Ginevra “Are you happy now?” “Oh, you can’t even imagine.” I shake my head, not hiding my smile as I look at him. “Seriously, Ru. We have to stop doing this. It’s not going to end well for any of us.” Shrugging again, he leans down to me, caressing the skin down along my neckline. “I’m still willing to take the risk. I really have a hard time getting you out of my head.” I feel my goosebumps covering my skin as I watch him following his fingers with his eyes. As he reaches the side of my breast, I would like to curse myself about how stupid it was to choose such a deep neckline out of defiance, but I can’t seem to find the spirit to do so. Ruggerio takes advantage of my sanity slipping away for a second to lean in further to kiss me softly. As he captures my lips with his, a sigh of relief leaves me and I feel his smile against mine. Before I can even think of putting my arms around him to deepen the kiss, he is already breaking it and goes to whisper something in my ear. I’m st

Ginevra “Did you get home alright?” “Yes, perfectly, thank you. And you?” I’m currently in my grandmother’s boutique, watching Nina chewing on a chewing gum as she is browsing in a magazine. Hiding in the back room, I can talk to my secret love interest carefreely. “Yeah. Did the jerk try to do anything else?” “No. no. I got home unharmed, don’t worry.” I hear Ruggerio grunting something like how it would have been better this way as he was going on a visit to their grounds otherwise. I chuckle while I hear him getting distracted by some voices in the background. “Sorry, babe. I have to go. But you owe me. Don’t forget this.” I still can’t get over him calling me babe. “Sure, I’ll oblige thankfully this time.” “I’m looking forward to seeing that. I’ll send you some details later. If you don’t show up, I’ll come to pick you up myself.” He laughs and my heart skips a beat at that. Oh, my. *** By the time I receive his details, I’m cashing in a client while Nina is packing

Ginevra “The reason why we aren’t allowed to be together.” I follow him as he breaks into the shabby mansion, and I fear the roof will fall down on our heads. My confusion must be showing on my face as I stare at him incredulously. “I’m sorry. What?” He takes another step forward to kick a loose wooden board lightly. “This is what they are fighting for. The reason why they hold a grudge. Old men and their pride.” I blink repeatedly as if trying to change the picture in front of me by doing it. I knew exactly that my grandfather was angry about something that got stolen from him, but I never got more information out of him. Looks like Ruggerio’s grandfather was a tad more communicative. They can’t be serious. “There is no stolen kiss, captured bride, killed brother, deceived sister, borrowed money or some sketchy fraud or scheme. It’s just a rotting house sitting on a ground that is worth a fortune.” “Why are you showing me all of this?” “I just wanted to make sure you see th

Ginevra How could she do that to me? The same thought is running rounds in my mind as I try to enjoy the last hours I have with Ruggerio in our private little heaven. Deciding to take part in a wine tasting in the afternoon, Ruggerio gets our hotel to book us another night. I’m slightly anxious about this, but he calms me down easily by bringing forward the argument that it is too late to worry about it anyway. So, a day more or less wouldn’t matter. Also, I’d give anything to spend as much time as possible here with him. After the wine tasting, we barricade ourselves in our room and decide to order our dinner and our drinks over room service to enjoy our last hours fully and I nearly lose my mind by enjoying the night with him. Traveling to the airport in an old-timer convertible is actually as romantic as you would imagine it. My heart is about to burst as I get to be the passenger princess to him driving the car with the sleeves of his shirt rolled up. His hair dances in the wi

Ruggerio I’m itching to smoke so bad that I bounce my leg up and down while one of our contractors is talking with us about a project that we should have already finished weeks ago. It wasn’t enough to have my grandfather talking to me like a kindergartener about the importance of business deals, but I also had my father threatening me to distribute tasks to my younger brother. As if I would care about this. Why not give him everything already? Frank had apparently forgotten to appoint his deputy correctly about an important task that should have been covered while he took a vacation to Paris and, as I wasn’t informed about anything and he was my fucking deputy, the project went south in just a few days, getting us into all sorts of problems. I wouldn’t be as mad, as such things can quickly be corrected. And in the building industry, you have all kind of issues that can happen without expecting them, so we are trained to manage them competently. Also, Frank did the fucking extra mil