by L. M Anthony
“Ready to go in?” I asked her.
She caught my hand without hesitation in response and pulled me in her wake. I smiled and followed her. I was starting to think I would follow this woman anywhere if only to continue seeing her smile.
***
Before I knew it, an entire week had passed us by. The days had flown past in a storm of trips into Lecce, exploring buildings and souvenir shops alike, or quietly ensconced in my study as I worked with Laura writing papers that she said were for school or curled up on the small couch, engrossed in a book. I enjoyed every moment with Laura, but I loved these quiet times the best, knowing that Laura was hanging out in my study just because she wanted to be near me.
And it was easy to admit, now that I was falling in love with her. Every day had brought a new discovery about her. She loved strawberry ice cream, but couldn’t stand the taste of raspberry. She could stay for hours in a museum, eyes flying over each artifact and artwork as though she was discovering new things about them in seconds. She was an only child and had grown up quite spoiled but was also fiercely independent. She kept her own room clean and was uncomfortable when any of my staff did anything for her. She also loved to bake; she could often be found in the kitchen with Gabriel, either discussing desserts with him or sneaking pastries past him with Chiara with whom she had formed a fast friendship despite the language barrier that the two of them were working hard at.
As I learned more about her, I found myself sharing my own stories with her. Laura had hung onto my every word as I told her about my brother, who lived in Australia, confessing that I missed him and wished I could visit him more often. I described my trips overseas, and my struggles to set up my company. Just yesterday, I had told her about the passing of both my parents and how it had happened.
I had only known Laura a week. But sometimes, it almost felt like she had been around for far longer. I could no longer see my life without her in it.
Perhaps feeling my eyes on her, or noticing that my pen had gone still, Laura looked up from the book she was reading, meeting my eyes before I could glance away. I coughed when she raised an eyebrow at me.
“Is everything alright?” she asked.
“Fine,” I assured her. “I was just thinking.”
“Good things, I hope,” she joked.
“Actually, I was thinking about what to have for lunch,” I said casually, making her laugh. “I’m starving.”
“Do you want me to go down and get something?” Laura offered.
“No, it’s fine, I can wait a little longer,” I said, turning back to my work.
I heard movement but didn’t look up until Laura stepped up beside me, peering curiously down at the papers I was scribbling across. I was a little embarrassed to show her my atrocious handwriting; I was stern and stoic in almost every aspect of my life, but I had never quite mastered anything beyond a scratchy scrawl in my handwriting.
“What are you working on?” Laura asked.
“A distributor in Scotland emailed this through to me yesterday,” I explained. “It’s a distribution order that we had previously agreed on. There are several mistakes in it, though, so I’m correcting them before sending them back.”
“Couldn’t you just do that on your laptop?” Laura asked, gesturing to the machine.
“I could,” I agreed. “But I find it easier to catch mistakes and make corrections with the physical contract right in front of me. I’ll make the corrections on the computer once I’ve finished.”
Laura nodded, her eyes looking over my work. There was a look of fierce concentration on her face as she tried to understand what she was reading.
“What were you working on?” I asked, nodding at her laptop, which was sitting on the coffee table along with some books and a folder of papers.
“An essay,” Laura said with a grimace. “It’s due in a few days, unfortunately, and the professor already told me that he wouldn’t accept me being in Italy as an excuse for not turning it in.”
“Sounds strict,” I commented.
“Yeah, but he’s really brilliant, so I shouldn’t complain too much,” Laura grinned. “I didn’t have much left to go, so I figured I’d sit here and finish it while you were working.”
“Is it done?” I asked.
Laura coughed and looked away.
“Almost,” she said. “I was just taking a break.”
I suppressed a smile. Laura had been reading her book for the last hour, which was likely a longer break than she had intended.
“That’s a lot of papers for an essay,” I said.
“Not all of them are from the class,” Laura said with a laugh. “There are some receipts from our trips in there, as well; I just grabbed everything on my way to the study.”
“It’s a good idea to keep everything together,” I agreed, eyeing the folder speculatively.
There was a sudden, low growl, and Laura blushed brightly as she put her hand on her stomach. Then she laughed.
“I think I’ll go find something to eat,” she said, moving over to the coffee table and picking up her things. “Are you sure you don’t want anything?”
“Just let me know if lunch is almost ready,” I said with a shrug.
“Sure,” she said, leaving the room.
I knew Laura was a bit weirded out by having a cook, especially since she was used to cooking for herself or her parents. Personally, having a cook had been a necessity when I was first considering staff positions; I’m a hopeless cook, myself, and I would have starved long ago without Gabriel.
I look down at my work, but a flash of white caught my attention. Laura had left a white envelope on the table. It must have fallen out of her folder when she picked everything up, and she hadn’t noticed.
Needing to stretch my sore legs anyway, I heaved myself out of my chair, grateful for the brief break. The envelope was open, it seemed.
I didn’t intend to look. But, as I picked it up, the papers inside the envelope fell out of the bottom, which, too late, I realized was torn. The papers fluttered back onto the coffee table, and as though trying to prompt me to read what they said, fell open.
The first thing I saw was the insignia for one of the airlines that arrived and left Lecce. I paused. Did that mean these were Laura’s plane tickets?
I knew, of course, that Laura’s departure was starting to approach. I had found out, at the start of the week, that Laura was only here for three weeks, which meant she only had two weeks left. Logically, I knew all this. Seeing the tickets in front of me, however, made everything suddenly seem far more real.
Mechanically, I picked up the tickets. The first page was the booking confirmation for her flight to Italy. Seeing the arrival time reminded me of meeting Laura at the airport, and finally confirmed what I had suspected all along; she and I had arrived in Lecce on the same plane.
The second page was the booking confirmation for Laura’s departure. The date, which was two weeks from today, stood out starkly on the white page. By the looks of it, she was due to leave in the evening.
Slowly, I folded the tickets up and put them back in the envelope, not wanting Laura to know I’d looked at them. Then I headed back to my desk and sat down, my head spinning.
Two weeks… that wasn’t long at all.
Chapter Fourteen
By the time the evening fell, I still didn’t know what to do about my discovery. It shouldn’t have been that much of a shock; I knew that Laura was only here for a few weeks.
But why hadn’t Laura said anything to me yet? When we had first met and introduced ourselves properly at Alessandro’s house party, she had told me how long she was staying in Italy. At the time, I was only a stranger, and she had made a throw-away comment that I had shelved to consider later while trying to decide if it was worth pursuing her.
Things had changed since then, though. Now, we had been together in the same house for a week. We had slept together. Currently, Laura went everywhere that I went. We hadn’t yet sp
oken about what the relationship between us was, but the level of intimacy that had sprung up between us should have prompted Laura to sit down and talk to me seriously about when she was going to be leaving.
From the way Laura had acted when she returned to retrieve her tickets, however, she had had no intention of saying anything to me yet. She had whirled back into the room, trying her hardest not to look guilty and panicked, and the relief that had flashed across her face when she saw the envelope still sitting on the coffee table had actually hurt. She had casually commented that she had dropped something important, picked it up, and fled the room.
She hadn’t wanted me to see it. She didn’t want me to know, yet, what day she was meant to be leaving. But why? I couldn’t think of any reason that could be.
Well… no. I could think of one reason, unpleasant as it was.
Laura was on holiday. She had already mentioned, more than once, that she was escaping from America and from her feuding parents, who had tried to bring her into the middle of their messy divorce. She had also admitted, once or twice, that she didn’t know if she was ready to accept a full relationship, which was one of the reasons I had been holding back and going slow for her, quietly courting her and letting her set the pace of our interactions.
Now, abruptly, I remembered how it had been Lorenzo that she had focused on instead of me. I thought it strange at the time that she had so easily shifted her attention from Lorenzo, who she claimed to be only interested in for his physical looks, to me. I didn’t even know if she had felt anything for me before she propositioned me a week ago.
I glanced up at Laura. She was curled up on the couch again with her book, engrossed in the story. I wanted to stop the thoughts that were running through my head, but they were dark and egged on by my experiences with Martina.
What if Laura only wanted to have a bit of fun and explore some different things while she was here in Italy? At the end of the three weeks, she could break up with me and go home guilt-free and knowing that she had had a good time.
Was Laura the type of person to lead me on like that? I wanted to say, No. But, I had to admit it to myself, I barely knew her. We had only known one another for a week. How could I be so certain that the Laura I knew was the real Laura?
I couldn’t.
Except…
I remembered the night I found her on the beach. Her tears had flown, she had been stumbling from the alcohol in her system, and I knew she was genuine. She was hurt and embarrassed and angry at both herself and Lorenzo. And she had been grateful that I was there.
Maybe I didn’t know the true Laura, but I didn’t think the woman I had gotten to know was false. I forced the dark thoughts back and briefly closed my eyes, snapping my laptop shut; I had barely gotten any work done in the last hour anyway. At the sound, Laura looked up, blinking a few times as she tore herself away from the world in her book.
“Finished?” she asked.
“For today,” I said, pushing my chair back so I could stand and stretch. “Are you ready for dinner?”
Laura laughed.
“I ate so much at lunch,” she said. “I might not be able to fit dinner!”
I smiled briefly. I didn’t want Laura to know I was upset, but her eyes zeroed in on something in my expression as a frown flickered across her face.
“Is everything alright?” she asked.
“I’m just tired,” I assured her. “Food will help.”
She didn’t look entirely convinced, but she closed her book and stood, not pressing it. I eyed her as we headed to the door.
Was Laura genuine? Or had I fallen for yet another trick from a sly woman?
***
I was driving myself crazy, and there was only one way out. I had to talk to Laura.
As that thought crossed my mind, I threw my covers down and threw my book down. It was nine o’clock at night, and Laura would be in her own room at this point. I had to ask her about the tickets and why she hadn’t told me yet. I wouldn’t get any rest until I got some answers.
When I knocked on Laura’s door, I heard a faint rustle.
“Come in!” she called.
She blinked when I opened the door, and then a soft smile crossed her face. She was sitting on top of her covers, her legs curled beneath her, her silken nightgown pooling at her hips. For a brief moment, my thoughts went down another track, and heat began pooling in my groin.
I coughed.
“Can we talk?” I asked.
“I was thinking we needed to talk, too,” Laura said quietly, gesturing for me to come forward.
I wasn’t sure being near Laura right now was a good thing, but my feet carried me toward her instantly without my permission. She shifted aside so that I could sit in front of her. My body tensed as I smelled the faint floral scent of her perfume. It was heady, and I had to try and force my thoughts back on track.
“What did you want to talk about?” I offered.
Did she want to talk to me about the tickets? It would make sense; even though she didn’t know I’d seen them, realizing that she had left them in the study must have reminded her that she hadn’t yet told me when she was leaving.
But then Laura shifted herself onto her knees. There was a burning look in her eyes that sent a flush of heat straight through me, derailing my thoughts in an instant.
“I’ve noticed that you’ve been gentle with me,” she said. “Waiting for me to make the first move, and I’m grateful for that.” She laughed lightly, and it was a beautiful sound. My eyes tracked the way her hair fell over her shoulders. “But I’ve been waiting for you too. Your experiences with relationships are just as bad, if not worse, than mine. So, instead of waiting for each other, maybe we should talk about it?”
She leaned forward. Her nightgown dipped down her chest, and I could see the swell of her bare breasts. I forced my eyes away.
“What…” My voice cracked and I tried again. “What should we discuss?”
Laura reached out and put a hand on my shoulder. The feel of her palm seared itself into my shoulder. Shit, what was I here to do again? I couldn’t remember as she leaned in close, so close that I could see flecks of gray in her brilliantly blue eyes. I could feel her breath on my face a split second before she leaned forward and met my lips in a searing kiss.
It was impossible not to respond to it. My mouth opened and my tongue tangled with hers, the heat of passion flaring around us until I felt I couldn’t breathe. We pulled back when it became too much, panting. My hand had found its way into Laura’s hair, which was now mussed and tangled around my fingers. Her arms were wrapped tightly around my neck, trying to draw me impossibly close.
It was clear what she wanted. I tried to remember why it might not be a good idea, especially with the secret she was currently keeping from me, but I couldn’t. Laura was in front of me right now, telling me how much she wanted me, and there was no way I could pull away from that. Laura had me under her spell now, and it was impossible to deny the hold we had on each other.
I surged forward, my hands flying down her side and tugging at the hem of her nightgown so I could slide my palms up her smooth thighs, feeling her body trembling with excitement at my touch. She leaned forward and latched her mouth around my neck, suckling on the pulse for a moment before biting it lightly. It was going to leave a mark, and I felt a thrill run through me as I realized that I would see it in the morning.
Laura was perfect. She was perhaps inexperienced and a little unsure about what to do next (there was still hesitation in her touch as she reached out to trace the lines of my chest through my sleep shirt), but none of that mattered. She was beautiful and amazing, and I was more than happy to follow her lead.
So when she wrapped her arms around my neck once more and scooted back, gently lowering herself onto the bed, I followed her easily, sliding down on top of her as her ankle curled around the back of my knee, pulling me in. Her head hit the mattress, her hair splaying out around her like a halo, and I had
to just stare for a single moment, taking in the sight.
Then Laura started tugging at my shirt, and all other thoughts went out the window as I felt my pants grow impossibly tight. I pushed the silken material of her nightgown up over her thighs, revealing that she was wearing nothing underneath, and I had to take a steadying breath as she shifted so she could wriggle out of her clothing entirely, leaving her bare before me.
“You’re wearing too much,” she murmured, still trying to push my shirt.
With eager hands, I shrugged out of my own shirt and shifted backward so I could kick my pants off, too desperate to continue touching Laura to care about any sort of foreplay right now. Her skin was hot and slick with sweat as I moved over her once more, and the heat choked me, seizing me in a hold that I didn’t want to struggle out of. I felt Laura wrap her legs around me, tugging me in, her body heaving as she looked up at me with dark, lidded eyes, beckoning me even closer. My cock was ready, and her legs spread open further.
“Fuck me,” she breathed.
It was all the invitation I needed. I lined up at her entrance, my eyes on her to make sure this was still okay, that she wasn’t still sore or hurt from last time. But there was nothing but expectation and eagerness in her expression, reminding me that she had started this, which meant that she wanted this as much as I did.
I sunk slowly into her body, her muscles clenching so tightly around my cock that I had to pause before she drew my orgasm out of me right then and there. Laura’s body trembled, and she gritted her teeth before, remembering last time, she forced herself to relax. I reached out and swept her sweaty bangs from her forehead.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She smiled up at me. “Yeah.”
As her body relaxed, I pushed in a little more, taking it as slowly as I could until I was sheathed all the way in her. Laura drew in a few deep breaths, shifting slightly, and I forced myself to stay still despite the flares of lust that blazed through me at the feeling. Then her legs loosened slightly and her hands reached up to clasp my shoulders.
“Move,” she gasped.