by Patricia Mar
“Just don’t destroy my apartment, ok?”
“I will be a perfect guest,” he replied, “and let me also say that I’m really pleased I’ll be able to spend some time with you. We haven’t been in touch much, and that’s a shame.”
“You almost sound like you mean it,” said Daniel, chuckling.
“I do mean it – and I can’t wait to meet your fiancée.”
A small alarm bell went off in Daniel’s head, but he realised he was being stupid and pushed the thought out of his mind. Giovanni would never do anything like that. “You’ll be meeting her very soon: she’s coming to dinner tonight, as soon as she’s done with her last guided tour of the day.”
“Right, Mum told me that she works for a travel agency.” Giovanni’s mother was Elena’s sister, and as everyone in the family knew, she loved gossip. She knew everything about everyone in the family, as soon as it happened, and she also felt duty bound to report any news to the rest of her relatives. And needless to say, Daniel’s relationships were among her favourite subjects.
“She’s a tour guide here in Rome,” he said proudly, “and she’s damn good at her job.”
“Well, she must be a special girl if she can put up with you!”
That was exactly the kind of thing that got on Daniel’s nerves, and once again he had to resist the urge to kick him out and lock the door. “She’s the best.”
“I wish I was that in love with someone,” sighed Giovanni. It was obviously just something he was saying to try and sound deep, though – and the days when Daniel had used to fall for Giovanni’s lines were long gone.
“Don’t play the romantic with me – everybody knows that as far as you’re concerned, the national sport is shagging.”
Giovanni laughed. “What can I say? I devoted my whole life to training, and now I’m the national champion!”
Daniel smiled and shook his head. “The same old narcissist.”
“I can even beat you at it, which is saying something!”
“Yes, really something.”
“I should have been a model too! I’ve got the body for it, haven’t I?” said Giovanni sarcastically, while puffing out his chest to mock him.
Daniel really wanted to avoid bickering with him, but this time he couldn’t help replying, “And instead you’re an unemployed journalist! See what happens if you make the wrong decisions?”
Giovanni raised an eyebrow. “Touché,” he said, admitting defeat.
“Anyway, get your stuff, I’ll show you your bedroom.”
“I hope it has an en-suite bathroom,” Giovanni joked.
“It certainly does, with a big tub.”
“Nah, I’m more of a shower guy.”
“Well, you can use mine then,” muttered Daniel in exasperation.
“Great,” smiled his cousin, patting his shoulder. “This hotel has everything I need!”
“Don’t make me regret this!”
“Regret it?! You’ll be thanking me! We’re going to have a ton of fun, you’ll see.” Giovanni took his bag and followed his cousin into the hallway.
15
Close Encounters of Some Kind
Finally, another day of rushing about in Rome was over. She couldn’t wait to get to Daniel’s, where she would finally be able to take off her shoes and enjoy one of the gourmet dinners her fiancé always prepared for her. After a few of his passionate embraces, she would have completely forgotten about the tiredness she had accumulated during the day.
She would sleep at his place, because the next morning she had an appointment with a group of tourists in Piazza di Spagna.
Daniel would be leaving for Los Angeles in a few days, and she wouldn’t have the chance to see him for a whole week. He wouldn’t be gone for a very long time, but that journey might be the start of a new professional life for him, and she was determined not to let her insecurities ruin it for him. Daniel was the man she wanted to spend her life with, and she wouldn’t make the same mistakes she had made in the past, although she knew that it would mean her making some sacrifices. She was sure that her feelings for him would help her overcome any difficulty, though, and with time her attacks of jealousy and possessiveness would stop. Daniel was her man, and that wasn’t going to change.
Sometimes she still occasionally came across nude shots Daniel had taken in the days before they’d met, and they always made her irrationally angry. She couldn’t help running her eyes over his body as intently as if he were one of Canova’s statues, but, at the same time she knew that way too many other women had run their eyes over it too, and drooled over every detail of those artsy photos. Daniel wasn’t doing that type of project any more, but there was nothing he could do about the pictures he’d taken in the past. He had been really understanding about agreeing to compromise, though, so she had to play her part and just live with the pictures that were already out there, because there was no way of making them disappear.
She tried to put aside those thoughts and concentrated on imagining Daniel naked. That evening she was planning to indulge him and let him do the same to her, so she rushed up the stairs and reached the landing outside his penthouse.
She opened the door with her set of keys, and saw that the lights were on. He must be in. “Hey honey, I’m here – do to me what you will…!”
But there was no reply.
Sara shrugged and hung up her coat, preparing to see at least Spank come hurtling towards her. Was she hiding behind the door waiting to attack? Or was she planning to leap out from under the bed? Or maybe she would wait for Sara to take a seat on the sofa before she jumped on top of her? She knew that living with that dog wouldn’t be the easiest thing in the future. But Spank was nowhere to be seen. She thought that she must be busy eating her dinner, as it was almost eight in the evening, so Sara went to the kitchen, but there was no one there either. There was a nice smell, though… Daniel must have already cooked. “Daniel? Where are you?”
She went towards his room and saw some pieces of clothing on the bed. He must be in the shower. Sara took her pullover off, threw it on the armchair and entered the bathroom. She saw the outline of her fiancé through the glass door of the shower. The water caressing his beautiful body must be boiling, as he was immersed in a cloud of steam.
She started unbuttoning her blouse, already enjoying the close encounter she was about to have with her naked man. She opened the door. “Budge up and make some room for me, you stupid model,” she said. She looked at the man’s backside, opened her eyes wide and covered her mouth with a hand. Making absolutely no attempt to hide his family jewels, the unknown man turned round to her with a smile…
“You must be Sara.”
“Shit!” Blushing with embarrassment and shock, she slammed the door shut. Who the hell was that man in Daniel’s shower? And why was he so… naked?
She threw on her blouse without even bothering to button it, and ran out of the room, ready to call the police. On second thoughts, though, why would a burglar have a shower in a house he was robbing? And how would he know her name? She wasn’t thinking straight at that moment, which was why she didn’t even realise that Daniel was there and ran straight in to him, sending them both sprawling on the floor.
“Wow, you really are happy to see me!” exclaimed Daniel with a laugh as he tried to help her up. Then he noticed the scared expression on her face and her open shirt. “What happened?”
Sara sat down and indicated the bedroom door: “Naked… There’s a naked man… in the shower! Who the hell is the naked man in the shower? I’m calling the police,” she mumbled in confusion. She knew she wasn’t making much sense, and knocking her boyfriend to the ground hadn’t helped.
They both stood up, while Daniel’s face started to grow annoyed. “Don’t worry, we don’t need to call the police.”
“Don’t we?” asked Sara dubiously, while she tried to get hold of herself and forget about the amazing body she had just seen in the shower. What were they feeding men nowadays,
testosterone enriched bread?
Giovanni came out of the bedroom right at that moment. He was wearing only a towel around his waist, but Sara had already seen what it covered. His torso was covered in droplets of water and his black hair was stuck to his face. His unflustered attitude completed the picture.
Sara glanced at him quickly while she buttoned her shirt up, then she turned towards Daniel, who was frowning. His jaw and neck were evidently tense, and she realised that he was trying very hard to control his reactions.
“I think I’ve just met your fiancée,” said Giovanni, while stretching out his hand towards her. “Nice to meet you – I am Giovanni Salvi.”
“My cousin,” added Daniel, in a menacing voice.
Giovanni pulled his hand back, as Sara hadn’t reciprocated the gesture, and brushed the wet hair from his forehead. “Exactly. I’m his older cousin,” he said, breaking the embarrassing silence, and he gave Sara a wink that made her even more uncomfortable and Daniel furious.
“Maybe you should get dressed, don’t you think?”
“Good idea, even though it might be a little late…” said Giovanni, then burst out laughing and went back to his room.
“So this Neanderthal who roams naked about your house is actually your cousin…” commented Sara after she had calmed down enough to analyse what had just happened.
“Yes,” growled Daniel. He helped Sara button up her shirt, but his tightly clamped jaw was a clear sign that he hadn’t calmed down yet.
“And he’s here because…” she prompted him.
Daniel turned his back on her and headed towards the kitchen, followed by Sara. At that moment, Spank jumped out of nowhere, launching one of her usual attacks.
“Not now!” Daniel scolded her, picking her up in his arms. “Leave Sara alone, got it?”
The dog assumed an offended expression and began pawing to be put down. Daniel obliged her and she trotted away with her tail between her legs.
“So why is he here, having a shower in your bathroom?” Sara asked again, not having received an answer to her previous question.
“He needs somewhere to crash for a few days while his new apartment is being renovated,” said Daniel, once they had reached the kitchen. “I let him have the guest room, which has a bathroom with a tub, but he prefers the shower…”
Sara managed not to laugh. “I guess he didn’t realise that this is your home, not the Hilton.”
Daniel glared at her while he started laying the table for dinner.
“Are we all going to have dinner together tonight then?” she asked, helping him.
“Yep.”
“And is he going to be sleeping here?”
“Yep,” he grunted.
“Damn it, I was planning to stay over. I didn’t even bring the car.”
Daniel reached out, took her hand and raised it to his lips. “You can stay, I want you to stay tonight.”
“Ok, but only to sleep – I don’t want to get up to anything else knowing that he’s just two rooms away from us…”
“I know. I wish I’d never agreed to let him stay!”
“It was nice of you to help him out,” she said, smiling at him gently.
“If you say so…” he mumbled. He let go of her hand and went back to laying the table. Suddenly he stopped and turned to her. “I’m curious… Exactly how much of my cousin did you see when he was in the shower?”
Sara raised her eyebrows and tried to remain serious. “Well, let’s just say that he has very beautiful tonsils.”
Daniel grunted again and went back to the table, but Sara couldn’t help herself: she burst out laughing, and rested her head on his shoulder.
*
“Cuz, you really are one hell of a great cook. Have you ever thought about applying for MasterChef?” Giovanni teased him. He was dressed, finally, and wearing a polo shirt and a pair of light jeans.
“Who knows what the future holds? I actually might,” replied Daniel, trying to sound relaxed. Sara knew him too well to be fooled though. Her fiancé was very tense, and she sensed that her encounter with his cousin wasn’t the only cause of his mood. She decided to ask him more about it later when they were alone.
“So, Giovanni, apart from testing out other people’s showers, what exactly do you do in life?” She didn’t want to be too sarcastic, but that smug expression of his was really asking for it. She had to admit, though, that Daniel’s cousin was funny and entertaining company.
“I’m a stripper,” he said with a wink.
Well it served her right for asking, she thought. “Well, I’d imagine that having no shame must be an advantage in your line of work.” She turned to look at Daniel, who was swirling the red wine in his glass a little too violently and thought she’d better change the subject.
“I hear you’re staying here at Daniel’s place for a few days,” she said, while lifting a piece of the pork loin Daniel had prepared to her mouth.
“Yes, he saved me. Today just wasn’t my day… Luckily, though, I managed to find a place to sleep, and I even got to meet you.”
Daniel sipped his wine in silence.
“I was in Bali to write an article,” Giovanni continued. “I write – or at least, I used to write – for the magazine Time Travel, and they had commissioned me to do a piece on this six star hotel, an absolutely insane place… And then, all of a sudden, the boss called me and said he wanted me back in Rome ASAP, because they were holding a special meeting. To cut a long story short, they decided to shut down the magazine. They haven’t been selling enough, apparently, and now we’re all out of a job.”
Sara suddenly felt sympathy for him. “I know exactly what it’s like – I lost my job a few months ago too. It was tough at first.”
“I’d just taken out a mortgage to buy an apartment too! And now I don’t even have a regular income. I really need to get busy and find myself a new job as soon as possible. I have a pretty good resumé though,” he said proudly, “and quite a lot of experience.”
“Daniel was saying that your apartment is being renovated.”
“Yeah, it is. It didn’t bother me because I had another two weeks of travelling ahead of me and I expected it to be ready when I got back. Except that I actually ended up coming back to Rome sooner than I’d expected, and that ruined all my plans. So I asked Daniel for help.”
Daniel continued to sip his wine in silence, and Sara glanced over at him every now and then to try and catch his eye. He wouldn’t let her, though, so she felt obliged to keep the conversation alive. She didn’t want the atmosphere to get even gloomier – and, truth be told, Giovanni wasn’t even that bad.
“Do you live in Rome, too?”
“Yes, even though I was born in Milan. I was desperate to find a job here, because I’ve always loved the place. And now it’s time to start all over again.” Even though the way he behaved made it obvious that he had a pretty high opinion of himself, his smile was friendly and open. “Let’s hear about you, though. Daniel speaks very highly of you, he was telling me that you’re an excellent tour guide.”
Sara reached over to touch her fiancé’s arm to thank him for the compliment, and – finally! – he gave her an affectionate smile. “He’s too kind. I only started two months ago. Things are going pretty well so far, and I like the job. I do have to walk miles every day, but it’s fun to see my tour groups enjoying themselves when I take them places and tell them about what they’re looking at.”
“You must know how to hold their attention, then,” he said with a cordial smile. “I might sneak into one of your groups one day and see the city through your eyes, for a change.”
Daniel put his glass down slightly more loudly than expected. “Are we ready for the dessert?” he asked, then stood up and went to fetch the three bowls of tiramisu he had prepared from the fridge.
Sara didn’t reply to Giovanni’s proposal, because she wasn’t sure if the man was openly trying to flirt with her in order to annoy Daniel, or whether he was
just being genuinely friendly.
“Oh God, I love tiramisu - it’s my favourite dessert!” exclaimed Giovanni euphorically as he took his portion and immediately took a large spoonful.
*
After dinner they went to bed, and once they were finally alone in their room, Daniel started to undress, snorting like an angry bull.
“What’s the matter with you today?” asked Sara.
Daniel stared at her, and then turned to walk towards the bathroom. Then he changed his mind and went back to her. “It’s Giovanni,” he growled. “He gets me so angry.”
“Why, what did he do to you?” asked Sara, surprised by this.
“This is my house, and you are my fiancée. If he had a little respect, he wouldn’t be walking about naked. I should have just kicked him out.”
She took his face in her hands. “Daniel, calm down please.”
“I can’t calm down. And what was he saying about sneaking into one of your groups?”
She would have probably realised it sooner if she hadn’t been so busy trying to compensate for her fiancé’s silence, but it was only after those words that Sara understood what was actually going on: Daniel was jealous. Extremely jealous, ridiculously jealous. It was terrible and fantastic at the same time, she thought.
“Come on, think about it: he couldn’t have known that I would enter the bathroom right when he was having a shower, could he? And all that about the tour… maybe he just wanted to say something nice.”
“Sure – that’s why he came out of the bedroom wearing only that tiny little towel. And now that I come to think about it,” he said, suddenly setting off towards the door, “I should just go in there and give his ass a kicking.”
He was wearing a low waisted pair of jeans which highlighted his pelvic bones, and seeing him dressed like that and so uncontrollably jealous over her made Sara desire him even more – but this wasn’t the ideal time to live out her fantasies. Right now, her only duty was to prevent war from breaking out and a homicide from being committed.