Page 64 of Pomegranates and Olive

I’m angry… no, I’m livid.

This man is ridiculous. I've offered myself to him three times and have been rather cruelly rejected every single time... well twice, but if I include the fact that he didn't tell Maeve to leave and instead invited her tocomeon-board, then it definitely would've been three times. Either way, I’m pissed off!

I advance on him and poke him in the chest with my finger. Hard. "This timeyouneed to pay very close attention to whatI'mabout to say. Whatever this is... or whatever it was... will never happen again! I don't want anything to do with you, Deniz Yilmaz and I'm glad you're leaving! I hope to hell I never see you again!"

His face breaks into a twisted grin. "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

"Fotitti!"

He taps his hand to his helmet and speeds away without another word.

Unmoving, I stand at Ginny's blue front door cursing (in English and Italian and even Turkish because I'm not bi-lingual anymore, I'm multi-lingual — at least in curse words anyway), until I can no longer hear the motorcycle on the gravel, before stomping through the door. "Ginny? Are you back? You're not going to believe what happened!"

Hearing voices on the terrace, I step outside where I’m immediately pulled into a hug.

"Finally! I was beginning to think you'd run away again!"

"Rosie?" I unravel myself, my anger dissipating into a fog of confusion as I stare at my little sister. "What the bloody hell are you doing here?"

14

Hello… Wait… What The Fuck?

Rosie opens her arms and steps back to examine me in her dress. "Oh my God, Liv, you look so gorgeous in that dress, although it's not tied up properly at the back. I bet you've got all these sexy Turkish men lusting after you. They are, aren't they?" She turns to Ginny and Aydin. "You know, I might apply for New York Fashion Week next year. I really think I would be huge over there!"

"And oh, so modest as well." Rosie looks rather fabulous herself in a pair of wine-coloured harem pants with an intricate pattern and black singlet, substantial hoop earrings dangling from her ears, her long, sun-streaked brown hair piled high into a messy bun. "I've missed you so much,sorellina. Seriously though, what are you doing here?"

"I think the question we should all be asking, is where thefuckhave you been?"

Six weeks and three days. That's how long it's been since I have heard the sound of Luca's voice, but now I can hear it clearly, heavily laden with suspicion, and it’s coming from right behind me.

I turn towards the sound of the voice and then stumble backward in total shock.

Luca!

Luca... is here... with Rosie!

Che cazzo!

Despite the furious look on his face, Luca is still one gorgeous-looking man, even after God knows how many hours of travel to get here. I feel that familiar, heady rush of pride course through me that I used to get as I gaze up at him. He’s tired, I can tell, his eyes have dark circles that always come from stress and lack of sleep. A new addition to Luca's face is that his sexy stubble has become more of a sexy beard with a bonus few flecks of grey, giving him an appearance of all over, sizzling hot, grizzly man rumpleness, that is just so naturally him.

Luca and I circle each other warily, like tigers stalking their prey. At the same time, Rosie continues to prattle on, listing every single thing that has happened to her since we parted at the airport six-odd weeks ago.

"Rosie, shush!"

Rosie's voice slowly tapers off as she looks from me to Luca and back again. Even she can see there's about to be a show-down.

"You're here."

"So are you... finally."

Guilt prickles inside me as I watch Luca pace back and forth, a habit I've seen him do many times when he’s frustrated and trying to find his words.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to come here and immediately snap. I was just worried when Ginny arrived home, and you weren't with her. She didn't seem to know where you were. It freaked me out."

Because I was out trying to get laid like, as Ginny had previously pointed out, a total puttana.

"I really screwed this up." Luca runs his thick fingers through his hair and shakes his head. "It wasn't supposed to be like this."

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