Page 61 of Tour Wars
“Nah, I was up already.” She scanned his room, startled at the amount of stuff still piled on his bed, including two large bottles of limoncello. He’d be lucky to fit all of it into his suitcase. “Why are you leaving so early?”
He gave her a rueful smile. “I’m an idiot, that’s why. A friend of mine is vacationing at Lake Como, and he invited me to join him. So I thought, why not take the early train to Milan and get a jump-start on my visit? Except I forgot how much I hate getting up at the butt-crack of dawn.”
“It’s—what—a three-hour trip?”
“A little longer, plus I need to take the bus from Milan to Lake Como. I’m going to work on my video during the train ride, so that’ll give me something to fill my time.”
“Already? That’s so quick.” He hadn’t posted the Portugal video until a month after the tour ended.
“This is just an overview—a teaser—with my general thoughts. I’ll do four or five more shorter videos after that, going into greater detail. That way, I can stretch out my content.”
“Makes sense.” She gnawed on her lip, curious about his “overview” but hesitant to put him on the spot.
As if he could read her mind, he offered her a playful grin. “For the record, I’m giving this tour the full five stars. You and TJ were awesome.”
She let out her breath in a whoosh. “Thanks. We tried our best. I appreciate how supportive you were, especially when we gave that impromptu tour of the Forum and Palatine Hill.”
“That was one of the best parts of the trip. You guys did a great job, plus you made it enjoyable. And the two of you had fun, didn’t you?” The gleam in his eye suggested he knew exactly what was going on between them.
She flushed. “Yeah. More than I expected.”
“Glad to hear it. Anyway, I should finish packing. My taxi’s gonna be here in twenty minutes, and I have no clue how I’m going to fit all this shit into my bag. Thanks again for a great time.”
“You bet.” She opened the door, but as she was leaving, he motioned for her to stop.
“Hang on.” He grabbed some euro notes out of his wallet and pressed them into her hand. “Your tip. Half of it is for TJ, but I’m guessing he’s still asleep.”
“Thanks. I’ll give it to him at breakfast.” She stuffed the bills in the pocket of her sweatpants.
“Any chance I could get a hug before I go?” he asked.
“Absolutely.” She leaned in and hugged him, inhaling the faint scent of his marine-scented bodywash. “After Lake Como, are you coming back this way or heading north to Switzerland?”
“I’m coming back. I still want to visit Sicily and Sardinia, and, ah…Cesca said she’d show me around Naples.” Now it was his turn to flush.
Interesting. Maybe Emilia had been right when she’d sensed something brewing between them during that night in the pool. “Nice. Well, if you get to Naples before December 18, let me know. TJ and I would be happy to meet you there for drinks.”
“You got it. Safe travels, Em.”
“Safe travels, Davis.”
After he closed his door, she turned to walk down the hall, only to come face-to-face with Luca.She froze in place, her pulse rate spiking. What was it about this guy? He was always creeping up on her, like a stalker. “Um…hey, Luca. You’re up kind of early.”
He was clad in a snug blue compression shirt and a tight pair of running shorts that left little to the imagination. If she hadn’t found him so repellent, she might have been impressed by his muscular hotness. Instead, all she wanted to do was flee in the opposite direction.
“I’m going out for a run,” he said. “What’s your excuse for wandering the halls at this hour? Coming from a late night with Davis?”
“Excuse me?” She brushed a few crumbs off her shirt. Even if she was messy and disheveled, that hardly implied she’d spent the night engaging in a passionate tryst.
“I saw you sneaking out of Davis’ room just now. Don’t deny it.”
“I wasn’t about to. Since he’s leaving before everyone else, I stopped by to see him off.”
Luca’s lip curled in a sneer. “That’s quite the effort on your part, seeing as how it’s barely five in the morning.”
Seriously?“We’re just friends. Even if we weren’t, I’d want to leave him with a good final impression since he’s a travel influencer who’ll be leaving a review. Not that it’s any of your business. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get ready for breakfast.”
She turned and left, not caring if she’d pissed him off. At least she only had to endure his loathsome presence until the tour ended. After that, she could put him out of her mind for good.
