Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 101840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
“Jett, you are telling tales!” Concetta said with a laugh, arriving through the open doors and setting my omelette down on the table. “I said he and his wife are not quiet guests. They sometimes argue and stay up late with requests for additional drinks. We used to put them near your grandfather’s suite so they wouldn’t bother the other guests, but remember, your grandfather was hard of hearing.”
Jett met my eyes. “Anyway, since the room they’ll be in is closest to mine, not yours, I think it’ll be fine. But Concetta wanted to make sure you were okay with it.”
I nodded, wondering if anyone would end up sleeping in Jett’s bedroom at all. At this rate, the man seemed to have staked his territory in the center of my personal space.
Surprisingly, I hadn’t minded sharing a bed with him, even though I usually preferred sleeping alone.
“I live in the city. Noise isn’t a problem. Besides, Jett’s right. It probably won’t be heard in my bedroom. If he wants to be the one to suffer their marital spats, so be it.”
She nodded and turned away but stopped before disappearing back through the doors. She returned and reached into the pocket of her skirt to hand something to Jett. “I almost forgot. Put this on the burns. It will help.”
He took the small piece of aloe plant from her hands and beamed at her. “This is from Roberto, isn’t it?”
She nodded, waved her hand over her shoulder, and disappeared into the house.
I watched in shock as Jett casually swiped the cut end of the aloe leaf over the tips of his finger. As the caffeine finally hit my brain, I realized what must have happened.
I shoved my chair back and stepped close to take his hand. “You burned yourself? How the fuck did he let you close enough to the stove for that? I told you not to go in there. He’s a menace. You know what? He’s fired. We’ll have to find someone else for the tournament.”
The tips of three of his fingers were redder than the others. I took the aloe from him and held his hand, palm up, smoothing the slick gel over the reddened fingers so he didn’t have to try and use his nondominant hand to apply it.
He smiled at me. “Stand down. Do you think I’m stupid enough to get close to Roberto’s stove? I accidentally touched a piece of metal that had been baking in the sun. It’s fine. No big deal. It’s my own fault for snooping.”
I glanced up at him. “What do you mean, snooping?”
He turned slightly to point down by the pool, where there was a small flower garden.
“Ah. The little plaques by the roses,” I said with a sigh. Each metal sign was engraved with the varietal and name and date of its acquisition. “I burned my leg on one when I was five. I would replace them, but my grandmother loved them.”
“One of the rosebushes is from the Queen of England,” he said, a tinge of awe in his voice. “Another is from Vraj Nanda. Do you know who that is?”
I nodded, returning my attention to his hurt fingers. “You’ll meet him in a few days. He’s one of the Paxis players.”
When he didn’t respond, I looked up at him. “What?”
“Vraj Nanda, the guy who wrote Stillness is a River? He’s part of your nerd herd?”
Jett had refused to conform to my expectations at every turn during our short acquaintance, so maybe it shouldn’t have been such a surprise that he was familiar with Stillness is a River.
But the way he spoke the title with a hushed reverence, like he’d not only heard of the book but read it and been impressed by it, hit me hard.
It made me wonder if Jett was a reader, and if so, what books he liked to read, and whether we’d read any of the same things and could discuss them. It made me wonder what other hobbies and interests Jett had, and how much there was to him that I didn’t know—
Alarm bells clanged in my mind.
The reason I’d brought Jett—a sex worker, a former go-go dancer, a man—to Italy was so I wouldn’t have to divide my attention between my sex partner and the Paxis tournament. The whole point was to bring someone who knew the score and was being well compensated, so there’d be no expectations on either side.
And now here I was, distracted and intrigued when I most needed to get my head in the game.
I released Jett’s hand and tossed the remains of the aloe leaf on the table before returning to my meal. “I’m really hoping you don’t refer to them that way when they arrive,” I said stiffly.
He took the seat next to mine. “Who else is coming? Besides the ones you already mentioned on the way here.”