Page 63 of Ciao, Amore

“How are you going to get it to them?” Nico asked, casting a sideward glance at her things, then at her wet eyes.

“Mail ’em,” she said simply.

“Ah. Hey, I got this for your mom.” He showed her the apron he’d bought for Didi, with the obligatory lemons on it.

Before he could say anything else, she quickly said, “That was super sweet of you. She’ll love it. We can send everything together. I’ll take care of it.”

He shrugged with acceptance and opened his mouth to say something, then thought for a second and closed it. They hadn’t said a word about New York, his plans, or hers, as she’d requested. Before the unspoken questions could drop a weight over their shoulders, he grinned. “I still need to find a domino set for your dad.”

Her heart squeezed. That he still thought of her family and wanted to shower them with kindnesses no one had asked for was so sweet. But that was Nico, thinking about pleasing others and fulfilling their needs while expecting nothing in return.

She loved that about him.

She loved him.

Nico grinned at her, unaware she was standing there experiencing a rather mind-blowing revelation. He turned to the shopkeeper and asked in Italian if the man knew of any place that sold game sets. He was given nearly incomprehensible directions through the maze of terraces, but with a hastily drawn map, they were on their way. Upstairs, downstairs, past the big church, and up another staircase, passing a gelataria, they finally found the small street and found the store on Nico’s map. She was wiped out by then.

“How about you have a seat and rest up for a minute. I want to check out a couple places,” he said, sitting her down on a bench around the corner.

With a quick kiss, he rounded the bend and disappeared. She was grateful for the chance to rest her legs and sat people-watching tourists and residents. Everywhere she looked was the same pretty Mediterranean architecture, trailing vines and bougainvillea threaded through the pergolas over the streets, and amazing blue-and-white tilework in swirling patterns on the tables and floors. The scent of lemons and spices flavored the air, and the noise of chitchat and laughter echoed through the stone spaces in an almost musical harmony.

Above her, the first of the evening’s stars glittered and winked atop the deepening pink, orange, and indigo bands of oncoming sunset. This place was everything she’d hoped for, everything she’d dreamed Italy would be.

The only element she hadn’t counted on was the man she was waiting for.Hewas so much more than she could have hoped for, could have ever dreamed of. She understood the dangers of getting too carried away in a place like this, an oasis that seemed carved out of space and time for the two of them alone. Here, there were no distractions, no interruptions; everything here was lightness and joy. Fully knowing it wasn’t the real world, real life, she reveled in it anyway.

Head tilted back to absorb every sight, sound, and sensation, Dani looked up at that sky, breathed in deeply, and wished it could be this way for them forever.

For tonight, their last night, she’d open herself to this fantasy fully, to loving Nico, tola dolce vita, the sweetness of life. Whatever he asked of her, whatever he wanted from her tonight, she wouldn’t blithely say “fuck it, why not?” as if the choices were meaningless and nothing mattered.

Nico mattered.

Her new plan for the night was to say, “Yes.”

21

HOPES, DREAMS

NICO

It wastheir last night in Positano. Nico had been dreading seeing their idyllic time away come to an end, but he was excited, too. Endings, beginnings. Good things were going to happen. For the first time in a long time, he felt sure of it.

As he waited for Daniela to come out of the bathroom, he made the last pass at his hair and analyzed himself in the mirror with a critical eye. He wore the cream cotton button-down he’d bought in the last visit to the clothing store. Long khaki shorts with deck shoes that he’d arrived in weren’t the most romantic gear, but they’d have to do.

He calmed his nerves by opening the window and breathing in the early evening air. Fidgeted with his phone briefly, then tossed it back on the dresser without looking for messages. He’d turned it off entirely after he made it to Positano and sent a quick text to Angelo that he was alright and would be out of touch for a few days. He was unwilling to see or hear a single notification; Dani wasn’t the only one who needed a break from them and everything they needed from him.

There was a constant knot somewhere between his ribcage and his stomach that some unforeseen catastrophe would befall everyone in Naples if he wasn’t there, but he told that feeling to fuck off. They were adults, not his responsibility, and it was their constant interference that had made this sojourn to Positano necessary in the first fucking place.

Not that he wouldn’t have wanted to be there of his own accord. He hadn’t told Dani, but it had been his wish to come here too, only in his case, with someone he cared about, someone he’d committed to sharing his life with, back when that had been his plan.

The plan had been taken out of the dustbin, revitalized, and polished till it shone like new, all because of the woman in the next room. He could never have guessed even a few months ago that it would bethiswoman, funny, infuriating, and so loving, even if she still felt the need to shelter that part of herself.

He turned when Dani left the bathroom and stared at her with appreciation. She wore a plain spaghetti strap cotton dress, cream colored like his shirt, and her gladiator sandals. Her hair was up in a loose knot, and she wore a simple swipe of lip gloss. Days of soaking up the sun had lent her cheeks even more natural color, a deep brown with copper undertones from her bare shoulders down her long, elegant arms. Looking at her, at that smile, made his heart hurt it was so full.

“You’re beautiful,” he murmured, gathering her close for a kiss. He wondered if she could feel him tremble when he touched her, if she knew what she did to him.

“So are you,” she replied and kissed him back, slowly, with no hurry.

They kissed and tasted each other, each nip of her lips and her tantalizing skin bringing him closer to a desire to forget about going anywhere and pulling off that dress, but he restrained himself. With supreme force of will, he stepped back.

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