"Yeah I thought you two may want to play some music and I didn't want you worrying about disturbing anyone. Open space and plenty of room."
All Evie could do is stare at him.
"Gage this is amazing." Lucy gave him a big hug. Evie could have hugged him too but thought she'd probably touched him enough for one day.
"Signora may I help you up the steps?" The taxi driver asked Lucy.
"Si grazie." Lucy smiled taking his outstretched arm, while he lifted her suitcase.
"Thank you," Evie said to Gage. His blue gaze focused on her and she watched in fascination as the corners of his mouth slid up into a sexy smile.
"You're welcome." The smile in his eyes contained a sensuous flame.
"I have to pay my way on this one." She told him.
"No, you don't." His smile widened.
"It's the Casa di Sabbia. Yes, I do." She smiled back.
"This trip's on me Evie. You offered to come to Italy without even thinking about it. It's the least I can do."
She wanted to protest, but the spark in his eyes made her stop. "Thank you."
She pulled in a breath as she watched his gaze take her in. "Is there any chance at all you could forget about this morning?"
It was wishful thinking, total wishful thinking, but she thought she'd ask. He replied with a laugh.
"No," he simply imparted. She felt her mouth fall open.
"Could you at least pretend?" Anyone else she was sure would say sure, let's forget about it. But no, not Gage. It was amazing how she could go from being fascinated with him at one point to being well and truly annoyed.
He turned up his smile a notch and gave her a cheeky look as he said, "no."
"Why not?" she pouted with a frustrated sigh. Her face flushed with humiliation now, and anger at herself.
He shrugged in mock resignation and moved away from her, picking up both his bags and her suitcase, then he straightened up and beamed at her.
"I don't want to," Gage replied. An amused smile danced across hip lips.
She felt her eyes widen at him and she sucked in a sharp breath as he winked at her and moved away to join Lucy.
He winked at her yesterday too, in the restaurant. However, unlike yesterday her stomach filled with butterflies and her knees weakened.
* * *
"Hi I'm Giselle," said the striking blonde woman who opened the door to them. She'd emerged within seconds of them ringing the bell.
"Hello Giselle," his grandmother said with a bright smile.
The minute Giselle looked at Gage she gave him that once over look most women did, taking an instant interest in him. He was used to it and used to women like her too. Overly beautiful, and appealing to the eye with her low cut top that enunciated her hefty cleavage and tiny waist.
"Welcome all of you," Giselle said ushering them in. He noticed that she spoke with an accent like she rarely spoke English and only probably did when she had to. "Did you find it here okay?"
She looked at them all but then focused on him as if his grandmother and Evie didn't exist. There was an excitement that flickered in her honey colored eyes.
"We had a good driver," Gage replied. He'd made arrangements with the driver to take him into town tomorrow so he could sort out a rental car. They were going to need it.
"Great, well I'm the custodian here. I just live about ten minutes away so if you need anything, anything at all, call me."
It was the way she said anything at all, that stood out to him. He could tell his grandmother picked up on it too because she got this sort of rigid look after Giselle spoke. Evie seemed to hang back since arriving so he couldn't tell what her reaction was.
"Thank you, we will." His grandmother blew out with a tight-lipped smile.
"Let me show you guys around." Giselle offered, that spark flickered in her eyes again as she regarded him, then she turned and started making her way down the wide arch-like corridor.
She was the kind of woman he would tend to go for, and he liked her forwardness. That might have definitely interested him more if he wasn't so taken with the brunette next to him who'd once again receded into her militant façade.
When he looked at Evie, she cut her eyes at him, most likely upset because he said he wouldn't try to forget about this morning. He didn't know how the hell anybody could forget something like that, and like he said he didn't want to.
Mostly he said that to rile her up, but in all seriousness, he actually didn't want to.
Who would have thought that the girl who lived right next door to him his whole life turned out to be perfect in every way? There was no way he wanted to forget any part of this morning.
As she walked past him, he allowed his eyes to trail over her body. He was surprised she'd put on the clothes he'd handed her, although maybe it was because she was perhaps more concerned with getting out of the hotel room than what he'd given her to wear.
It was a wrap over skirt and a camisole top similar to what she'd worn the other day. She looked good, really good, and the skirt hit the right parts of her perfect behind making her look more tempting.
He looked down at her shapely legs and remembered how smooth the skin was at the top of her thighs.
Geez, he knew as he continued to look that he was in for some serious trouble, but that wouldn't stop him.
Chapter 7
They started making phone calls as soon as they got settled in and continued to do so over the next three days. The determination and positivity were there, but they had no success.
Between them, they called just over two hundred people. It felt like working in a call center, and as the list grew shorter so did their hopes. Gage tried his best to keep his momentum going, but he could feel himself drifting back into the grasps of doubt. The lack of success had even clouded over the excitement of being here in this beautiful place with the beach just a stone throw away.
The villa offered the comfort he'd wanted for them with its homely feel created by the antique styled furniture. While the exterior held true to that Italianate style of architecture he'd seen in Rome, with classical synthesized aesthetics, the interior had a more personal touch that made it quite relaxing. Along with the furniture were the wooden beams running across the ceiling in each room and the red bricks on a majority of the walls which added more character. They also had a large open fireplace in the lounge. Summer might have been at its peak, but he was going to take the opportunity to light that up one night and sit by it. He lived in a penthouse apartment in L.A. It was quite classy, but it was the typical bachelor pad. It was very modern looking with that contemporary edge and had none of the features this place had.
Sometimes it was good to step away from the modern, eccentric things and step back in time to an era or style when certain things had meaning. That epiphany had come to him after his accident, along with other things. In general, he found himself more appreciative of life and what it had to offer.
He'd been sitting on the sofa by the sliding doors that led out on to the terrace. He had the perfect view of the beach. The scenery was so clear and idyllic with the blueish green sea that it reminded him of a screensaver.
He hadn't been down there yet. Gage wanted to go check it out but put off doing so because he didn't want to waste time. Looking at his grandmother saddened him that he couldn't do better. He was beginning to worry that she was worrying too much and he didn't want it to affect her health. The first thing her doctors had cautioned against was stress. They said to stay away from it. Now she was right in the heart of it.
He thought a break was in order, even for a little while. It was approaching five and outside looked warm and inviting. It would be nice to go out for a while and have some time away to just relax. They'd both been sitting here for at least two hours making calls. Evie was up in her room. She tended to do most of her calls there and other than coming down to speak to his grandmother every now and again he didn't really see much of her. He guessed she was still mad at him.
Maybe a nice trip to the beach would do them all some good.
"Grams let's take a break from this," he stated.
She looked over at him and rested her elbows on the desk.
He slid off the sofa and joined her. "How about we just take a break? There's already a number of people we're waiting to hear back from."
They were waiting to hear from at least fifty people and evening was approaching. There was only a small window of time that they'd agreed was appropriate to call. That was between ten am and six pm. Any earlier or later might appear rude.
"What if someone calls and it's the right people. We'll miss the call." She straightened up.
"They can leave a message, and we'll get back to them. We've been at this since we got here. Look outside. We've got this beautiful beach that we can go to. You love the beach."
"You should go, and take Evie." She suggested. "You kids go on and have fun."
"Grams," he sighed. "You need a break. Even just a little one. Some fresh air is always good. If anyone calls, we can always get back to them. Get some stuff together, and I'll ask Evie if she wants to come."
She stared at him for a few moments and then nodded. "Okay."
"Meet you outside." He smiled. She looked adamant but at least she'd agreed to come.
He got up and made his way up the winding wooden staircase that creaked with each footstep. Evie's room was the first at the top. The door was open, and he could see her sitting out on the balcony. She had her contact list in her hand and was on the phone.
"Thanks, please ask her to call. Graci." She hung up and focused on him as he approached. The gentle breeze lifted her hair making the ends dance about the smooth skin on her shoulders.
"Any leads?" he asked.
"No. Nothing, and it's been difficult trying to communicate in broken Italian."
"Same here." Some of his contacts hadn't spoken a word of English, and he had to end up passing them on to his grandmother. "I think we all need a break. We're going down to the beach. You should come."
He'd learned that instead of asking outright it was best to make the thought look appealing to her.
She tilted her head and looked at him through cautious eyes. "We, as in you and Lucy, or as in you and Giselle?"
Giselle? "Why would it be me and Giselle?"
"Well, I'm certain I saw you two going into town yesterday and then you disappeared with her in the evening."
Well, I'll be damned, he thought. Evie was jealous. Giselle was only too happy to offer to take him into town when their driver canceled because he was broken down. Then she showed him where all the restaurants were later in the evening probably hoping he'd take her there, but he'd focused on what he was going out for, and that was just to get some fruit punch for his grandmother.
This was interesting, however, and instead of setting Evie straight he wanted to see what she was thinking.
"Are you spying on me?"
She looked appalled at the comment. "Absolutely not."
"Okay Miss Evie, if you say so."
"I do say so," she scowled.
"Cool, come to the beach with me." He stepped closer to her and zoned in on her delicate lips as she pouted and folded her arms.
"Oh, so there's no we, just you?"
She was such hard work sometimes. "What if it was just me?"
"Then I would tell you to ask Giselle. She did say you should go to her for anything. Absolutely anything." She made a mocking voice with an accent that was supposed to sound like Giselle. "Nah, nah, nah anything." She tossed her hair across her shoulders in a gesture of defiance boldly meeting his eyes.
Yes, she was jealous alright, and the thought fascinated him. Fascinated him to the point where he forgot who they were, where they were and what they were. All he could see as she ranted on about Giselle and said something he couldn't hear, was her perfect skin, perfect hair, and perfect eyes that were the same green as the sea beyond them. Perfect everything.
She was about to continue her tirade but stopped when he reached for a lock of her hair, curled it around his finger, and brought up to his nose to smell.
The heavy lashes that shadowed her cheeks flew up. "What the hell are you doing? You are so weird." She smacked his hands away and drew her hair back.
He smiled on seeing how outraged she looked. "Just remembering what you smell like princess."
Deep satisfaction filled him as her cheeks flushed and filled out with a soft rose color.
This was funny indeed. They were.
Gage stepped back, away from her. "See you on the beach in ten minutes."
Before he left he winked at her and noticed that her cheeks flushed even more.
* * *
Evie was only going because of Lucy. That was all, and perhaps because she'd been desperate to go down to the beach.
How could she not? The Mediterranean Sea was calling to her from her bedroom window.
Stupid Gage and his stupid charm, she didn't know what his angle was, but she wasn't going to be affected by it.
Princess. Who the hell did he think he was calling her princess? And Miss Evie.
And her, what was wrong with her getting all weak kneed and girly around him? She was acting stupid too, and it would stop right this minute.
She'd changed into a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, it was perfect if she decided she wanted to get her feet wet.
Evie also took her notebook and a few pens in case she got more inspiration. Since being here, she'd managed to write a lot more. She was halfway through it but felt it needed a bridge and maybe something else.
The wind whipped up her hair as soon as she stepped outside and the air smelled of salt and fresh sea. It was alluring and propelled every step she made down towards the beach. As she passed the threshold between the sand and the soft green grass the golden sand welcomed her feet. Her sandals sunk into it and the sand smoothed over her toes like fine warm crystals. That feeling alone was delightfully refreshing.
She looked for Lucy and Gage but didn't see them. There was a man going by with his German shepherd and golden retriever, and a lady with two small children playing in the sand.
She stopped and looked about and...
Her eyes molded to the man that rose up from the sea. Evie watched him emerge revealing the perfect description of what abs should look like. Ripples of muscle ran down his long torso in deep ridges showing the distinct definition between each set of muscle on his incredible six pack and pecs. Even more enticing was the Celtic designed tattoos that ran along the left side of his abs and at the top of his biceps. There was also one near the ridge of his thigh drawing attention to his athletic legs.
It was only when he slicked his wet hair back, moving it away from his face that she saw it was Gage, and she had the urge to turn around and run back inside the house, completely appalled at herself for blatantly gawking at him. What was wrong with her? She was supposed to be immune to him. She was supposed to be able to look and not feel a thing. But no, something had happened to her resolve somewhere... she didn't know where.
"There you are." Lucy's voice made her jump.
Evie turned to Lucy and tried to act normal. "Lucy, hey. I..." she was flustered.
Lucy held onto her hat as the wind blew. Evie noticed she was also carrying a picnic basket. Lucy looked ahead towards where Gage was and frowned.
Evie looked again and saw that he was heading straight towards them and looked better and better the closer he got.
"He seriously got another one," Lucy commented with distaste.
"Another one what?"
"One of those dreadful tattoos. Just look at him." Lucy shook her head.
Evie would actually rather not look but since she was told to she had to and found it very hard to stop as he approached carrying himself with that air of confidence like the athlete he was.
"Gage William Montgomery, what did I tell you about inking up your body with those horrible things?" Lucy was in full grandma mode.<
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Gage responded with one of his dazzling smiles. "Grams come on. It's cool."
"You look like a hooligan." Lucy scolded.
"What do you think Evie?" He held out his muscular arms to each side, standing tall and proud of what he displayed. Immediately, her eyes were drawn to the powerful build of his shoulders and broad, muscular chest.
The look he gave her told her he'd for sure seen her watching him minutes before, and knew she was completely enthralled by what she saw.
And, if he hadn't seen her watching him her now reddened face and open-mouthed response told all. She was totally conscious of his tempting physique.
"Do you like what you see?" He had the audacity to wink at her.
Evie looked to Lucy, expecting some sort of comment to set him straight, but she appeared too annoyed to notice that he was outrightly flirting right in front of her.
"You look like a hooligan," Evie grumbled, trying to maintain what little composure she had left.
"Liar." His voice, deep and sexual, sent a ripple of awareness through her.
"No more tattoos." Lucy reproved. "Anyhow, I thought we could have a light dinner, so I brought some food."
"I found the perfect spot, where there are no lizards," Gage advised with a deep chuckle purely for Evie's benefit. He laughed when she cringed and looked away from him.
They followed Gage to the area he'd selected and enjoyed slices of honey roasted chicken with focaccia bread. Lucy also prepared a green and black olive mixture and a banana loaf. Everything was delicious. Since being here, Lucy had taken on the task of cooking for them, making sure they had three hearty meals a day and plenty of fruit.
After they ate Lucy and Gage went for a swim while Evie stayed behind at their little spot. They seemed to be having fun in the water, and they had the privilege of having the beach to themselves.
The sun was low and getting to that point where sunset was approaching but wasn't quite there yet. It looked beautiful out on the distant horizon, separating the auburn sky from the blues of the sea.
She felt the music all around her, hearing it as the waves crashed against the rocks near where she sat, and as it kissed the shore. It was beautiful and gave her the inspiration she was hoping for. She wrote down a few notes as they came to her, thinking she'd test them out later when she went back in.
Hearts Entwined Page 7
