Читать книгу Tuscan Freedom - Ruthie Michaels - Страница 4

Lily was on vacation.

As she drove through the Italian countryside her thoughts wandered with the freedom of a traveler. Her life at home was flavored by monotonous ritual.

She propped her chin in her hand and let out a sigh that was at odds with the golden light spilling around her. While she loved her veterinary practice in San Diego, it didn’t offer the challenges she seemed to be yearning for. Even her last boyfriend had sensed it in her.

Lily remembered lying spread-eagled on her bed, with Derrick working on her with his tongue for over an hour before giving up. Flipping her over, he’d quickly fucked her doggy style as he growled in her ear, “Well, I guess you can just satisfy yourself if you’re not going to let me do it.”

He had stormed off after that and she hadn’t heard from him since. The passion she once felt for him was missing, and she just couldn’t fake it for him. She couldn’t even muster up the energy to try to win him back. She let his memory go with an inward shrug.

When her old college acquaintance, Gianna, had e-mailed her from Italy asking when she was finally going to come for a visit, Lily figured it was time to take a much-needed vacation. She would be thirty next year, and if she didn’t do it now she was afraid that she would wake up one morning and find she had never done anything impulsive or out of the ordinary.

She probably never thought I would actually book a ticket and get my butt out here, Lily thought to herself. She grabbed the map off the seat beside her and quickly scanned it again. The turn should be coming up at any moment. Sure enough, in a few hundred yards Lily saw a faded wooden signpost along the dusty dirt road.

Casa Liberta, it read. Here we go, thought Lily, my home for the next two glorious weeks. She guided the car onto the even smaller rutted track leading off the main road. It snaked up a small hill, and when Lily crested the ridge she caught her breath in surprise. Before her was spread a gorgeous Tuscan hillside bathed in the soft yellow of grain and the dusky greens of foliage. Tucked into the side of the hill was an old three-story house complete with wooden doors and stone masonry. A path led from the back of the villa down to a lovely azure pool with a scattering of teak loungers around it. The water looked cool and shimmery in the warmth of the late afternoon.

Lily hadn’t even finished parking the car before her hostess raced out through the front door, calling her name. Gianna was an energetic bundle, barely five foot three, with perfectly straight, jet-black hair that came down past her shoulders. Her dark-chocolate eyes were sparkling with excitement as she clasped her hands together in front of her ample chest.

“Lila! Lila! I’m so glad you have finally arrived! We have been waiting all afternoon for you—you have kept us on pins and splinters,” Gianna cried.

Lily grinned. She remembered Gianna’s pet name for her, a result of a too loud jukebox upon their first meeting. Lily hadn’t the heart to correct Gianna for two weeks after they’d met, and when she finally explained her name was Lily and not Lila, it was too late. The name Lila was stuck in Gianna’s head, and Lila she would be.

“It’s pins and needles, silly, not pins and splinters,” she said with a laugh. Gianna grasped her by the upper arms and pulled her into an embrace, soundly kissing her on both cheeks. Lily was surprised at how beautiful her friend had become over the years. Her college awkwardness had evaporated and left a sultry, coy beauty in its place. Her lush curves combined with her small-boned frame left one thinking of the great Italian beauty, Sophia Loren.

“Oh, you are so beautiful, so American with your blonde hair! I forget it is this color!” Gianna squealed, driving her soft hands into Lily’s mass of long curls. “The boys will love you, I make no mistake. And I think you will love the boys, too, no? They are very nice boys.” Gianna winked, her hands lingering at the nape of Lily’s neck.

Confused, Lily glanced over Gianna’s shoulder and saw that two men had just walked out the open doorway. Lily caught herself staring. Boys? Surely Gianna was kidding, because these two were both all-man. Trying to determine which one was more attractive, she began a mental checklist. Number One was tall and lean, at least six foot four, with shoulder-length dark hair and a broad, sensual mouth.

Lily liked a man with a nice mouth.

Number Two was about four inches shorter, but with bulging biceps and shoulders.

Lily also enjoyed a nice set of arms.

They’re always so nice to hold on to when he climbs on… Lily shook her head. Ten minutes in paradise and she was already imagining herself in bed with Gianna’s friends! Feeling the familiar but almost forgotten tingle of desire, she was suddenly sure that coming here was the right decision.

“Come, come, Marco and Tomasso will get your things for you. Come inside and get a drink. You must be exhausted after your drive from Florence.” Gianna guided Lily with a soft arm across the shoulders. Her hair was a dark waterfall down her back and Lily was surrounded by the soft, velvety scent of Gianna’s perfume. It reminded her of warm skin and spicy fruit.

“Did you find the place all right? Tommy here is always saying I need to replace the sign on the lane, but I like to make things difficult for visitors, you know?” Gianna reached out a hand and casually caressed the man’s chest as she passed him. “If I make it too easy, then I will have too many, you see? Before you came, I only wanted two.” Gianna’s full lips quirked and her eyes sparkled evocatively. She slid her gaze toward the two men and Lily raised her eyebrows questioningly. Surely Gianna didn’t mean she wanted both men in that way…did she? Gianna only giggled in response to the unspoken query.

Lily wondered at the presence of the handsome men at the villa. Number One seemed to be Marco and Number Two, Tomasso. Glancing down at Gianna’s lush figure, she was aware that either man would be lucky to be naked with a woman with Gianna’s combination of killer curves and evident passion. Lily watched Marco’s eyes follow the same curves she had just perused, and as her eyes locked on his, he winked. She was convinced that he knew exactly what she was thinking.

Blushing, she glanced back toward Tomasso, at the trunk of the car. She just caught the sight of his wet tongue as he licked his lips, his gaze riveted on the backsides of the two women as they entered the villa. She wondered just whose bottom he was lusting after, hers or Gianna’s? Or was it the sight of them side by side?

Gianna squeezed her hand and ran her fingertips softly up the side of Lily’s arm. Lily reluctantly tore her gaze away from Tomasso and looked down at her hostess. Gianna was looking back at the two men while she spoke to Lily. Her voice was husky, her look fiery. “Here we take care of you, Lila. We make sure you get the full Casa Liberta experience.”

Lily also glanced back at the two men. They were standing in the last of the afternoon sun, gazing at them Lily wondered just exactly what “taking care of” meant to Gianna…and if it meant the same thing to the men of the house.

Four glorious, sun-filled days later, Lily still hadn’t figured out which man Gianna might or might not be sleeping with. Tommy and Marco were a constant presence at the villa, cleaning the pool one day, pruning in the garden another. Originally she thought that Gianna and the tall Marco were an item when, on the first day, she spied Gianna’s hand lingering on the back of his neck as they were getting out of the pool. But later that evening she caught Tomasso playfully nipping Gianna’s neck as he brought her a glass of wine on the terrace. And yesterday morning, after a very early run, she’d encountered both men in the hallway outside Gianna’s room. It was only after the exchange of hellos that she remembered their rooms were at the opposite end of the hallway. By the time she turned around to question them they had disappeared down the stairwell.

Lily adjusted her dress in the bathroom mirror and made a mental note to stop trying to pry into Gianna’s love life, and let things be. Before this trip Lily could barely remember what Gianna had looked like. The Italian girl had been in America on an exchange when she began dating a friend of Lily’s cousin. After a drunken night at the local pub, the two women had exchanged information and swore to keep in touch. Surprisingly, they had forged a long distance friendship that had survived for almost eight years without them ever meeting in person again. Gianna had always bugged Lily to come out to Tuscany to visit, but the pressures of setting up her practice had always prevented her.

Now, though, the invitation from Gianna seemed like perfect timing. When she had e-mailed Gianna with her agreement to come she was not surprised when her old friend reacted with excited shock. Lily remembered the velvety purr of Gianna’s voice over the phone as she’d expressed her pleasure at Lily’s upcoming visit. Lily also swore she’d heard male voices in the background, but didn’t think it was her place to ask who it was. Now she knew, and she swore again to put a damper on her curiosity.

And to keep her tongue in her mouth every time Marco and Tommy were lying by the pool in their tight briefs.

This evening her host had invited a few friends over for a meal to meet her houseguest, and Lily had to admit that the dinner had been lively and entertaining. On a quick break from the party held in her honor, she had nipped into the upstairs washroom to straighten up.

Lily prepared to rejoin the guests on the downstairs terrace adjoining the dining room. Paulo and Adrianna were neighbors from across the lane to the south, while Stephan was a visiting Frenchman who was staying with Paulo and his wife for the season. Rounding out the table were, of course, Marco and Tomasso.

Lily could feel the tension and stress of North American life slipping from her with each day that she spent at the villa, lounging by the pool and eating the fabulous treats Marco and Tomasso prepared. Lily smiled to herself as she noted that neither of the women had yet to trouble themselves with cooking an actual meal for the men. Gianna certainly has them well trained,