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“Deal,” I said. To the escape plan, but more importantly, to our weekend truce. Jax’s smile as I cracked open the door told me he knew exactly what I meant and was looking forward to our Sicilian adventure.
That made two of us.
NINETEEN
jax
I sat on the steps of the Duomo watching tourists, and maybe some locals, make their way lazily through the piazza. Unlike last night, when I’d had to fight my way through the crowd to get back to the hotel, this morning’s pace was less frantic. Certainly less crowded. By Italian tourist town standards, it was still early in the morning, even though back home, I’d have been up and working for hours now.
Some meandered into the bakery on my left. Others sat with their cappuccinos at small tables in front of two of the open restaurants that served breakfast. And still others walked up to the counter at the cafe to my right to get their espresso fix.
Italians, Sicilians especially, loved their espresso.
And I loved the fact that Natalie and I weren’t at odds for a change. Just the opposite, in fact. After our changing room escapade, we spent the rest of the night drinking and generally enjoying each other’s company. Agreeing not to talk about the land, after a pair of incredible orgasms, did wonders for our relationship.
Careful with that word, Jax.
The only awkward moment, besides the two hours she ignored me when I arrived, came at the end of the night. Natalie was staying with some of her friends in a rental house on the edge of town, and I’d have loved to ask her back to my hotel. But we were both pretty wasted, and that wasn’t how I wanted our first time together to go down.
Because there was no doubt about the fact that Natalie and I would be together this weekend. That wasn’t wishful thinking on my part, either. When we walked from the beach back into town, before she left with her friends, Natalie leaned into me and whispered, “I cannot wait for you to fuck my brains out, Jaxon Hayes.”
With that, she walked away, turning back once to wink at me. Was she drunk? Yes. Was she also serious? I hoped so.
I looked at my phone. The last message was from an hour ago when Natalie had texted to ask if I had breakfast plans. She was only five minutes late, but it was enough for me to wonder if she’d changed her mind.
But then I spotted her.
Emerging from a side street in the opposite direction from the way I’d come, she wore wide-legged pants, a tank top, and a baseball hat. I’d never seen her in a hat before but liked the look. Hell, Natalie would look good in just about anything she wore.
I stood up as she walked up to me.
“Tell me I’m not the only one with a splitting headache?”
“Water and aspirin before bed. Feeling fine. I take it you’re not?”
“Negative.” She turned to the bakery on the corner. “We’ve gotten pastries from there and brought it back to the house. But I haven’t eaten anywhere else this early.”
“How about that place?” I asked, pointing to unoccupied tables right in the center of the piazza in front of a cafe.
“Looks good to me.”
We sat and ordered two Americano coffees. I added a water for Natalie’s sake.
“Frizzante or naturale?” the waiter asked.
“Naturale, grazie,” she said to him. Then to me, “Good call.”
Neither of us said anything for a few seconds. Natalie sighed. “This is weird.”
“Is it?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Um, were you in that changing room last night?”
“I can assure you,” I said as the waiter put our coffees down. “I was very much there. Grazie.”
