NEVER ONE TO lurk in the shadows, Angelo led Kayla into the center of Monte Calanetti. Their first stop was at the caffè shop. He’d never met a woman who loved coffee as much as Kayla. She savored each sip before swallowing. He loved to watch her facial features when she’d take her first sip—it was somewhere between total delight and ecstasy. He longed to be able to put that look on her face...and not with coffee...but with a long, slow, deep, soul-stirring kiss.
He’d given up the futile effort of fighting his lustful thoughts for Kayla. He couldn’t lie to himself. He found her utterly enchanting. And as long as he stuck with his daydreams of holding her—of kissing her passionately—they’d be fine. It wasn’t as if she could read his mind.
They stepped out of the shop and onto the busy sidewalk. As they started to walk again, he reminded himself not to get too caught up in having Kayla by his side. She was the absolute wrong person for him to have a dalliance with beneath the Tuscany sun. He was her escort—her friend—nothing more. He forced his thoughts to the quaint shops that offered such things as locally grown flowers and to-die-for baked goods. There was a little bit of everything. And he could tell by the rapt stare on Kayla’s face that she was enthralled by all of it.
“Angelo, is that you?”
They both stopped at the sound of a woman’s excited voice. Angelo glanced over his shoulder to see an older woman rushing toward them. She looked vaguely familiar.
“It is you.” The woman couldn’t be much more than five feet tall, if that. She beamed up at him. “I knew you’d come back.”
It took him a moment, but then the woman’s gentle smile and warm eyes clicked a spot in his memory—Mrs. Caruso. He hadn’t seen her since he was a teenager. Back then, she’d had long dark hair that she kept braided over one shoulder. Now, her dark hair had given way to shades of gray, and instead of the braid, her hair was pinned up.
Kayla elbowed him, and at last, he found his voice. “Mrs. Caruso, it’s good to see you.”
“What kind of greeting is that?” She grabbed him by the arms and pulled him toward her. When he’d stooped over far enough, she placed a hand on either side of his head, and then kissed each cheek. “You’ve been gone much too long. You’ve been missed.”
She pulled him back down to her and gave him a tight hug. He hugged her back. Heat warmed his face. He wasn’t used to public displays of affection...no matter how innocent they might be. This would never happen back in the States. But then again, Monte Calanetti was a lifetime away from New York City, and the same rules didn’t seem to apply here.
They chatted for a bit as she asked one question after the other about what he’d been doing with himself. The years rolled away as she put him at ease with her friendly chatter. The best part was that she really listened to him—as she’d done all of those years ago when he was a kid. Mrs. Caruso and her husband ran the local bakery. They’d never had any children of their own. Angelo always suspected that it wasn’t from the lack of wanting or trying. Without little ones of her own, she’d doted on the kids in the village.
“You are going to do the royal wedding pitch, aren’t you?” She smiled and clapped her hands together as though she’d just solved the world’s problems.
“Nico asked me to work on it. My assistant and I just extended our stay here in order to work up a presentation for the royal family.”
“Wonderful!” Mrs. Caruso beamed. “Now I’m more certain than ever that the village will host the wedding. Everyone will be so grateful to both of you.”
“I don’t know about that—”
“You’re just being modest. You always were.” Mrs. Caruso’s gaze moved to Kayla. “Now where are my manners? Angelo, introduce me to your girlfriend.”
His girlfriend? Hadn’t she heard him say Kayla was his assistant? His gaze moved from her to Kayla, who was smiling. Why wasn’t she correcting the woman? Was she just being polite? Or should he be concerned that she was taking this friendly outing far too seriously?
“Hi, I’m Kayla.” She held out a hand while Angelo struggled to settle his thoughts. “I’m actually Mr. Amatucci’s assistant.”
Mrs. Caruso’s brows rose as her gaze moved back and forth between them. “I could have sworn that you two were— Oh, never mind me. I’m just so glad that you’re both here to help with the wedding.”
They promised to stop by the bakery soon and moved on down the walkway. He still didn’t know why Mrs. Caruso would think they were a couple. Then he glanced down to where Kayla’s hand was resting on his arm. Okay, so maybe from the outside the lines in their relationship appeared a bit blurred, but they knew where they stood. Didn’t they?
He swallowed hard. “I’m sorry about back there with Mrs. Caruso jumping to conclusions about us.”
“It’s okay. It was a natural mistake.”
A natural mistake? Wait. What exactly did that mean?
He glanced over at Kayla. “But you know that you and I...that we’re, um...that nothing has changed. Right?”
She smiled up at him. “Relax. We’re just two business associates enjoying a stroll through the village. It’s a mission. We have to learn as much about this place as possible so that you can do some brainstorming about the pitch when we return to our suite.”
She said all of the right things, but why did they sound so wrong to his ears? Maybe he was just being hypersensitive. He took a deep breath and blew it out. “Exactly.” Now he needed to change the subject to something a little less stressful. “Mrs. Caruso certainly seemed hopeful about the royal wedding.”
“She did. It seems as if the whole village is buzzing with excitement about it.”
“I just hope they don’t end up disappointed.”
She lightly elbowed him. “They won’t be. You’ll see to that.”
At this particular moment, she had a lot more faith in his abilities than he did. “I don’t know if I’m that good. This is just a small village and we’re talking about a royal wedding—the sort of thing they write about in history books.”
“And who better to sell the royal couple on the merits of Monte Calanetti?” She gazed up at him with hope in her eyes. “You just need to loosen up a bit and enjoy yourself.”
“I am relaxed.” As relaxed as he got these days.
She sighed and shook her head. “No, you aren’t. Let down your guard and enjoy the sun on your face.”
“Why is this so important to you?”
“Because I want you to really see Monte Calanetti and get excited about it.” Her gaze met his and then dipped to his mouth. “I think if you’re passionate about something it will show.”
The temperature started to rise. He knew what she was thinking because he was thinking the same thing. He zeroed in on her inviting lips. He was definitely feeling passionate. Would it be wrong to kiss her again?
Someone bumped his shoulder as they passed by, reminding him that they were in the middle of the village. Not exactly the place for a passionate moment or even a quick peck. Besides, he couldn’t give her the wrong impression. He didn’t do relationships.
Before he could decide if he should say something, Kayla slipped her arm in his and they started to walk again. They made their way around the piazza, taking in the various shops from a shoe boutique to a candy shop. Monte Calanetti offered so much more than he recalled.
Maybe it wasn’t quite the small backward village he’d conjured up in his memory—the same village where he’d once got into a bit of mischief with harmless pranks. Those were the carefree days that he hadn’t known to appreciate as they flew by.
“What are you smiling about?” Kayla sent him a curious look.
He was smiling? He hadn’t realized his thoughts had crossed his face. “I was just recalling some antics I’d gotten into as a kid.”
“Oh, tell me. I’d love to hear.”
“You would?” He wouldn’t think something like that would interest her. When she nodded, he continued. “There was this one time when I glued a coin to the sidewalk outside the market. You wouldn’t believe how many people tried to pry it free.”
Her eyes twinkled. “So you didn’t always play by the rules.”
He shrugged. “What kind of trouble did you get into?”
“Me? Nothing.”
“Oh, come on, confess. There has to be something.”
She paused as though giving it some serious consideration. “Well, there was this one time the neighborhood boys attached some fishing line to a dollar. It was similar to what you did. They’d lay it out in front of my parents’ market, and when someone went to pick up it up, they’d tug on the line.”
“See, I knew you weren’t as innocent as you appeared.”
“Hey, it wasn’t me. It was them. I...I was just watching.”
“Uh-huh.” He enjoyed the way her cheeks filled with color. “It’s good to know you have some spunk in you. That will come in handy in this business.”
* * *
Kayla was in love—with the village, of course.
Brilliant sunshine lit up the heart of Monte Calanetti. The piazza was surrounded by a wide range of small shops to satisfy even the most discerning tastes. But it was the large fountain in the center of the village square that drew Kayla’s attention. She tugged on Angelo’s arm, leading them toward it.
The focal point of the fountain was a nymph draped in a cloak. She held a huge clamshell overhead. The sunshine sparkled and danced over the fine billowing mist from the continuous jets of water. Kayla stopped at the fountain’s edge. She smiled, loving the details of the sculpture that included a ring of fish leaping out of the water.
“I take it you like the fountain.” Angelo’s deep voice came from just behind her. “You know there’s a tradition that if you toss a coin and it lands in the shell, you get your wish.”
Her gaze rose to the clamshell—suddenly it didn’t look quite so big. “You’d have to be awfully lucky to get it all the way up there.”
“Why don’t you give it a try?”
“I...I don’t think so. I was never good at those types of things.”
Angelo held a coin out to her. “Here you go.” His fingers pressed the money into her palm. “I made a wish once and it came true.”
“Really?” She turned to him. “What was it?”
He shook his head. “You aren’t supposed to tell your wish.”
“But that doesn’t apply if your wish has already come true. So, out with it.”
The corner of his very inviting lips lifted. “Okay. I wished that someday I’d get to travel the world.”
“Wow. It really did come true.” She thought really hard, but was torn by what she should wish for. She could wish for the fund-raiser to be a huge success. Or she could wish for her promotion to ad executive. But fountains should be for fanciful dreams.
“Don’t look so worried. Turn around.”
She did as he said. The next thing she knew, his body pressed to her back—his hard planes to her soft curves. His breath tickled her neck. Her heart thumped and her knees grew weak. Thankfully he was there holding her up.
His voice was soft as he spoke. “You make the wish and I’ll help you get the coin in the shell. Ready?”
She nodded. Together with their hands touching, they swung. The coin flipped end over end through the air.
Let Angelo kiss me.
Plunk! The coin landed in the clamshell.
“We did it!”
At that moment, Angelo backed away. “Did you ever doubt it?”
“I couldn’t have done it without you.” She turned around, hoping her wish would come true.
“Did you make your wish?”
Disappointment washed over her. Of course he wasn’t going to kiss her. She’d let herself get caught up in the moment. That wouldn’t happen again.
“We should keep moving.” She turned to start walking. “We don’t want to miss anything.”
“Wait.” He reached out for her hand. “Aren’t you going to tell me what you wished for?”
“Um...no. I can’t.” When he sent her a puzzled look, she added, “If I tell you, it won’t come true.”
“Well, we wouldn’t want that to happen.”
Her hand remained in his warm grasp as they continued their stroll. Was it her imagination or was Angelo’s icy professional persona melting beneath the Tuscany sun? She smiled. He was definitely warming up.