Page 106 of La Dolce Vita

"I don't need to. I have everything I ever wished for." She laid across him again. She traced her finger along his jaw. "Why don't you make a wish?"

He closed his eyes. He made a wish, she could tell. She smiled. She rested her face against his chest and drifted off to the lull of his heartbeat.

"Wishes and dreams do come true, Gio," she said.

ChapterEighteen

Mission Impossible

Firenze, Italy

Adara never intended to fall asleep. She sat up in bed. Alone. When they arrived at the hotel, he gave her a shirt from his suitcase and told her to shower. And then he left. Before she showered she had a chance to search his things. Inside his bag she found women's jewelry, a diamond choker and expensive diamond watch. She wondered if it was stolen. There was nothing else of importance except some cd's and a CD player from American artists she had never heard of. After she showered she paced and waited. She sat on the edge of the bed and waited. Eventually, she fell asleep.

Now she was awake. The room looked empty of everything personal. The only things left behind were his two suitcases and her tattered clothing. She eased out of bed. It was then that she heard the toilet flush. Her gaze swung to the bathroom. Carlo walked out with no shirt on, and his pants unzipped. He paused and stared at her.

"I thought you were gone," she said.

"I thought you were sleep."

She opened her mouth to fire off another remark but stopped herself. Something about him looked different. His eyes were red and glassy as if he'd been drinking or crying. She knew it had to be drinking. He wasn't a man prone tears.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

She glanced to the nightstand on the other side of the bed. There was a greasy paper bag. He must have read her mind.

"A couple of sandwiches. Help yourself." He walked over to the desk. He removed his gun and sat down. He wiped at his eyes and stretched them as if to focus his vision and then began to take the weapon apart. Adara rubbed her hands at her sides, not sure what to say or do. When he didn't bother to look up again, she went to the bed and sat on it. She checked the bag for food.

"Is this where you stay?" she asked. She found she was hungrier than she initially thought. She tore a bite into the sandwich and then another. Carlo glanced up at her and returned his attention to cleaning his gun.

"No."

"Where do you live?"

"Away from here," he replied.

"Where?"

"I live in Sorrento," he said.

"Sorrento?" she repeated. "Why are you... here?" she swallowed.

"Same reason you're here. Work," he said.

"I told you I'm new to this. I don't plan on doing it long. I'm not a whore."

"Heard that before," Carlo said in a dry manner.

She kept chewing and watching him.

"Why did you bring me here? Sex?"

He stopped rubbing down the gun and cut his gaze over to her. She didn't know what was behind his intense stare. She knew his reputation. She had little doubt he brought her with him to just chat. He wanted something. It was best to know now rather than later.

"Are you going to answer me?"

"I can get sex anywhere," he said.

"Then what do you want from me?"

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