AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Fucking tease,” I groaned as she laughed, holding out her hand to me. I took it, but yanked her into my chest that was glistening with sweat from sunbathing. “How am I supposed to walk around with you looking like this and stop myself from bending you over every stone wall I see?”
She lifted her sunglasses onto the top of her head.
“You’ll just have to learn some self-control, Panther.”
She leaned forward and seductively licked my chest, her tongue lapping up the beads of sweat and I growled loudly. In one swift action, I threw her over my shoulder and slapped her ass as she screamed. Marching back into the villa and heading for the bedroom, I roared, “Panthers have no self-control, Princess. We are fucking predators.”
The island would have to wait.
I Lied
We had spent the day sightseeing, walking what felt like miles through tiny, stunning footpaths, browsing the quaint shops and managed to actually get ourselves completely lost amongst the crowds of tourists and winding roads that all looked identical. So, we could tick that off my list! And I had never laughed so much with anyone. It was dangerous. I had always said the quickest way to my heart (and my pants) was to make me laugh. And he was constantly taking me by surprise with his witty remarks, his goofy, silly behaviour and his laid-back attitude. He was showing me a completely different side to him. One that loved life and was full of excitement over the tiniest things. Like the caricature street artist he thought was brilliant and paid a crazy amount for him to draw a couple’s portrait of us.
“Why didn’t you stop me?” he groaned after we had walked away with the ridiculous picture that looked nothing like us. “I just paid for a drawing of Popeye and Morticia Addams.”
That had me laughing solidly for a good five minutes, but he was still pretty proud of it. When we had finally found our way back to our villa again, we chilled by the pool with him blasting some music. He started dancing along the edge of the infinity pool and nearly gave me a heart attack, thinking he was going to fall off the stomach-churning cliff drop. We ended up having sex in there, in broad daylight. Anyone who was staying in the villas above us would have been able to see what we were doing, but that just turned me on even more.
Now, we were dressed up for the evening and sitting in a rooftop bar with one of the most insanely spectacular views I had ever seen, sipping cocktails. The sun was setting, creating an array of pinks, purples, oranges and reds across the horizon and so many tourists were hanging off balconies and terraces to take pictures.
“Take a photo, Alessio! I want to try and paint this one day,” I said as he smiled and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He twisted in his chair and aimed his camera at the breathtaking sunset, taking a few snaps before he turned it to me. He had already taken one of me staring at the view before I realised and looked his way with narrowed eyes.
“Stop!” I laughed, diving forward to snatch his phone, but he moved quickly and took more pictures of me.
“You are beautiful,” he said, smiling at a photograph on his phone with a cheeky grin before he pocketed it.
“You are sneaky!” I smirked, lifting my cocktail and sucking on the straw. His eyes flickered down to my lips wrapped around it and he bit into his own with a naughty grin. “And you have a very dirty mind!”
“Can’t help it when I know what that mouth can do,” he replied, sending me a wink.
I placed the glass down and leaned my elbows on the table, giving him a teasing view down my cleavage. I was wearing a pretty, white crop top and silk champagne tight-fitting skirt from his collection, which just went with the whole vibe of Santorini perfectly.
“Have you always been a bad boy, Alessio Barbieri?” I husked, my voice flirting on the edge of seduction. His eyes glistened with desire as his gaze dropped down to my tits and back up to my eyes.
“The worst,” he growled with a smirk.
“Tell me what you were like as a boy,” I asked, lifting my hand to fiddle with his watch on his wrist that was resting on the table between us.
“What do you want to know?” he tilted his head, studying me carefully.
“I don’t know. What was your childhood like?”
He lifted his hand and entwined it with mine, our fingers playing with each other as he looked out at the horizon. “I don’t really remember.”
“What do you mean?” I frowned. “Don’t you have any nice childhood memories? Anything that made you happy?”
“Not really. I don’t remember much about my childhood before the age of about eight. I guess I blocked it out, probably for good reason.”
“Why?” I asked softly, my heart racing for him, but he remained calm and unaffected as he shrugged his shoulders.
“It definitely wasn’t perfect. I had flashbacks sometimes. Nightmares that would make me violent in my sleep or wake me in a cold sweat of panic, but I never remembered much about them. Just the feelings they provoked. I have no idea if they were real or my brain made them up. But they always felt real,” he spoke slowly, avoiding my gaze as my heart ached for him. What the hell had happened to him as a child to suffer through that? I knew Gio went through a phase of night terrors after papi’s death and I was sure it was PTSD.
“Did you ever get help for them?” I asked, stroking the back of his hand with my thumb. He removed his hand and fidgeted in his chair, grabbing his cocktail and downing the rest of it until there was only ice left in the glass.
“No. Flo was always there though. I remember that. Sometimes she would sleep on my floor just so she could keep an eye on me. She had pulled me into my papi’s office once and told him about it, even though I begged her not to. She said she thought I needed counselling or to see someone who could help me. He just laughed and shook his head. Said I was fine and needed to toughen up.”
“That’s awful,” I replied, feeling anger for that young, helpless boy. “Do you still get them?”
“No. I haven’t had one for years now. I guess I just managed to find a way of blocking them out too,” he smiled, lifting his hand to get the barman’s attention and ordering us both another cocktail. I waited for the server to leave before I moved my gaze back to Alessio. I couldn’t help the sympathy that was oozing from my eyes.
