Not Juliet Read Online Free PDF Page A

is
beautiful. What gardens are these?”
    “Bardini. A
little-known secret of Tuscany.”
    “I feel as if
I’m standing on top of the world.”
    “We are on top
of the world. On one of them. There are many others I must show
you. Please say you’ll come. I’d love to show you the vineyards at
twilight, and the Milky Way from the coast. The stars light up the
sky like a million billion fireflies, right above Elba.”
    “That sounds
amazing…”
    “It would be
incredible with you by my side.”
    Luca’s gaze
dipped to Riella’s lips. Never looking away, he walked slowly with
her in his arms to a bench beneath a wisteria archway. Instead of
placing her on the seat beside him, he sat down and held her on his
lap. One of his hands pressed on her back, fingers splayed,
bringing her closer; the other moved to stroke her cheek. With one
finger, he pulled her chin up, closer to his face. His eyes
flickered to her eyes – just checking she was willing – and in the
next breath his lips touched Riella’s.
    A thousand
fireworks broke all over her skin, lighting fires everywhere. His
caress was sweet, yet firm, and he took ownership of her lips with
such effortless skill, she welcomed his every move and responded
instinctively. He nibbled lightly at her lower lip and she latched
on to his upper lip, sucking it gently.
    Riella used the
grip on the back of his neck as leverage to pull herself closer to
him, then molded her body to his and melted into his kiss.
    Luca groaned
low in his throat, and threaded the fingers of one hand through her
hair, angling her head so he could deepen the kiss. The gesture was
so loaded with passion, Riella thought she might combust.
    She opened her
eyes, gazing at his face, his eyes closed in lust, desire for her
making itself obvious not only on his face. Riella smiled through
the kiss and Luca’s lids lifted grudgingly, dreamily, to look at
her. All she could see when she looked into his eyes was
perfection. All she could think of was the silly three-word refrain
she never thought she’d say and mean it, not in that
all-encompassing way, and definitely not so soon; the words were
burning on her lips now, demanding to be spoken out loud. All she
could feel was gratitude that he had been created.
    Luca sighed,
then suddenly jumped, his back straightening as if someone had
pulled taut a rope tied to his neck, straight up.
    “Ah.”
    “What is it?”
Before the words were fully out of Riella’s mouth, a soft thump
sounded behind them and Luca jerked again. A second thump followed
the first.
    “Our
ice-cream!” He twisted in his seat to point at the two tubs on the
ground, now distorted by the fall and leaking. Riella started
giggling. “Don’t laugh! To Italians, gelato is serious business.”
Riella laughed harder. “It was Grom’s!” he said, as if that was
supposed to explain everything. “They make the best flavors! I
can’t believe we’re wasting such treasure!”
    “Ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha.” Riella let go of Luca and grabbed her stomach. She was
laughing so hard, she barely got the chance to draw breath.
    “Fine!” she
heard. Next she knew, a cold blob of cream hit her square on the
chest. Right away, it loosened and leaked down her cleavage.
    “Aaah!” she
squealed and clawed at her t-shirt. She stared at the chocolate
spot spreading out from beneath the pink cotton, huffed, and bent
over the bench, hanging onto his shoulder with one hand, to grab
the second ice-cream carton.
    “Don’t you
dare!”
    She ignored his
comment, flicked the lid off and scooped a little melted ice-cream
out, using two fingers. At the same time, Luca grasped her wrist,
trying to save himself, but the jerky motion launched the ice-cream
into the air. It landed on his left cheek, where from it began a
slow and messy journey south.
    Riella
screeched in delight and plunged her fingers back into the tub.
    “That’ll teach
me to play with fire, I guess,” Luca muttered and pressed his face
into her