Falling for Italy Read online

  “I started practicing target shooting strictly as a sport, then I was offered a job as a trainer and discovered I liked it. More to the point, I was good at it. So here I am now,” she concluded.

  “Do you still participate in competitions?” Gerard asked her, popping his last fry in his mouth.

  “Yes, I do, but not so often. Only in big competitions like national championships, international ones… Next week, we—my junior teams and I—have the Juniors National Championship in Manchester. I’ll only go as their trainer.”

  “You have to go to Manchester?” Giovanni asked, seeming slightly displeased. “How long will you stay?”

  “A couple of days, maybe three,” she replied, smiling at him as he watched her with intent dark eyes. “It’s not that long.”

  They gazed at one another for a long moment, until she noticed from the corner of her eye Linda and Gerard were watching them amused, throwing glances full of meaning at each other.

  Pirata, who had been mysteriously absent from the room, appeared in the doorway. He walked lazily to the table, whiskers twitching. After a short inspection, he jumped onto Sonia’s lap, to her delight.

  “He likes you,” remarked Linda. “He’s usually wary of strangers, he’s never friendly with people he doesn’t know. Do you have pets?”

  “She’s got a plant,” Giovanni put in dryly, making Linda and Gerard burst out laughing. “She nearly killed it.”

  “Um, I plan to adopt a puppy one day,” Sonia said defensively, giving a drop-dead look to her lover. He placed a hand on her knee and squeezed.

  “Cara, the poor animal has already my pity. If you treat him like you do that plant, he won’t live a week.”

  She bristled, scandalized.

  “Of course I will treat him well! What do you take me for? The thing with the plant is that I don’t quite know how to take care of it. It’s not a puppy, which needs food and water every day. I never know when it’s time to water it. But I’m great with animals, and they love me. See?” she continued smugly, burying her cheek in Pirata’s clean white fur, as the cat purred noisily.

  “Yeah, well… He’s a male, after all. What male could help falling in love with you?” Giovanni teased, but her heart jumped at his remark. The other couple seemed to have heard it too, because conversation stopped suddenly. The only one who seemed impervious to the reaction his own words had triggered was Giovanni. He consulted his watch and, pushing his plate aside, told her, “It’s nearly nine. I think I’d better take you home, if you have to wake up early tomorrow.”

  She raised her head to look at him over Pirata’s ears, her heart still pounding with ambiguous excitement.

  “Oh, you’re right. I should go, it’s getting late.”

  “But you haven’t had dessert yet,” Gerard protested. “We made you talk more than we let you eat.”

  Sonia smiled at him. “It’s all right, thank you. I’ve had enough. Dinner was fantastic, Linda.”

  “Thank you. I’m glad you came and I hope you’ll be our guest again very soon,” the younger woman replied, looking at her strangely as though in speculation, then her gaze moved to her brother. “Let me give you some cherry pie to take home with you,” she said and went to the kitchen, waving off her guest’s protests.

  After Linda had gone, Sonia went on scratching Pirata’s chin, tuning out the men’s talk about a soccer game. Suddenly, she noticed something glowing dimly in a deep corner of one bookshelf.

  “I think somebody’s phone is ringing on silent,” she said.

  When they both looked at her in surprise, checking their pockets for their cell phones, she nodded in the direction of the faint light.

  Gerard turned his head to look at the object in question, then gazed at Giovanni. Something strange passed between the two men—a look charged with an odd, unknown meaning that made her a bit uneasy.

  Eventually, Giovanni rose and went to pick up the object.

  “It’s not a phone, Sonia. It’s just a…bizarre souvenir Gerard and Linda brought from their trip to Romania, a few months back.”

  He showed her the object and she took it from him, curiosity urging her on. The pale stone, approximately the size of her hand, had a very irregular form. Lacy-looking edges, all in different shades of white and ivory, seemed translucent. She noticed the rock—if that’s what it was—had a phosphorescent glow when she covered it with her other hand.

  “Wow! Romania, you said?” she asked thoughtfully, lifting her gaze.

  “Yes,” Gerard replied. “We had a…quite unusual experience there.”

  The tone of his voice and his wary expression sharpened her attention.

  “What do you mean?”

  Gerard looked at Giovanni, who shrugged, in a you-tell-her gesture and sat back down, picking up the cat from Sonia’s lap. Overwhelmed by so much attention, Pirata was purring like a jet engine, tail high in the air.

  Gerard sighed and, after taking a sip from his soda glass, began his story.

  “Well, I have a very good friend who lives in Romania. He’s a physician, like myself, and has developed a cancer cure using a plant called hellebore. A few months back, Linda and I went to Romania to talk with Jean-Paul—that’s his name—and exchange notes on our treatments and formulas. On the way there we got lost in a forest. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of it. It’s called The Hoia-Baciu Forest, located in Transylvania and nicknamed The Romanian Bermuda Triangle, because of the…observations on paranormal phenomena going around there.”

  Intrigued, Sonia raised her eyebrows, but didn’t say anything. Linda had come back with a casserole in her hands. Probably hearing the discussion, she’d stopped dead in the doorway, listening to her fiancé.

  He resumed. “This forest is the most unusual place one could imagine. Its trees are contorted and strangely shaped, bent, twisted. Nothing about it is typical or normal. The first time we set foot there, we each had a surreal feeling about it. Personally, I felt like I was in a cemetery. It gave me the creeps, though it had an undeniable unearthly beauty. Linda took some pictures. Then we saw a cabin, deep into the woods, and thought to ask directions to Cluj—the city Jean lives in. We went to the cabin, which was situated in an even more odd-looking clearing. There we found a woman. She spoke French and she told us her name was Maria. She gave us directions, even drew a kind of map for us on Linda’s notepad. She gave her this.” He indicated the rock. As he talked, he seemed lost in recollections, the kind that appeared to have left him puzzled, unsure if he wanted to forget them or not. Linda picked up the story, stepping behind him and placing one hand on his shoulder.

  “Everything seemed very real, if not quite normal. The cabin, the woman had a rustic archaic air about them, with no electricity, primitive-like. But they seemed real. Then, when we got to Jean’s house, we told him and Mariana, his wife, about that. What they told us made our hairs stand on end,” she said, in a voice that made Sonia’s own skin ripple in faint goose bumps.

  “Jean gave us what we thought was a history lesson. He told us about one of the Romanian rulers, the first one who had officially formed a united Romania. He said he had an informant, who lived with his family in that forest—the Baciu forest. He told us that after the ruler—Alexandru Ioan Cuza was his name—was forced to abdicate, in 1866, his enemies had ordered his informant’s cabin to be burned down, along with all the people living in it. Then he told us the informant’s wife was called Maria.”

  Sonia was stunned. She felt her lips part, but no sound came out. She was so caught in Linda’s story she’d nearly forgotten the rock she still held. She looked down at it with new interest, just as Linda restarted her tale.

  “After that, he gave us the background facts about that forest. He said there were dozens of witnesses who stated they saw the cabin in daylight, though it had burned for nearly two hundred years. Also, there are documented UFO apparitions there, people who say they hear strange noises, trees that seem to bleed… All kinds of stuff like that. Of c
ourse, we couldn’t believe our visit to that cabin hadn’t been real. It was unthinkable. But my notepad had vanished, and the camera hadn’t registered a single picture I took in the woods. So we went there the next day, to prove to Jean and Mariana the cabin and Madame Maria were real.”

  Sonia wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the end of this particularly creepy story, yet she continued listening, fascinated.

  “There was nothing there,” said Gerard. “In the clearing there was no cabin, no woman. Just a blackened trace of a rudimentary oven. We’d seen it the night before. Madame Maria was cooking on it. But there was absolutely no trace of the cabin the next day. And the trees were indeed bleeding.”

  A cold shiver ran down Sonia’s spine as she listened to the matter-of-fact tone in which the couple had related their story. She put the rock she held on the table and rubbed her palms as though they had been branded. She divided an intent look between them.

  “Are you serious about this?” she asked, her voice sounding incredulous to her own ears. “Or is this just a late Halloween joke?”

  She glanced at Giovanni, who put a hand on her thigh, saying, “It’s true, cara. That’s exactly what happened. When they told me I was pretty shaken myself, but not as much as them. Imagine their horror and astonishment. It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever heard. If they weren’t my family, I wouldn’t have believed a word. But it’s true.”

  She looked at them, as they both nodded soberly.

  “Wow. It sounds…out there,” she exclaimed, still incredulous. “But if the whole deal wasn’t real, how come you still have this?” She indicated the rock.

  “Good question,” replied Gerard. “Linda found it in her bag, where she’d put it when Madame Maria gave it to her. I guess we’ll never know the answer or how the pieces of this particular puzzle fit.”

  They sat in silence for a few moments, and then Sonia asked, “Have you ever thought of going back? To try and elucidate this mystery? It sounds crazy, but…” She trailed off, not knowing what more to add.

  “We went back once, that day with Jean and Mariana,” said Linda, “and we didn’t find anything there. What else could we do? As Jean said, we can only be grateful nothing bad happened to us and try not to think about this much. We weren’t the only ones who had abnormal experiences in that forest.”

  Sonia dragged a hand through her hair, thinking of everything she had just heard. It sounded scary as hell, but also exciting in a bizarre way. Before she could voice any of her thoughts, Giovanni consulted his watch again.

  “I’d better take you home, princess,” he told her. “It’s getting late. Enough ghost stories for tonight. I have to make sure you won’t have nightmares.”

  He winked at her in such a suggestive way she almost blushed under the knowing gazes of the other couple. The atmosphere seemed to have relaxed with Giovanni’s statement—she didn’t think it was a joke—and she decided to drop the subject. They didn’t appear to like talking about it anyway. Who would, for that matter?

  They all stood and Gerard brought her coat, while Linda gave her a big casserole that smelled divine.

  After warm goodbyes and Sonia’s promise she would be present at their wedding, she and Giovanni left, facing briefly the cold night air on the way to his car.

  “They liked you,” he remarked, as he drove back to her flat through the thick gray fog, which covered the city.

  “I had a good time too. They didn’t pry, though I know they must have been tempted.”

  “Pry about what?”

  “About us.”

  “Why would they do that? It’s nobody’s business,” he said, turning his head to look at her.

  “Yes, but still… Your sister seems very protective of you. I thought she would resent me, but I guess she has no reason to do that.”

  She didn’t add because you’ll leave in a couple of weeks anyway and I won’t be important then. If he thought about that too, he gave absolutely no indication of it. She tried to push away the blue mood, and then remembered his statement about every male falling in love with her. Did that include him? God, she couldn’t dare hope. She couldn’t think about it or she’d go mad. She didn’t even know if she wanted him to fall in love with her. Then what?

  The conflicted feelings battling in her heart kept her quiet. As though he felt something was on her mind, Giovanni stayed silent too, driving carefully on the well-lighted streets. When they reached her flat’s building, he cut the engine and gazed at her.

  “Do you want me to go, or do you want me to stay?”

  His directness took her off guard.

  “Um… Whatever you want is fine.”

  “What do you want, Sonia?” he demanded, watching her intensely. “Is it so hard to say it?”

  She swallowed, then let out a long breath.

  “No, it’s not. I want you to stay.”

  A satisfied expression lit his face a fraction of a second. He got out of the car and opened her door. They took the stairs up to her flat. She barely noticed the inky darkness surrounding them.

  “Oh, my, the light is out,” she whispered, feeling her way up. She took out her cell phone from her bag and used it as a torch as she unlocked her flat door.

  Inside was warm—a sign that the power hadn’t been out long.

  “I hope this outage doesn’t last long, or we’ll freeze to death in a few hours,” she said, taking off her coat and throwing it in the sofa’s direction. Thanks to her glass wall, there was enough light to see the room, dimly.

  “Don’t worry, cara. I won’t let you freeze,” he whispered roughly in her ear. Before she could say anything, he pressed her to the nearest wall, kissing her possessively as his own jacket slid to the floor. She dug her fingers into his broad solid chest, kissing him back with the passion that never ceased to explode in her whenever he touched her. He could turn her on just by looking at her in that particular way, which made her feel he could undress her using only his eyes.

  He embraced her ardently, kissing her mouth, the lobes of her ears, her neck. His hands explored her body knowingly, coaxing from her responses she hadn’t even dreamed existed. When he slid his hands under her sweater, she moaned deliriously, tugging his shirt over his head. She barely had time to caress his naked chest before he discarded their clothes quickly, still keeping her glued to the wall with his body. His breathing had accelerated, as did hers when they were pressed together, naked skin on naked skin, hot and steaming from wanting each other. He lifted her hips and she encircled his waist with her legs, holding on as she felt him thrust deep inside her, driving them hard and fast to a climax so intense she could swear she saw stars exploding in her spinning mind.

  He shivered in her arms with the pleasure of fulfillment, face buried in her shoulder, heart drumming in the same rhythm as hers. When they slid together to the floor, still holding each other tight, she noticed the lights were on.

  “How…the hell…didn’t I see the lights turn on?” she said through gasps, talking more to herself than to him. She was amazed by the way he possessed her so completely her exterior sense of observation had failed her to the point she didn’t see or feel anything outside her own body. And his. She was always aware of him, not only of his body, but also she thought she could at least intuit what he felt or thought.

  Judging by his incoherent reply muffled in her neck as he sat on the floor, supporting her on his muscled thighs, his splendid body gleaming with sweat, she thought it was a safe guess to say he was as drowsily happy and satisfied as she. She suddenly began laughing softly.

  When he raised his head to look at her, puzzled, she said, “It just occurred to me you never got to see the bedroom.”

  Chapter Six

  The light awoke him, probably along with the instinct of waking up at dawn, which he’d developed in years. He opened his eyes lazily and found himself lying on his stomach, staring at Sonia. She was still sleeping, her long lashes throwing dark shadows over her flawless skin. Her cheeks were
slightly flushed and her full lips spread into a hint of a smile. She was incredibly beautiful as she slept peacefully next to him.

  He very rarely had awakened next to a woman or spent the entire night with one. Only a few hours of mutual satisfaction. But he couldn’t bring himself to leave Sonia last night. He hadn’t wanted and she hadn’t asked. So he’d stayed, and they’d spent the night in sweet exploration of each other, until they’d fallen asleep entangled under her thick bedcover.

  He watched the traces of fatigue under her eyes and felt a shadow of guilt. Suddenly, he thought he would like to wake up next to her every single day of his life. The notion brought him wide-awake. Where did it come from? he wondered. This hadn’t happened to him before. Oddly enough, he didn’t panic at this idea. On the contrary, it was a new and wonderful feeling he wanted to enjoy and explore. But what about Sonia? Would she feel inclined to wake up next to him forever? She’d told him the monotony of marriage or a long-term relationship scared her. Uneasiness tainted his mood as he considered the fact she might not share his feelings, that she might only be interested in sex. It all started with sex, but for him it went much deeper now, even though it had only been a few days. He knew what he wanted. But what about her?

  Just then, her eyes fluttered open slowly, staring into his face, clouded with sleep. She seemed to become aware of his presence gradually, and when she did, she smiled tenderly. The sweetness of her smile made his heart contract with something he suspected could bloom into love—if he allowed it. He stretched out a hand and caressed her soft, warm cheek.

  “Morning.”

  “Morning,” she replied drowsily. “It’s weird waking up to find a gorgeous man in my bed.”

  “Do you like it?” he asked with feigned indifference, pulling her toward him.

  “Mmmm, I love it.”

  Her reply made his heart beat just a little faster, as she nestled against his chest, entwining her naked body around his. His body reacted promptly to her nearness, as it did every time. She yawned and stretched, and a faint blush rose into her cheeks when she felt him hard, pressing against her. Dio mio. She was so innocent still, so sweet under the blasé exterior she tried to display. He kissed her, softly at first, then more urgently, running his hands all over the splendid length of her nakedness. When she was under him, she slid the velvety soles of her feet over the backs of his calves, then higher, until her legs surrounded his waist. There was something so sexy about that gesture that it drove him crazy. He eased himself into her, but stopped immediately when he felt her tense and saw her biting her lip in an attempt to hide a wince.