AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Perfetto. We can speak Italian, if you like, although I’m fluent in both. I had English nannies when I was a child then went to boarding school in the UK.”
Without waiting for me to comment, he grabs the handle of my suitcase and wheels it toward his speedboat. I follow behind as he jumps aboard and stows my bag at the stern. He holds out his hand to help me. Again, his touch is electrifying, and I hang onto the railing to steady myself. The boatman casts off and soon we’re cruising toward the city.
The breeze blows my hair back from my face as I stand next to Marco at the prow, telling him about the apartment I’ve rented and where it is located. He asks where I’m from, and I explain a little about my background. He explains his family owns San Pacifico, the beverages multinational. The company headquarters are in Salzano, fifteen miles north west of Venice, and he commutes daily by helicopter, which is why he was at the airport.
Night falls suddenly, and the sea is dark and choppy. Thick clouds scud across the full moon, and the only sound is the slap of the waves against the sides of the boat. I breathe in the salty air and hug myself.
Lights glow ahead, flicker and then grow stronger. Wow, I can make out buildings. A passageway of colored wooden markers is guiding us into a wide canal. I smile from ear to ear, unable to contain my excitement.
We pass a couple of houses and a church, its stern brick frontage stretching up into the sky. Then, without warning, tall edifices rise out of the water. My heart almost beats out of my chest as I take in the shimmering palaces with low entrances, only a few steps separating them from the sea. I stare up at pointed-arched windows and fretted stone like lacework. “Awesome,” I gush. “Venice is even more beautiful than I’d imagined.”
“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” Marco quips. “It’s just the beginning.”
His speedboat starts heading up the wide waterway known as the Grand Canal. He points out the famous landmarks... Ca d’Oro, the Rialto bridge, even the Guberman Museum, housed in an iconic seventeenth century palazzo. I want to pinch myself at the thought of starting my internship there tomorrow. Standing next to this hunky man with so much beauty around me, is sending my senses wheeling into overload. I inhale the scent of his spicy sandalwood cologne and try to catch a glimpse of a wedding ring.
Dammit, he’s wearing gloves.
I focus on the scenery and, before too long, the boat enters St. Mark’s basin, turning right into what Marco tells me is the Giudecca Canal. We arrive at the Zattere pier. He leaps out and gives me a hand with my suitcase. We stand toe to toe and he pulls out his cell. “Would you like to exchange contacts, Sefi?”
My throat has gone completely dry, and I can only nod.
Is he gonna ask me out?
I reach for my phone and tap in the number he gives me.
He does the same with mine.
“I’ll need to check with my partner, Alessio, first.” His words pierce me to the core. “It would be fun if you could have dinner with us at our place one evening.”
“Yes, I’d love to, thanks,” I blurt out, my cheeks hot with embarrassment. How could I have thought Marco was attracted to me?
My gaydar has never failed me in the past.
“Would you like me to walk you to your apartment building?” he asks, tilting his head to one side.
“It’s okay, thanks,” I lift up my cell. “I have the directions here.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he promises. “Have a good night.”
“You too,” I force a smile.
Don’t know why I’m so freaking disappointed. Maybe I’m overreacting to being on my own?
On your own for the first time on the other side of the world, Sefi. Hardly surprising you’ve overreacted.
Marco places his hand on my shoulder and gives it a squeeze. A friendly gesture, no doubt, but that jolt of electricity is back again.
Stupid.
I wave him off with fake nonchalance, then follow the directions to my new home for the next three months.Chapter TwoMarcoGiorgio Zanin, my boatman, heads back the way we came and I take a seat at the stern. I think about Serafina. I’d lied when I said taking her to Zattere hadn’t been out of my way. But there was something about her, a sensuality in her expression, an eagerness to explore, which made me want to get to know her better.
I can’t wait to tell Alessio.
Our apartment is on the top floor of an eighteenth-century palazzo overlooking the Grand Canal. My parents live in the entirely independent duplex below. Papà retired from his position as C.E.O. of San Pacifico last year for health reasons and I took over. Our family background is aristocratic but we were impoverished until Papà made his fortune after he’d set up the company when I was a newborn baby. He’d inherited a plot of land in Salzano and started bottling water from an underground spring. Now we have six production sites in Italy, two in Spain, one in Poland and another in Hungary.
