LAUREN

“Dinner’s ready.”

I splash more water across my knees and wish I could stay in here forever. “Coming,” I tell him and sigh.

I’ve been in the bathroom for more than an hour, soaking my bruises from the roughness earlier. Antonio pushed my buttons and pissed me off. Not because what he said was a lie, but because he spoke so much truth that it scared the shit out of me.

I do want him. I do like him. More than I want to, but I’m not ready to give in so easily. Every second that passes puts us one step closer to reality where there’s no us that could ever be possible.

I know I can’t stay in here forever. Standing for a moment, I lean forward and take a few deep breaths. How did I get myself into this mess?

You had a one-night stand with your arch-rival. Only I would have such luck to sleep with my literal enemy. I have to face him, and I can’t hide behind my anger anymore. He sees right through me, and my body can’t take another angry fuck.

After I towel myself off and slip on a sundress I’d picked out from the dozens of them that filled the closet, I walk toward the beach. The hazy glow of candles beckons me forward as I pad through the darkness toward the water.

Antonio’s standing near a cloth-covered table, holding out a chair for me. “Feel better?”

I smile weakly. “Yes,” I say as I slide into the chair.

He places his hand on my shoulder, and I glance up at him. He’s smiling, almost relieved by my answer. The bath was divine, but I don’t feel better. My emotions are more mixed up than they were this morning.

In less than twenty-four hours, we’ll be back in the city, and all of this will just be a memory. How can my mind justify letting my heart become attached to this man who’s been nothing but kind to me?

My insides are in a constant battle, and just when I think sanity has won, Antonio throws another wrench into the mix and makes everything come to a grinding halt.

He settles in the seat across from me, and although I want to focus solely on him, I can’t help but take in his lavish dinner setting. While I relaxed in the tub, he had to run around to set everything up as perfectly as he did.

Buried in the sand are a dozen large, metal candelabras illuminating the table with a soft glow. The small round table sits off to the side of the blanket, the same one we’d fallen asleep on last night. It’s covered with a white linen tablecloth and has two place settings with the most ornate yet modern china I’ve ever seen. New York strip, asparagus, and fingerling potatoes are perfectly prepared and piping hot.

“I hope you like everything.” He smiles and gazes at me across the table.

“It’s beautiful,” I say as I drape the napkin across my lap and try not to tear up just a little bit at the beauty of this moment.

No man has ever prepared a meal for me or planned an entire weekend away where I’m to do nothing but enjoy myself. Antonio hasn’t even asked me to help carry a dish. He’s spared no expense and gone to so much trouble because he’s trying to…I don’t know. Is he courting me? Trying to make me his? Possibly. I still don’t entirely buy that he wants to win me over. There’s no possible way we can ride off into the sunset, dragging cans behind his Ferrari with a “Just Married” sign taped to the back window.

“A toast,” he says, popping the bottle of already chilled champagne.

I hold my glass as he fills it, and I wait for him to pour himself a glass before I lift it from the table. I watch him closely and take in the shadows that cross over his rugged features in the relative darkness. He’s absolutely stunning. Just as beautiful in his crisp ivory linen shirt and tan beach pants as he is with water rivulets dripping off his naked body.

“To the now,” he says as he clinks his glass to mine.

I’m barely paying attention, daydreaming about his wet flesh under the morning sun from earlier today. “To the now,” I repeat, finally coming back to a reality that doesn’t involve nudity.

“Dig in,” he says.

I cut my steak, breaking it down into tiny pieces and pushing the fatty bits to the side. “You shouldn’t have gone to all this trouble.”

“It was nothing.”

I gaze across the table and smile genuinely for the first time in hours. “It’s a lot of work. I don’t know why you’re being so good to me. You could’ve very easily told me to fuck off.”

“Fuck off where?” He waves his knife and fork around the table. “There’s nowhere for you to go.”

“Fine. You could’ve thrown the steak on a paper plate and had me eat over the sink.”

He blinks at me with his mouth hanging open in shock. “Who would do such a thing?”

I laugh softly at first, but the look on his face is so priceless that it grows into a full-on giggle.

Trent would do that. Hell, he did. The man didn’t know a pot from a casserole dish, and I was lucky if he boiled me a slimy hotdog on a bun when starvation would set in. After a day of on and off fighting, he most certainly would’ve never prepared a romantic dinner on the beach under the stars.

“A lot of men, Antonio. A lot of men.”

“Those aren’t men. No real man would ever treat a woman that way.”

I’ve heard Italian men are romantic, and Antonio is no different. He’s over the top, and I’m not used to such thoughtfulness being put into every detail like he has done.

“Stick with me, love, and this will seem like a weak attempt to win your affection.”

I don’t even balk anymore when he calls me love. It’s beautifully charming and sexy as hell with his accent. “We need to talk about what’s going to happen when we return.”

He stops eating and places his forearms against the edge of the table. “There’s nothing to discuss.”

“Tomorrow when we return to our lives, do we pretend this never happened and pick up right where we left off?”

“Back there,” he says, motioning toward the ocean with his chin. “That’s the pretend and not real life. The only thing that’s real is right here, right now. Work is what we do, not who we are.”

I ponder his words as I take a sip of champagne. I wish it were all that easy. Work is who we are. It’s the very core of my being. I’m nothing without my work and the dream I’ve been chasing since I was a little girl.

“You make everything sound simple, but when we’re back in Chicago, nothing will ever be this easy again,” I reply, running my fingers up and down the water that’s trickling down the sides of the champagne flute.

“We can come back next week.” He grins. “My island is yours whenever you want to join me.”

I shake my head and exhale. The fairy tale is nice, but if word got around that I am traipsing all over the globe with the competition, I’d lose my position along with my credibility. “Let’s not kid ourselves, Antonio. You have a dick.”

“A very large dick,” he interrupts with a sly grin and a wink.

“You have a nice dick.” I smile, but I won’t throw him the compliment he wants so badly. “It affords you many indulgences that I’m not allowed as a woman.”

“That’s not true,” he argues, but he’s completely wrong.

“If word got out that I slept with you, I’d immediately be labeled a whore, and people would say that I tried to use my sexuality to win.”

“Do people really still say bullshit like that? I’d say it was true of the business world twenty years ago, but not today. We’ve evolved as a society.”

“Sadly, we haven’t. Colleagues would pat you on the back for fucking me, but I’d be forced out of my company with a moderately sized severance package and nothing more.”

He relaxes back into his chair, still holding the silverware in his hands, his arms on the edge of the table. “I’d never tell a soul, Lauren. You must believe this.”

I reach for the champagne, needing more liquid courage to get through everything that will happen tonight. Not that I don’t want to make love with him under the stars, but I don’t want to risk shedding tears about it being the last time I ever experience something like this.

Antonio beats me to the bottle, gently pushing my hands away with a smile. “Let me.”

“I don’t think you’d ruin me intentionally. You’ve already had that chance. But people talk, and rumors start. Eventually, the story spins out of control, and we can’t dictate the narrative. I can’t risk this turning into something more than it is. I’ve enjoyed my time with you, Antonio, more than I want to admit. But we can’t have anything more than this weekend.”

He eyes me across the table as he fills my glass. “To the now, Lauren. To the now,” he reminds me.

We’re living in the moment and forgetting that reality will slam us square in the face with the biggest bitch slap I’ve probably ever experienced.

“To the now,” I repeat, trying to convince myself and failing miserably.

ANTONIO

We’re side by side on the blanket, our fingers laced together and our shoulders touching as we stare up at the sky.

“What’s your favorite planet?” she asks.

A moment ago, she was telling me about her time spent in Boston and how their Little Italy rivals even Chicago’s and now she’s talking about the tiny pinpoints of light above us.

“Jupiter.”

She turns her head toward me, the moonlight shimmering across her dew-kissed skin. “Why Jupiter?”

“There’s an understated beauty to the planet. From afar, it looks serene, almost like a giant topaz turning against the darkness. But beneath the cloud, there’s nothing peaceful. The storm under the beautiful clouds has raged for millions of years and has never diminished over time.”

She faces the sky again, staring at the moon shining directly overhead. “That’s an interesting choice. Mine’s Saturn,” she says, tightening her grasp on my fingers.

“Everyone loves Saturn, Lauren.”

“Wouldn’t it be amazing to go there someday? Can you imagine the view of the rings intertwined with the fifty-three moons passing by the night sky each night? It must be breathtaking.”

“Someday, sooner than we both can even imagine, humans will land on Saturn, and we’ll finally get our first glimpse at the night sky. I’ll keep my feet firmly planted here and marvel at the photos.”

“Maybe the future will be like Star Trek, and we can just beam ourselves anywhere in the universe.”

“Can you get your team on that? They seem to be able to make the impossible a reality.” I smile at her, but she doesn’t smile back. I roll onto my side, placing one arm above her head and draping the other across her stomach. “Thank you,” I whisper.

“For what?” She finally smiles.

“For making me happy this weekend.”

She lifts her hand, pressing her palm against my cheek. “It’s you who’s made me happy, Antonio. I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt this free.”

“You deserve this and more, love. Never doubt the value of freedom and remembering what life is truly about.”

“I haven’t found the balance yet.”

“Stay with me, and I’ll show you how to have everything you’ve ever dreamed.”

Her thumb brushes against my lips. “You say such pretty and fanciful things.”

I lean forward, dragging my lips across hers. “It’s not fanciful if I can make it a reality. I would move mountains to have this time with you again.”

“Even if it meant giving up Interstellar?” She raises an eyebrow, her hand still against my cheek.

“I’d give up my world to be with you, Lauren.”

She lifts her head and presses her lips to mine. I cradle her neck in my hand and kiss her back, deep and demanding.

I want her to feel the truth in my words.

I’d move heaven and earth if I believed Lauren could be mine forever.

Lifting my body, I gently put my weight on her as I climb between her legs. If there’s a heaven, this would be it. Our bodies tangled together, our lips joined, and our hearts beating wildly out of control with everything else in the world unimportant.

Unlike earlier today, there’s no anger in our actions. I want to take her slow and make love to her, expressing everything that’s bottled up inside through my touch.

When I finally slide into her, our eyes are locked. I gaze down at her as she peers up at me. There’s no uncertainty or hesitation in our movements. Just a slow, steady rhythm as I rock into her and she pushes back, needy and wanting more.

The orgasm makes my toes curl and my head spin as my heart beats out of rhythm, and I gasp for air. Collapsing onto my back, I pull her flush against me. “Let’s stay here forever.”

She laughs softly. “We have to go back, Antonio.”

“We don’t. We have enough money to live the rest of our lives right here and never face reality again.”

She runs the edge of her fingernail up the middle of my pecs. “Although I love the sound of that, we have people in our lives who matter. I can’t run away, not yet, at least.”

I drift to sleep with Lauren in my arms and a head swimming with possibilities.