CHAPTER 6 Rio
The uptown location of the well-maintained apartment building is not a surprise. Tanzi comes from money but I haven’t had her investigated.
I”m not the heir to the throne. I can have a girlfriend without impeccable bloodlines and political affiliations. She doesn”t have a criminal record and she”s not front-page tabloid fodder.
That”s as deep as I want to go into her background right now. And with a name like Menendez, it will take a security dive to find out more. It”s nearly as common as Smith. Or Jones. Or Rossi.
Whoever her parents are, they”ve done a good job of keeping her out of the press.
They might be wealthy, but they aren”t well known either.
Not like my parents. Except apparently, she”s never heard of Isole dei Re because she has no idea I”m a prince.
And I like that. A lot.
Leaning on my rented Lambo, I text her.
RIO: Where R U?
TANZI: Studying in my room. Miss you.
I grin.
RIO: Come outside.
TANZI: What? R U HERE???!!!
RIO: Come outside and find out.
Scant minutes later the front door of apartment building bursts open. Tanzi”s wearing a pair of sleep pants and tank top with tiny straps, no bra.
Of course I notice, but I’m pretty sure my dick notes it before my brain registers the way her curves sway under the thin cotton as she sprints toward me. Because I”m already painfully hard.
”Rio!” She launches herself at me.
I catch her with a laugh that breaks the tight bands that have been constricting my chest for the last three weeks. This is where I”m meant to be. With this woman in my arms.
It takes more self-control than it should not to yank her against me. My gaze fixed on the lips that haunt my dreams I pull her close with careful hands. ”Porca miseria, Tanzi. I”ve missed you.”
She nods, her eyes suspiciously bright and I have to kiss her.
It”s a risk showing her affection in public like this, just like the time in Rome. If pictures of us together hit the tabloids, my family will erupt with more devastation than Mount Vesuvius.
Father has plans for me. Plans he only made me aware of this last week.
Plans I have zero desire to follow through on.
Those plans are why I moved my business trip to New York forward by five weeks.
Whatever duty might dictate and regardless of the repercussions of discovery, I cannot let Tanzi go. Not even if a whole horde of reporters shows up.
She is necessary in a way no woman ever has been.
”How long are you here for?” she demands after the first fervid kisses.
”I have business in New York for the next week.”
”A whole week?” Her beautiful gray eyes glisten with an emotion that wraps itself around my heart.
”Sì, amate. A full week.”
Tanzi melts against me, hugging me tight. ”I love you too.”
”What?” I”ve never said I love her.
I do. Dio mio. I do.
”Even if I wasn”t fluent in Italian, beloved is almost identical in Spanish, amado. Unless you didn”t mean it?” She tries to step away from me.
Not happening. I tighten my arms around her. ”T”amu.” Leaning down, I kiss her tenderly. Our first almost chaste kiss. ”T”amu,” I say again.
It”s Sicilian, but close enough to both the Italian and Spanish words, there”s no mistaking my meaning.
She sighs, contentment pouring off of her. ”We”re going to make this work.”
”Somehow.” No matter what my father”s plans are for my future.
I am not giving this woman up.
She nods against my chest. ”But right now, we”re just going to enjoy each other, right?”
”Right.” She does not graduate for another month.
That is time enough to start looking for solutions, for me to tell her about the part of me that is Principe Vittorio. Time enough to meet each other”s families.
Perhaps it is selfish, I am not yet ready to share Tanzi with my family. And I cannot be entirely sure they will meet her with open arms, considering what my king wants from me.
Despite two of my aunts being American when they married my uncles, my father has made it clear he expects his children to marry from within our extensive circle. Preferably a woman of Sicilian or Italian heritage. A woman from our own country of Isole dei Re would be even better.
Like the woman he wants me to return to the palace to spend time getting to know. In other words, negotiating marriage contracts.
Not happening.
My arms tighten reflexively again. I will not let this woman go. She is the other half of my soul.
However, now is not the time to dwell on the problems of the future. I have one week to spend with the woman I love and I”m going to make the most of it.