Lexi must have returned. I heard her footsteps and the chair next to me creaked. “Isn’t this wonderful?”
“Yes, it is.” But who was this? Opening my eyes, I gulped. Hard.
Leaning back on his elbows, Marco smiled at me. If I’d suspected that he had a great body, his swim trunks confirmed it. The man was ripped, as my daughter would say. “Your Majesty.” Shocked, I struggled to get up and go for that curtsy. I should act professional. But his hand stopped me, his touch searing my arm.
“No, no, Profesora. That is not necessary.” Dropping his hand, he also dropped his eyes, suddenly unsure of himself.
“Gregorio told us we could use the pool.” Still, I felt like an interloper.
“But of course. I’m sorry I didn’t think of it earlier. This is like a microwave out here.” He glanced off into the distance with disgust. “Isn’t that what you say when the day is very hot?”
Marco must have learned all his idioms from American TV shows. I tugged at the bottom of my bikini. “I think you mean oven. Today is as hot as an oven.”
I glanced over in time to see his eyes skim my body. A smile tipped one corner of his lips. I tugged at my towel, but unfortunately I was sitting on it. “My goodness, it is hot.”
His chest expanded when he took a deep breath. Jerking his eyes away, Marco went back to studying the horizon. “A good day for the grapes.”
My laugh came out in a very unladylike snort. “The grapes?”
“Yes, my grapes like hot, dry weather.” He sounded insulted.
“Pardon me. I didn’t know.”
“You are…pardoned.” His lips lifted into a saucy grin. “I will not put you in the dungeon. Gregorio tells me that you have had a tour.”
“Unfortunately, yes.” I shivered at the thought of that dark, damp prison.
Apparently that earned me another pat on the arm. When he leaned back onto his elbows again, I was glad I was wearing dark glasses. It was hard not to stare. This guy could have been on the cover of one of those magazines for men. “So, you like my pool?”
Everything was personal with him.
“Oh yes. I mean, I’m very grateful…that we can use it. You’re very generous.” I was stumbling. Although I could be articulate in front of a classroom, that sense of calm seemed to have evaporated on the heated summer air that was good for his grapes.
When he turned onto one side to face me, I had the advantage of another angle––and I liked it. Wallace had been scholarly but had rickets as a child. His chest was practically concave, not that there was anything he could do about it.
But Marco? Oh, this was another landscape entirely and I wasn’t thinking about the grapes.
“I’ve been thinking,” he murmured. When His Majesty leaned toward me, a whiff of man-in the-hot-sun rolled over me. I took a sip of my water. Adjusting the sunglasses that had fit fine the moment before, I inhaled.
Falling off the chaise right now would not be cool. “Yes, Your Majesty?” Maybe he couldn’t see my blush. “What were you thinking about?”
To my own surprise, I hoped it would not be Gabriella.
“This party we’re having. Is there anything I’ve forgotten?”
Now this stumped me. How would I know? I’d never planned a gala. The Homecoming dance at Providence didn’t measure up to what Marco had in mind. “I’m sure you have thought of everything.”
“Yes, well. I think so. But I will check.” Raising a hand, he brushed it over his chin. The movement was slow, hypnotic and very sexy. But His Majesty, my employer, probably wasn’t aware of that. Was he?
“We will all have a wonderful time.” Here he patted his chest, fingers trailing through the dark hair that patterned his upper body. Although I’d never given it much thought, I decided that all men should have chest hair.
“And I will be Gatsby!”
“But of course. You should be Jay Gatsby if you like.” What would his guests think of that? But maybe they had never seen the movie, much less read the book.
While we talked, Lexi continued to swim laps, her careful rhythm soothing me.
“Have you heard from your friend. Your…” Here he searched for the words as I wondered who the heck he was talking about. “The woman who will know how to make sure that Gregorio is not disappointed. You know, your friend who will get him into Harvard.”
