Page 16 of Finding Love in the Clouds

“I’m finding that holding your hand is quite enjoyable and has a calming effect on my nerves as well,” Sophie admitted.

Fernando turned to look out the window but smiled secretly to himself. The thought that she was enjoying his touch was exhilarating. Still, if it calmed her nerves, she was in a very different place in their fake relationship than he was. The touch of her skin made him calm and energized at the same time. He felt like a teenager with his first crush, and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. Gabe had told him to open himself up and be decisive in the next twenty-one days or risk losing Sophie forever. The latter was unthinkable, but so was the first. Every time he opened himself up to a woman, they trampled his heart. Hannah had put him back together again. He wasn’t sure he would ever,couldever, risk it again. But for Sophie, he would try.

Chapter Sixteen

Sophie had arranged for a car to take them to their hotel, and the driver informed them that their bags had already been collected as they had arrived on an earlier flight. Fernando didn’t understand how that worked, but Sophie assured him it was standard on long-distance flights, especially when passengers took longer layovers.

He guessed, in the long run, it didn’t matter as long as his clothes made it to the correct destination on the correct day. He had heard stories from his brothers of trips they had taken, and their luggage never arrived. Gabriel had been particularly put out when it was a short trip, and his suits for a very important meeting disappeared. They were supposed to be hung in the stewardess area but somehow got moved into the cargo hold before the flight. He had suavely rescheduled the meeting to the golf course with papers getting signed in the country club instead of the boardroom where it was originally planned. Picking up some leisure wear on short notice had been much easier than finding a five-thousand-dollar designer suit to fit a giant.

Climbing into the car and looking out the window as they wove through the traffic of downtown Rome, Fernando was grateful he wasn’t responsible for driving. The traffic in Italy was more insane than New York and Mexico City combined, and that was really saying something.

Fernando hadn’t driven his own vehicle since he earned his first million. He spent a great deal of time in vehicles and realized early on that having someone else do the driving meant he could increase his productivity. Especially when he was making cross-country trips from California to New York. Enrique hired a housekeeper and then a chef. Anthony also hired a housekeeper, much to his wife’s consternation. Gabriel hired a pilot. He actually enjoyed the domestic arts when he was home, which was rare. And, Julio, Fernando had no idea what that particular brother spent his money on.

A smile lifted his lips as the driver slammed on his brakes and shouted something in Italian with his fist in the air. Enrique would love driving here. He would probably rent a Ferrari or Lamborghini and join the circus of drivers who paid no heed to the rules of the road. Chuckling, Fernando imagined that perhaps in Italy, the rules were that there were no rules. Maybe it was like the Autobahn in Germany, where there were no speed limits.

“What’s so funny?” Sophie asked, a death grip on the door handle and the other holding her seatbelt.

Seeing her fear, Fernando sobered quickly, “Nothing. I was just imagining how much fun this would be for Enrique to drive in. Here, hold my hand. I can’t make any promises like you did for me on the plane, but I can say that we will be in this together, come what may. And might I make a suggestion,” he asked, stroking her fingers with his thumb.

“What?” she asked, holding her breath as the brakes were applied quickly again.

“I think we should spend as much of this vacation on foot as possible. The sidewalks seem fairly safe.” His smile reflected his attempt to lighten her mood, and she smiled back, but it didn’t reach her eyes, and her teeth were clenched.

Fernando unbuckled his seatbelt and slid to the middle.

“What are you doing?” she asked frantically when he unlatched his safety belt.

“Don’t worry. I’ll put it back on. I’m sliding over. In the case of an accident, perhaps I can provide some extra padding.” He slipped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close after putting the seatbelt for the middle seat on.

Sophie rested her head on his shoulder for a few moments, taking deep, calming breaths. She was used to riding in traffic back home, but Garret was an amazingly skilled driver, and they rode in an SUV with plenty of metal around them. This was a larger car, but it felt very small, with all the other cars whizzing past them.

“Soph, look!” Fernando encouraged rubbing her upper arm. “We’re driving through the city, and ancient ruins are scattered all around us. Isn’t it incredible how they built the city around the old instead of tearing it down like they do in the US?”

As they peered out the window, the Colosseum came into view as if rising up right out of the road.

“The Colosseum is a pre-tour event. I scheduled us for 11 am tomorrow morning. I wasn’t sure how tired we would be, so I thought we should get as much rest as we could before we began the adventure. Orientation for the tour is at 3 pm, so we will have plenty of time to explore the ruins and the local sites. Our tour guide is hosting another optional tour of the city at 5 pm tomorrow, and it includes dinner.I didn’t book that yet, but they assured me we could book any of the optional tours as last minute as we wanted since there was room for anyone in our group,” Sophie informed him, still gazing out the window at the ancient buildings all around them.

“What are the plans for this evening?”

“We are on our own until tomorrow afternoon to explore the city. Breakfast is served in the hotel dining room, the tour will provide us with lunch but not until it officially starts tomorrow, and dinner every evening is on our own unless we join an excursion. They usually include dinner,” she answered absentmindedly as she continued taking in the view.

Minutes later, they arrived at their hotel and were assisted inside by a uniformed bellhop. Black marble seemed to cover every inch of the hotel, from the floor to the reception desk to the massive columns. Gold gilded frames hung on the walls with gorgeous paintings tucked inside, gold fixtures gleamed throughout the lobby, and massive Morano glass chandeliers hung from the tall ceilings.

Sophie made quick work of checking them in as Fernando looked around. Sophie said they were doing this on a normal traveler’s budget; this didn’t seem like middle-class accommodations to him.

She led them to the elevator and handed him his room key. When the elevator doors slid open, they both peered in and then laughed at their mirrored surprise at not finding any extra space hidden behind the walls.

“I guess Italy is all about efficiency and skinny people,” Fernando quipped, holding his hand against the doors to prevent them from closing and waving Sophie on the lift first, “After you, my lady.”

“What? So I can be the guinea pig to test and see if it holds my weight?” she asked accusingly, but her smile said she was teasing him.

“I’m not too worried about the two of us. Now, if Anthony or Gabe were here, I would ask for the stairs.”

When the doors closed, it felt a little bit like a sardine can. “I would have made a terrible submariner,”

“Fernando, are you claustrophobic too?” Sophie asked, genuinely concerned.

“Not overly, but tight spaces make me uncomfortable. This is a tiny two-man elevator. That is going up. It brings back my fear of plummeting to my death and not being able to do anything about it. If all of Italy’s elevators are this small, I would prefer to sleep on the ground floor.”

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