“Temecula? Really?”
“Small world. We’re in a hotel tonight, but tomorrow we’ll be off to a villa. Wine tours during the day, big dinners at night. It’s starting to get hot here but most of the accommodations have a pool, so that will help.” Gio rubbed his chin at the thought of Emma in a swimsuit.
“Are you learning anything about wine making you didn’t know?”
Gio shrugged. “Today was just tastings. Our longer stays give us the opportunity to really roam the vineyards and spend time talking to the winemakers. I think most of this crowd is more about drinking than learning.”
“More one-on-one time for you, then.”
“I agree. How’s everything there?” Gio asked.
“I’m convinced your sister has an Amazon addiction. There’s a new box at the door every day.”
Gio laughed. “You married her.” He still wasn’t used to saying or picturing that. Dante had been his best friend forever. Between the two of them they must have dated half the appropriate-aged women in Little Italy.
“Best decision ever.”
Gio glanced up to see Emma stopped in the middle of the piazza, yelling into her phone. He was too far away to hear the conversation.
“Hey, sorry to cut this short, but I see one of the women from the tour.”
“Is she cute?”
Gio stood. “Cute is not how I would describe her.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“I’ll tell you about her later.”
They said their goodbyes before Gio reached Emma’s side.
“. . . no, that’s not what I said.” She ran a hand through her hair, caught him out of the corner of her eye, and then pivoted full face. “Hold on.”
“Are you okay?”
“No. My luggage made it to Florence.”
“That’s good.”
She shook her head.
“That’s not good?” Gio was confused.
“I told them about the early-morning checkout and told them to send it directly here if it arrived today and to our next location if it came late.”
“I’m guessing they didn’t do that.”
“No. They sent it to the Florence hotel and now I’m trying to get the airline to go back to the hotel, pick up my bag, and get it to me here. And the guy I’m talking to is only catching every other word. He’s trying but his English isn’t great.”
Gio saw the problem and held out his hand and placed the phone to his ear. “Buonasera.”
The man on the line immediately started talking in Italian. “We delivered the luggage to the hotel.”
“The wrong one. You need to go back, pick up the bag, and get it to us here.” Gio gave the address for where they were staying.
“I have one runner and he is out until the morning.”
“Tomorrow, then. But we will need you to take it to a different location.” All this Gio said to the man in Italian. He paused for a moment and glanced at Emma. “Do you know the address where we’re staying tomorrow?”
“Yes.” She dug in her purse and unearthed a piece of paper that had scratch marks all over it. Emma pointed out the address, and Gio gave it to the man on the phone.
“Ohhh.”
“What?”
“That’s far.”
Gio smiled at Emma, whose eager gaze prompted him to say, “We’re getting somewhere.”
“Thank God.”
The man on the phone’s voice lowered. “I don’t know if that is possible tomorrow. We have one runner and more bags to get out. And I don’t know if we take them that distance.”
“You don’t know?”
“I don’t normally work in lost luggage. I’ll have to ask a supervisor.”
“Then ask.”
“They’re not here.”
Gio lost his smile and swiped a hand over his face. The frustration in Emma’s stance was rubbing off on him. “There has to be something you can do.”
“Call back in the morning when a supervisor is on. I can’t authorize . . .”
Gio pulled the phone away and told Emma what was going on.
“C’mon. This is ridiculous.”
He didn’t disagree.
“What is the name of the supervisor to ask for, and what time do they get in?” Gio directed his question to the man on the phone.
“They come in at eight, but I don’t know who will be on.”
“We’ll call in the morning,” Gio said before disconnecting the call and handing back Emma’s phone.
“Did you get anywhere?”
He explained the situation and watched as Emma’s frustration mounted.
Emma rubbed her temples. “This is a nightmare.”
“We’ll call them in the morning.”
“I will call, you’ve done enough. Thank you.”
“And if the supervisor’s English is just as bad?”
She sucked in a breath, held it . . . and exhaled. “You’re right. You sure it’s not any trouble?”
“It’s self-preservation.”
“How so?”
He looked her up and down quickly. “If you’re wearing the same clothes every day, everyone on the bus is going to be affected sooner or later.”
For the first time since they met, Emma’s smile met her striking green eyes.
“The good news is your luggage is in Italy.”
“Until it’s in my hands, it’s like having sex without an orgasm. Worthless.”
Gio tossed his head back and laughed. “I wouldn’t know.”
She placed a hand over her grin. “That probably wasn’t appropriate.”
“Funny, though.”
Emma lowered her hand, looked around. “Damn.”
“How about a gelato?” he asked.
“I could go for that.”
They turned toward the gelateria and made their way to the line that formed outside.
“Is it really worthless?” Gio asked.
“What?”
“Sex without an orgasm?”
That sparkle was back in her eyes. “Maybe not completely. Depends on the guy, I suppose.”
“Your connection,” he said as if that was the answer.
“No,” she huffed. “Okay, maybe . . . but if he has skills.”
“How can you talk about skills if he doesn’t finish the job.”
She was getting flustered and Gio liked watching her squirm.
“There’s more to it than just . . . you know.”
“Than the finish line.”
Emma narrowed her eyes. “Are we actually talking about this?”
“You were the one that started it.”
“Ah, yeah . . .”
“Besides, if I were Chris, Rob, or Pierre, would you talk about it?”
“Probably, I don’t know.” She shifted her purse to her other shoulder.
“Listen, let me be honest. I didn’t come on this trip to find a finish line with anyone.” He kept the metaphor going.
Disbelief sat squarely between her eyes.
“I mean it. I just turned thirty. My older brother got married in December . . .” His voice drifted as he tried to make sense of what he wanted to say. “Actually, my baby sister got married the week before, but since it was Vegas, she and her husband remarried in the church for our mother last month.”