Giuliano exhales heavily as if annoyed and I bite my lip to hide my smile, I know for a fact that he’s very happy in my spare room.
Anna smiles over at Carlo. “That’s a bit presumptuous, isn’t it?”
Carlo reaches over and squeezes her thigh, “Behave yourself, before I punish you.”
Oh….
Carlo and Anna stare at each other and I can feel the spark between them.
Go Anna.
“Do you guys still want to go shopping today?” Anna asks.
Giuliano winces and I can’t think of anything worse, I’m exhausted. I hardly slept all night.
“Sure.” Carlo shrugs.
“I’m most definitely out,” Giuliano says. “Shopping is the very last thing I want to do in Ibiza. I’m going to the beach.”
I really should go shopping with the others but screw it. “That sounds good, I’m beaching too.”
“What are we doing tonight?” Carlo asks.
“There’s a bar down at the beach, we could maybe go there?” Anna suggests.
“Sounds good.” I smile.
“Shall I book for six p.m.?” Carlo asks, he looks to Anna. “You ready to go?”
“Uh-huh,” Anna swoons as she stands and takes Carlo’s hand.
I look between them in shock, is it really that easy to get Giuliano to myself today?
“Great.” I smile. “I’ll see you both tonight.”
Giuliano stays silent and I get the feeling he would rather just stay in our room, well too bad. I’m not leaving Anna…not that she looks like she minds, she’s literally glowing. “Have fun shopping.”
“You two try not to kill each other,” Carlo says as they walk off.
Giuliano’s eyes hold mine and a trace of a smile crosses his face. “Death by cock,” he mouths.
I roll my lips to hide my smile and I whip him with the serviette. “Behave yourself.”
The warmth of the sun dances across my skin.
Giuliano and I are lying on our backs on towels on the beach, the sound of the waves gently lapping the shore in the background. I’m wearing a black bikini and have a black straw hat over my face. It’s so weird, I’ve always been aware of the guards around me. Today, it has a new hurdle, I’m terrified that they are going to pick up on something between Giuliano and I.
Bruno and Sav are in the café at the back of the beach, watching over us.
Spoiling my fun.
I just want to roll over and kiss him and rub the suntan oil into his back and frolic and cuddle in the water. But I can’t, we can’t.
Giuliano reaches over between our bodies and links my pinkie finger with his and I smile under my hat. Such a simple gesture that says so much.
He wishes we were alone too.
He rolls over onto his side so that he faces me and leans up onto his elbow. “Do you regret last night?” I don’t answer and he reaches over and lifts my hat so that he can see my face. “Do you?”
“What if they know?” I say.
“They don’t.”
“What if they do?”
“They can’t prove anything, it would only be speculation. We are allowed to be friends.”
I nod as I stare at him.
“It’s three days, Chesk. Out of a whole lifetime, it’s just three days.”
I stare at him as I feel my heart break. He’s right, out of a whole lifetime, I only get him for three days.
I nod sadly.
“What does that mean?” He frowns.
I sit up, suddenly motivated to do all the things. “It means I want to go back to our room. Right now.”
He sits up too. “To do what?”
“Earn our ticket to hell.”
He chuckles and then bursts out laughing. “Pretty sure I already got mine, but happy to help you earn you yours.”
We burst through the bedroom door and Giuliano takes my hand, pulls me through the apartment and throws me on the bed. “Don’t move.” He disappears and comes back with my beach bag and rattles through it.
What’s he doing?
He produces my suntan oil and smirks. “Wouldn’t want you to get burned.” He pours some onto his hand.
What in the world?
“You’re a deviant, you know that?”
He bends and slides my bikini bottoms off as he pours oil all over my sex and massages it in with his strong fingers, my legs widen as I stare up at him in awe.
“As if you don’t love it.” He whispers darkly.
He’s right…. I totally do.
The room is steamy and hot, Giuliano and I are top and tail in the huge bathtub. He is massaging my feet as they rest on his chest. We’re having the best time, we spent the day in bed yesterday, we went out for dinner last night and drank way too many cocktails, went clubbing and got home way too late.
Today we’ve spent swimming and lying in the sun, I feel so relaxed.
I stare over at the man sitting opposite me, some people get uglier the more that you get to know them.
Not him.
Giuliano Ferrara gets dreamier and dreamier.
He’s hard and cold with everyone, but not with me. I see the other side, the real him, soft and loving. The kind of man you could live a lifetime or ten with.
“Can I ask you something?” I say.
“I take it…” he massages my feet, “… you’re going to anyway.”
“The crime.”
He glances up. “What about it?”
“What is it?”
He continues his massaging. “It’s not for you….” He pauses as if choosing his words correctly. “It’s not for you to worry about.”
“I’m not stupid, I know it’s there.” I shrug, I need to know what he’s capable of. “Do you murder people?”
“I don’t.”
My eyes hold his. “Do your men?”
“Sometimes.”
My face falls. “Oh.”
“In self-defense, nothing like your dear old grandfather, put it that way.”
“Stefano murdered people?” I frown.
He chuckles. “He didn’t just murder people, he cut them up while they were still alive.”
My eyes widen in horror and I fall silent.
Fuck.
I open my mouth to ask more.
“Chesk.” He cuts me off. “Don’t ask things that you don’t want to know the answer to, baby.” He massages the arch of my foot.
“Drugs?” My eyes search his.
“Yes.”
“You sell drugs?” I frown.
“We—” he gestures to the air between us, “Sell entertainment.”
“Entertainment?” I gasp.
“Cocaine.”
“Drugs kill people, Giuliano.”
“It’s candy for rich people.” He shrugs. “Nobody overdoses on fucking cocaine. You don’t see kids on the street buying cocaine for $1000 a pop. We’re up-market, we supply the top end of town for most of Europe, lawyers, doctors, politicians, high-caliber clients.”
Hmm….
“Well….” I think for a moment. “Where do you get it?”
“I import it from Columbia.”