Annie was going dancing.
She had only one more week left in Italy and she was tired of sitting around moping over some guy’s rejection.
Yes, she’d fallen for Edward Hargreaves and was a bit taken aback by how much, but she had to remember she was here on holiday. What did she expect, that he would whisk her back to England to live happily ever after?
But that wasn’t what she wanted. Felicity’s intention was for Annie to live life on her own terms, not be dependent on some guy to decide her future.
And she was going to do just that. She already had a rough plan of how she would go about setting up her own place. First up, she would do a refresher styling course; years of catering to middle-aged women and the blue rinse brigade’s washes and sets had put her out of the game trend-wise, and she needed to improve her offering.
Then she would get some work experience at one of the chain salons, well and truly learning the ropes within a busy popular operation, before taking the plunge and opening her own place.
Taking Kim’s advice, she’d also look into doing an additional course in how to set up a small business, getting all the official stuff right from the start and maybe even apply to the Irish Enterprise Board for a grant.
In any case, Annie was determined to do this and do it properly from the start if she truly wanted to make a go of it.
This Italian trip had been a brilliant excuse to let loose and have fun, a fantastic diversion from the humdrum, and she’d even managed to make some good friends on the way, ones who weren’t just about partying and getting trashed.
She smiled. After her stinking hangover that first day, Kim had pretty much given up on wild nights out, and whatever mindfulness stuff she’d got going on since really suited her.
She was so calm and always full of good advice—for Colette especially. Annie had got the sense right from the get-go that Kim was running from something other than just boredom, and she figured that whatever it might be, this trip had helped her, too.
The three of them were runaways, really—and as Kim pointed out, it was fate that had led them to Villa Dolce Vita as their means of escape.
Now, Annie looked at her reflection in the mirror with some satisfaction. There was no denying it, she looked hot.
Her skin was now deeply tanned from so much time in the sun, and she’d lost pretty much all of her burgeoning spare tire (either from walking up and down those bloody hills, or the lighter Mediterranean diet).
She wore her hair loose, her natural dark curls tumbling sexily around her face. She’d stopped straightening it these days just to give it a break, though she did go heavy on the makeup tonight—full-on glam—and was wearing her best dancing dress. The same figure-hugging number she’d worn the very first night here—one that made the absolute most of her curves and gave her oodles of sensuality.
Actually, with her sun-kissed skin, sexy dress, cascading curls, and smoldering crimson lips, she could easily blend in as one of the locals, she thought with a grin as she slipped into a pair of metallic strappy sandals.
But unlike her first time at Music on the Rocks, now Annie had the good sense to pop a pair of flip-flops into her handbag for the long walk back up from town later.
Or maybe she’d just treat herself to a taxi, depending on how the night went.
However, the club was definitely in her plan tonight, and Annie was going to dance the night away, enjoy herself, and put her latest rejection out of her mind once and for all.
She grabbed her handbag and tottered happily downstairs, smiling as she recalled that old maxim about how to get over one man by getting under another.
Well, maybe she’d do that, too.
Annie hurried outside into the courtyard, and was still smiling when she noticed someone standing under the lemon trees in the golden evening sunlight—a hunky vision even in silhouette—gazing out to the water.
And when he turned in her direction, she saw his eyes widen automatically at the sight of her, his nostrils flare, and his hooded gaze unashamedly travel hungrily up and down her body.
This is interesting...
The air was electric and the pull completely irresistible as Annie moved across the courtyard.
“Well, hello there, handsome.”
It seemed fate was smiling on her once again.