She nodded, sidetracked by his arousal, hard and very present, beneath her and the planes of exposed masculinity before her. He’d already showered, and he smelled like a very delicious fantasy waiting to happen.
“I would never ask you to do something you couldn’t handle.” He raked his eyes down her body in a way that made her shudder. “Well…that’s not entirely true. I did enjoy teasing you last night, so there is that kind of torture.”
She drew in a shaky breath. “If you keep insinuating dirty things, I’m not going to agree to leave this bedroom.”
AN HOUR AND two overwhelming orgasms later, they’d finished breakfast and confirmed with Adelina that the House of Wishes was indeed the very house that Dae was supposed to demolish. The color drained from Adelina’s face. She reached for a chair to stabilize herself, as if they’d just told her that she had a terminal disease.
“Oh, no, no, no.” Adelina looked up at the ceiling and began speaking in Italian. “Questo è terribile. Demolire? Demolire! No.”
Dae mouthed, praying, to Emily. Pain stretched across Emily’s face. She reached for Adelina’s hand.
“Adelina, Dae might not tear it down.” She glared at Dae, urging him to ease her distress.
Fuck. He’d give anything to appease Emily and wipe that worry and sadness from her beautiful face, but he couldn’t lie to Adelina. He knew that one way or another, she was going to have to face the truth.
“I don’t know what will happen to the property,” he explained. “But the man who bought it does have plans to tear it down, and it may be too late to stop him.”
Dae reached for her and she leaned out of his reach, focusing on Adelina instead.
“Adelina, I’m so sorry. Dae didn’t know anything about the House of Wishes when he came here.”
Damn it to hell. Emily was trying to shield him from being the cause of Adelina’s sadness. He didn’t need protecting. He believed in truth and honesty. He believed in dealing with shit head-on.
Adelina was mumbling in Italian under her breath when Serafina walked into the room. Serafina’s eyes widened at the sight of her mother’s distress.
“Mama!” She ran to her side. “What happened? What’s wrong?”
Adelina’s eyes filled with determination as she spoke rapidly in Italian. Emily glanced at Dae, obviously recognizing the name Casa Dei Desideri, as he did.
Serafina gasped a breath and covered her mouth with her hand. Adelina patted Serafina’s cheek.
“What can we do?” Serafina asked.
“Now we wish,” Adelina answered.
Chapter Eleven
DAE AND EMILY walked down the grassy hill toward the shed where Adelina kept bikes on hand for guests to borrow. Dae had the backpack he’d packed over one shoulder. Emily stomped through the grass, and she hated herself for it. All Dae had done was tell the truth, but damn it…did he have to do that? Couldn’t he have softened the blow a little? He didn’t even really know if he was going to tear the place down or not. Or did he?
“This is good.” Dae walked beside her. He hadn’t even reached for her hand. Probably because he saw smoke rising from her ears. “Stomp it out, babe, and when you’re ready to talk about it, I’m all ears.”
Damn him. How could he be so nonchalant about this? She was upset. And she didn’t care if she had a right to be or not. She thought that he might reconsider tearing down the place after seeing how much it meant to Adelina and Serafina and learning that it had so much history. But she was even more upset that he hadn’t at least cushioned the blow with Adelina. He didn’t have to tell her so bluntly that the man who owned it had plans to tear it down. A little fib while he figured things out wouldn’t have been so bad, would it?
Or maybe there was nothing to figure out. Maybe his mind was made up.
When they reached the shed at the bottom of the hill, Dae pulled the heavy wooden doors open. “The silent treatment never solves anything, Em. Don’t you think we should talk about this?”
“Maybe.” She sounded like an angry child and it even annoyed her.
Dae leaned his shoulder and hip against the wall and crossed his feet at the ankle, reminiscent of the first night they’d met. It was unfair how sexy and casual he looked when she was tied up in knots. He reached for her hand, and when she didn’t let him take it, instead of getting mad, he smiled, pushed off the wall, and gently took her hand in his, as if nothing could ever really come between them. Then Dae repositioned himself with his back against the wall, feet planted in a wide stance, and he guided her until she stood between his legs.
“Two days, babe,” his voice was tender. “That’s all we’ve got until we’re forever and a day away from each other. Talk to me. Tell me the good, the bad, and the hurtful. I’m a big boy. I can take it.”
Two days. Her eyes welled with tears. Damn it. She never cried. She didn’t even know why she was crying. Because of the House of Wishes or because he was leaving? She had no idea, but the fact that she was acting like a brat didn’t help.
She pressed her hands flat against his chest, stuck between wanting to pound her fists on him and the desire to melt into one of his smoldering kisses, which would make her forget all of the bad stuff.
“Emily.” He said it so sweetly that she felt herself softening toward him. “I told you that I try not to do the wrong thing. That means telling the truth even when it’s hurtful.”
“Well, it was hurtful.”
“I know.” He brushed her hair from her shoulder. “Not just to her but to you, too.”
“Then why did you do it?”
He arched a brow, and the side of his mouth kicked up in a cockeyed smile.
She rolled her eyes out of frustration. “I know you don’t want to lie, but come on. Couldn’t you have said—”
“That I wouldn’t tear it down? That I’d walk away from the job? That I’d try to stop him from carrying through with his plans?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“But—”
He exhaled loudly. His eyes turned serious. “I respect Adelina. How can I look in her eyes and lie to her? How can I say I won’t do something that I might end up doing?”
“I don’t have the answer, but it bothers me.”
His gaze softened, and Emily thought she saw a flash of sadness wash over his face.
“I’m sorry. I would never hurt you or even Adelina purposely, but, Em. Babe. You don’t want a boyfriend who lies, do you?”
Boyfriend. The word wrapped around her heart and squeezed. Why was she arguing about this? It wasn’t her house. It wasn’t her history that might be torn down. And she loved him. She really, really loved him, despite this issue.
“How would you ever know if I was trying to protect you from something or lying for other reasons? How could you ever trust me again?”
“Damn it, Dae.” She couldn’t even say it with conviction. I hate it when you’re right.
“I get that you’re upset and hurt. Obviously, this is something that means a great deal to Adelina. I saw that the minute she realized the villa was in danger of being torn down. And my client bought that property sight unseen. I can almost guarantee that he has no idea this myth even exists. And I can guarantee that he won’t give a shit. He’s a mean bastard.”
He touched her cheek, and a little more anger slipped away.
“Babe, tell me what you want me to do. If it’s reasonable and within my comfort zone, I’ll do my best to make it happen.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her closer.
Emily sighed. “You can’t do what I want, so it doesn’t matter. You have your career. I just need to get over this.”
He touched his forehead to hers. “I wish I could tell you that I would walk away from the property, but I don’t know if I will or not. Besides, if I walk away, someone else will come along and tear it down for Frank, and at least if I do it, I’ll know it’s done right and it’s done safely. I have a lot of thinking and researching to do befor
e I can make any decisions. But if we’re going to be a couple, and I sincerely hope we are, then we need to find a middle ground.”
An unexpected sarcastic laugh bubbled out of her before she could stop it. “A middle ground between preservation and demolition? Right.”
“You’re willing to give up that easily?” He drew back and searched her eyes.
“Not on us,” she answered quickly.
“This is us, babe. It’s what we do, and it may not be who we are, but it’s part of who we are. So…yes, a middle ground between what you feel and what I feel is right.”
Emily wanted to believe him, that they could find this esoteric middle ground. Could they? Or would they always be at opposite ends of the spectrum?
“Emily, I’ll never judge you for what you choose to preserve.” He took her hands in his as he spoke. “I know that whatever you do, you do for reasons that are right for you and for whoever is impacted by what you’re doing. This hang-up over our beliefs, that’s your thing. I understand it, but it’s not my fight. I accept you for who you are and what you believe.”
Oh great, so this is all on me? “So you blame me for this?”
“Blame? No, babe. What’s there to blame?”
“That I’m worried about our beliefs being so far off from each other.” How come this doesn’t bother you?
“That’s not something to blame you for. I get it, Em. You don’t like what I do for a living. You don’t like that I take pleasure in demolishing certain things. That’s okay. You’re allowed to feel that way, but it doesn’t have to be something that comes between us.”
“How can it not?”
“Easy.” He shrugged. “As I said, I’ll never judge what you do with your career. As long as you’re happy and at peace with your decisions, what right do I have to judge that?”
She shook her head, unable to form a response.
“I have an idea.” Dae took her hand and led her into the shed. He turned her in his arms and sealed his lips over hers.
Emily resisted at first. Or at least she tried to, but within seconds her lips opened to him and her tongue slid over his. When they were intimate, everything else fell away. All it took was one brush of his lips and the tension in her body eased, but the intimacy was just a reminder of how much they had together. This was a bump in the road. A big one, but she could focus on finding a middle ground. Couldn’t she?
When their mouths parted, he smiled down at her. “I could do that all day.”
“Middle ground,” she managed.
“Right.” He wheeled a bike over to her and then wheeled one out for himself. “I think we should go on our bike tour—including the stop at the property we’re talking about—”
“The House of Wishes.” She wanted him to recognize it for the myth the property carried, like showing a serial killer that a potential victim was a living, breathing person—hoping it might change the outcome.
“Yes, that one.” He smirked. “And we should debate the viability of some of the places we pass along the way. We’ll keep a list, and when we come back tonight, we can review the list and see where we stand.”
“How can that possibly help?” She pushed her bike out of the shed.
“I think we can learn a lot about each other, and our own thoughts, by writing down why we think things should be demolished or preserved.”
She had little faith that this would do more than make their differences very clear. “What if we come back and we’re still at a standoff?”
“Then we’re no worse off than when we started.”
Emily wanted to close her eyes and miraculously transport back to last night, when all that mattered was that they were in each other’s arms, making love without any real-world issues sucking up her thoughts. Then again, if she had a time machine, she’d find a way to dial back ten years so she could have that much more time with Dae.
BY THE TIME they left the villa, Emily wasn’t quite so mad, and as much as he hoped she understood where he was coming from with regard to Adelina, Dae knew it was still a sore subject. He could only hope that this strategy of his would prove something to them. He’d adapted the idea from something his parents did when he and his siblings were younger. His parents had always encouraged open communication. They felt that opinions were vital to developing a person’s sense of self, and because of this, he and his siblings often engaged in heated debates. Colby was a bullheaded aggressor, while Wade was even tempered and happy to state his opinion and ignore everyone else’s, which just pissed off Colby even more. Eventually, instead of trying to mediate the arguments, his parents had derived a system. No matter what the debate was about, they’d have each sibling write down five to ten reasons why they believed their opinion was right. More often than not, they found a number of commonalities between the opposing sides. He could only hope that he and Emily would also find similar commonalities.
A middle ground.
Emily’s itinerary had included spending the day in the Greve in Chianti. The bike route was scenic and fairly easy without many steep inclines. They’d been cycling for a while and had already stopped twice to make notes on preserving or demolishing houses they’d seen. One looked like an abandoned cottage, and the other was a very large villa in almost pristine condition. He wasn’t sure why Emily had chosen that as a property to debate, but hey, she was game, and he wasn’t going to knock it.
Dae spotted a field of sunflowers up ahead and sped up so he was riding beside Emily.
“Let’s stop up there.”
Her cheeks were a soft shade of pink from the sun and from the exertion of riding for so long, but she looked stunning and cute as hell in her bike helmet. Dae was glad to see her smile reached her eyes again. He knew the afternoon was salvaged, and the discomfort from the morning had been set aside until they chose to deal with it again.
They laid their bikes at the edge of the sunflower field and took long swigs from their water bottles.
“This is incredible,” Emily said, a little out of breath.
“The sunflowers? I know. Have you ever seen so many in one place?”
“Everything, Dae. The bike ride, the rolling hills and views of the farms and valleys. All the different types of villas and farmhouses. It all looks so different from a bike than it does from the confines of a car. Thank you for convincing me to do this.” She leaned over and kissed him.
“If it earns me kisses, I can think of many things I’d like to convince you to do.” He raised his brows and she swatted his arm. “I’m kidding. You weren’t hard to convince. You never fought me on the idea.”
“Not aloud, anyway,” she admitted.
He pulled his phone from the pocket of his shorts and smushed his cheek to hers. “Smile pretty, Emmie.” Dae had faith that they’d figure out this blip on their radar screen, and even if it was more than a blip, Emily was worth fighting for.
She made a face, and as he clicked the photo, he kissed her cheek.
“That’s a keeper.” He laughed. “Look at that tree up on the ridge. The tallest one, standing sentinel over the patch.”
She wrinkled her nose at him, then turned to look over the sunflowers. They were almost as tall as she was, and the look of wonder in Emily’s eyes was something he never wanted to forget. He took a few pictures of Emily while she was mesmerized and unaware of his trigger-happy finger. He loved to look at her, and he knew that once he left Italy, those pictures would have to hold him over.
“It’s amazing. Do you know how much I would have missed if we’d driven?”
“Yes, and if we have it my way and we stay together…” He paused, hating the way if tasted. “Then I’ll make sure you never miss a thing again.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. “I think I’ve needed you in my life for a very long time.”
“Me too, baby. Me too. It’s not the things that slap us in the face that are the most impressive. It’s the things that we have to look a little harder to find. Lo
ok down.” Dae slipped his phone back into his pocket and folded her into his arms, reveling in the comfort of knowing she felt the same way he did.
“What do you see?”
“Our feet.”
He kissed her forehead. “Okay, now let’s pretend you’re in a really gorgeous field of sunflowers and you’re not looking at our feet but you’re looking for something smaller.” He paused long enough for her eyes to shift away from their feet.
“Tiny white flowers?”
“The truth of beauty is in the smaller things. The things most people never see.”
“I notice things,” she said sweetly.
“You sure do. But your mind is always working, worrying about what’s next or how pieces fit together. It’s one of the things about you that fascinates me. But I hope that one day you’ll allow yourself to really relax and realize that the rest of the world can wait while you enjoy the subtler, silent things in life.”
She rested her forehead on his chest. “Okay. You got me. I’m a little neurotic about getting things done.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that, but while you’re getting things done, you might be missing the smaller things that aren’t squeaking so loudly.”
He kissed her again and spoke just above a whisper. “Do you know how much I’m going to miss you when I leave?”
She buried her face in his neck and groaned. “Do you have to remind me? I’m pretending that you’re not leaving. Just for now. I don’t want to think about waking up without you.”
“Oh, you like that, do you?” He nibbled on her ear, earning him an adorable giggle that made his chest constrict in a way that was becoming familiar.
“I like it more than I should after such a short time. I think my brothers would have my head on a platter—or yours—for us getting so close so fast! And their girlfriends would be celebrating that I’m so happy. There’s a thick, dark line between male and female reactions.”
“Oh, come on. Your brothers would be happy for you if you’re happy. I know I was for my sister Leanna when she found Kurt.” He took off his helmet and ran his hand through his hair. It felt good to get out and exercise. Walking around and sightseeing was one thing, but it couldn’t compete with the daily rigorous workouts he usually put himself through. But just like Emily needing a break from her work, he, too, needed a reprieve from his normal schedule. And even if he didn’t, he’d give up his workouts to spend time with Emily.
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