by J. A. Low
“Oh, really.” I’m surprised that Luca kept his word.
“I’ve had a look at your resume and your experience is exactly what we are looking for; young, passionate people, who want to help the world.”
“Thank you, so much, that is so kind of you to say. What is it, exactly, that you do?”
“Ah, of course, scusa. I am the CEO of Italy’s biggest global charity foundation. We distribute millions of dollars every year to charities around the world. We are looking for doctors with experience on the ground to help us distribute the money, and set up more beneficial programs for the world’s underprivileged, instead of just handing over money, which can fall into the wrong hands.” Wow, this sounds amazing, this is exactly what I would love to do.
“So, I wouldn’t necessarily be a doctor, on the ground.”
“Not all the time, but we would make sure all your certificates would stay current with ongoing learning. But, you would be on the ground helping set up certain programs, you would also drop into others, check that they are all running smoothly, from a medical standpoint.”
“This all sounds very interesting. Do I have to give you an answer right away?”
“No, please, take your time. I will email you an information pack about our foundation, as well as the contract and job description.” This sounds so interesting, and I am kind of excited about it, if I’m honest.
“That sounds perfect, thank you so much, Mr Rossi.”
“Grazie, Miss Simpson.”
I do a little dance around the cottage once the phone call ends. Crumbs from my chest fall all over the floor. Maybe Lauren is right about fate, maybe fate has other plans, like finding me a perfect job, not a perfect man.
15
Lilly
I’m so nervous, my leg won’t stop bouncing as the car races through the ancient streets of Rome to my hotel. I have my interview with Andrea Rossi, the CEO of the charity foundation, and I’m guessing a good friend of Luca’s, because he is the reason I’m here. My mind wanders to Luca, as I’m in his hometown, it would be totally awkward if I ran into him. What would I do if I did? Probably jump into his arms, because I miss him so much. I do, I tried not to, but he is persistent and his daily text messages, I look forward to them. The sleek black Mercedes pulls up out the front of a tall glass office building.
“I will take your bags to the hotel, Miss Simpson,” the driver advises me, as he helps me out of the car.
“Grazie.”
I take a moment to compose myself and walk into the luxurious building. I check in with the building’s receptionist, she hands me a special day pass, and gives me directions to the 20th floor. Here I go, all or nothing.
I needn’t have worried; the interview was a success. They offered the job to me on the spot and I couldn’t say no. How could I say no. I get to help save people’s lives, with lots and lots of money. My driver is waiting for me out the front of the building, and takes me to my hotel. He pulls up out the front of a gorgeous old building, near the famous Spanish Steps, nestled in between designer shops, which would be great if I was rich, but it’s truly in a great area. I can’t wait to explore.
“Signora Simpson, welcome,” a well-dressed doorman greets me. This hotel has great personalized service.
“Grazie.” As I follow him into a grand foyer, I look around but don’t see any check-in decks, which is weird, maybe I’ve come in the back entrance or something. He holds open the lift door for me and I follow, he hits the A button. Usually that top button on a lift anywhere is for the penthouse, and attico is the Italian word for penthouse. This charity went all out. I feel bad, this must cost them a pretty penny to put me up like this.
“We are here.” The lift doors open and the man asks for me to step out. Which I do, right into a grand marbled foyer, but what grabs my attention instantly is, at the end of the foyer is a terrace and all I can see is grand Italian buildings all around. I rush outside and take in the view. We are right above the Spanish Steps, with some other famously old buildings surrounding them, but I have no idea what they are.
“It is beautiful, isn’t it?” That voice, the one I have missed for the past couple of weeks. No, he can’t be here. I feel his presence behind me, but I don’t dare look at him. “Lilly, please look at me.” My hands are shaking, I’m not prepared to see him. I take a deep breath and turn around. Nothing in my head prepared me for the man standing in front of me. Holy cow, he’s gorgeous. This man, right here, definitely looks like a prince. His scraggy beard has been shaved off, and been replaced with a clean-cut vibe. His inky black hair is slicked back; he’s dressed in a killer suit. “You look good.” That cocky smirk is still planted on his gorgeous face, as chocolate eyes drift over me, from head to toe. My body’s warming under his intense gaze.
“What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to say congratulations on your new job.” My eyes narrow, he found out about that quickly.
“Thank you.”
“You will be an incredible asset to our company.” I still. Our company.
“This is your charity?” Luca realizes his faux pas, the tone of my voice pretty much tells him what I think of that.
“We raise a lot of money for that charity, I’m it’s patron.”
“And you didn’t think you should have mentioned this to me?”
“I thought you would be happy.” He looks at me, confused.
“You tricked me.” The room goes silent at my accusation, I’m angry. “The job sounds amazing, but I can’t take it.”
“What! No. Lilly, no.” I can’t do this. Pushing past him, I search the enormous penthouse for my bag.
“How big is this fucking place?” I yell, opening up a million and one doors.
“It’s the door on the end, my bedroom.” His voice is sad.
“This is your home?” I look around at the opulent apartment.
“Si.”
“Why?” He looks at me, confused. “Why did you bring me here?” Luca digs his hands into his pockets.
“Because I missed you, Lilly. I hoped that maybe you would fall in love with it, the view, everything, and that you would want to share it with me.” My heart beats uncontrollably in my chest. He wants us to share this house? It’s warm, I feel warm. I reach out to steady myself, am I having a panic attack? “Lilly.” Luca moves towards me, but doesn’t touch me.
“I don’t belong here.” My words come out in barely a whisper. I lean back against the wall, letting the cool surface calm me down.
“But, you belong with me.” I can see the pleading in his eyes.
“We would never work.” This place is way too opulent for me.
“Why, because you don’t love me?” Love. Do I love him? Of course, I do, but sometimes love doesn’t conquer all. I close my eyes, trying to find the strength to tell him how I feel.
“I love you.” The words are faint.
“Thank God.” Luca moves closer, his body is inches away from mine, his heat radiating off of him. I open my eyes and watch as he takes off his suit jacket, then his tie, throwing them to the ground. He takes off his cufflinks, they bounce on the floor. He rolls the cuffs of his business shirt up, over his olive skin, and places his hands on either side of my head. “I love you, Lilly Simpson. You can run and run, but I will always find you. So, you’re not ready for me yet, I can understand that. I’ll wait. I will wait until the time comes when you realize that there is no one else in this world that means more to me than you do. I will wait until you know that I’m loyal and true to only you. I will wait until you realize we do belong together, and that no one will love you, with all of their heart, more than I do.” Shit on a broomstick. That is the sweetest fucking thing anyone has ever said to me, the tears stream down my cheeks. How the hell is a girl meant to say no to that. Ugh. He’s playing dirty. Fuck it. I lean forward and kiss him. He’s shocked for a mere couple of seconds but then my Luke is back, pressing me up against the wall, his thick fingers running through my hair,
his large palm holding my face as his plump lips kiss me, his teeth nip me. Groans and sighs come from the both of us, as tongues collide in a frantic kiss that has been built up after all these weeks apart.
“Fuck, I’ve missed you, Lilly.” Hhhmmm, I moan as he lifts up my pencil skirt, the material pooling around my waist. “Do you have any idea what I have done to my hand since we’ve been apart.” I shake my head, as my fingers unbuckle his belt. “Blisters, I gave myself blisters from thinking about you. My fucking hand was the poorest substitute to your pussy.” Oh, shit, Luca’s brought out the dirty talking, yes, boy, yes. I’m frantic now, as I push his suit pants and briefs to the floor. “I need to be inside of you, Lilly.” I nod, giving him the green light to do all the dirty, delicious things he wants to do to me. Luca rips off my knickers; another pair that seemed pretty sturdy, but against his hands, just rip to shreds. He’s lifting up one of my legs and hooking it around his waist, as he enters me in one easy thrust. “Merda,” he hisses, burying himself inside of me. I feel so full, has he always been this big. My fingers dig into his fleshy globes, urging him on for more, needing him, needing us. My back rubs against the wall, the painting further down shakes as he frantically thrusts into me. Yes, yes, yes. If this is what fate had in mind, then I believe. I’m a believer. “You’re never running again, Lilly. Do you hear me?” I mumble something incoherent, because I will say yes to pretty much anything right at this moment if he continues to fuck me like he is. “It’s you and me, we’re a team now.”
“Yes. Oh, yes.” See what I mean, I have no idea what I am agreeing to. Does it really matter? As long as it is yes to more of this, I’m fine.
Epilogue
Lilly
One year later
And they lived happily ever after.
Jokes. We totally didn’t. It took us awhile to get to that happily ever after. There were a couple of bumps along the way, namely, a girl called Allegra, my soon-to-be sister-in-law, who is actually one of my closest friends now. I know, hell has frozen over and all that jazz. No, it actually took her bestie Rachele sleeping with her boyfriend to come over to Camp Simpson. Lolly said that was karma working her magic, and she’s probably right.
The king and queen, well, they did take a little bit of convincing, when Luca first introduced us. They are old school royal. You know, thou shalt not marry a commoner for you will shame the family name. Yeah, that kind of old school. But, I eventually won them over with my charm and pure awesomeness. Okay, Luca told them he was going to be with me and if they said no he would give up his title. That was some kind of soap opera saga there, but once they got to know me, and saw that I was someone who genuinely loved their son, I was finally accepted. May have also been my homemade Scottish shortbread I made for the king that tipped it over the edge. He loves the stuff.
As for my parents, you can just imagine how excited they are that I am dating a prince. That is some great bragging rights they have amongst their friends now.
Lolly and Alistair just got married in Glencoe, in a barn. No, really, he moved all the sheep out and Lolly and I turned it into the most beautiful wedding reception Glencoe has ever seen. Of course, the day was not traditional at all; Lolly wore a stunning blush pink wedding dress, her hair matched, she wore rainbow wellies underneath her wedding dress, because, well, she was having a wedding on a farm and it was muddy from all the summer rain. The bridesmaids wore different colored dresses in a pastel, to make a rainbow. I chose violet, we too had wellies on under our dresses. The bouquets were made of flowers picked from the fields by the locals, the food was provided by the pub and all the men wore their finest kilts. Even Luca. We got him a special one made up, and I can tell you he went traditional, nothing on underneath it, which led to some crazy shenanigans in one of the fields later that night. Thankfully, Glencoe was shut down to the paparazzi, because the things we did behind bales of hay, it would be a royal scandal for sure, but totally worth it.
And as for Rob, well, that was pretty funny. I wanted to show Luca my life in Africa, plus, I wanted to reconnect with my old team and see what the foundation could do in regards to well-needed resources. The day finally arrived and Luca and I were greeted like royalty. All the kids were out in their finest, singing and dancing. It was magical. We made our way down the line, and the shocked look on Rob’s face when he saw who he was waiting to greet, it made the whole 24-hour journey worthwhile. His face paled and he looked extremely uncomfortable. Luca was a couple of paces behind me when I made it to where Rob was.
“You look fantastic, Lilly.” Rob looks me over with hunger.
“I know. Great sex will do that for you,” I lean in and whisper to him, because I’m on a royal function.
“You’re with him?” Rob shakes his head at Luca.
“Yep, sure am. I’m going to be a princess.” Rob’s eyes bug out. “You being a dick was the best thing that ever happened to me. Because it led me to Luca.” Rob splutters over my words. “Fate had other plans.” I give him my most gracious royal smile. “Good luck with things.” And with that, I move on to the next person. I was a little nervous when it became Luca’s turn to greet Rob. I watch over my shoulder as they shook hands firmly in that macho way boys do. Luca says something to Rob and then moves on to the next person.
I eventually found out what Luca told him. “Thanks for messing up, because I found someone who gives me the best blow jobs in the world.” It was totally crude, but kind of epically awesome at the same time.
And here we are, one year on from when we first met, a couple of days before Christmas and what a difference a year makes. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect to fall for the hot naked stranger in my cottage, and for him to turn out to be a prince or the love of my life. I think I went and won the fairy tale lottery there. I’m also helping more underprivileged people in the world by distributing millions of dollars of well-needed aid to the right people. My heart is bursting; I am ridiculously happy. I think I have finally got it all.
Epilogue
LUCA
One year ago, this crazy brunette stumbled into the cottage I rented and bowled me over instantly. I knew from that first moment that she might be someone special, well, that was until she threatened to call the cops on me. Not going to lie, that had me changing my mind for a couple of seconds. But, how could I not fall for this genuine, funny, happy, intelligent, beautiful and totally awkward woman. I thank fate every day for pushing us together and for not letting either of us marry someone we shouldn't have. Which leads me to this moment.
I have whisked her away to my vineyard in Trento, in the stunning Dolomites mountain region, which is part of the Alps. It’s as close as I am going to get to recreating the day we met. I left earlier than her to set everything up. I came in via helicopter because it’s just too far to drive for the one night. It’s on its way back to Rome to pick her up. I rush to get everything ready for tonight.
My phone lights up with a text; my helicopter pilot letting me know he has dropped Lilly off. It shouldn’t be long till she arrives. I’m nervous, like, really nervous.
“Babe,” Lilly calls out through the empty villa. I take a deep breath and make my way into the living room where she is standing. “Oh, my God,” Lilly squeals, then bursts out laughing. Okay, seeing your partner naked should not make you laugh. “Why does your dick have a bow wrapped around it?”
“Unwrap it and see,” I tell her, giving her a seductive wink, which just makes her bend over laughing. This is not at all how I thought the evening would go. She walks over to me; I can see the tear marks running down her cheeks. But then her hands are on my dick, and I forget all about my humiliation. She’s unwrapping the bow and the box falls to the floor. That’s my cue to get down on one knee. The marble is cold.
“Lilly Ava Simpson.”
“Yes. Yes. Yes,” she screams at me.
“Babe, I haven’t asked you anything yet.”
“Oh, yeah, you’re right, continue on.” This is not go
ing to plan, but I power on through.
“Lilly, when I look at you, all I see is a long life ahead filled with laughter and happiness.” Now, real tears fall down her cheeks. “There is no one in this world that I want to spend the rest of my life with, more than you. Will you marry me?” The speech I had prepared was so much better than what I just said, but the nerves got the better of me.
“Yes.” She bowls me over, kissing me. “Yes. Yes. Yes.” She laughs.
“I need to put the ring on.”
“Shivers, sorry. I’ve messed this all up for you. I’m sorry, babe,” Lilly apologizes.
“As long as you said yes, that’s all that matters,” I reply, opening the blue ring box.
“Holy moly,” Lilly gasps, pulling out the family heirloom. “That is one big diamond.” I take it out from the velvet box and slide it onto her finger. “It’s so heavy. But, I don’t care because it’s beautiful.”
“It is over three hundred years old.” Lilly’s eyes widen.
“Many royals wore this ring.”
“That is so much more special, it’s like a connection with long lost family. Knowing that someone wore this a lifetime ago, wow. I just love it.” My body relaxes now. I was unsure whether or not she would love a second-hand ring, but she does, she understands the family history significance of it.
“I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you, Princepessa Lilly.”
“Okay, that is going to take some getting used to.” She giggles, staring at the ring.
“Hey.” She stops and looks around the villa, noticing it for the first time. “You told me that your friend owned a vineyard in Trento. Is this his place?” I shake my head.