by Lily Zante
“Where’s the best?” She asked, blinking to bring herself back into the conversation. She dabbed a napkin at the corners of her mouth and hoped she didn’t have ice-cream splodges all over her face.
“In the apartment complex where I live, in Trastavere. The ground floor has a gelateria, and that, in my opinion, has the best gelato in all of Rome. I can take you if you like, but it would mean riding on my scooter.”
“Your scooter?”
“My Vespa. It’s the easiest way to get around for me.”
It made her blush, the thought of riding behind him with her body pressed against his and her arms around his waist. Dancing with him had already given her the most peculiar sensation. Her heart swooped just thinking about it.
“You come to work on that every day?”
“On most days. The alternative is to face a difficult journey on a tram and a bus. The transport here isn’t the best.”
“I hadn’t noticed.”
“Because you’re a tourist. Rome is wonderful, for most of the time, but living here has its own set of problems if you stay around long enough.”
“I expect that’s the same everywhere.”
“I can’t imagine you’d want to leave Verona, but that’s another mystery.” He was mocking her again.
“Everyone always thinks the grass is greener on the other side,” she said.
“True.”
“But I do love it.”
“Rome?” he asked.
“Verona.” Then after a while. “And Rome, too.”
“You love Verona and your job and yet you’ve resigned.”
She felt her shoulders tighten. He was going to start digging again for information and she didn’t want him to.
“You still haven’t told me why you’re leaving your job.”
He was as persistent as a bulldog. With no desire to mention her mother, or Davide, or Demetrio, the things which had triggered her resignation, she gave him her answer. “I need a change of scenery.”
“A change of scenery?”
“I’ve been in Verona all my life. I feel like going to a new place.”
He peered at her with doubtful eyes. “Is that the only reason?”
Her eyebrows inched together. “Yes.” It was like a standoff, the way they stared at one another.
“I need to get back.” She was determined to make a move now and to not let him take her somewhere else. Glancing at her watch, she was taken aback by the length of time they had been out. Spending her entire evening with Christian had been more fun than she had expected and she hadn’t thought of Davide once.
“You’re at the Triton, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” It was where all the course attendees stayed.
“It’s not far. A five minute walk in that direction.” He pointed with his finger.
“I know.”
“Want me to walk you?”
“No.” She didn’t need a bodyguard, even though he looked the part. “I’m fully capable of making my own way back.”
“Thanks for coming out with me tonight.”
“I didn’t go out with you,” she said, quick to correct him.
“I know. That’s not how I meant it.”
She could feel the color creeping along her cheeks and looked away.
“Ciao,” he said. There was a moment where neither of them moved. “I’m heading that way,” he said, finally.
“And I’m going that-a-way.” She pointed in the opposite direction.
Chapter 10
He was secretly amused. It hadn’t been as bad a night as he’d been dreading. Even Trussardi had been tolerable.
This woman, this Gina Morosini, had been full of surprises. She hadn’t been quite what he had expected. He knew women well. Most wanted to tell him their whole life story, just as they wanted to give him their everything.
Most didn’t hold back, not in his experience.
But Gina did.
She was hiding something.
Despite his persistent efforts, he still hadn’t been able to get a reason as to why she was leaving. It was of no importance to him and he normally would not have pursued it, but her obvious refusal to give him an answer made him all the more eager to pursue this line of inquiry. Not because he feared she had some great secret to hide, but because he wasn’t used to delving in deep and unearthing information from the other sex.
Just as women couldn’t wait to bare all in front of him, so it was with their hearts and minds. They gave Christian everything. Sometimes too much. It was easy. And easy was getting boring.
He had barely been walking for a couple of minutes when he heard the frantic thud of sneakers behind him. The sound of fast footsteps grew louder, until they were almost upon him and as he turned around, someone whizzed by at lightning speed.
Unease pinched his skin and an uncomfortable feeling gnawed at his stomach. He couldn’t ignore it any longer and turned around, rushing back in the direction Gina had taken.
The sight of a crowd up ahead made him run faster. He broke through them to find Gina in their midst. Guilt dripped over him like melted wax. She looked shaken and unbalanced, her eyes wide open and shimmering under the light of the street lamps.
“Gina.” He rushed to her side and took her by the shoulders. His eyes zoomed in to the red graze on her face. “What the hell—” He lifted his finger but didn’t touch the strawberry-sized angry stain along her cheekbone. “What happened?”
She looked around dazed and confused. “Someone pushed me and I hit the ground.” It must have been then that she realized and lifted her hand up to touch her cheek but he stopped her, his hand holding onto hers as he moved it away from her face. “It’s a graze,” he whispered, wincing at the ugly red mark. “Does it hurt?”
“Not much.”
She was probably in shock, he surmised, the adrenaline shooting through her veins and numbing her. “Who was it?”
“Someguy. He asked me for directions to—” She shook her head. “I can’t remember where but before I could answer, someone else snatched my bag from behind. They pushed me and ran off.”
The bastards. “I shouldn’t have let you walk alone.” He took a deep pained breath. This was his fault. She’d been trying to get back to the hotel, and each time he’d suggested they go and do something else.
“I’m alright. I’m fine.” But he could see she wasn’t. She had no belongings on her. No pizza box and no bag. He saw the pizza box lying on the ground, the slices of pizza lying on the ground like squashed entrails.
He grimaced at the thought of it and couldn’t help but put his arms around her. She fell into his chest, small and helpless. If he had been around, those thugs wouldn’t have touched her. They wouldn’t have laid a finger on her, wouldn’t have had the guts to try anything.
He should have known better than to let her walk back to the hotel alone. He should have walked her to the hotel at least. He examined her face once more, and saw something soft flickering in those eyes. The hardness that had previously guarded them, melted away.
“I shouldn’t have left you.”
“It’s not your fault.”
But it was. At least, to him it seemed like it was. If there was any consolation it was that she had been lucky—a scratch to her face and her possessions stolen. She would recover. It could have been a lot worse.
The crowd around them soon dispersed, now that there was nothing exciting to see. “He came out of nowhere,” she said, hugging her arms. He couldn’t tell if she was in shock or not, but he wasn’t going to leave her alone after this. “It happened so fast, I heard footsteps and by the time I turned around, he had disappeared.”
“We need to report it.”
“I don’t have my phone, or my purse, or my keycard.”
“Don’t worry.” He suddenly felt responsible for her. “We’ll get that taken care of.”
He flagged down a taxi and they jumped in, arriving at the police station not long after.
Every now and
then he kept looking at her, somewhat taken aback by her calmness.
“You don’t have to stick around, Christian.”
He didn’t agree. “I’m not leaving you.”
He waited with her while she made her statement to the police officer. When it came to filling out her contact details, she gave her address in Verona but wasn’t sure what contact phone number to give. She had no cell phone, and she was away from home.
“Give mine,” he said, scribbling it down on a piece of paper, and taking her details just in case. “If anything comes up this week, I’ll let you know.” Though he doubted it. These types of petty crimes never got solved.
“I’m sorry,” he said again, when they left later in a taxi.
“Why are you sorry?”
“Because this is your first night in Rome and it’s turned out like this.”
“This isn’t my first night, so you don’t have to worry.”
Trust her to make light of a situation like this. He didn’t understand it. He’d seen her as a timid mouse before, and now he realized she was nothing like a mouse. She had a quiet strength and dignity about her, and he liked that. He liked it very much.
“I had a good time, Christian. I prefer to focus on the good times.”
His heart lurched. “I can believe that.”
“Thanks,” she said, as the taxi pulled up outside her hotel. She gestured with the palms of her hands. “I’d pay for my share, but I have no money.”
“I’ll take care of it,” he told her. As if he’d take any money from her, especially after what had happened. He paid the driver as he got out of the car with her.
“Why are you getting out?”
“You don’t have your keycard.”
“I’ll get another one from the desk receptionist. I appreciate your concern, Christian but don’t you have a home to go to?”
“I do, and I’ll go to it once I know you’re in your hotel safe and sound.”
They faced one another outside the revolving doors of the Hotel Triton. He was tired, and it was late and he didn’t have time to explain it to her. “I want to make sure you don’t have a problem getting in to your hotel, Gina. I’m not making a move on you, I promise.”
“I never…I never said you were…”
“I know. But I’m taking you back anyway.”
She shook her head, probably gave him an eye roll, he guessed. It was too dark to see but he didn’t care. He was going to see her back safely, whether she liked it or not. “Relax.” He placed his hand on the small of her back and guided her into the hotel.
Chapter 11
It had to rate as one of the most interesting nights she’d ever had. She’d gone from having a pleasant night in Rome to being mugged and losing everything. Well, not everything, but enough things to make the rest of her stay here not so easy.
For a moment just now, she thought Christian was going to come to her hotel room and tuck her up in bed. The idea sent shockwaves through her, and her mind lingered on the scene a little too long.
The more she got to know him, the more she seemed to be falling for Christian Russo’s charms.
She examined her graze in the mirror. It wasn’t too bad. She pulled off her headband and ran her fingers through her hair as she stared at her reflection. She considered herself lucky that she hadn’t broken any bones, or worse. But she was without her bag, her phone and with no money.
Luckily she’d only taken her handbag and had left her laptop and knapsack in the hotel. She could still work, and check her emails. It was too late to call her mother, but she showered and changed and then emailed Nico to let him know what had happened. And while she was at it, she dealt with the few email inquiries he had sent her.
She smiled, feeling the smug satisfaction of being indispensable—Nico still found it quicker to email her about a question than to ask the others.
The next morning, she got up and made a few quick phone calls. She canceled her bank cards and contacted her phone provider, telling them what had happened. She also spoke briefly to her mother before rushing off to her class.
As soon as she arrived at the offices of Fordana and made her way towards the training room, an odd, trembling sensation started in the base of her stomach and stayed with her long after she had entered the classroom. She wasn’t sure what it was but she felt relieved to see Christian busy in conversation near the reception desk with the man who had come to the bar last night. She thought his name was Emilio. It allowed her to slip into the training room unnoticed and by the time Christian walked in, a few more late-comers arrived and she was busy in conversation with them.
A few of them asked about the graze on her face and she explained it easily by saying she’d missed her step and fallen.
The lesson went well and in no time at all, it was the first break. Christian sought her out.
“Did you sleep okay?” He wore an expression of utmost concern.
“Like a baby.” She didn’t need him to worry about her, but all the same, this was a stark difference to how things had been between them yesterday morning.
“It doesn’t look so bad.” He nodded at her cheek.
“It’s nothing,” she told him.
“I’m sorry about what happened.”
“You have to stop feeling bad about that. It happened and I’m okay.” She felt detached from the robbery. As far as she was concerned, there was no use in going over the same ground again and again, feeding into the same fear and anxiety. What good would that do? For her, being able to compartmentalize things was the only way to get through life sometimes, and it surprised her that more people didn’t deal with things in this manner.
It was this kind of thinking that had helped her to get over Davide quickly, and it now helped her to push the robbery to the furthest corners of her mind. She had a feeling that Christian found her behavior odd.
“Just as long as you are—okay, that is.”
“I am.” She got up. “I need a strong cup of coffee.”
“Wait,” he said, and looked over his shoulder and waited until the room was empty. “You’ll need money to get by.”
“I’ll figure something out. Lunch is already paid for so I think I’ll be okay.” And if she ate at the hotel every evening, and charged the meal to her room, she wouldn’t need to have any cash. But it would be a shame because she had made plans to go sightseeing in the evenings.
“I’m going to lend you some money—”
“No.” She was shocked. “You don’t need to.”
“But you can’t go around without any cash,” he insisted. “You can pay me back when you return to Verona.”
“I can’t take your money, Christian.” She wished he would stop making a fuss. Just like last night when he had insisted on escorting her back to the lobby of her hotel. She didn’t want him to fuss over her.
“Yes you can.” His voice was firm, and smooth and quietly insistent. “Either you borrow it from me, Gina, or I ask the company to loan you some. It’s the same thing.” As much as he seemed eager to make up for something that wasn’t his fault, she was all the more against accepting charity and favors. She didn’t like feeling beholden to anyone.
“You don’t need to—”
But he seemed to be as stubborn as she was. “You’re here without any money, and you’re naive to think you won’t need any cash when you’re in a new city and this is only the second day of your stay.”
He was right. Of course he was. Her other option, as Nico had suggested, was to go to the Cazale Roma and he would arrange for Matteo to advance her some money. But she didn’t like either of these options because it meant having to explain her situation to a third-party and she would rather not talk about what had happened. Because Christian already knew, it made his offer seem more attractive. And for that reason, she had to accept his offer.
“Take it, Gina. Please.”
“Okay, then. I’ll accept your generous offer and I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.�
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He handed her an envelope and she thanked him.
“Two hundred euros. It should be enough but if it isn’t, let me—”
She looked up, startled. “It’s more than enough. Too much, in fact. I don’t feel right accepting so much money.”
“You’re making it sound as if I have ulterior motives.” There it was again, that subtle innuendo in his voice, that smooth way he had of saying something and making it sound like a proposition. His words made her blush, as if he’d said something inappropriate, almost verging on dirty, and her heart did a crazy somersault from all the excitement.
It felt just like that first night she’d slept with Davide. It had been weeks, probably months into their courtship before she relented, perhaps it shouldn’t have been so long given that they had already had a relationship many years ago, but she had purposely made him wait. And yet Christian, a man she barely knew, was able to elicit the same emotion in less than a day.
She didn’t understand it, but her feelings had been all over the place lately and so it was hardly surprising.
The rest of the day continued well but her concentration flagged. She couldn’t get her head around the more complex features of the software, but she was reluctant to ask Christian any questions.
Something had changed but she wasn’t sure what. All of a sudden she felt shy and self-conscious around him and made more of an effort to get on with the other students. At lunchtime, instead of staying in the room and making sure she understood the exercises, she went to lunch with everyone.
It wasn’t that she was avoiding Christian, at least, that’s what she told herself.
Chapter 12
How hard was it to lend a girl some money? He still felt guilty for what had happened and if he’d let her return to her hotel when she wanted to, this might not have happened. If there was a saving grace it was that she hadn’t been hurt worse. While the chances were close to zero of her bag ever being found, it made him feel better that she at least had some money to get her through the week.
When they filed out for lunch, he noticed that Gina was laughing and seemed to be getting on better with the other students. He waited until everyone had left then headed to the deli to get his favorite panini.