CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER FIVE
There was nothing worse , Juliet decided, than choosing a bikini in a high-end boutique. Especially when you had big breasts, a tiny assistant, and the sexiest man alive kept making dreadful suggestions.
‘What about this one?’
‘I’m too pale to wear white.’
She shunned his suggestion and grabbed a nice navy-blue—but ‘safe’ was not always ‘nice’.
‘The sun will soon be setting on our romantic day,’ he warned from the other side of the curtain as she stood in the changing room, hating it. ‘Let me see.’
She peeled back the curtain and there he stood—in what looked like black boxers, really, only ones for swimming. And of course with that body he was beach-ready.
He glanced over. ‘I still think the white one.’
She put it on once more, to prove a point, sure she’d look like a milk bottle. But instead… The white was so white it brought out the scrap of colour in her skin.
‘I’ll get this one,’ she said, about to close the curtain to take it off.
‘Just put your dress on over it.’
He came over and dealt with the exclusive label that hung from the top, his fingers light on the side of her ribs. It felt as deep as a thorough kiss.
‘And this one,’ he said, flicking out the label on the bikini bottom, the heat of his hand on the small of her back.
‘Will we…?’ She closed her eyes, stopping herself from asking if they might skip the beach and go directly to bed—not because she didn’t want the bed, but because she wanted this day too. ‘I might need sunblock.’
They walked out, she with her boring underwear in her bag, and then he told her he was getting factor one million sunblock for her and to wait there.
Juliet would have liked a moment to examine last night, to just go over all the bliss, but there would be many days and nights for that, so she wandered off and then stared into a window at a cream dress that would, if it were black, be the perfect concert dress. It was utterly gorgeous…
‘Why are you gazing at a wedding dress as if you have to have it now ?’ His hand came to her shoulder. ‘That’s not intense, Juliet. That’s scary…’
‘I didn’t know…’ She laughed and looked up, and sure enough it was a bridal boutique. ‘That’s my perfect concert dress. Well, apart from the colour. And the scoop neck is a bit low.’
‘Try it on.’
‘No.
‘Go on…’ he insisted.
‘No. Because you’ll buy it for me, like you bought the bikini, and—’
‘Juliet.’ He cut that thought off at the neck before it had even formed. ‘I told you I don’t buy gifts. The bikini was necessary. And believe me, I am not buying you a dress from a bridal shop—just try it on.’
He made the impossible easier, by just walking in, and then she had to take off her new bikini top, and then the assistant told her the ‘perfect dress’ was actually not only too small, but not even a complete dress.
‘This is just a base,’ she explained to Sevandro, almost apologetically. ‘We were about to dress the window…’
‘No…’ Juliet shook her head. ‘It’s gorgeous as it is.’ She gazed into the mirror. It was very plain, and that was what she liked. ‘Well, it is a little low…’ She looked over to Sev. ‘And the sleeves…’ She explained all the factors she had to take into consideration for a concert dress. ‘I’d have to have three-quarter sleeves, and the shoulders are a bit…’ She ran a hand over the seams and tried to decide on a word. ‘Pointy.’
‘Pointy?’ The assistant’s lips pulled just a fraction. She was clearly thinking her a little diva, and not really understanding that she was discussing her requirements for work.
They had gelato for a very late breakfast, in a cone as they walked to the promenade.
‘You should get something specially made,’ he told her.
‘I’m saving for a violin first,’ she explained, as they stepped onto the golden beach and walked to the very nice loungers. ‘Well, it’s the one I play, but I’m renting it at the moment.’
‘Just get a dress!’ He looked at her. ‘I’d be terrible at being poor…’
He was so bad he was good, and he made her laugh rather than feel embarrassed to strip down to her bikini on a gorgeous beach, and he slathered her in so much sun cream, and moved the umbrellas to the nth degree.
She felt…
Protected.
Factor fifty plus, plus, plus.
For the first time since she was twelve years old and it had all fallen away she felt looked after.
‘It’s beautiful here.’ She rolled onto her stomach and looked at the gorgeous resort behind them. ‘But I think this is a private beach…’
‘It is.’ He yawned. ‘I used to work here. And then I bought it.’
‘Is this where you…?’ She put out a leg and lightly kicked him. ‘Your first lover?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘That hotel’s a little further along the promenade. But this is the first hotel I owned, or at least part-owned, with Sheikh Mahir.’
‘Wow…’ She blinked. ‘What’s he like?’
‘He’s okay.’ He put his arm up over his head, his eyes closed against the morning sun. ‘We argue, but for the most part we get on.’
‘What do you argue about?’
He smiled and gave a soft half-laugh, because he’d never really discussed it or pondered it. These were not the sort of questions his family or anyone really asked.
And even if they did?
He wasn’t sure he’d answer.
The regular rules didn’t seem to apply today. It was as if he and Juliet had a different operating manual—an access-all-areas code. Even if some of those areas perhaps weren’t that interesting…
‘Mahir likes to think his son, Adal, works harder than he does. I went to school with him. He hasn’t changed at all.’
‘Do you get on with Adal?’
‘Not lately. This latest project—the new hotel—there isn’t the scope to carry someone or pretend that the golden son is pulling his weight.’
‘You’ve told them that?’
‘Yes.’ He breathed out heavily and then closed his eyes, surprised to have shared as much.
‘And?’ she asked.
He smiled at her curiosity and her impatience to know the result.
‘They’re still sulking.’
* * *
It was nice to just lie together and enjoy the sound of the ocean and occasional conversation. To just lie there and let her eyes drift over him.
His body was magnificent, and she stuck out a leg and held it near his.
‘I’m so pale…’
Especially next to his skin, which seemed to soak in the Mediterranean sun and darken in the bright light.
Then her calf dusted his lower thigh and he caught her leg and held it there. And then they were not thinking of skin.
They ventured into the water, and it was a little cooler than his skin and whole lot warmer than she’d braced herself for.
‘Do you go to the beach in Dubai?’ she asked as they waded out.
‘No.’
‘Do you go in the pool?’
‘No.’ He shook his head, pulled her into him. ‘I do have a yacht. It’s all for work, though.’
He crossed his eyes and made her laugh.
‘If I want people to pay for, design, build and furnish my beautiful hotel, I have to chat them up.’
* * *
He kissed her then, as he would have liked to on the beach, right there in the water. He tasted her sunblock and didn’t care. His tongue was coaxing hers to tangle with his, to move in his mouth and suggest all the things they wanted to do.
‘We should get you into the shade,’ he said, his hands holding her waist as she sizzled beneath him. ‘You are very red.’
It wasn’t from the sun.
And they remained in the sea, jumping small waves and messing about as he told her about the Dubai skyline, and the incredible night-life.
‘It’s not all clubs and bars—there is a beautiful classical music scene. It’s an exciting country, full of ambition—you’d love it.’
‘I don’t know,’ she said as they lay back in the water. ‘I love Lucca.’
* * *
They lay on their backs and floated like otters. He reached for her hand and held on and she knew this was just fleeting, and possibly he was just the best flirt, good at making her feel relaxed and nice, but she loved his charming ways and how, as they drifted, still they spoke.
‘How long will you be here?’ he asked.
‘For good, I hope,’ she said, squinting at the high sun. ‘I’ll apply for residency in a couple of years, so long as work is going okay. I hope things are going well by then. I’ll have the quartet, maybe a chair in an orchestra or regular substitute work.’ She laughed at herself. ‘I’ll give you a discreet wave if I see you on the walls with some gorgeous date.’
‘You won’t see me,’ Sev said, and then his voice was serious. ‘This goes no further…?’
‘Of course.’
‘Once the memorial service is out of the way I’m not coming back here.’
The warm sea suddenly felt like ice, and she knew what she was being told was serious indeed.
‘I have a property here, which I’m putting on the market, and there are a couple of things I’d hoped to sort…’ He didn’t elaborate. ‘That may not be possible now, but I want things in the best order they can be.’
He had a plan.
Sevandro really was preparing to leave.
‘For good?’ she checked, and stood up in the water. ‘What about Gio?’
‘Of course I’ll come if there’s an emergency, but no more family events, or Christmases, or the million and one other reasons to return.’
‘What about…?’ she started, then shook her head.
They were sharing what they chose to and not probing. They were close because both knew that this connection was something short-lived and fragile, something both would respect.
‘Do Dante and Susie know?’
‘I think they have an idea.’
She thought about that pause yesterday, during his speech, how his smile had faded when she’d mentioned the christening. It hadn’t been the mention of double dates that had caused that reaction.
They went back to the beach and dried off as her mind caught up with all that he’d said, all that she’d seen.
‘You’re not coming back to see the baby?’
‘No.’
She didn’t like that answer. She didn’t like his cold decision. But his future wasn’t her business. This wasn’t about agreeing with each other, it was about being there for each other for a little while.
‘They can visit me in Dubai if they want to.’
He was almost the scowling man she’d first seen, she thought.
‘Dante doesn’t want us to be close.’
‘What about Gio and Mimi?’
‘We can meet in Rome.’ He pulled on his linen shirt. ‘Gio will hopefully live another twenty years, but I can’t keep coming back.’ He looked over. ‘Same as yours…’ he said. ‘Not all families work.’
And soon the most wonderful day—apart from that bit—ended with seafood and limoncello spritzers for her, still water for him, and sexy music pulsing from a dancefloor.
And as they danced to the pulsing beat she kept waiting for a hotel to appear, or a bed—something to blot out what he’d said.
He was never coming back.
Oh, make that maybe once.
This really was all they’d have.
It was a winding drive home, and Juliet felt her eyes grow heavy.
‘Sleep,’ he told her.
‘No, it’s rude.’
Not only that—she didn’t want to miss a moment.
‘We haven’t sorted out your boss…’ he said.
‘I’ll sort her…’ She gave a weary sigh. ‘I’m going to get up earlier each day to fit the chores in, and I’ll use the rooms at school for practice.’
‘Aren’t you already doing that?’
‘Yes,’ she agreed, leaning her head on the window, wishing they could turn the car around and go back. ‘But once my exams are done…’
* * *
She didn’t finish her sentence, and as she dozed Sev glanced over a couple of times, seeing her there, sandy and her limbs pink, as the streetlights flashed.
Thinking.
About leaving.
About coming home for the last time.
About her.
They passed through Casadio land—row after row of vines. Some planted when his parents had been born…others when he and Dante had.
They passed the entrance to the winery…passed Villa Casadio, where Christos lived.
Then they passed the De Santis winery, where Rosa’s family still lived, and again he glanced over to where Juliet slept.
Her legs were stretched out, her head in an awkward position, and he reached out an arm and moved her a little, then reclined her seat. He let her sleep, resisting the urge to wake her, to tell her about his doubts about Rosa’s pregnancy that lived only in his head.
He drove past the church where they’d married…where Rosa now lay.
Where he’d sworn on her grave never to share his doubts with another person. To let her rest, lie in peace…
There was no peace for him, though.
* * *
She felt the motion of the car change, or perhaps there were lights, or the sound of the indicator blinking, but she knew the end of their time was here.
Her subconscious tried to be kind and pull her back to sleep.
She never wanted this day to end.
‘Juliet?’
She stirred and gave a nod. She knew they were at Anna’s, and knew she had to somehow brace herself for goodbye.
‘Come on.’
She was still half asleep and not wanting to wake up as he offered his hand and she stepped out of the car.
‘I was really asleep!’ She laughed, leaning on him more than she ever had so far. She frowned. ‘We need to get my things from the hotel…’ She was fuzzy from too much sun and too little sleep and the company of Sevandro. ‘Wait—this isn’t Anna’s…’
This definitely wasn’t Anna’s. There were some gates that he opened, and then he took her hand and led her through a neglected garden and up some stone stairs.
Even neglected it was way beyond Anna’s garden…
Sevandro…or was it Sev—she still hadn’t made up her mind which name she preferred—was pressing a code into the panel next to a large front door. The lock clicked and he pushed the heavy door open and led her inside.
‘Where are we?’ Juliet asked as he flicked a switch and a beautiful and very large hall came into the light.
‘Welcome to Mars.’