Full Moon in Florence Read Online Free PDF Page A

in.
    “Yes,” he muttered triumphantly when he saw the email from Lady Allbright’s assistant, Keenan. The subject line, “It’s a go”, was all he needed to see.
    “Looks I’ll be going to Italy next week,” he said to Rudi as the other emails loaded.
    “Oh, dude. Italian tits are priceless.”
    Colin glanced around. “Watch your language, Mate.”
    A couple of legal assistant types had wandered into the pub and ordered two glasses of white wine. It was the after-work cocktail hour and the bars were filling up with the young, hip, and single of Shoreditch.
    “And for that, I’m glad,” said Rudi, surveying the two wine-sipping lasses. “I can be couth when called for,” he added. “Especially if it can get me under those tight skirts.” He slurped suggestively on his lager.
    Colin rolled his eyes at his friend. Habitually, he cast an appraising gaze at the ladies’ long legs until his phone dinged to say the final emails had downloaded.
    He sat forward, alert, when he saw not one, but two emails from [email protected]. The buzz of the pub faded into the background…
    The first email, seemingly unfinished, got his heart beating erratically. The second made him smile.
    Colin, if this reaches you, I want to say sorry for the previous email. It was a joke. I mean, not from me. My assistant — my friend — Tina did that. It wasn’t me. I’ve been meaning to write and I just… Well, I just hadn’t gotten around to it.
    This part made Colin frown. Hadn’t gotten around to it? That made him feel like chopped liver. Those blasted Americans always made themselves seem so busy. As if that’s what made them important.
    I really wanted to. Don’t get me wrong.
    Colin’s smile was back.
    I just didn’t know where to begin. I mean, we had a good time, right? I didn’t want to spoil it by being needy.
    Colin furrowed his brow. Needy? A morning-after email, or even week-after, would have been nice. What was needy about that? Clearly this woman wasn’t needy if she’d waited three months to contact him. And she might have waited longer if her assistant friend hadn’t fired off that email that she felt compelled to apologize for. (Colin rather liked it and wished it had gone on a bit longer.)
    Anyway, I thought I should let you know that I’ll be in Italy next week for work. Florence to be exact.
    Colin’s heart started beating erratically again. What were the chances of that?
    I know that’s still far from London and we really hardly know each other, but…
    Maybe they didn’t know each other in the conventional sense, but Colin remembered the freckles on her thighs and the small mole under her right arm and the way the sound of her aroused panting made his insides melt. He didn’t know her, but he knew her. And he’d been waiting three months for more.
    You probably won’t be anywhere near there, but on the off chance… Actually, you probably won’t get either of these emails, since I don’t even know if this is a true email address. If it is, then you have my apology for the inappropriate first email, and maybe you’ll write back. And if not, at least I know I tried.
    Colin wasn’t sure what that last bit meant, but as for writing back to her, it was a matter of how many deep breaths he had to take first so he didn’t look too enthusiastic, or worse, desperate.
    He quickly opened Keenan’s email to confirm the dates they wanted him in Italy. Florence to be exact. Yes! They’d be there at the same time. It had to be Fate.
    “What’s up?” said Rudi. “I’ve never seen you look that excited about work.”
    Colin looked up at him and grinned. “Looks like there might be a little play time after all.”
    He quaffed his ale. Then his phone dinged again with another downloaded email. Rudi raised an eyebrow as Colin swiped his screen. After three months of waiting he was getting three emails in three minutes? But this one wasn’t from Laine. It was from [email protected].
    Colin