“Who the hell are you?” His deeply accented voice echoes through the cottage, vibrating deep down into my bones. My eyes scan every inch of his amazing body, which I know is so wrong on so many levels, but I can’t seem to look away. There has been a man drought for a very long time and a tall drink of water is standing before me, what’s a desperate woman to do. Also, I’ll blame it on the stress, jet lag and shock of not finding my sister in his place.

Damn it, my eyes trail down his glistening, olive skinned chest, over taut abs, not romance novel cover abs, but normal, hot guy abs. He looks like he works out, but not religiously, but enough to look fine. Then down to that panty dropper line, the V. I follow the smattering of dark hair, down the happy trail, to what is happening between his legs.

Honestly, I don’t mean to stare but, holy shit on a stick, you can’t be waving that thing in front of a dick-deprived woman like me, that’s like waving a gourmet sausage in front of someone who’s just started a vegetarian diet. It is the most beautiful cock I have ever seen and we all know there are some ugly ones out there, but when you stumble upon a prized beast like this, you have to take your time to admire it. It deserves your admiration. I bet women make a sacrifice to the dick Gods when he unwraps himself. I am now, mentally, that is. It’s the perfect length. Not too big not too small, just the right amount of girth, too. Meaty enough to fill you up but not too much that you think you’re giving birth. There’s a nice even color tone as well, with the perfect amount of veinage. Even his balls are perfectly symmetrical. No one has fucking perfect balls, no one. And, of course, he manscapes, this man cares for his lady friends, he understands what happens when a stray makes an appearance. It doesn’t end good. Which reminds me, I have an Amazonian jungle covering my lady garden at the moment, I think it might be time for me to trim the hedges.

“Scusa.” He clears his throat “My eyes are up here.”

“I know; I was just enjoying the view.” My hands rush to my mouth, but the words are out before I realize. What the hell has gotten into me. The hot stranger’s mouth twitches with a smile, but he recovers, keeping his face neutral. Where the hell is Lauren? Why would she have a naked guy in her home? She didn’t break up with Alistair and I didn’t know about it? No, they were so good together, they have been dating forever.

“Who are you and where’s Lauren?” I’m looking around the room, hoping she will jump out and surprise me. He frowns at me.

“Lauren?” he questions me. His accent is killing me, Italian. I have a weakness for accents, I mean, who wouldn’t when there is a roman God standing in front of you. “I don’t know a Lauren.” Then who the hell is he?

“I’ll ask you again, who the hell are you? You better tell me or I am calling the cops and having you arrested for trespassing.”

“Are you serious?”

“Damn right I am, and heads up, I have a black belt. So I will kick your ass if you come anywhere near me.”

“Have you escaped the mental institution? Should I be worried?”

“I’m not crazy, you’re the one that has broken into my home.”

“No, I haven’t. I’m renting this place.”

“This is my house and I can assure you, I haven’t rented it out to anyone.”

“It’s in my phone, the details. Let me get it.” My eyes narrow on him, but he seems genuinely confused by the whole situation and my sister does have some hair brained schemes, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she has rented out my room to someone.

“Fine.”

He turns on his heel and runs down the hall. I take a look at his toned ass as he walks away. Nice, tanned buns. He must sun bathe naked to get an all over tan like that. Focus, Lilly. I grab my phone out of my purse and call Lauren. “Come on, pick up.” But, the phone just rings out. I send her a text asking her to call me ASAP.

The beautiful cocked man comes out in a long sleeved white t-shirt and grey sweat pants. Such a shame covering up a thing of beauty like that. Thankfully, I can still see the heavy outline against the material. He flicks through his phone, then turns it to me.

“The email is from Lolly.” My eyes scan down the email that says he’s booked into my home for the next month. I am going to kill my sister, where the hell is she?

“Lolly is my sister’s nickname, we’re Lilly and Lolly. Where the hell is my sister?” Handing his phone back to him, I continue, “I can’t believe she did this to me. This is my home. I… this was meant to be a surprise.” I sit down in one of the arm chairs beside the fire, feeling a little woozy with all this excitement.

“Lolly, is your sister?” I nod. “The email says she was going away.” I nod again but I’m not really listening to him. All I want is my bed, but it looks like he is staying in that room. Tears start to fall down my cheeks, the shock of everything going to custard kicks in. “Signora, please.” He sounds like he’s unsure what to do when a strange woman crashes his holiday, stares at you naked, then starts crying. I mean, surely this happens all the time, right?

“I’m sorry. I just …I’ve just flown in from Kenya.” He looks at me in shock. “I have nowhere to go… my sister was supposed to be here. It’s snowing badly outside.” I sniffle. “I’m sorry to ruin your holiday, I had no idea…she wouldn’t be here.” The handsome man keeps his distance, probably smart. “I’ll go in the morning, please just let me stay tonight.” He frowns a little but nods. “I’ll just go into the other room.” Pointing to the room across the hall. “That’s my sister’s.” He smiles but it doesn’t quite reach his dark, chocolatey eyes. I pick up my bag and walk into my sister’s room, the faint smell of her perfume lingers in the air. I fall onto the soft bed and scream into the pillow. Where the hell is she?

I must fall asleep at some point because I am woken by my phone ringing. Jumping up, I quickly grab it and see it’s Lauren calling. “Where the hell are you?” I scream into the phone.

“Um, where the hell are you?”

“Excuse me. I’m here in your bed and there is a fucking stranger in mine.” I raise my voice.

“What the hell are you doing there?”

“I’ve come home, it’s a long story, one that I want to tell you in person, not over the phone. Where are you?” Lauren bursts out laughing. I don’t think any of this is funny at all.

“Alistair and I decided to come and surprise you, in Kenya.” The world stops. Did she just say Kenya?

“You’re seriously not in Africa, are you?” My brain is computing the words she is saying but I’m not really understanding it because, seriously, this cannot be happening.

“Yeah, we are standing right here with Rob. He seems very confused that you have disappeared all of a sudden. What’s going on, Lil?” I shake my head, the tears falling instantly, thinking about that man.

“Lil. Come back.” I hear Rob call down the phone.

“Lolly. Don’t hang out with Rob.”

“Hold on.” The voices in the background become fainter. “What’s going on?”

“He’s the reason I’m halfway across the world.” I try and hold in my tears.

“What the hell did he do?” My little sister is tiny, 5 foot 2 at best, but she is feisty, she always looked out for me, even though she is two years younger.

“I’ve caught him numerous times screwing around with the nurses.” Tears fall freely now; it feels good, finally telling someone.

“Oh, babe. I had no idea.”

“I just tried to keep it in, deal with it myself because I was stuck there. I had signed on for two years and you can’t break it, plus, I loved being there. I loved helping. Thankfully, one of the other doctors had fallen in love so we swapped. It was last minute and I didn’t have time to tell you. I just wanted to leave. I didn’t want Rob to know anything about it. I had to go.” Being stuck in the middle of nowhere, with a cheating partner, is hell. The first time I busted him, I had woken up because it was so hot that night I couldn’t sleep. I stumbled from my bed and out into the night, the slight breeze cooling me down ever so slightly. I heard some strange noises around the corner of my tent, and went to investigate, and that’s when I saw Rob screwing one of the nurses up against some boxes. She was this beautiful, sexy, French nurse, who had been flirting with Rob ever since we got there, but I never thought he would cheat on me. The diamond ring on my finger, I thought, gave me security, I was wrong. This is where I should have made a scene, screamed and yelled at him, told him what a horrible man he was, but I didn’t. I turned around and made my way to the food tent to grab a bottle of water. I sat and cried by myself. Then I trudged back to my tent and went to sleep. Pathetic, really. I pretended the next day as if nothing had happened, not because I thought it was okay, but because I was stuck. A couple of other times, late at night, I stumbled upon him and each time it chipped away at my soul, but I still never said anything, that good old English stiff upper lip coming in handy. I waited until I could get a chance to leave, and when I did, I took it.

I did mess around on Rob, once. I met a hot Canadian peace keeper, I was his escort around the villages. There was a storm and it was too treacherous for us to return to the camp, so we had to wait it out in a tiny hotel room in the city, one too many drinks led to a night I will never forget.

“You bastard,” Lauren screams down the phone, pulling me from my memories. “You fucking bastard, how could you cheat on her.” I can hear Rob trying to defend himself from Lauren’s onslaught.

“Lolly. Lolly. Stop. Lol.” I try and catch her attention but it’s as if she’s dropped the phone.

“Lil.” Alistair picks up the phone.

“She’s making a scene, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, and to be fair, Rob is acting like a pussy, telling her he doesn’t know what she is talking about. That he never cheated.” This makes me huff, damn coward. “But, Lolly isn’t backing down. Oh, shit, I think security is coming. Gotta go. Will call you if we don’t get arrested.” And with that, he hangs up the phone. I stare up at the wooden ceiling of the cottage, hundreds of years’ worth of structure, and laugh. I laugh and laugh, until my stomach hurts. I can just imagine my little pocket rocket of a sister, slapping and hitting Rob, where she can reach that is, and him trying to protect himself from her. I love my sister. The fact that she has flown halfway across the world to surprise me means everything, but even more she is defending my honor.

Moments later, my phone rings again.

“Lolly. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I am. But Rob isn’t.” She sniggers. “I kind of caused a scene, and, well, told everyone he works with he is a cheating scumbag. That my sister was way too good for him.” This makes me laugh. “Least everyone knows now. They were all sad to see you had left, you were very much loved here.” I begin to tear up.

“I know; I miss them all so much, as well.” I’m thinking about the amazing villagers that became my family while I was there.

“Hey, where are you?” Lauren asks.

“Glencoe,” I tell her.

“Shit. Um…”

“Yes, I have already met the person renting out the house, I kind of stumbled in on him naked.”

“Oh, my God, did you have to bleach your eyes?”

“The total opposite, I couldn’t stop staring. He’s hot!” Lauren squeals down the phone.

“This is fate, Lil. Fate.” My sister is the complete opposite to me, she believes in fate, and soul mates and happiness. She’s a hairdresser, and spends her days dressed in bright colorful clothes, and colorful rainbow hair. She’s dating Alistair, a farmer here in Glencoe. They have been dating for a long while, but he still hasn’t put a ring on it. Not that Lolly minds.

“You know I don’t believe in fate.”

“Well, tell me this. Why the hell am I here in Kenya and you are there in Glencoe? Both of us surprising the other for Christmas.” I love her enthusiasm for fate, but I’m a doctor, I think in logic and science.

“Miscommunication, not fate.” She scoffs at me.

“No, something is happening, fate is up to something. She has sent a hot guy to our cottage and you turn up after getting your heart broken.”

“Hot Italian guy,” I add.

“Oh, my God. See, fate, you speak Italian, it’s fate, Lilly. Fate.”

“Let’s forget about fate for the moment. What the hell are we going to do now that we are both on opposite sides of the world.”

“Well, Alistair’s never been overseas, so I would love to show him around.”

“I’m going to miss you, but you need to explore that beautiful continent. I’ll see you when you get home.”

“I’ll miss you so much. Kenya is beautiful, can’t wait to see the rest of it.”

“I’ll email you where to go and what to see, in the morning.”

“Thanks, babe. I’m so bummed that we missed you. But, I’m glad I kicked Rob’s ass, I never liked him.” This makes me laugh, because it’s true. Lauren’s always thought he was this rich, entitled snob, who thought he was so much better than everyone else. Looking back, she was right.

“Okay, well, have fun, send me loads of pics and I love you.”

“Love you, too, sis, and jump that Italian Stallion.”

“Bye, Lolly.” I fall back asleep quickly, jet lag taking over and my heart a little less broken.