by Lia Lee
She could feel something about Florence settle into her bones, making her feel almost as if she knew it. There was a kind of exhilaration to it, coming to a place that she knew she would love and breathing on the edge of discovering everything about it.
Abruptly, Luna realized that Tucker was watching her with amusement, a glint in his amber eyes. She turned from the window towards him, feeling strangely wary. He had been intimidating enough when she had had no idea who he was, but somehow, it was even worse after getting to know a little bit about him.
"What?" she asked warily. "You look like you're right on the verge of making fun of me..."
"Only wondering what it is that you find so interesting out there," he said with amusement. "It really is just a normal day in Florence."
She blinked at him and realized with a pang that to him, there was nothing exceptional or special about this at all. Luna would have expected that that would have made it less special to her as well, but for some reason, it only made her ache. There was something magical about the city, and for some reason, whether because it was prolonged exposure or simply due to the fact that she suspected he was a little jaded, Tucker couldn't see it.
The safe thing to have done, she realized, would have been to smile and stay quiet. She was canny enough to know that that would have saved her from any ridicule. Instead, Luna felt something about Tucker's indifference touch her.
"Oh, it is definitely a normal day in Florence, but look..."
The limousine was stopped briefly at a corner, and from their location, they could see a fountain carved with gorgeous arching fish, a mermaid ruling over the plumes of water that jetted around her.
"There's a mermaid right in the street there," Luna said. "There are stories wrapped around her that might go back hundreds of years, starting with the people who made her to the lovers who might be using her as an illicit meeting place today.
"Over on this side, there's a bakery, and I know that if we got out of the car to see what they have, it would simply smell amazing. Do you know how much effort goes into making fresh bread? And yet, every morning, the people who work there do, and their lives are all wrapped up in the beauty of this city.
"That arch over the municipal building there. Who designed it? Who decided that it should be shaped just like that, casting shadows over those who walk in? Did they have to fight to make it look like that? Who saw that arch, and who decided it was beautiful?"
She ran out of breath, and she knew her cheeks were a little pink. It wasn't until she was done that she risked looking up at Tucker.
He was not laughing at her, as she feared he would do, and neither was he ignoring her, as she thought he might. Instead he watched her with his head tilted to one side, a faintly puzzled expression on his face.
"But you could say nearly all of that about Chicago as well," he objected. "Every place in the world could have spots like that."
Luna smiled, and for some reason, she wanted nothing more than to touch his face. There was something almost lost about him, as if he could not possibly see the world that she described.
"Well, Chicago is magical too," she said with a nod. "There are places in Chicago that are just as beautiful and just as wonderful as this. I have explored Chicago for years, however, and I have not had a chance to explore Florence just yet. For that opportunity alone, I have to thank you."
He frowned at her, and she wondered when anyone had last spoken of magic to him. As a hard-headed real estate developer, she guessed that it did not get brought up a great deal.
"But if every place has its own magic, then you are saying that there is really nothing mundane about the world at all."
Luna beamed at him.
"That's exactly right. I think it's an artist thing. It's my job, and more than that, it's my duty to find the strange and wonderful things of the world, to show magic to people who may not believe in it."
He raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"People like me, you mean."
She blushed, because after all, Tucker was a man well-versed in the ways of the world. God, she must look like a child to him. Luna dropped her gaze, but Tucker touched her chin, making her look up at him. Sometimes, when the light hit them just right, Tucker's eyes looked as warm as honey.
"I've embarrassed you," he said with a small amount of chagrin. "Please, do not be embarrassed. That is... a fine calling for an artist. Magic has no place in my world, but that does not mean that I never think about it. That I never want it."
She was still reeling from this revelation when he pulled back and settled into the seat. He looked almost embarrassed himself that that confession had come out of him, but Luna felt a soft warmth spread through her.
For a man who could do as he pleased, it seemed as if there were some parts of Tucker that never got to come out into the light. She found her heart warming towards the man.
I need to be careful, she reminded herself. I'm here for one reason and one reason only. Once I have that baby, everything is going to change, and I know it. I need to make sure that I keep a proper distance. If I don't...
The thought of it made her shiver. How terrible it would be to be in love with a man, to hold the child they had made together in her arms, and then to have both taken away from her.
It all seemed very far away, however, and right now, the sun was shining, she was seeing the beauty of Florence for the very first time, and the man that sat beside her, even if he was silent, made her feel warm in a way that she had never thought about before.
***
"This place is amazing," Luna whispered, looking around in awe. In the limousine ride over, Tucker had mentioned that he had had a flat that he owned cleaned up and turned out for them. When he had said that, Luna supposed that she had been thinking of some of the more elegant apartments that she had visited in Chicago when she was delivering one of her creations to a client, a place with tall white walls and windows that looked out over the cityscape.
Of course when Tucker Keene talked about a flat, he meant something else.
His flat took up the entire top floor of a four-story building, and the moment Luna stepped into the elegant golden birdcage of elevator, she was overwhelmed by the beauty and the age of the place. Everywhere she looked was gilt and marble, and the furniture that adorned the front sitting area alone was beautiful antique, likely worth thousands of dollars. From the delicately green striped wallpaper to the deep green of the velvet chaise, she could feel the history and the wealth that went into every piece of the flat here, and after she got done being nervous about touching things, that was all she wanted to do. The sun was setting, giving the entire place a mysterious indigo cast, and after she had given up exploring everything she could, she curled up on the chaise.
Luna watched as Tucker loosened his tie and poured a small amount of whiskey into a cut-glass tumbler. He had watched her explore with no small amount of amusement, and then he had had some business calls to take. Now he looked like a man completely at ease in his own home, ready to relax in an environment that was entirely at his command.
Tucker caught her watching him and paused.
"Do you want a drink?" he asked, and she shook her head.
"It probably wouldn't be good for me if we're actually trying to conceive," she said, pleased that her voice didn't tremble at all. "And um, well, I never drink anyway."
He didn't respond to that except with a shrug, putting the bottle away in a mahogany cabinet designed for the purpose. There was a kind of anticipation in the air, and she studied him. Tucker was his own work of art in a certain way, all clean lines and masculine strength. There was something starkly powerful about him, and it both thrilled her and frightened her a little.
When he finished the alcohol, Luna was almost surprised to find herself speaking.
"Do you need to gather your courage?" she asked, daring to tease a little, and she was rewarded with a soft chuckle.
"Not at all," he said, and he came to sit next to
her. The sudden proximity made her temperature rise for some reason, and she started to say something, but then he was grasping her in his arms, tugging her onto his lap. She started to protest, that she was far too heavy for something like that, but he only said "shush" and pulled her more closely to his body. She felt a hot lick of fire rise up inside her as she could feel his body more closely and clearly. God, he was a big man. She had always been on the curvier side of things, and she realized suddenly that there was certainly something that she appreciated about how strong he was, how he seemed to completely overwhelm her.
He kissed her deeply at first, seeming to drink her very breath from her mouth. She had never thought that her mouth could be as sensitive as it had proved to be, and now she experimented with it, seeing if more pressure or less felt better, how he might groan when she flickered her tongue across his lips.
Of course just when she thought she was getting the hang of things, he changed the game again and started kissing her jaw and the curve of her neck. The way he made her squirm had nothing to do with her being ticklish and everything to do with how fiery shivers of pleasure started to run through her body. When Tucker pressed his lips against the pulse in her throat, she whimpered. That was her life pulsing there, and she knew how very sharp Tucker's teeth were. She did not think for a moment that he would harm her, but there was an instinctive thrill from having him so close.
"Christ, you're delightful," he murmured, nuzzling at her throat again. He reached for the collar of her dress, running his fingers along the neckline until he could reach in and fondle her breasts. She had been groped before, by strangers, on the train or the bus, but that was nothing like what Tucker was doing. Everywhere he touched, he seemed to wake up her body. He caressed her breasts first over her bra and then over it, bringing her nipples to aching hardness.
"I've wanted this," he said, which didn't make much sense, and then it mattered far less as he squeezed a nipple between two fingers, making her gasp out loud. She squirmed on his lap, and now she could feel him hardening underneath her. It was undeniable proof of what was going to happen next, and the thought both made her pulse with longing and stiffen with fear.
Tucker could feel the nervousness laced through her frame, and he pulled back a little, looking up at her.
"Are you quite all right??
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him, to let the secret that she had been holding all this time go. It was a question she kept expecting to get asked in the interview process, but had never come. It was information that she should have volunteered, but she had never felt it was important enough.
No, that was a fib. She knew how important it was, and she had simply never brought it up for embarrassment’s sake. Now, though, she didn't have a choice, and he had even obliged by giving her the perfect opening.
"I..."
Before she could get another word out, however, there was an enormous clap of thunder that felt as if it shook the room. Startled nearly out of her skin, Luna leaped off of Tucker's lap, standing straight and trembling a few feet away and looking around wide-eyed. Just as she figured out what the terrible sound had been, there was another crack of thunder and rain started pelting down hard. There was a kind of wildness to the sound, and Luna turned her eyes to Tucker, who was watching her with hunger.
"Come on," he said, standing up. "I think that our first time shouldn't be in the living room, don't you?"
Luna couldn't stop a sound that was half arousal and half fear from escaping between her teeth, but she took Tucker's hand and allowed him to lead her deeper into the house.
Chapter Eight
The master suite was enormous, and unlike the rest of the flat, which was done up in baroque splendor, it was comparatively simple. The floor was chilly black marble adorned with woven charcoal gray rugs, and nearly the only piece of furniture was an enormous canopied bed. It was hard to imagine just one or two people sleeping in it; it would have barely fit in her entire apartment in Chicago.
Luna took this all in in a flash, because the moment that the door was shut behind them, Tucker dragged her into his arms again. There was something desperate this time about his kisses, something that she knew wouldn't be put off by something as simple as the weather again. It tugged at the heat inside her, but suddenly she couldn't make her mind quiet.
Can he tell that I'm not used to this? she wondered. Oh god, what am I supposed to do? Do I try to undress him? Do I undress myself? Is he just going to tear my clothes off?
The thoughts whirled through her head, threatening to make her dizzy. He was still kissing her, and it still felt good, but now her secret trembled between them. When could she tell him? When would it stop looking like some kind of trick that she had played on him, something that would make him send her away? Could she keep kissing him for a little longer, at least...?
Finally, however, the thoughts bubbled over, and she knew that if she didn't do something sooner rather than later, she was going to send herself off into some kind of panic.
“I... I have to use the bathroom,” Luna squeaked, and to her intense relief, Tucker let her go with a slightly quizzical look.
Once she was in the master suite's bathroom, she shut the door and turned on the faucet, trying to make herself breathe slowly and evenly.
Okay, she thought. Okay. He still doesn't seem to know. That's good. That's awesome.
She glanced up at her reflection in the mirror, and then she stared. She could barely recognize herself. In the mirror, her eyes looked far darker than she thought they ever had, and her hair was rumpled as if she had been out in a high wind. Perhaps most damning of all was her mouth, as red as if she had applied the wildest lipstick that she could find. When she touched her lips gently, she nearly whimpered because she could still feel Tucker's mouth on hers, and then she could imagine his hands on her, running up and down her body, making her feel as if she was on fire.
To distract herself for the moment, she looked around the bathroom. Her apartment could have easily fit inside it. There was a large glassed-in shower where it looked as if the water fell from the ceiling like a rain, the sink basin was clear crystal, but perhaps the most impressive thing was the bathtub, sunk into a raised marble platform and with crystal fixtures. Two people could fit easily into that tub, and it occurred to Luna that more could fit if they were close. She remembered a few of the rumors that she had heard about Tucker, and she could have groaned again.
What the hell am I doing? Luna wondered. He's going to think that I'm a naïve idiot.
Well, she was a naïve idiot that had been paid well for this service, and regardless of how nervous she was or how she wished she had at least had a boyfriend before this, it was something that she had to go through with. Almost on the spur of the moment, she decided to confess to him. You could never go wrong by telling the truth, right?
She washed her hands in icy cold water to brace herself, and putting her chin up in the air, Luna marched back into the bedroom.
Tucker stood by the window, staring out at the storm, but he turned back to her quickly when she appeared. He started to say something, but she stopped him. She walked closer to him until she was nearly in arm's reach and then stopped. To her relief, he didn't tease her or question her. Instead, he only looked at her curiously, and she wondered if she could sense some compassion in his gaze.
“Thank you for waiting,” she said, painfully aware that she sounded as if she was at a business meeting. “Tucker. I'm afraid that I have something to tell you. I'm worried that you might take it the wrong way or be angry, but I need to tell you anyway. It's not easy, and-”
“Is it that you're a virgin?” Tucker asked and she gaped at him, a hot blush rising up on her fair skin.
“What... I mean, yes, but... oh my god, did you know the whole time?” The last phrase came out as a wail, and she might have run back into the bathroom and locked herself in if he hadn't caught her hand in his. His hand was inexpressibly warm, and even as her heart
was beating fast and her face seemed to turn as bright as the sunrise, she took a strange comfort in it.
“I didn't know,” he admitted, and that was something at least. “It wasn't something I expected. I mean, you're twenty--two, living in the United States, independent and so confident...”
He shook his head.
“And before you start getting worried that it's about technique or something like that, no. Not at all. I wouldn't have known at all from the way you kissed me, believe me. The way you kissed me... well, it was something else again.”
“What's that supposed to mean?” Luna asked, her voice high and nervous. In response, Tucker simply laughed and dragged her close. She was startled by how easy she already felt in his presence, how normal and safe and warm she felt with his arms around her.
“Christ, take a compliment once in a while,” he said with another soft laugh. “No, I didn't know when we kissed, but I suspected when I could see you start to over-think things. Suddenly it looked as if you were wondering whether you were kissing me right, where you needed to put your hands, what you needed to happen next." Tucker shook his head, and she found herself both slightly resentful of his experience in these matters and a little resentful of her own inexperienced.
"Well, that about sums it up," she said, trying to be as blasé as he looked. "I suppose you have the answer to all of that?"
"For virginity? As a matter of fact I do," Tucker said with a laugh. "Take me to bed, and don't call me too early in the morning."
It wasn't a very good joke, but something about the way that Tucker delivered it surprised a giggle out of her. She covered her mouth with her hand, but Tucker tugged it away with a brief grin, running the knuckles of one hand over her cheek. Without thinking about it, she leaned in, and unexpectedly, there was that heat again, rising up and making her whimper with need.