As he walked into the main living room, he saw Kara sitting on the couch.
“Your room is just through here,” he said, nodding toward the hall at the rear of the vaulted room. “Which bag is yours?”
“The green one,” Kara said, without looking at him.
Seamus grabbed the green bag and began to pull it across the tiled floor. As he got near Kara, he glanced up the stairs to make sure Nicola wasn’t around.
“What’s your problem today?” he whispered.
“She likes you,” Kara said bluntly. “And I don’t think you’ve been entirely honest with her.”
“You don’t know what we talk about,” Seamus said defensively.
“So you told her about being at Amber’s after hours?”
“No,” he said. “What exactly do you mean?”
“I’m not an idiot,” Kara said. “And neither is she. And I was fine with this while it was just her first movie-star fling, but you’re working her over and she’s falling for it. Either you come clean to her, or I’ll do it for you.”
“I can take care of my own relationship,” Seamus whispered angrily. “You don’t get it. She’s the first woman I’ve actually cared about in years. And I fucking care a lot.”
“Good to know,” Kara said, springing up from the couch and walking toward her room. She paused suddenly and turned, grabbing her suitcase from Seamus’s hand.
“Listen,” she said, pausing. “You seem all right. For an actor. Deep down you’re probably a good guy, but you and I both know that fame fucks you up, and I know what that party was, and I was disappointed to see you there.”
“You were there, too,” he said, his eyes narrow.
“I’m being paid to be Amber’s best friend,” Kara said condescendingly. “You’re going to be seeing me at a lot of places I wouldn’t normally be at.”
“Kara, if you’ve already made up your mind about me, that’s fine, but you’re also not the one I’m dating. I appreciate you caring for Nico, I really do, but I’m just going to have to ask you to trust me on this. I won’t disrespect her.”
Kara began to walk away. “Like you said, I’m not the one you’re dating. Just be honest with her, please.”
* * *
The master bedroom was an open, airy space. Heavy, dark beams crisscrossed the roof, and a stretch of glass doors opened onto a balcony that wrapped around the whole room. Nicola stood on the balcony, the warm wind filling her head with the smells that she already associated with California: the sage, the manzanita, and the jasmine. There was another smaller Tuscan house across the way, and behind that, olive groves stretched away up the mountains behind them, catching the afternoon sun.
The high-pitched hum of a leaf blower drifted in through the window, reminding her that this was California, not Sicily, followed by a billowing cloud of dust and scarlet bougainvillea petals from behind the smaller house. A maintenance man armed with the leaf blower appeared. Nicola watched as he blew the fallen petals off the stone path that ran around the house, letting them fall on the manicured lawn. It had bugged her since she moved out here, the way that nobody raked up the litter when it landed. Like most of LA, it was a temporary fix.
Her reverie was broken by the sound of Seamus opening the door behind her, then the feeling of his arms wrapping around her waist.
“Not bad, eh?” he whispered, nuzzling his face in her hair and kissing her neck.
“It’s not bad,” she said. “Reminds me of our farm in Tuscany.” She waved her arm toward the huge rocket that glinted in the distance. “Especially the spaceship.”
He laughed and turned her around. She lifted her head to kiss him and was surprised when he pulled her to his chest and hugged her hard, his arms strong around her, not venturing down to her ass. He kissed the top of her head, keeping his lips there, resting softly against her scalp.
“I missed you,” he said softly, and immediately he felt her tense up. “Thanks for coming,” he added. “We’re going to have a great weekend.”
She lifted her face from his chest and kissed him passionately, her fingers twined in his black curls, changing the mood. He lifted her off her feet and carried her back into the bedroom without breaking the kiss. As they got near to the bed, Seamus spun and let himself fall backward with Nicola on top of him, landing on the bed without breaking the kiss or their teeth.
* * *
The maintenance guy killed the motor on the leaf blower as he approached the cars parked outside the villas. Looking around furtively, he walked to the side of the driveway and leaned the leaf blower up against the thick trunk of an old oak. He quickly pulled a Galaxy from his pocket and took photos of the Tercel and the front of the villa that Nicola and Seamus had been on the balcony of just seconds before.