Page 73 of It's All Sun and Games

‘That was just a misunderstanding,’ Andrea reassures me, his voice gentle as he removes his tie and places his jacket to the side. ‘I think you would pick it up in no time.’

‘Everything just sounds so beautiful,’ I reply. ‘I guess, to you, it all just sounds normal. To me, though, everything sounds so sexy. I imagine, if you flirted in Italian, it would be over for whoever you were flirting with. Who could resist?’

Andrea laughs softly at my words.

‘Yeah, here, we’re all speaking the same language, it’s not special,’ he replies. ‘I think it might only work on English girls.’

I laugh. I can’t imagine Andrea having any trouble pulling girls in any language.

The urge to test the theory is too hard to resist.

‘Okay, go on then, try me,’ I challenge him.

‘You want me to flirt with you?’ he asks, amusement in his voice.

‘Yep, come on,’ I reply, not only challenging him; I’m practically egging him on with a mischievous glint in my eye. ‘I want to experience the best you’ve got to offer.’

I say this in a tone of voice that suggests I’m doubting he is even capable of such a thing, which, come on, couldn’t possibly be true.

As Andrea approaches me, undoing a couple of buttons on his shirt, I feel my heart banging the war drum in my chest. Oh, for fuck’s sake, he hasn’t even opened his mouth yet and already it’s working. I can quite literally feel my knees weakening, causing me to shift my feet on the spot to keep my balance.

I’ve had such a great time with Andrea today. Laughing with him, eating with him, dancing with him. Obviously, I find him attractive – I’m only human – and I’ve been having such a good time with him pretty much since the day we met. But I don’t know, something changed last night, and today, well, today has been perfect. The sparks are there, without a doubt, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about them. Does Andrea feel them too, or is he just having a good time pretending to be a couple with me? Maybe that’s part of the deal for me too, but I’m starting to think I might really have feelings for him.

Andrea stands in front of me and tucks my hair behind my ear on one side.

‘Non riesco a smettere di pensare a te,’ he says to me in a soft, quiet voice. ‘Penso che mi sto innamorando di te.’

Somehow my heart beats faster.

‘Is it weird that it’s even sexier because I don’t know what any of it means?’ I dare to admit. ‘You could be saying anything to me right now.’

‘Ti desidero così tanto,’ he replies, and I don’t even know why, but it drives me crazy.

I place my hands on Andrea’s chest, lightly at first, before running them down his body, feeling his muscles through the thin material of his shirt. By the time I get to his buttons, my fingers linger over them.

‘Maybe I need to hear it in English after all,’ I tell him – speaking to his buttons, rather than his face.

Am I being crazy? Does he want me? I feel like he does but I don’t know, maybe he’s just being Italian.

Andrea places his hands on my shoulders, hooking his thumbs around the thin straps of my dress.

‘Robin, look in my eyes,’ he insists.

I think I might find it easier to look at the sun right now – well, I would were it not the early a.m.

Bravely, I look into his deep brown eyes.

‘You don’t know what you’re doing to me, do you?’ he asks.

Andrea leans in, placing his lips on mine, kissing me ever so gently.

He pulls back, after only a few seconds, and I swear my lips try to go with him.

‘I want you,’ he tells me – in English, and he couldn’t be clearer.

‘I want you too,’ I reply.

Andrea pulls the straps from my shoulders, allowing my dress to fall to the floor. He does it so gently that I hardly feel it happen.

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