Chapter 4
Alessandro and I didn’t see each other again until after my parents left. After the kiss we shared in the park I craved to see him again and spent far too much time thinking about him. But I let my common sense side take over and decided it was safer to wait until my parents’ prying eyes were gone. I spent the next few days making arrangements to have my things moved to an apartment as far away from the palace as possible without making it too difficult to get to classes at the university. Kat and Nico were still on their honeymoon and I wanted to be long gone by the time they returned.
When I finished settling in to what was going to be my home for the next few months I thought about calling Alessandro and inviting him over, but in the end I decided against it. I’d asked him to be my distraction, and I still wanted him to be. But when I thought about our kiss the other day, part of me felt elated, the other terrified. If I invited him over he might misconstrue my intentions, and I really wasn’t ready to move things along as quickly as I’d implied.
I turned the TV on and sat on my couch with a brochure from the University of Monterra. I’d barely had a chance to read through it when I heard the names Nico and Kat blaring from the TV. I didn’t understand what was being said, but I didn’t need to speak Italian to know that it was yet another story about Monterra’s newest royal couple. I reached down and grabbed a shoe from the floor and flung it at the images of Nico and Kat in their wedding attire. When I’d first met Kat I thought she was rather plain, but in her wedding dress, even I had to admit she looked stunning. I was so tired of being jealous of her, and in desperate need of some hazelnut gelato to get me out of my funk. I called Alessandro, who agreed to meet me.
He’d already ordered for me by the time I walked into the gelateria less than thirty minutes later.
“Something is bothering you,” he said as I sat down across from him.
I was usually better at restraining my emotions, but I couldn’t help but spill the whole ugly truth to Alessandro about the way seeing Kat in her wedding dress had made me feel. But I didn’t stop there. I told him about meeting Kat for the first time at a charity event in Paris, the way I’d tried embarrassing her, and how I’d set her up to make it look like she was planning to sell secrets about Nico and his family to the tabloids. When I was done I half expected Alessandro to get up and leave, but instead he reached across the table for my hand. I looked up at him. “You must think I’m an awful person, don’t you?”
“That’s not what I’m thinking at all.”
“Then what?”
Alessandro sighed. “You’ll probably think me simple for saying this, but your story just makes me thankful my parents are farmers and not Lord and Lady anything.”
That wasn’t what I expected him to say at all, and I had no idea how to respond. I’d always liked that I came from a noble family. People respected us, we had money and could buy fancy clothes and cars and travel all over the world, but it suddenly dawned on me that despite all those things I wasn’t happy, and Nico and Kat had nothing to do with that. What was the alternative though? Alessandro seemed happy, but he hadn’t grown up the way I had, he didn’t care about Prada or Chanel because he’d never become accustomed to those things.
“Let’s talk about something else,” I said. “I’m tired of thinking about Nico and Kat.”
Alessandro looked at his watch. “It’s almost dinner time. Why don’t I take you for some pizza?”
“But I just had a big bowl of gelato.”
“You’ve never heard of dessert before dinner? It’s my favorite thing to do.” When he realized he hadn’t convinced me, Alessandro continued. “Oh, come one. I know the best pizzeria in Monterra. Each slice is guaranteed to make you think you’re in heaven.”
Reluctantly, I agreed to try this miracle pizza he was raving about and wound up happy that I did. Alessandro was right about the heaven part. “I am seriously going to gain twenty pounds spending time with you,” I said, reaching for my second slice.
“So I am turning out to be a good distractor?”
“The best.”
“Don’t say that until you’ve tried the wine here. You may decide a bottle of it is better than time with me.”
“I seriously doubt that.”
Alessandro wound up being just as right about the wine as he was about the pizza. By the time he had finished paying for our meal, I’d had way too much to drink. I wasn’t drunk, but tipsy enough to ask him to come over to my apartment without giving any thought to how he might receive my invitation.
By the Alessandro pulled into a parking spot in front of my apartment my heart was racing in anticipation of another kiss. I led him inside my apartment. As he walked through the foyer and into the living room I couldn’t help but notice the way he kept looking around.
“When you said apartment I was expecting something smaller.”
“I suppose it’s more of an apartment home. You don’t like it?”
“It’s very nice, although I’ve never really been one for such fancy things.” Alessandro ran his hand over the top of my couch. “I’m afraid I might ruin something in here.”
I reached for his hand. “Don’t be silly. It’s just furniture.”
“Yes, that’s true. I just didn’t think you’d see it that way.”
“There’s nothing in here that can’t be replaced,” I said, and then noticing the look on Alessandro’s face continued. “Except you, of course.” I smiled and pulled him closer. “In fact, I’m beginning to think you’re entirely one of a kind.”
“Hmm. Thinking I’m one of a kind isn’t good enough. I intend to for you to know it. And I think the best way to start showing you is with another kiss.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when his lips found mine. His kiss was hungry and full of desire. I wasn’t used to being wanted the way Alessandro seemed to crave me. I knew men found me attractive, but I’d always thought of being petite and blonde as rather dull compared to the tall runway models that captivated so many of the men in my social circles.
“You are so bellissima,” Alessandro whispered into my ear as his lips traveled up my neck. The way his breath felt on my skin made me shudder. I’d barely known him a week, had only gone out on two dates with him, and already I wanted him more than I’d ever wanted a man in my entire life.
His hand slid under my shirt and the feel of his skin on mine made my heart feel like it was going to pound right out of my chest.
“You are so soft.” Alessandro began lifting my shirt. “I want to kiss every inch of you.”
And I wanted him to, but I was also afraid that things were moving way too fast. I grabbed Alessandro’s hand and pulled it away. He leaned back and looked at me quizzically.
“Is something wrong?”
“No…I just. I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.”
“Mi dispiace, Claire,” Alessandro said. “I’m very sorry, but I thought this was what you wanted.”
“It was. I mean it is. It’s just that…well I thought I was ready, but maybe I’m not. I want my first time to be special. I thought it would be with Nico, but of course he’s married now, so that’s not going to happen.”
“You wish Nico was here with you instead of me?”
“No. I actually don’t really care about the whole Nico situation at all any more thanks to you.” I shook my head, feeling bad that I’d made Alessandro think that way. It hadn’t been my intention. “I couldn’t imagine kissing Nico like I just kissed you, much less doing anything else. But still, I feel like…”
Alessandro held one of his fingertips up to my lips. “You don’t need to explain. I understand.”
“You do?”
Alessandro nodded.
“So you’re not upset with me?”
“No,” Alessandro replied. “But I do have a question.”
“What?” I asked hesitantly.
“Are you a…virgin?”
I could feel myself blush. This wasn’t a conversation I was very comfortable with. “It might seem old-fashioned, but I’d hoped to save myself for the man I would one day marry,” I explained. “I mean, I’m not really religious or anything, and I know it’s the twenty-first century, but don’t men still prefer that?”
“Do women prefer that?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then it’s hardly fair for men to,” Alessandro replied.
“How very evolved of you to think that way.”
“Maybe we should revisit those rules of yours and add a few more just so that I don’t cross any more lines.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Kissing is okay, yes?”
“Very yes,” I said trying not to grin like a silly school girl.
“Then I will be satisfied with that until you decide you want more.”
Alessandro pulled me closer. I rested my head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around me and sighed. Everything about him felt so right, except that he wasn’t, and never would be. I just hoped that by the time I was ready to return to England my heart and my mind would be on the same page when it came him.