plenty of time to get ready.”
With Blue Eyes not too far away, Andrea’s body was buzzing with excitement. She tried to remember when she’d first seen him; was it only yesterday? Or had he been here a few days before that?
What with their lunches, brunches, cocktails and a good few days of girlie fun, time had melted into one long, lazy stretch of memories and she’d stopped living by her watch for a change.
2
“I wish I could stay another night.” Caprice hugged her friend hard. “Another dinner, some more drinks, more catching up.” She curled her fingers around the handle of her Zebra print wheeled luggage cart and held her Michael Kors handbag in the other hand. With her tortoiseshell Dior sunglasses perched on her head, Andrea marveled at how glamorous her friend looked for what was a simple train journey back to Milan.
“I think we’re caught up for the next six months,” said Andrea running a hand over her hair and doing her best to smooth her thick, unruly mane. She kissed Caprice on the cheek. “Why don’t you stay, if you really don’t want to
leave?”
Her friend shook her head. “Luigi is waiting. We’ll do this again in a few months’ time. I hope to god you’ve found a man by then.”
“Thanks for organizing everything and for being so generous. You didn’t need to.” She would have paid up, even though it would have cost a fortune. But Caprice insisted that the birthday treat was on her.
“Look at you staying on another day Ms. Businesswoman.”
“I’m wondering if I did the right thing. Maybe I should have left today as well instead of visiting the new supplier on my way home.”
The place already felt lonesome now that she was the only one here. She could have returned home today and then taken a train from Montova to see the crib manufacturer later. It would have saved her the exorbitant rates at this hotel but after considering the pros and cons of extending for one night, she’d decided to treat herself. Leo had managed to convince her to take time out, too. He told her that she didn’t have to worry about a thing since he was here. In fact, he’d kind of insisted on her going. He was good in that way.
“Now your business sounds glamorous to me.”
Andrea laughed. “It isn’t.”
“Ciao.” They kissed and hugged and Caprice jumped into the taxi and was gone.
Andrea folded her arms around herself and stepped back into the cool, plush interior of the hotel lobby. She wondered what to do now that she was all by herself. For a few moments she questioned again her decision to remain an extra night.
If Leo hadn’t been there to take the helm in her absence, she would never have considered taking a long weekend break. Having Leo around was a great help. It meant she didn’t have to have the bulk of the pressure on her own shoulders. His cash injection into her business also meant she could ramp up faster. If the next year was anything like it had been since she’d met Ava, things were only going to get better. Ava’s business was exploding, and Andrea was one of the main providers of the products Ava sold.
Taking him on had been a blessing, and it meant she no longer had to run to Nico whenever she had business problems or questions. She didn’t want to rely on Nico as much as she had in the past. And now that Nico and Ava were getting married, it would be odd to continue to seek the advice of a former lover while still being friends with them both. Their friendship meant the world to her and she would never willingly jeopardize it.
No, finding Leo had been a godsend. At thirty-six he was older than her and according to her brother, Dominic, recently divorced. There was not so much as a hint of an attraction between them and she had a good feeling about taking him on.
She wandered around the lobby, unsure whether she should sit out by the pool or return to her hotel room and catch up on her backlog of emails. Caprice’s words rung in her ears and she was reminded of their conversation earlier. It would have been wonderful to have someone to share this weekend with. Maybe someone special, she thought, not without a touch of envy. Talia was going back to her boyfriend, and Caprice would be out with Luigi tonight.
It wasn’t true that she wasn’t looking for love. She didn’t want to spend her life alone but recently she’d been stung and now she was careful not to read the wrong signals. She didn’t want to mistake niceness for romantic interest. When she met the right person, she would know. It was a theory she believed in.
Lost in her thoughts she felt out of sorts as she looked around the large lobby area.
And she felt his eyes on her before she saw him.
How did he do that?
She slowly turned to find Blue Eyes walking towards her and then he stopped in front of her. She’d read about the jolt to the chest but until this moment she had never actually experienced it.
Not even with Nico.
And yet she felt the heat of his intense stare as his eyes locked on hers. The shock to her heart lasted one second. Maybe two. She lost track of time.
Seeing him staring back at her was enough to raise her hopes. There was no misreading the interest.
“Hi.” It almost looked as though he wanted to strike up a conversation because he stood there with his hands slung into the pockets of his shorts.
“Hi,” she replied calmly while her heart shuddered violently beneath her ribcage.
“Was that your friend who left?”
She nodded weakly.
“Quite a celebration you girls had on Saturday night. She looked embarrassed when the waiters brought out her cake with the sparklers and the roses.”
“Oh, that,” she said, remembering the details. She’d had no idea he’d been watching and was amazed that he’d noticed so much about them.
A group of waiters had sung ‘Happy Birthday’ to Caprice who had taken it in her stride. Three glasses of wine meant she could easily take anything in her stride.
“Are you on vacation?” she asked, curious about his reason for being here.
“A friend of mine got married yesterday.”
She expelled a short breath in awe. “It must have been beautiful to have a wedding here.” Images of white dresses and decadence swam around her.
“It was.”
And what are you doing here now, she wondered?
As if reading her thoughts, he said, “I’m staying on a while. This place,” he looked around him at the surroundings. “It’s pretty cool. I feel as though I’m disconnected from the crazy world.”
“It’s amazing.” She agreed. “I’m here until tomorrow,” and then wondered why she had given him this unsolicited piece of information.
He smiled again.
“Nice to meet you,” he said, and offered her his hand. “I’m Riley.”
“Andrea.” She held on to his hand and slowly breathed before sliding her hand out of his. She wondered what to do next.
“I was going to have a drink at the bar. If you’re free, would you like to join me?” His offer reached deep down inside her and warmed every inch of her body.
“Me?” she blurted out.
He looked around with blatant exaggeration and the corners of his lips curled upwards. “Of course you, Andrea. It’s fine if you can’t or if you don’t want to. It’s only a drink.”
She had often been proud of her ability not to show her feelings on her face and even though she was confident her cheeks hadn’t been touched by crimson, she wasn’t sure that he couldn’t hear the beating of her heart.
“A drink would be lovely.” She heard herself say.
“It’s nicer outside. Would you like to sit by the tables overlooking the lake?”
Yes, she definitely would. “Why not?”
And that was how Andrea found herself sitting outside at a table overlooking the azure blue lake with a handsome stranger by her side.
3
They sat underneath a deep green patio umbrella.
It was green all around, thought Andrea, happily as she admired the grass, and trees and shrubs which surrounded the Hotel. The bunches of flowers, deep red roses and winter daffodil contrasted against the lush grass. She didn’t need a glass of wine to make her feel light-headed. Sitting among the heady beauty of nature all around her made her feel light-headed enough.
Added to which the presence of Riley across the table from her still seemed surreal.
What would her friends make of this? Although she would never take one, the thought of taking a selfie, of her and him, and sending it to her friends was a cause of amusement.
He curled his fingers around the top of his iced bottle of beer and laid one arm lazily on the table. “How come both of your friends left?” Now that she was so close to him, and it was just her, no Caprice to steal the limelight, she felt self-conscious and wished she’d made more of an effort. She wished she’d worn some makeup at least. Here she was, bare-faced, and with under eye circles—due to not going to bed until two in the morning, with her hair hastily thrown back into a ponytail. She didn’t exactly look her best.
“Caprice—the one who left just now wanted to return to her fiancé, and
my other friend left earlier because she’s busy working on a heavy court case.”
“And you?”
“I’m taking things easy,” she said mysteriously and slipped him a smile over her tall glass of orange juice. She would let him guess what she did and not give too much away all at once.
Quiet laughter from a group of people at one of the tables nearby reminded her they were not alone. They both turned to watch as a waiter popped a cork on what looked like a champagne bottle.
“I wonder what they’re celebrating,” said Riley, lifting his bottle to his lips. For a man he took in a lot of information, she noted. As much information as a woman usually did.
“How come you’re still here?” She asked, curious to find out more about him. “If the wedding is over?”
“I’m the last of the guests to leave.”
“A wedding here must cost the earth.” She didn’t want to guess how much.
He nodded. “I can’t imagine it being cheap.” He was quiet for a while. “When are you leaving?” he inquired.
“Tomorrow.”
His eyes flickered and she wondered if they were beginning to think the same thing. She could easily spend the whole evening sitting out here with him. “It’s hard to leave a place like this, isn’t it?” She glanced over her shoulder at the building behind them, so majestic, standing in all its splendour amid the Candelabra-shaped plane trees and statuesque cypress.
“You have one more night,” he asked, meeting her eyes squarely. “Where is home?”
“A small town, about twenty minutes north of Verona.”
“Verona. It’s on my list of places to visit.”
“You should come.”
“I’ll have to.”
She stared at his sun-kissed golden hair and knew this was a line and that she would never see him again. He mirrored her relaxed pose and sat back into the chair, clasping both hands in front of his stomach. It had the effect of making his shoulders look broader than ever.
Hearts on Fire: Romance Multi-Author Box Set Anthology Page 74
