She shook her head. “No, but I always wished I did.” She peered over her shoulder, stifling a yawn. “Would you mind if we went back to Valentini now? I don’t even know where I’m sleeping tonight.”
I knew where I wanted her to sleep. Although if she was in my bed, neither of us would get any rest. “Of course,” I said, turning to look for Alejandra. When I didn’t see her, I excused myself and asked one of the other servers to locate her.
“Can I bring you something?”
“No. I mean, yes. Il conto per favore.”
He shook his head. “Non c’è fattura.”
“I insist, really.”
“Scusa, but I have no bill.”
The young man disappeared into the back, and I returned to our table.
“Let me guess; there is no bill.”
I laughed. “You would be correct.”
“It seems my new boss arranged not only for us to have a date, but also to take care of the check.”
“I’d say she’s more of a friend to you than a boss.”
“I haven’t known her much more than twenty-four hours.”
I rested my hand on hers. “Sometimes that’s all it takes.”
“Are you suggesting that you, too, are my friend, Ben?”
“At the very least.”
The drive from the village to Valentini was short. Tara was quiet the entire way. So much so, I wondered if she’d fallen asleep.
When we pulled through the gates, the lights were on in the villa. Instead of stopping at the farmhouse, which I would’ve much preferred to do, I drove straight up the hill.
“Thank you,” Tara murmured when I parked near the terrazza.
“I’ll walk with you.”
Before we got to the front door, Lucia came outside. “Pia tried to reach you. There was an accident in the winery, and she was called away.”
“Is everything okay?” Tara asked.
“She’s at the hospital now, with the man who was injured.”
“Is there anything we can do?” I asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“I’m sorry to ask, but did she mention anything about where I should stay tonight?”
Lucia shook her head at Tara’s question. “She didn’t.”
“You can stay at the farmhouse,” I told her. “There are three bedrooms. Plenty of room, and we can sort this all out in the morning.”
She bit her bottom lip and looked into my eyes with her deep blue ones. “You’re sure?”
Since Lucia was hanging on every word, I didn’t tell Tara it would be my pleasure, although it very much would be. Even if nothing happened between us tonight, just having her stay with me at the farmhouse would make me happy.
“I left my bag…”
“I’ll bring it to you,” Lucia offered.
I wondered if the woman’s rude treatment of Tara was due to my unpleasant exchange with her at our meeting earlier. One would think that the very least she could’ve done was place a call to Pia to ask if Tara should stay at the villa again tonight. Barring that, let the woman get her own belongings. The puzzled expression on Tara’s face told me she was likely thinking the same things I was.
“Are you okay?” I asked when Lucia delivered the bag and I carried it to the car.
She nodded, but her expression didn’t change. “I get the impression she doesn’t like me very much.”
“I’m sure Pia will be very unhappy at the way Lucia handled things.”
“I don’t want to cause trouble between Pia and the other employees.”
I tried to appear casual when I put my arm around her shoulder and kissed her forehead, but all I felt was awkward. “You know what? It’s been a long couple of days, far too much to eat and drink. We’ll get a good night’s sleep, and I’m sure by tomorrow, this won’t seem like a big deal.”
“Ben…I…”
“A good night’s sleep, Catarina. That’s all.”
“You’re sure?” she asked for the second time.
“Absolutely.”
I would’ve much rather let Tara have the larger bedroom, but since my stuff was scattered all over, even taking her in there would’ve given her the wrong idea.
“The other bedrooms are smaller,” I started to explain.
“I’m fine wherever. Honestly. I can sleep on the sofa.”
“Definitely not necessary.” I led her up the stairs to the first bedroom.
“Thanks for letting me stay here tonight.”
“If there’s anything you need, I’ll be awake for a while. Just come down and look for me.”
“Thank you,” she repeated.
I let her be, went downstairs, and poured a glass of wine. It was a nice night, so I sat out on the terrazza and enjoyed the star-filled sky.
In the brief time since I found her, I’d crossed several lines with Tara. It would’ve been different if I was pretending to be attracted to her as part of the mission. Not that I’d ever resorted to that. I knew many agents operated that way, but I never had. No, the desire I had for Tara was completely genuine. Should I follow my best friend’s advice, reach out, and grab every bit of happiness I could, even at what might be the expense of my job?
I looked over when I heard her come out the door from the kitchen.
“May I join you?” she asked.
“Of course.” I held up my glass. “Want some?”
“No, thank you. I think I’ve had enough in the last couple of days.”
I set my wine down on the table. I was guilty of the same.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
I wanted to ask what was worrying her, but the list of things she wouldn’t be able to talk about was lengthy.
“I wanted you to know I’m planning on leaving tomorrow.”
While that didn’t surprise me, given Lucia’s treatment of her, I was disappointed even more than concerned.
“It’s none of my business…”
Tara smiled. “Go on.”
“I haven’t kept my attraction to you a secret, but that isn’t the only reason I’d ask you to reconsider.”
“What’s the other reason?”
“As I said before, you might want to wait until you can talk to Pia in person.”
“I wasn’t going to leave by cover of night.” She laughed, mesmerizing me.
“You have the most beguiling smile.”
The moon was bright enough that I could see the flush that stained her cheeks.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
I stood and held my hand out to her. Her eyes were questioning, but she took it and stood anyway. “Just in case,” I whispered, putting my hand on the back of her neck. I leaned forward and kissed her in the same way I had earlier today when we were at Casavetti. The difference now was we didn’t have an audience.
We didn’t just kiss; I captured her mouth with mine, breathing in her erratic breath, plundering her lips and thrusting my tongue into her mouth.
She’d changed her clothes, taken off her bra, so I could feel the stiff peaks of her nipples against my chest. I kissed my way from her lips to her neck, wishing I could bend mine and suck one of the hardened tips into my mouth through the thin fabric of her nightshirt.
Tara’s fingers wove into my hair, pulling it until my scalp tingled, taking my need for her from desperate to animalistic.
I cradled her ass, kneading and squeezing her flesh. In the back of my mind, I knew this was too much, but I couldn’t stop. If I woke tomorrow or any other day and she was gone, I’d go to the ends of the earth to find her. In the meantime, I needed the memory of how her body felt next to mine to sustain me.
“Ben,” she murmured.
“Tell me to stop, Catarina.”
She didn’t. She kissed me back harder and ground her body against mine. I tucked one hand into her thin pajama bottoms and grasped her hip to steady her.
“Be still,” I groaned, bringing my mouth back to hers, if only to stop myself from clamping down hard on the nipples I co
uldn’t wait to taste.
“Ben,” she whimpered a second time. I longed to hear my name on her lips. The name I’d gone by all my life. Knox. I wanted to kiss her neck, mark it, claim her body under my real name, not the one I was using to keep her from knowing who I was, and not by a nickname I’d gotten in high school, even if it was my code name now.
When I came inside her, which I knew I would, I wanted to call out her real name. Tara.
I swept her into my arms and carried her inside. I stopped in the kitchen and set her on the large island. Without my asking, she lay back, her legs hanging off the edge with mine between them.
“Let me see you, baby.”
Tara grabbed the hem of her thin shirt and pulled it up, exposing breasts I couldn’t wait to get my hands and mouth on.
12
Tara
When I heard the knock on the door, I grabbed Ben’s arm and pulled myself up with one hand while I pulled my shirt down with the other.
“Fucking hell,” he muttered. “I’m sorry, but my guess is it’s Pia.”
“Go,” I whispered. When he did, I jumped off the counter and rushed toward the door and out to the terrazza, if only to cool off.
I pulled out a chair and sat at the same time I heard Pia’s voice. “I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?” she asked Ben in a tone of voice that made me giggle.
“We were enjoying the nice night.”
“Catarina?” Pia called out, standing in the doorway.
“I’m here.” I waved as though she could see me and then pushed back my chair and walked toward her instead. I folded my arms in an effort to hide the fact I was dressed for bed.
“Mi dispiace,” she said, taking a step back when I came inside. “I was worried when you weren’t at the villa. Lucia told me she thought you might be here.”
My eyes met Ben’s. Might be here? Interesting. My resolve to leave tomorrow intensified. I couldn’t risk working with someone who had it out for me. As much as I liked Pia and wanted to work here at Valentini, to do so would be foolish.
“It looks like you are ready to go to bed. We can talk in the morning,” said Pia.
Here was my chance, and I had to take it. “Wait,” I said when she turned to walk out of the kitchen. “About tomorrow…”
“Sì?”
“I appreciate your generous offer to work in the tasting room so much, but I think it would be best if I declined.”
Pia looked from me to Ben and put her hands on her hips. “Non capisco. What happened?”
“Nothing happened. I just didn’t plan on staying in Val d’Orcia.”
Her eyes scrunched. “You are lying. Something happened that made you change your mind.” Her gaze rested on Ben, who held up both hands.
“Don’t look at me. I don’t want her to leave any more than you do.”
I sighed. “I don’t want to take a job meant for someone else—”
“Who else? Did Georgio say something to you?” She sighed like I had. “Il suo è un cane,” she added under her breath.
“Georgio didn’t say anything to me. Please, I don’t want to upset anyone. My plan was always to return to Florence.”
“Yesterday, you said you didn’t have a plan. You were so excited.” Pia shook her head. “If you think this is…how do you say? Charity? You are wrong. I have been looking for help in the tasting room and haven’t found anyone with knowledge like yours.”
“I find that hard to believe, Pia. You can’t find anyone with knowledge about Italian wine?”
“Will you excuse us?” she said to Ben.
“Of course.” He went out the door to the terrazza and closed it behind him.
“Can we sit?”
“Sure.” I pulled out a chair at the table.
“Things have not been…easy for me since my papà died. My mamma has been ill, and the doctors have no idea what is wrong with her. Georgio, who used to be like a brother to me, argues and disrespects me. We have had many accidents, like the one earlier tonight.”
“I’m sorry. I meant to ask. Is whoever was injured going to be okay?”
“Sì, but…I am not sure how to say this. I need someone in the winery who is on my side. Even if it is just in the tasting room.”
“How can you be sure I’m that person? You don’t even know me.”
Pia tilted her head. “I am sure you’ve experienced what I have before. When you meet someone and immediately know that you will be friends?”
I had, and for many years, the four women I met in second grade had been my lifeline. They no longer were.
“Please stay, Catarina.”
How could I say no? I could feel her pleading with me. “Okay.”
Rather than her face breaking into an immediate smile like it had every other time I’d conceded something she asked, she remained serious.
“You must tell me what happened that made you reconsider.”
“Again, nothing happened, Pia. I thought, maybe your offer had been made in haste.”
She sat back in the chair, her eyes scrunched again. “I know something happened. You will tell me eventually.” She motioned with her head to the door that led outside. “You feel the same with Ben, sì?”
“That we’ll be friends?”
Pia smiled for the first time since we began talking. “Friends? I think perhaps more than that.”
I shrugged one shoulder.
She stood and patted my hand. “Tomorrow, I will tell you a story about my friend, Mylos. Tonight, I’ll leave you and Ben to get to know each other better.”
“Could we also figure out where I’ll be staying tomorrow?”
Pia smiled again and raised a brow. “If you still need to.”
I smiled too and shook my head.
Once Pia left, I went outside and joined Ben on the terrazza.
“How did it go?” he asked.
“Fine. She’s impossible to say no to.”
He held his hand out to me, but instead of taking it, I sat in the chair beside him. Ben leaned forward and rested his arms on the table. “You’re cold,” he said, noticing I rubbed the chill bumps on my arms. “Let’s go inside.”
When I pulled the chair out in the kitchen to sit where I had been when I talked with Pia, Ben took my hand and pulled me into the other room. He motioned for me to sit on the sofa and sat beside me.
“I’m happy you’re staying.”
I smiled. “Me too.”
“When I thought about you leaving, I knew I had to kiss you. I may have gotten carried away, but, Catarina, there has been an intense attraction between us since the moment we met. For me anyway. I sense you feel the same.”
“You know I do,” I said, embarrassment flushing my cheeks.
“It’s been a long day, following an equally long one. We both need rest.”
When I stood, Ben grasped my hand with his. “I want to kiss you, but if I do, I fear I’ll get carried away again.”
“I fear it too.” I pulled my hand from his and walked over to the staircase. “Goodnight, Ben.”
I traipsed up the stairs, wishing he had kissed me again, wishing I’d kissed him. If I had, I’d be in his arms right now—the place I longed to be.
Attending both an all-girls boarding school and college didn’t preclude me from dating, but it didn’t make it any easier. Coupled with the fact that in my tribe of five, one of us was more beautiful than the next, which meant I wasn’t often the one guys went for. Admittedly, I was a bit standoffish, something Penelope had called me out on numerous times.
“If you weren’t such a bitch to them, more guys would ask you out,” she’d said one night after we both had too much to drink. I called her a few choice names back, and the evening ended with neither of us speaking to each other. It all seemed so trivial now, when I missed her, Ava, Aine, and Quinn so much it sometimes felt hard to breathe.
Had I been a bitch to Ben? If it had been Pen with him instead of me, she would’ve had sex with him without giving it
a second thought. She also would have no intention of seeing him again, and if she had, she would’ve played it off like it was no big deal. I couldn’t do that.
I was in bed, tossing and turning, when I heard his footsteps on the stairs. When they stopped outside my door, I held my breath, willing him to come in. After several seconds, he continued down the hallway.
The next morning, when I went downstairs, I found a note from Ben in the kitchen. It said he’d had to leave for a couple of days, something about the article he was writing, but hoped to see me when he returned later in the week.
I was disappointed, of course, especially considering he hadn’t mentioned he’d be leaving last night. It was for the best, though. I needed to focus on my new job in the tasting room. If Ben were around, not only would I be distracted, Pia would continue to push the two of us together.
Not knowing what else to do, I walked up to the winery, hoping I’d find Pia in the office.
“Buongiorno,” she said, coming to the door when I knocked.
“Buongiorno.”
“Did you sleep well, Catarina?”
“I did,” I lied. “Um, I was hoping I could start in the tasting room today. That’s if you still need someone.”
Pia laughed, grabbed my arm, and pulled me inside. “If I still need someone? It was only last night I begged you to stay. Did you think that would change with the dawn of a new day?”
I shook my head. “I just want you to know I appreciate this.”
“Come,” she said, pulling me back outside by the hand. “You and I will work in the tasting room together today.”
By the end of the second day, I was exhausted. My feet hurt, I had a headache, but I couldn’t remember another time in my life when I’d been as happy, even in my discomfort, Pia told me time and again that she and I made a great team. She also said wine sales were triple what they’d been in the week prior.
“You’re so passionate. People are leaving with cases of the vintages you recommend.”
It wasn’t difficult to talk about Valentini wine; I loved it. Sharing the nuances of each vintage was something I could do all day—and had.
Like she had last evening, Pia invited me to join her for dinner, but I begged off. I walked to the casina she’d put me up in and opened the door. I sat down on the two-seat divano, took off my shoes, and rubbed my feet. I tucked my legs under me and rested my head against the arm.
Halo (K19 Security Solutions Book 8) Page 6