Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 102833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
“I don’t ski,” Matteo deadpans, popping my bubble of hope. “And I hate the fucking cold. But I’m down to spend a week in a cabin with your body heat keeping me warm. And maybe, if you do a good enough job of persuading me, I’ll attempt to snowboard.”
I choke out a watery laugh at his response and lean in to give him a kiss. “Thank you, Matteo. That means a lot to me.”
We find our seats and, since it’s early, order breakfast from the attendant. Matteo tells me that it’s a ten-hour flight, and since Italy is six hours ahead, we’ll arrive just in time to go to bed. But the rest of the week will be filled with touristy shit—his words, not mine. We’re flying into Rome, but the plane will be on standby in case we want to go to any of the other cities, such as Venice, Florence, or Milan.
Once the plane takes off and we’re allowed to unbuckle, Matteo drags me to the room, where we spend the next ten hours starting our vacation off in the best way possible—with him inside me.
31
Matteo
We walked by the Colosseum and did a pasta-making class in Rome, visited the Tower of Pisa, went to more galleries than I can recall in Florence, and now, we’re in Portofino, walking through the streets and checking out the shops.
This week has been perfect. Dani has fallen in love with Italy, and I’ve fallen even more in love with her. The days have been spent sightseeing, and the nights have been spent with her wrapped around me.
Tonight is our last night here, and I’m freaking out a little because I want to make it memorable. We’re staying at a hotel that overlooks the Ligurian Sea, and I’ve enlisted the hotel restaurant to have dinner ready for us on the terrace when we get back. I never imagined this would be my life, but the happiness I see radiating on Dani’s face as she experiences each part of Italy makes it worth it.
“Oh! Let’s go in here,” she says, pulling me into a high-end boutique.
She spends the next twenty minutes checking out the expensive purses that I’ve seen my mom and sister use, and she finally settles on a little white-and-black one that shouldn’t cost as much as it does.
Of course, she doesn’t ask me to buy it for her because she has her own money and refuses to let me pay for anything unless it’s part of the trip. Once the overpriced purse is paid for and in some ugly-ass orange bag, we head out.
“The purse is so cute, right?” she says, her hand back in mine, where it belongs, while I carry her bags in my other hand.
The guards—who I insisted come with us because I’m not taking any chances—are following behind, keeping enough of a distance that it doesn’t feel like they’re with us, but close enough that if something were to happen, they’d see it coming.
“So cute,” I say with a laugh, making her grin. “Are you hungry?”
“Starving. We should find somewhere to eat and then go back to our hotel and put that huge spa tub to use.”
She waggles her brows, and I shake my head. Dani’s sex drive is insatiable—not that I’m complaining.
“You know, with you being twelve … well, shit, actually, thirteen years younger since I turned thirty-five, I worry, in a few years, when I’m old and I can barely keep it up, you’ll leave me for a younger guy.”
It’s meant to be a joke, but I realize it fell flat when Dani stops walking and glances up at me.
“You think I’d leave you over sex?”
“I was just kidding.”
Though a part of me wasn’t.
She quirks a brow, and I sigh.
“Andrey used to say that he fucked other women because my mom wouldn’t put out. They were always younger women, in their prime.” I shrug. “I’m already thirty-five, and you’re twenty-two.”
“I’ll be twenty-three soon,” she sasses, which makes me think …
“When’s your birthday?” Fuck, I should know this, but I don’t.
She snorts out a laugh. “Actually, it’s tomorrow.”
“What?” I bark. “Are you fucking serious? How did I not know that? I feel like I’m already failing at this boyfriend shit.”
“You’re not failing at anything. We can’t possibly know everything about each other. And the fun is in getting to know each other.” She palms the side of my face. “I love you, and I don’t care how much older you are than me. I’m not going anywhere. Plus, they have those little blue pills for a reason.”
She sticks her tongue out at me and goes to run, but before she can get away, I swat her ass, making her cackle as she glances back at me. Her grin is so infectious that I don’t know how I’m going to go back to reality in a couple of days. She’s quickly become an addiction that I never want to break.