by Lynsay Sands
“What?” Zani asked with alarm. “But—”
“I’m afraid you will have to go without me too,” Raffaele said firmly, interrupting Zani’s protest. “A nice quiet night in the hotel, maybe watching a movie and eating tiramisu, sounds much nicer to me than fighting my way through a dark, crowded, and noisy club.”
“Exactly,” Jess said with obvious relief.
Zani relaxed and nodded then, but couldn’t resist adding, “See. Perfect for each other. Aren’t you glad I picked Punta Cana for our vacation?”
Raffaele just shook his head and looked around for their waiter. He spotted the man, even as the server noted him looking, and headed their way. Raffaele put in the order for two of the tiramisu desserts to go, and then turned his attention back to his food. By the time they were done eating, the desserts were waiting.
“Did you want a coffee or cappuccino before we head back?” Raffaele asked when Jess set her napkin over the remains of her meal and sat back in her seat with a little sigh. When Jess hesitated, Raffaele added, “Or we could pick one up to go on the way out if they have them. Or grab one somewhere else as we’re heading back to the hotel.”
“One to go,” she decided, appearing relieved at the offer.
Nodding, Raffaele gestured to their waiter again and asked about the coffees when he hurried to the table. The man assured him that was possible and he’d get them at once. Their waiter was true to his word and, within minutes, Raffaele had settled the bill and was escorting Jess out of the restaurant, leaving Santo to watch Zani eat his dessert. The big man hadn’t eaten anything himself, but he had ordered the sea bass like Zanipolo and had slid his fish and the rice side dish to Zanipolo a little at a time when Jess was looking the other way.
Much to Raffaele’s amusement, that hadn’t been enough to fill the young immortal and he’d ordered two desserts and two cappuccinos before Raff had settled the bill. He’d acted like he was ordering them for him and Santo, but Raffaele knew Santo wouldn’t eat any of the delicious-looking dessert either. Nor would he touch the cappuccino. Santo hadn’t eaten mortal food in centuries.
“I hope you didn’t bypass dancing just because you were worried about me. I would have been fine going back to the hotel alone.”
Raffaele glanced to Jess with surprise when she murmured that as they stepped out of the restaurant. “No,” he assured her firmly as he took her arm to start up the street. “I’m not one for dance clubs. I don’t mind playing in them with the band, but . . .” He shrugged and then admitted, “Watching from the stage when we’re playing, it seems to me that they’re just places where drunk and lonely people go to hook up with other drunk and lonely people.”
“I know, right?” Jess said. “It’s the same deal when I work at the bar. I see all these drunk girls leaving with guys they met like five minutes ago and I know they’re just doing it because they’re lonely and desperate for someone to like them. And that they’re going to regret it in the morning.” She shook her head. “I like to dance, but it hardly seems worth having to put up with the noise and crowds and drunk idiots hitting on me while I’m trying to dance.” Sighing, she shook her head. “I guess working in the bar and dealing with people at the clinic and in class all the time has made me something of a homebody. When I get time off, I just want to go home, putter in the garden, and then put my feet up and read a book, do crosswords, or watch a movie.”
Raffaele smiled faintly and nodded. “I am much the same way. Well, except for the working in the garden. I have a gardener who takes care of that, but I read, play the piano, and watch movies. And I love doing crosswords,” he admitted with a grin. “I find them addictive.”
“Me too,” Jess said happily. “I even brought a crossword book with me so I could do them on the beach here.” Grimacing, she added, “It was in the side pocket of my suitcase still, so I guess Vasco has that now.” Sighing, she shook her head to remove the pirate from her mind, and asked him with curiosity, “What do you do for exercise if you don’t garden?”
“You consider gardening exercise?” he said with amusement as he urged her to the curb and drew her to a halt. They were across from the hotel now. He waited until the way was clear and then ushered her quickly across the street.
Jess was silent until they reached the sidewalk in front of the hotel and then turned to glance at him, one eyebrow arched. “Trust me, gardening is hard work. Pulling weeds, raking, climbing trees to remove tent caterpillar webs . . . And my parents’ backyard is huge. It takes a lot of work. I get a workout.”
“Ah,” he said with a solemn nod, noting that she still thought of it as her parents’ home. She probably always would, he thought as they entered the hotel lobby. He waited until they were at the elevators before answering her original question. “I have a pool and swim in it most nights for exercise.”
“Lucky you,” Jess said with obvious envy as the elevator doors opened. “I love swimming. I’m no marathoner, but I enjoy splashing around in the water and stuff.”
“Then you shall have to come to Italy and try my pool,” Raffaele said lightly as he followed her into the elevator and hit the button for their floor.
“You don’t have to say stuff like that,” Jess said softly.
Raffaele glanced at her in confusion. “Like what?”
“You don’t have to pretend this is more than it is,” she explained gently. “I mean . . .” She shook her head. “You’re from Italy, I’m from Montana, and once I fly out we’ll probably never see each other again. You don’t have to pretend this is more than a holiday romance. I—”
“Jess,” he said solemnly, turning to face her and taking her hand with his free one. “I’d like more than just a vacation romance with you. I’d like this to continue beyond Punta Cana. I know it might be a little difficult with our living so far apart, but I think it will be worth it.”
“You do?” Jess asked, her eyes wide.
“Sì.” He frowned slightly, unsure if her expression was stunned because she hadn’t expected this, or because she hadn’t wanted it. Just because they had mind-blowing sex, it didn’t guarantee she’d want a relationship with him to be more permanent. Taking a deep breath, he said, “I know we have not known each other long. Even so, I think what we have could be the start of something special. Not only do we have a lot of sexual chemistry, but we seem to have quite a few things in common too, important things.”
“Yes, we do,” she agreed solemnly.
Raffaele nodded and glanced at the panel above the elevator door to be sure he had time before turning back and saying. “So, while I have to finish out my vacation here for Santo’s sake, I would like very much to come visit you in America afterward, and have you come to Italy and Canada as well. If that would be all right with you?”
“I’d like that,” she admitted sincerely.
Raffaele grinned with relief, and started to lower his head, intending to kiss her, but the elevator dinged then. Stiffening, he glanced toward it just as the doors slid open. Smiling wryly then, he simply said, “So would I,” and urged her out into the hall.
It was probably for the best that their arrival prevented his kissing her, he told himself as they walked to the suite. These things rarely stopped with a kiss between life mates and the elevator wasn’t a good place to end up half-naked and unconscious. Shaking his head wryly at the thought, he slipped his key card out of his pocket and unlocked the door, then pushed it open for Jess to lead the way inside.
Twelve
Jess woke up slowly, dragged to consciousness by a need to relieve herself. It was an annoying intrusion, and one she tried to ignore at first, but then simply couldn’t. Sighing, she gave up the effort, rolled over, opened her eyes, and then blinked in surprise when she saw Raffaele sitting up in bed next to her.
It wasn’t the fact that he was there in bed with her that caused her surprise. Their ending up sharing the room had seemed almost inevitable with the chemistry they had between them. In fact, she’d wonde
red earlier why he’d said she could have this room and had taken his suitcase to one of the other ones. After the crazy hot sex they’d had at the resort, she’d known they wouldn’t be able to resist each other here. Especially after his telling her that he wanted the relationship to continue beyond this vacation.
The memory made her smile. He wanted to see her again. The thought made her want to hug herself with happiness. Or maybe hug him. Damn! Life was weird. Throwing an amorous vampire at her with one hand, and then a dream man like Raffaele with the other. They were polar opposites. Vasco was a walking nightmare, a bloodthirsty vampire eager to turn her into soulless demon spawn, while Raffaele was a knight in shining armor who had pulled her from the ocean and done all in his power to keep her safe since then. He was smart, and sexy, and so very kind and considerate. He was also a homebody like her, and he used to be a professor teaching history, which is what she hoped to do. Honestly, it was like they were made for each other. She could imagine a life with this man. In fact, she found the idea of life without him rather painful.
The thought made her grimace as she realized she was really jumping the gun here. They hadn’t known each other long. Thinking about a future with Raffaele was just a bit presumptuous and premature at this point. They needed to get to know each other better, and see how they dealt with each other in normal everyday-type situations. Their whole experience so far was miles outside of normal. She’d been in a state of crisis when they met and still was, and he’d been and still was in rescue mode. They needed to see if they worked well together under normal, everyday circumstances.
The problem was, Jess didn’t think she’d much care if they did or didn’t. The crazy monkey sex they had together was enough to make almost anything bearable. Her body was still tingling from the pleasure he’d given her once they’d got back to the suite. They’d started out behaving themselves. The walk back had helped dinner settle enough that they’d decided to have their dessert right away. They’d put an action movie on the television in the living room, which they’d discovered was a favorite for both of them, and then had started to eat. But Jess had dropped some tiramisu on her chest. Before she could clean it up with her napkin, Raffaele had done it for her . . . with his tongue, and that was it.
Jess had woken up some time later to find herself in Raffaele’s arms as he carried her to this bedroom. He’d set her on her feet next to the bed, undid her dress for her, and kissed her as he pushed it off her shoulders and POW! They’d been lost in a maelstrom of need and passion again. The man was a powerhouse when it came to sex, and the two of them together were like a forest fire. But this business of her fainting afterward each time was a bit disconcerting. Actually, it was almost embarrassing, really, she thought, her gaze sliding to the scene on the television that was holding Raffaele’s attention so thoroughly. Her eyes widened when she recognized the characters on the screen.
“Supernatural?” she asked, sitting up with surprise.
Raffaele gave a guilty start and quickly turned off the television, muttering, “I was just channel surfing.”
Jess smiled with amusement. His chagrinned expression gave him away. Besides, she’d been awake for a few minutes now and he hadn’t turned the channel that she’d noticed. He’d been watching it, but was just too embarrassed to admit it for some reason. Shaking her head, she said lightly, “That’s a shame. I thought that was something else we had in common. I love Supernatural.”
“Really?” Eyes brightening, he grinned and admitted, “Zanipolo and I got hooked on the show when we first visited our cousins in Toronto. Aunt Marguerite likes it and watches it weekly. We watched it with her and then had to go back and find the first gazillion seasons.”
“Are you a Sammy fan, or Dean?” Jess asked, her eyes narrowing. This was a serious question. If he was a Sammy fan . . . Well, that wouldn’t bode well.
“Dean, of course,” he said as if there was no question. “He is tough, smart, and has a good sense of humor. He would make a good hunter.”
“He is a hunter,” she pointed out with amusement.
“Yes, but I meant—”
When Raffaele cut himself off abruptly, she raised her eyebrows. “You meant what?”
“It does not matter,” he muttered, and then his gaze slid over her and his dark eyes seemed to brighten and turn more silver. It was something she’d noticed before. When he got sexually excited, his eyes turned more silver than black. It was beautiful, but a little unusual. She’d heard of people having eyes that could twinkle and such, but she’d never met anyone whose eyes could change color with emotion like mood rings, and for a moment she just stared, but then Jess realized he was leaning toward her as if about to kiss her. She immediately leaned back and then quickly slid out of bed.
“Hold that thought,” she said lightly as she dashed to the bathroom.
Jess had intended only to go to the bathroom and then rush back to bed and Raffaele, but her glance fell on the shower as she entered the room. By the time she’d taken care of the business she’d entered for, Jess had decided a quick shower to freshen up before returning to bed and Raffaele might be a good thing.
Raffaele must have heard the shower running, because she’d just stepped under the spray once it warmed up when the shower door opened behind her. Before Jess could turn around, Raffaele slid his arms around her from behind.
“I heard the water and thought a shower sounded good,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. “Can we share?”
“Yes,” Jess murmured on a sigh, and leaned back against his chest.
“Good.” Raffaele growled the word as his hands left their position around her waist and slid up to cover and caress her wet breasts under the spray. “Then I can wash your back, and you can wash mine.”
Releasing a breathless chuckle, Jess arched into the caress and pointed out, “That’s not my back.”
“No, but then I studied history and architecture, not anatomy. I guess I’ll have to explore to find your back,” he teased.
Jess chuckled at the claim until one of his hands left her breast to drift down and slide between her legs.
“Exploring could be fun,” he decided on a groan as his talented fingers made her moan and shift against him.
“Sì,” Jess gasped, pushing back into him with her hips and feeling the hardness waiting for her. Dear God, Penisocchio was already fully erect and she hadn’t even touched him yet. That thought in mind, she reached back to try to find him, but the hand between her legs suddenly slid out to catch hers. Using his hold to spin her out of the water, he urged her back up against the wall and then kissed her quickly before stepping back to look around and find the bar of soap she’d opened and put on the shelf before turning on the water.
Jess watched him grab it and begin to work up a lather, thinking that she was going to end up fainting in the shower. Despite that worry, she took the opportunity to reach for him again. Distracted as he was, she managed to actually touch him this time. Raffaele gasped as her hand closed over him, and then quickly dropped to his knees and buried his face between her legs just as she gasped with her own excitement and pleasure.
Confusion claimed Jess for a moment as she tried to figure out how she could respond to his mouth on her even before it was actually on her, but then what he was doing distracted her and she found it hard to think about anything else but the pleasure building inside of her.
Jess did faint in the shower, but she woke up in bed spooning with Raffaele. Jess lay still for a moment, just enjoying having him wrapped around her like a blanket, and then her gaze found the clock/radio on the bedside table, and she stiffened. It was nine o’clock. She hadn’t remembered to set the alarm clock or ask for a wake-up call and they’d slept in. Actually, considering they’d spent most of the night making love, passing out and making love again with a two-hour break where they’d watched a movie, and finished the dessert they’d left in the living room, Jess supposed she was lucky to be awake this early. It was t
hat thought that made her decide to let Raffaele sleep and head to the embassy by herself.
Moving slowly and carefully, she eased out from under his arm and slid from the bed, then grabbed the dress she’d worn the night before and popped into the bathroom to dress and run a brush through her hair. Jess then returned to the bedroom and tiptoed to the bed to grab her key card off the bedside table. She wanted to kiss Raffaele before going, but was afraid of waking him. Spotting a hotel notepad and pen on the bedside table on his side, she quickly wrote a note explaining that she hadn’t wanted to wake him so was going to the embassy alone but would, hopefully, be back soon with a new passport. She signed it with kisses and hugs, and then left the room and eased the door silently closed.
It was as she sighed and turned away from the door that she spotted Zanipolo. The man was seated on the couch with his legs crossed at the ankles and propped on the coffee table. His arms were crossed over his chest, and his head was resting on the back of the couch. His eyes were closed and his mouth hanging open. Apparently, he’d fallen asleep watching TV. At least that was her guess since the TV was on, quietly giving the day’s news.
A snore coming long and loud from the man’s open mouth made Jess smile with amusement as she tiptoed through the large open room to the hall to the small entry. She managed to make it there without waking the man, and then was careful about opening the door, trying to do so soundlessly. She then stepped out, and paused with surprise when she nearly plowed into a man hurrying up the hall, pulling a dolly with a mini-fridge on it.
“Oh, lo siento,” the man muttered, glancing up from the paper he’d been reading, and then relaxing as he noticed the number on the door still half-open behind her. “Notte?”
“Sí. You have the right room,” Jess whispered, glancing worriedly toward the open door and letting it close a bit so they wouldn’t wake the man inside as she added, “The men are all sleeping, though.” Her gaze shifted to the refrigerator and, assuming the one in the suite wasn’t working and the men had called down to have it replaced, said, “We have to be quiet.”