AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * *
“I know I’ll never forget this night, Vito,” Maya stated by way of conversation an hour after they’d finished their dinner. They were back up on deck. The galleon was on its way back to its port in Venice. She wanted to thank him for accompanying her. But the words didn’t seem adequate. Besides, how many times could she thank the man for coming to her rescue in one way or another?
And she could no longer try to ignore the awareness that he evoked within her. The way he’d looked at her during dinner had made her insides quiver. Now, standing next to him in the moonlight in the crisp Venetian air had her senses in overdrive. His closeness sent a shiver down her spine.
Vito mistook her visible shudder for a chill. Without a word, he shrugged off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. Maya snuggled into the fabric. It smelled of him, that heady mix of sandalwood, mint and man that had been tickling her nose all evening. The scent that had made it difficult to resist the urge to lean into him and inhale of it deeply.
“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself, cara.”
Cara. She liked it when he used the Italian endearment for her. It would be one of the many things she would miss about him once this fairy-tale evening was over.
For it was nearly over.
In fact, her time in Venice and with Vito was coming to an end. The thought that she’d be on her way on the rest of her tour sent a deep sadness through her heart. How was the rest of her trip supposed to compare to what she’d experienced here in this magical city?
For that matter, how was she to return to her bland, boring reality in a couple of weeks when she arrived back in Boston?
“There’s a term the Americans use...” Vito disrupted her thoughts. “I believe it’s something along the lines of I’ll give you a penny if you tell me what you’re thinking.”
Maya chuckled. “Close enough, Signor Rameri. I was just thinking of the past few days. And how spectacular they’ve been.”
Hopefully, Vito hadn’t caught the small hitch in her voice, the one that came from the knowledge that the end of this magic was near. In many ways, she almost wished she’d never set foot in Venice. Though she’d cherish this time spent with Vito for the rest of her days, her heart would break every time she thought of what she’d had for just a few short days in his company.
To think, all these months she’d thought she’d been in love. It was clear now, she’d simply been going through the motions.
Vito leaned over and pointed toward the city skyline. “Look at how stunning the cathedral is at night, the way it’s lit up. Every structure around it serves simply as a backdrop to its splendor.”
Hard as she tried, Maya couldn’t really focus on the beauty that sat before her in the distance. Vito’s shoulder brushed against hers.
She cleared her throat and grasped at some semblance of an appropriate response.
“Our visit to St. Mark’s seems so long ago.” Despite the truth of her statement, she remembered every detail of the previous afternoon. Including the questions that had been nagging at her. She took a chance on voicing one of those questions. What was there to lose at this stage of the game?
“Our tour guide that day, Angelo...” She paused, summoning some courage at the way Vito stiffened next to her at the mention of the young man. Still, she continued. “He seemed to know a lot about your career.”
“I’m an artist in residence in the city. It isn’t particularly noteworthy that an art student has heard of me.” He shrugged but the gesture didn’t quite catch the aura of nonchalance Maya was certain he was trying to project.
There was more to her question, more that she was trying to get at. He had to know it. “Angelo also had some very interesting theories about you. Your potential retirement, in particular.”
Vito dropped his head to look down at the water below. “He was just speculating. People around here tend to do that about my career. It’s quite irritating.”
Maya ignored the insinuation that her own questioning was irritating him, as well. “Was he right?”
“About my retirement?”
Maya nodded, recalling the young man’s words. “It seems that he was the only one of his peers who thought you were just in a temporary lull.”
