Forever With Me(84)

Three months later…





I can hear him whistling in the bathroom, the shower running. I can picture his tight, naked body, soapy and tanned under the water.

I’m tempted to get my lazy ass up and join him, but the bed feels nice, and I’m not anxious to get this day started.

I’m nervous.

I roll over and see the photo on Dom’s side of the bed of the two of us in Italy and smile. I think it’s the cheesiest selfie we’ve ever taken, but it’s his favorite of us, so he framed it and stuck it there, next to his bed.

I rest my head in my hands, and as he continues to whistle away in the bathroom, daydream happily about the day he surprised me with that trip…

“Close your eyes, amore,” he whispers against my cheek. Summer is just beginning to give way to fall, and the air is lighter, almost crisp, here near the water. He’s brought me back to the pier near my condo, with the locks of love that he still sneers at, and we are enjoying our wine in the grass.

I follow his instructions, expecting him to tell me a sexy story, but instead I feel him place something in my lap.

“If that’s a puppy, you can just take it back where you got it. I don’t do pets.” My lips turn up in a grin as he laughs.

“Not a pet, puppy or otherwise, cara,” he assures me. “Open your eyes.”

In my lap is a plain white envelope, with nothing written on the outside.

“A Dear John letter?” I ask dryly.

“You’re funny today,” he says with a smile and tucks my hair behind my ear. I love that he is forever touching me. I’ll never get tired of it. “Open it.”

Inside is an itinerary, for two, to Italy.

“Holy shit,” I whisper.

“I want to show you Italy. I want you to meet Gianna.”

“I want to meet both,” I reply, and then throw my arms around him. “We’re going to Italy!”

“We are.”

“When?”

“Whenever you like. The tickets are open-ended, so we can go whenever it’s convenient for you to get away.”

“You might be the best Italian boyfriend ever.”

He laughs, lays me back in the grass, and kisses me silly, sending tingles all through me.

Charming Italian.





“You have to get out of bed,” Dominic calls from the bathroom.

“I will,” I reply. “This picture is cheesy.”

He sticks his head out of the doorway and scowls at me. “I love that picture. You’re beautiful in it.”

Then he’s gone again, bustling around in the bathroom. The water is running. I hear him snatch his toothbrush out of its holder.

Honestly, I love that damn picture, it’s just fun to tease him about it. That was my favorite day in Italy.

“I get to crush the grapes with my feet?” I ask excitedly. “Like in ‘I Love Lucy’?”

“Something like that,” Dom replies and leads me into a barn with a big tub that looks like a water trough. A man dumps a bucket of grapes in it and grins at Dom.

“Tutti pronti,” the man says and walks away.

“What did he say?” I ask.

“All ready,” Dom replies. “Are you ready?”

“I’m going to stomp around in the grapes?”

“Yes.” His eyes are full of mischief as he leads me to a bucket of warm water, and helps me rinse off my feet, then holds my hand as I climb in the large tub and step into the grapes.

“This feels…weird.” I stand still, facing the open doors of the barn, where I can see the rolling hills of Tuscany and lines and lines of vines. It’s the most beautiful view I’ve ever seen.

Aside from the one in Washington, at Dominic’s vineyard.

“You have to stomp on them, tesoro,” he says.

“Why aren’t you doing this with me?” I ask suspiciously as he aims his phone at me and snaps a picture.

“It’s more fun this way.”

“Uh huh.” I begin to walk, scrunching up my nose at the way the grapes squish between my toes. It smells earthy and good, but feels so weird. “This is kind of gross.”

“You’re so funny,” he says with a smile.

“I can’t believe you do it this way for all of your wine,” I say, as I trudge through the grapes.

“We don’t,” Gianna says from the doorway. “I can’t believe you’re making her do that.”

“I knew it!”

Dominic is doubled over, laughing.

“You’re such a shit,” I say with a laugh. “My feet are going to be purple forever.”

“Just for a few days,” he says, and wipes his eyes. “You look like you’re having fun.”

“Please get me out of here.”