Page 45 of Ciao, Amore

Her proud resistance was unnecessary. Her command was moot and fell on deaf ears. Nothing happened except Nico’s release of a sudden burst of snoring. Apparently, the alcohol and the night air were stuffing up his sinuses. A colony of bees couldn’t have buzzed louder than he did.

Fucking great.

Nico was down for the count. So much for her irresistible ass and only-one-bed shenanigans. She was going to tell Terri her books were bullshit. Dani got up long enough to turn out the lights, then crawled back on, finding a cozy spot against Nico’s side and settling down.

“We did look pretty fly tonight,” she said through a yawn as she drifted away.

* * *

“Mmm…”

A soft murmur slipped from Dani’s throat as something warm and prickly scraped the delicate skin of her neck. It was wonderful, the best dream she’d ever had as a hand closed over her breast. Her nipple came awake faster than she did as the hand rubbed and busy fingers tweaked. Harder, wetter kisses teased her throat while she squirmed, ending with a bite of her earlobe.

Something fabulously hard and hot was pressing into the crack of her ass, sliding into the crease between her legs and stroking the valley of her pussy through her clothes. She moaned this time and opened her eyes. It felt awesome, but wait a minute…wait a minute…

An emerald garden terrace through French doors. Morning sunshine. The sexiest man she’d ever met moving against her. But then—the dull, insistent throbs of a hangover headache. Noisy seagulls screeching outside. Her stomach roiling. Suddenly, this didn’t feel so sexy. In fact, she…she…

Oh no. Not on these high-thread-count sheets, not in front of Nico.No, no, no.

Dani sprang out of bed, stumbled into the bathroom, and shut the door, just in time to heave into the toilet. Her hair had loosened from the bun during the night, thanks to forgetting her scarf in her haste to get some sleep. Now it hung in frizzy strands, some of which were stuck to the side of her sweaty face. All that work with the flat iron, erased. She wassocute last night, drinking like she could hang with the real party people.

The thought of all the various drinks she’d had made her hurl again. The door swung open, and pale feet with long toes appeared next to her on the tiled floor. Oh great, here he was, seeing her throw up again.

Instead of expressing disgust and backing out, to her surprise, Nico murmured, “Hey, hey. Let me,” and pulled over a small wooden stool to sit down beside her and gather her hair up behind her head. He stayed there, rubbing her back in long, soothing strokes with his other hand until she was done. Dani flushed the mess away and sank heavily to the floor, panting and wiping her mouth. Her eyes were watery, her breath acidic, but he was gazing at her with tender humor. That gentleness made her want to cry in the face of her embarrassment.

“Feel better now?” he asked.

“I’m Mr. Political,” she sniffled, tearing off tissue from the roll and wiping her runny nose.

“Non ti preocupare, amore. Let me get you some water and some aspirin. Wait right there.”

While she did what he suggested, feeling too spent and wretched to move anyway, Nico rummaged in the medicine cabinet to get her the aspirin, then disappeared into the room, returning with bottled water. He made sure she swallowed the medicine and had at least half the water before he’d leave her alone.

This was foreign for her; care from her parents, her siblings, and her friends was something she took for granted, but she’d never received this from a man. Had never allowed one to see her this vulnerable. Never.

Alarmed at how easy it would be to slip into fantasies of being treated this way by him every day, she distracted herself from the longing in her heart with appreciation of his body, remembering how he’d woken her up. He did look hot, bare-chested with his dark hair falling in disarray over his forehead.

“Why do you look so good today? Shouldn’t you be sick like me?” she asked.

“I was when I got up. Had my aspirin, worked out, showered, and got back in bed to wake you. I thought we’d have some time before Mass.” He checked his wristwatch. “But it looks like we don’t have time left to spare.”

Morning workout, after a night like that? He was a machine. A fucking hot cyborg. She checked out the outline of his cock through his boxers, then sighed.

“Okay. I need to get ready. I hope Cetta didn’t de-coordinate my outfits. I had them all put together in the order of our activities,” she said, holding her forehead.

Nico laughed. “Wow, Howard Hughes.”

“I do not have OCD. And if I did, you shouldn’t be shaming me. And there’s nothing wrong with planning ahead. It takes the stress out of things,” she said defensively.

“Right. I forgot. Lists, plans. Can’t deviate, or else. Well, I’ll leave you to it. Unless you want a quickie?” he asked hopefully.

“Get out of my bathroom, Nico.”

“Um, this is my bathroom. See you out there.”

Then he leaned down to kiss the top of her head like she were a kid or a puppy. She made a face at him, but before he left, she said, “Thank you. For taking care of me. Last night and today.”

“Of course,bella.” Nico’s smile was the last thing she saw before he closed the door.

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