Chapter 23 #2
“Yes,” I say, wrapping a hand around her hip. “But listen, before I forget…I was going to tell you about my idea for Hidden Italy.”
“The one I gave you,” she says, shifting toward me, her scent wafting around me.
“Yes, you’re generous like that. I’d prefer to tell you with you naked and bent over the back of the couch. It would be more in keeping with our…what did you call it?”
“Frenemies-with-benefits arrangement,” she says, licking her lips. She does it purposefully, and the sight makes my dick rock hard in an instant.
“I’ll bend you over so you can look at the tree while I fuck you. That seems like something you’d enjoy, don’t you think?”
She angles her head and looks up at me through her lashes. “Yes. There’s some extra garland in the closet you can tie my hands with.”
Damn. Damn.
“You knew about the garland but not the dead animals?” I ask, already going for the button on her pants.
“I have my priorities straight,” she says, and since she’s reaching for the hem of my shirt, I’m not about to argue.
A few minutes later we’re both undressed, the blinds are drawn, and her hands are captured behind her back with the glittery gold garland. I slide one hand between her legs and grip her hip with the other, holding her in place while I fuck her with my fingers.
And I explain my idea to her over the sound of her moaning.
“It sounds like an idea that only someone who loves Hideaway Harbor could come up with,” she pants, her words poking at the raw place between my ribs.
“Which is why you’re the one who came up with it,” I quip. “It’s entirely your idea, and I’m not at all sorry for stealing it.”
“I really am brilliant, aren’t I?” she says as my fingers find a spot that makes her writhe.
“Entirely. And beautiful, and so very hungry for my cock.”
She kicks backward at me with one of her legs, and I laugh as I lean in to kiss her neck and the side of her face. “We should make a cappuccino together. A peace offering.”
“So that’s why you wanted to teach me,” she says, suggesting she remembers more of last night than I thought earlier. “But I’ll bet your grandmother makes a better cappuccino than you.”
“Most assuredly.” I curl my fingers and rub, and she releases a glorious moan into the upper couch cushion. “We’ll visit her together.”
“No…” she says through small throaty sounds that vibrate through me, settling somewhere in my chest. “That’s definitely not a frenemies-with-benefits thing. I’ll go…alone.”
“As you wish,” I say. “She’ll be free on Wednesday evening. You can come over after closing. I’ll make the arrangements.”
It’s the next time I’ll be staying the night at Nonna’s house, but no need to point that out. She might not show up if she knows.
“What if I don’t want to make peace with you?” Lucy asks.
I’ve already put the condom on, and I run my tip between her legs, pushing in the slightest bit. “Then you have a funny way of showing it.”
“This doesn’t feel like peace,” she groans. “You’re teasing me.”
“Always,” I say as I thrust all the way in, feeling the tight heat of her as she engulfs me. Watching my hard length disappear inside her. Fuck, I’m not going to last long like this.
She moans as I slip my hand between her legs, helping her reach her climax as I move inside her. The Christmas lights twinkle across from us. The cabinet of horrors is behind us, and I have to be honest…
The holidays are suddenly feeling pretty merry and bright.
Later, after Lucia kicks me out, I head back to my apartment for the first time in days.
It’s only once I’m there that I remember the note Giovanni gave me, the one from my neighbor.
I take it out and settle onto the couch to read it.
Dear Lobster Stalker,
So, I’m just going to ask. You’re into The Golden Girls, which is cool—I mean, who doesn’t like Sophia?—but wondering minds want to know…does this mean you’re on the older side? I know we promised not to do identifying details, but what about an age range?
Oh God, now I sound like a stalker too, but I guess I’d like a better idea of who I’m talking to.
I’d be okay with exchanging letters with a grandfather.
I never really had grandparents, and I always wondered what it would be like.
When I was growing up, I felt a little left out because I didn’t have them.
You inspired me to go see the lobster trap tree lighting tonight. I’ll be thinking about you, wondering if you’re there too.
Yours—
Dancer Stalker
So, either Giovanni was messing with me about the cabbage and the TV show, or someone else has moved into the apartment down the hall since Aria left.
Doesn’t matter which. What matters is that I’ve been corresponding with someone completely different than the kind, middle-aged woman I’ve been envisioning for the last several days.
Someone younger. Someone who went to the lobster trap tree lighting last night.
A woman who lost her mother just before last Christmas.
A woman who struggles with her emotions, just like I struggle with mine.
I felt a glimmer of the truth earlier, when we were together, but now it hits me with the subtlety of hurled bricks.
She never did tell me where she lives, but I already know the answer in my heart.
I’ve been talking to my Lucia.