Page 161 of Play of Love
Chapter 6
Evie
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Shit.
How embarrassing.
How very embarrassing. Of all the things that could have happened to me, and had happened to me, what happened this morning was by far the worse.
I had tried to scale it up against every bad thing that had ever happened to me but came to the same conclusion that it outdid them all.
All of them.The only thing worse would have been if it had happened in a room full of people. But the fact that it happened with just Gage seemed to outdo that too. It felt more embarrassing because it was him.
He'd seen me naked. Not even just a glimpse, but full on naked me with my breasts practically in his face and my legs wrapped around him as he tried to evade holding on to my naked ass.
God in heaven, why did these things have to happen to me?
And, this morning had been my own doing. Again I wasn't thinking. I simply opened the window to let in the fresh morning air and indulge on the delicious smell of bread being baked in the bakery down the street. It was supposed to be a nice feel good session of absorbing the whole Italian atmosphere. But no, those awful creatures rushed in and nearly gave me a heart attack. The first one jumped on the shower head and was on the brink of jumping on either my face or on my head. Just the thought of it now could have sent me straight to an early grave. It was when I evaded the first that I saw the others hopping about on the white tiled floor.
All I could do was retreat to higher ground. How the hell was I to know that those things could climb walls too?
Thank God Gage came in and saved me.
I had to call it saving because it was indeed saving, and I didn't know what I would have done if he hadn't come by.
Now all I had to do was deal with the embarrassment and humiliation of it all. I couldn't even look at him without coloring fiercely. Every time I attempted to I'd turn red, feeling like I was going to combust from the sudden heat of humiliation that would rush over me, and shame weighed down heavily on me.
We'd been on the train to Tuscany now for about half an hour. While he talked with Lucy about the lists of contacts he'd put together for Angelo and his sisters, I kept my head down skimming over a brochure I was pretending to read.
In the booth we sat at I was directly opposite Gage so noticed the occasional look he'd give me. At those times I could feel his eyes on me. Then I'd risk looking and see him smiling to himself, obviously thinking about earlier.
How embarrassing.I just wished the train would hurry up and get to our destination as quickly as possible because this was killing me.
All that strength and confidence I normally handled him with had been made null in a matter of minutes, and now I had this long train journey and the rest of this trip ahead of me.
The thought of the trip itself was draining enough with all we had to do. It was like there was something new every day to push us further back. Today was the contact list. When I'd heard how many people we had to call I had to try hard to keep that positive vibe going. I'd known the task wasn't going to be easy so there was no point being surprised when we came up against obstacles.
As hard and tedious as it was going to be, this was the easiest way. We had to call everyone on the list and hope we'd get lucky in finding the right people. If we went through the Angelo list and found him, that would be amazing, and with the sister's list whichever they found first would lead them to him. Assuming they were both still alive and their names hadn't changed, and still in Tuscany. There was all of that to factor in.
Getting through calling all those people was going to be hard even with dividing it up between us. It was a good thing I was off from work for so long as it was looking like we would be here for a minimum of at least a week, but most likely more. At least I'd get to see more of Italy. Who knew where this mission could take us?
Aside from my awkward, embarrassed state, I was excited to see Tuscany. The idea of gazing at the vast countryside or sitting on one of the gorgeous golden sand beaches was definitely lush. Gage hadn't told us much about where he'd booked, and there was no way that I was going to ask. I was just going through the motions. Knowing him, he already knew that and was having a field day about it.
Deciding that I'd had enough of my brochure I chanced looking up and set my focus on the scenery outside. It was beautiful, and I shouldn't be missing it. It would be like cutting off my nose to spite my leg as the saying went.
Lucy reached across the table between us and tapped my hand. "Are you okay dear? You're awfully quiet."
I fought back a blush before answering. "I'm okay. Maybe just a little disorientated from this morning."
"I hate lizards too if that helps," Lucy sighed.
"Grams, I think you'll find that Evietotallyhates them," Gage stated, with that smug look I hated so much. ThatI'm a god worship meexpression he used to walk around the school campus with, and life in general. "You should have been there."
Lucy would have had a total heart attack. In fact, her heart would just skip past the attacking part and demolish her. I was sure Gage knew that too.
I looked at him and frowned in distaste even though I could feel my face turning red. I would have given him the usual back chat by now but found I couldn't. I'd fed myself to the lions on this one.
