We’re both silent for a moment.
“What do you want to do next amore? Shower? Sex? Sleep?”
I grin, feeling my second wind coming. “Yes please, in that order.”
He climbs on top of me and smothers me in kisses.
“You’re insatiable.”
“For you.”
I pad outside in my robe to grab the newspaper. Is this my life now? I wake up, and each day is my own to do as I please. It’s nearly nine a.m., and I’m in my bathrobe reading the paper. Enzo is nowhere to be found. I see a note sitting on the dining table, nestled by the kitchen.
‘Amore, you have coffee in the kitchen. I will be home soon, just taking care of some things at Girasole. Love you. E.’
A smile spreads across my face. He’ll be home soon. This is home.
I sip my coffee and flip through the paper, wondering what has happened in Phoenix while we’ve been traipsing through Italy.
I open the lifestyle page and am shocked at what I see. Covering almost the entire page is a picture of Enzo and me. It has a huge headline across the top. “Enzo Milano to wed!”
How the hell would the local newspaper know that already? We just got back to the states last night. “Say it isn’t so! Arizona’s most eligible bachelor, Enzo Milano is off the market. For several months, he’s been seen with the same woman who has been identified as thirty-year-old Ava Bradshaw. Miss Bradshaw is originally from Denver, Colorado and previously worked in Finance. Apparently, this lucky lady has what it takes to finally woo the heart of Mr. Milano, who proposed on a recent trip to Italy. It’s safe to say that many hearts are breaking across the country this morning. A date for the wedding has not been set but when Mr. Milano was asked about a date, he had this to say, ‘I’m so happy and in love and cannot wait to make Ava my wife. For me the sooner the better.’”
So he knows about the article? He was interviewed? How did all of this happen so quickly? Where’s my phone?
“Ciao amore. You’re awake?”
“Yes, I’m awake, and reading the lifestyle page in the paper.”
He laughs. “Oh so you saw the article about us?”
“I did. How did they get all of this information so quickly?”
“I told them. I called before we left Italy.”
“Why? I thought you hated being in the gossip pages.”
“This isn’t gossip or speculation. It’s true and I wanted everyone to know the commitment I’ve made to you, and that I am in love. I would expect that going forward, after the wedding of course, I won’t be very interesting anymore.”
“Very smart Enzo.”
“I have my moments. I’ll be home in about an hour then I have some things I want to discuss with you.”
“I’ll be here.”
“Good. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if you weren’t.”
“I’m here. I always will be.”
“Promise?” I hear a glimmer of laughter in his voice.
“Promise. And I always keep my promises.”
“Brava, ciao amore.”
“Ciao.”
I wonder what he wants to talk about, but I have a feeling it will be wedding related. If I know Enzo at all, and I think I do, he will want this to happen quickly. I need to call Cassie and my parents and talk through all of this with them.
“Ava! Hi!” Cassie’s boundless energy bursts through the phone lines.
“Cassie, are you sitting down?”
“Uh yea. What’s going on?”
“He proposed.”
I pull the phone from my ear as Cassie screams at the top of her lungs.
“Are you freaking kidding me? He proposed? Oh my God Ava. Oh my God.”
I laugh. “I’m not kidding. He proposed two nights ago in Italy. It was very romantic of course. And unexpected.”
“Tell me you said yes and didn’t freak out or anything.”
“I said yes. I didn’t even hesitate.”
“Oh my God Ava. This is so exciting. I’m coming out to help you plan. I want to be with you every moment of this.”
I immediately start crying. “Cassie I’m so happy. I can’t believe this is happening. We moved into the amazing house where my birthday party was. I just can’t get over how different my life is now. I didn’t expect or plan for anything like this.”
“How could you plan for this? This is what life should be like, full of wonderful surprises. You moved to Phoenix to reboot your life. I would say this falls into the Epic Win category. You deserve this Ava, do you hear me? You deserve this. You know you deserve him right?”
I stop crying and let her question sink in. “Yes, Cassie. I know I deserve him.”
“Ava I’m so happy for you. Not only that you have an amazing man who loves you, but also that you realize you deserve this happiness. You’ve come a long way baby.”
“Thanks Cass. I’ll call you once I know what the plan is okay.”
“I’ll clear my schedule for you girl, you know that.”
“Yes, I know that. Love you girl.”
“Back at ya.”
I wipe tears from my face as I prepare to call my parents, knowing I’ll just end up crying again.
“Hi mom.”
“Ava oh sweetie.” My mom immediately bursts into tears.
“Is dad home? I want you both on the phone.”
“Let me get him. Edward!” I hear her voice call out for my dad.
“Hey baby girl.”
I feel tears forming in my eyes. “I just wanted to call and tell you both about everything that happened. Enzo proposed, and I said yes.”
My mom is sobbing openly at this point. Dad takes over.
“We know dear. He asked for my blessing before you left. We assumed you would say yes.”
“I know it’s fast dad, but everything feels right. He’s amazing.”
“That much is obvious. I was surprised at first, but I knew from our talk how he felt about you, and that he was sincere. I let him know that he had my blessing and our support. Evelyn, would you pull yourself together?” Dad scolds my mother who has been unable to speak the whole time.
“I’m sorry. This is just so exciting.” She says.
“I think we’ll probably plan the wedding to happen soon. I want to get married here in Phoenix. I hope that doesn’t upset you.”
“Not at all. We’ll be there. We have something to tell you too. Evelyn, why don’t you tell her?”
“Ava sweetie, we’ve been saving for this day since you were five years old. We know Enzo has the money, but we want to give this to you as a gift. We’ve saved thirty thousand dollars for you to have the wedding of your dreams.”
My eyes overflow. I know my parents aren’t rich, and this is so sweet. I have to figure out how to make sure they keep this money.
“Thank you. You guys are the best parents.”
“We have the best daughter.” My dad’s voice cracks.
“I have to go now. I’ll call soon with the plans.”
“Okay, bye Ava. Tell Enzo we said hi.”
“I will.” I’m overwhelmed. There is so much going on emotionally I just can’t stop crying. Enzo will be here soon, and I want to look pretty for him. Time for a shower and some eye cream.
“I’m back Ava.” I hear Enzo’s voice calling to me from the front room.
“I’m in here.”
Enzo walks into the bathroom and watches me towel off.
“Hello beautiful.”
“Hi sexy.” I grin.
“Come to bed with me.”
“You don’t have to ask me twice.”
He undresses and we climb back into bed.
“How was your morning bella?”
“Good. I called Cass and my parents. They said hello.”
Enzo rolls on top of me and kisses my neck. “Mmm, you smell divine amore.”
“It’s the soap I bought in Florence.”
“Firenze. In Italian.” He grins.
“Firenze
.”
“You have to use what you learned.” He kisses my lips.
“I will, yes.” I murmur. “Tesoro mio.”
His eyes meet mine and a smile graces his lips. “Tesoro?”
“I learned it for you. I needed a word to describe what you are to me. My treasure made the most sense.”
“I’ll do my best to live up to it.”
“You already do. Now make love to me will ya?”
“As you wish.”
I run my hands down the smooth, rippled skin of his back. He enters me, filling me, and I melt, devoured by sheer pleasure.
“Ava, I want the wedding to be at Girasole.”
I stretch languidly across the bed. I run my hands over his amazing torso. “I assumed you would. I want that too.”
“Do you really?”
“I would tell you Enzo. I really do. How big of a wedding are we talking here?”
“Huge.”
“What do you mean by huge?”
“Five hundred at least.”
“People? Five hundred people?” Is he serious?
“Of course people. I have at least two hundred in my family alone. Then all my business partners, friends, your family. Huge.”
Whoa. I was imagining maybe a hundred. Five hundred is a lot of damn people. How am I going to plan something like this?
“We’ll hire the best wedding planner in the city.” He’s reading my mind again.
“That would be helpful.”
“I don’t want this to be stressful Ava. This is going to be the best time of our lives, and nothing is going to ruin it. We need to set a date.” He picks up his phone and clicks to the calendar.
“How about October 20th? The weather should be beautiful, and that will give us time to plan and make travel arrangements.”
“Okay. That’s about two months. Do you think that’s enough time?”
“Well let’s see, I own the hotel. I own the restaurants—”
“Okay I get it.” I laugh.
Enzo’s phone rings, startling both of us.
“Enzo. Oh hello…yes it’s true…yes we would like to discuss that with you. You can contact my fiancée from now on. She’s indisposed at the moment but leave her a message and she’ll call you later…yes, that’s her number…certainly…we appreciate it. Thank you again. Goodbye.”
It’s the first time I’ve heard him call me his fiancée and I like it.
“Well, it appears the best wedding planner in the city is going to call you this afternoon.” He grins. “I would expect that you will be called often by many people trying to be a part of this event. Book whatever you like, but the catering is already handled of course.”
“Of course.”
“Money is of no concern. Whatever it takes for the day of your dreams is what we spend.”
“I know.”
“I’m going to call my family today and start making travel arrangements. I expect the wedding planner will call you shortly, and you can get started. Her name is Genevieve.”
“I want Cassie to come out here to help me.”
“As you wish. I’ll call Checca today, we need to get the rest of this house done and get the guest room set up.”
I nod. “My parents have saved a lot of money for this event, and they want to give it to us.”
He shakes his head no, but I keep talking before he can interrupt me. “I want them to keep the money, but I have to trick them into it. If we refuse the money, we’ll have hurt feelings on our hands.”
“Makes sense. What do you want to do?”
“Can we buy them something, a small condo perhaps, a vacation home? Then they can come here as much as they like.”
“Yes, near Desert Ridge there’s a development of patio homes. We’ll go pick one out for your parents.”
“Thank you Enzo.” I sigh. There’s a lot going on at one time.
“Are you okay amore?”
“Yes. It’s just a lot.”
“Yes it is. Do we need to slow down? We can if you need to. I’m just excited. I want you to be my wife as soon as possible.”
“I want to be your wife Enzo. I’ll be fine. I just need to take a deep breath and get organized.”
My phone rings immediately. It’s the wedding planner.
“Let it go amore. You can call her back. Right now, let’s just enjoy each other. I think another ravishing is in order, no?”
I giggle. “Yes.”
He slides down my body to the end of the bed and lifts one foot to his lips, planting soft kisses along the bottom. I squirm a little from the ticklish pleasure. His hands glide slowly up my thighs as he locks his gorgeous blue eyes to mine. I instinctively part my legs to let him closer, watching the growing desire between his legs come to life again. He reaches up and brushes my cheek with his fingers.
“Ava there aren’t enough words to express how much I love you. I don’t know if you even know how much.”
“Actually I think I do know. I’m so amazingly lucky to have found you, and I’ve never felt more sure of what love feels like than I do now. You don’t have to prove it to me. Your love for me is obvious.”
“I just want to make sure you know, and that I will work hard to deserve you every day.” He pushes into me. A soft moan escapes from my lips.
“You deserve me Enzo and I deserve you.” I bury my face in his neck and kiss it passionately. “I love you, more than anything.”
“Ava, you’re my life.” He thrusts harder, and I know he’s going to climax soon. I pull him tighter to me and wrap my legs around him, coaxing him to orgasm.
“God Ava.” He calls out as he releases into me. He lies on top of me for a few minutes and catches his breath. “I’m sorry, that was so fast. I couldn’t contain myself.”
“I loved it. It was emotional and pure.”
“We need to take care of you.” He grins.
“Enzo really, I’m fine and happy.” I don’t need anymore. I’m oversaturated with emotion as it is.
“Come on, shower.” He grabs my hand and leads me to the bathroom.
I step into the hot water and sit on the stone bench in the back of the shower. Enzo comes in behind me and grabs a bottle of body wash. I watch as he pours it into his hands rubbing the soap sensuously between them. He sits beside me and immediately places his hands between my legs, gently washing me. I lean back against the smooth tile and enjoy the sensation. He reaches for the hand-held shower and rinses the soap away. My body tingles with anticipation of what’s next. He slides between my legs and pushes my knees apart giving him ample room. I watch as he presses his tongue against my sex, grinding his face into my body, keeping eye contact with me the entire time.
I tilt my body to give him full access. Intense pleasure shoots through my body as he begins sucking on my clitoris, his fingers plunged deep within me, pumping me to orgasm. My hands tangle in his thick hair as I press into his mouth, desperate for release.
He lifts his head. “Come on Ava, come for me.” His voice is raspy and deep. That’s enough to push me over the edge.
“Oh yes!” Exquisite pleasure melts over my body.
“Yes baby, keep going.” Enzo continues pumping his fingers in me as my body convulses through my climax. I slump against the wall, my body weakened from the intensity of my orgasm. Enzo lifts me up and carries me out to the bedroom, laying me on the bed. He returns quickly and wraps me in a fluffy towel.
“Sleep now amore.” He whispers.
I will do just that.
“May I speak with Genevieve please? This is Ava Bradshaw.” The wedding planner goes solely by her first name. You know you’ve made it when last names are no longer necessary.
“Miss Bradshaw.” Genevieve comes on the line quickly. “Thank you for returning my call.”
“Of course. Thank you for calling.”
“I’d love to represent you and Mr. Milano for your big day. I know you must have so many options, but I assure you I can make any dream you have a
reality.”
I can’t help but think that her enthusiasm for my wedding is related to my high profile, formerly notorious bachelor, fiancé.
“I’m sure you can. We have the location and caterer so far but there are many more details. It’s going to be very large, and we are aiming for October 20th. Can you pull that off?
“I can pull off whatever you desire.” Her tone is confident, and I wonder how many brides’ plans will be derailed to accommodate me.
“Where is your location?”
“Girasole.”
“Yes, of course. Okay, let’s talk about your vision and go from there.”
My vision? I don’t have one. I never saw this coming. There is only one obvious choice.
“I want it to look like we’re sitting in Tuscany. I want sunflowers everywhere. And it should be very authentically Italian. Nothing cliché.”
“Of course. It will be lovely Miss Bradshaw. I want you to trust me, and I will give my all to your special day.”
“I do trust you Genevieve. And please call me Ava.”
“Okay. I will get to work on the plans and call you soon to meet and discuss. Does that work for you?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Whew, okay. That’s taken care of. Now onto Cassie.
“Hey Cass. How soon can you be here? The wedding is October 20th.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Not kidding. You won’t believe this. I have the best wedding planner in the city working for me. I need to get busy with the details girl. I need you here.”
“Okay I’ll get all my regular clients taken care of and set up with my partner while I’m gone. I can be there in a few days probably.”
“Chris can come too if he can get away. We have the space for both of you.”
Chris works from home designing websites, so I know he has a flexible schedule, and it would make Cassie happy to have him here.
“Seriously? That’s great. Okay. Wow Ava. This is all happening so fast. For once, I’m almost speechless. Are you handling all of this alright?”
“Honestly, I think I’m on autopilot right now. I have a lot to do, but I’m doing fine. I’m excited of course.”
“You better be. If you weren’t I’d come over there and punch you in the throat.”
Turn Towards the Sun Page 28