“What did the background check show?” I knew before accepting any client, Bachelor International always ran a background check. According to Mia, they’d found nothing while doing a background check that would disqualify someone from being a client, but they wouldn't take a chance and not do one.
“His background was relatively unremarkable. Close friends describe him as a workaholic, very driven, and somewhat reclusive.”
He sounded dreadfully boring. Since boring wasn’t a word I’d have used to describe my time in Italy, or my experience with Italian men, I let myself relax. I could do this. “I’ll think about it tonight,” I told Mia. “And let you know something tomorrow.”
Before my time in Italy, I scoffed at the idea of love at first sight. Foolishness, I’d say with a shake of my head at how supposedly intelligent people could lower their intellect enough to believe in such nonsense.
But then I went to Italy for two weeks.
It had never been my plan to travel abroad that year. If I’d even considered it for longer than two seconds, I’d have decided fairly quickly the cost would be outside anything I’d be able to pay. At the time, I was going to school part time, while working as a ballet instructor. My dream was to become a professional dancer, and any free time I had outside of school was spent doing some sort of dance, usually ballet.
A group of friends I’d met in school arranged a ski trip to Italy over Christmas break. They’d asked if I was interested. Of course, I’d said. But being interested and being able to afford the trip were two different things.
My parents had moved to Florida when they retired and had announced earlier that October they’d booked a Christmas cruise when they found a bargain last minute deal online. Since they lived near Miami, they could take a cab to the port.
I’d planned to spend the holidays with Mia and her mom, and was looking forward to catching up with Mia. Between her job and my schedule, we’d have very little girl bonding time. I didn’t even mind being around her mom. Dee was like a second mom to me, but a really cool second mom. Italy never crossed my mind as a possibility until three weeks before the group was due to leave, one of the travelers was arrested for accessory to armed robbery and wasn’t allowed to leave the country.
Because of the way the package the group had purchased worked, the entire trip would be cancelled if they were unable to fill that empty spot. When they called to ask if I could go, I still thought it could never happen, until they convinced me to talk to the travel agent, and she quoted me a price I’d be a fool not to take.
Fortunately, I had a passport, and after some whirlwind shopping, a few weeks later I was on my way to Italy. I flew out of Boston feeling as if I was on top of the world. I had to pinch myself to make sure it wasn’t a dream.
The resort in Courmayeur, Italy was more beautiful than I had ever imagined a place could be. When I met Luca the day I arrived, I allowed myself to get swept away by his soulful eyes, his good looks, and easy charm, but most of all, his sweet words. For the best ten days of my life, I thought my initial belief about love at first sight was a mistake on my part. After all, Luca and I had fallen that quickly.
But a little over a week was all it lasted. Ten days. Ten days were all I had to experience the type of love I never believed possible. Ten days before it was ripped from my hands and shown to be sham it was. Ten days before I lost not only the man I thought was my soulmate and the love of my life, but also, my forever dream of dance. With one foolish mistake, I lost everything.
Also by Tara Sue Me
THE SUBMISSIVE SERIES:
The Submissive
The Dominant
The Training
The Chalet*
Seduced by Fire
The Enticement
The Collar
The Exhibitionist
The Master
The Exposure
The Claiming*
The Flirtation
Mentor’s Match
The Mentor & The Master*
Top Trouble
Nathaniel’s Gift*
RACK ACADEMY SERIES:
Master Professor
Headmaster
BACHELOR INTERNATIONAL:
Mister Temptation (Previously published as AMERICAN ASSHOLE)
Mister Irresistible
Mister Impossible
THE DATE DUO:
The Date Dare
The Date Deal
WALL STREET ROYALS:
FOK
Big Swinging D
All or None
OTHERS:
Madame President
Bucked
Her Last Hello
Altered Allies (currently unavailable)
*eNovella
About the Author
Even though she graduated with a degree in science, Tara knew she’d never be happy doing anything other than writing. Specifically, writing love stories.
She started with a racy BDSM story and found she was not quite prepared for the unforeseen impact it would have. Nonetheless, she continued and The Submissive Series novels would go on to be both New York Times and USA Today bestsellers. One of those, THE MASTER, was a 2017 RITA finalist for Best Erotic Romance. Well over one million copies of her books have been sold worldwide.