All I Believe (6 page)

About an hour into our little cocktail party, I pushed back from the table and excused myself to use the restroom. Luca stood as well and said he’d go, too. But when Jessie started to get up, Fiona caught his wrist and pulled him back down. “Whatcha doing, Fi?” he asked her, and she answered him with an emphatic look and a head-tilt in my direction. That seemed to clue him in, and he said, “Oh, I get it. Never mind, I can hold it.”

In case all of that was entirely too subtle, Nana exclaimed, “Nico and Luca want a few minutes alone, Jessie! It’s obvious they got the hots for each other. They’re probably sneaking off for a little makeout session.” She turned to me and asked, “You aren’t gonna do more than that, are you? If so, I can go upstairs and get the rubbers. I don’t have any more lube though, on account of the fact that they took it all from me at the airport. I know your supplies were in your lost luggage, so should I go ask at the front desk where we can buy some lube? Or maybe there’s something you can substitute. Want me to ask the kitchen for some butter or something?”

Luca burst out laughing and I turned bright red as I said, “No thanks, Nana. We’re just going to the restroom.”

I rushed off with Luca right beside me, and he said, “I love your grandmother.”

“I know she means well, but she has a knack for embarrassing me like no one else,” I muttered.

“She’s incredibly accepting about the fact that you’re gay.”

“You don’t know the half of it. Nana’s a huge equal rights advocate. She even finds stray gay guys like Jessie and makes them a part of our family.”

“That’s amazing.”

“It is, and I adore her. The fact that she has no filter is just part of the package.”

When we reached the small restroom, I turned to look at Luca and he said, “I totally followed you in here to make out with you, but now it’s weird. I feel like your Nana is going to ask for a full report when we get back to the table.”

“She will.”

I leaned against the sink, and Luca stepped close and said, “Hey, look. We’re the same height now.” He flashed me a smile.

“Again, the boots with heels, leather pants, and overall seventies porn vibe: not my doing.”

“I like these red pants on you,” he said, lightly running a fingertip across the top of my waistband.

“At least I can bend my legs, and they don’t squeak when I walk. That’s a big step up from the short-lived black pair.”

“You looked good in those too, in the minutes before the dogs shucked them off you.” There was that spark of amusement in his eyes again.

“I appreciate the fact that you didn’t laugh at me, though I really don’t know how you managed to resist.”

“Even if that was the funniest thing I’d ever seen in my entire life, and I’m not saying it was, you were already embarrassed. I wasn’t going to compound it by laughing.”

“Thank you for that, and for sitting with my family and listening to my grandmother’s stories. If you’re doing that to try to impress me, you should know I was already impressed, right from the get-go.”

“I’m not hanging out with your family solely to get in your good graces. It’s nice to have some company. I travel all the time, and most nights are spent alone in random hotels.”

“What do you do for a living?”

“I buy art for a lot of rich bastards who want it as an investment, and a handful who actually appreciate it.”

As he was speaking, his eyes slid down my torso. A moment later, a fingertip followed, lightly skimming my bare chest where the shirt gaped open. I drew in my breath as desire shot down my spine and my cock tried to swell in its tight, leather confines. Luca asked in a low voice, “Do you maybe want to go for a walk or something?” All I could do was nod.

We stopped by the table and told my family we were going to get some fresh air before heading out the open back door. I left the boots under one of the beach chairs, and Luca did the same with his shoes and socks before we headed down the deserted beach. He picked up my hand and held it as we walked, which made me grin.

As we wandered north, away from the center of town, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I looked up at the stars as the sea air stirred my hair. The idyllic setting, combined with the handsome guy by my side, holding my hand, made me feel better than I had in a very long time, and I told him, “I really needed this. Thank you. It’s been almost impossible to relax lately, but this is doing the trick.”

“Why can’t you relax?”

“I’m in law school, and it tends to stress me out. I took classes this summer, too, so I haven’t really had much down time.”

“How much longer until you graduate?”

“Way the hell too long.”

We’d been passing a cluster of tall boulders, and Luca spun me around and lightly pushed me against one of them. Lust washed over me as he leaned in close, his body pressed to mine. His breath was warm on my ear as he said softly, “I can think of so many ways to relax you.”

I chuckled nervously and said, “That sounds like such a line. How many men have you used it on, and does it usually do the trick?”

The corner of his mouth curved into a half-smile. “One, and it’ll only do the trick if he stops making fun of me.”

“I’m not making fun of you exactly. I’m just noting your technique. It’s not every day I get to watch a man like you work his magic.” I was nervous and rambling, and he and I both knew it.

“What kind of man am I?” he asked, nuzzling my cheek and running a hand around my waist.

“Smooth. Charming. Confident. Most of all, seductive. The type of man who can have anyone he wants.”

“No different than you then, apart from the confidence.”

I laughed and said, “I’m none of those things. I couldn’t seduce you if I tried.”

“But you already did.”

“How, by walking down the beach in an invisible swimsuit? Yay me for subtlety.”

He carefully removed my glasses and said, “You seduced me like this. You have the most extraordinary eyes. Earlier today, when I looked in them at sunset without your glasses between us, it felt like I’d always known you. And if that strikes you as another line, you’ll have to find a way to forgive me. I can’t seem to help sounding corny tonight.”

“As if my eyes are what you’d notice while I was standing around in a clear bathing suit.”

He grinned, still lightly leaning against me, holding me against the smooth rock. “Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely noticed your other, quite impressive attributes.” He skimmed his palm over my butt when he said that, and then he met and held my gaze. “But this, right here, is what drew me in.”

I grinned and said, “Do you think you might actually kiss me at some point, or are you just going to keep peppering me with lines?”

Luca chuckled at that. “So impatient.” He leaned in and brushed his cheek against mine.

When he lightly bit my earlobe, it sent an unexpected jolt of pleasure through me, and I slid my hands around his waist. He kissed his way along my jaw, taking his time and driving me crazy. Then he leaned back and looked in my eyes again. A soft breeze off the Ionian Sea stirred his dark hair, and his gaze dropped to my mouth. Anticipation crackled in the air around us and my breath caught. He took my chin in his hand and brushed his thumb over my lower lip as my heartbeat sped up. Finally,
finally
, he kissed me, softly, tentatively. It felt like a question. I answered by parting my lips and deepening the kiss, offering him more. Offering him me.

As our kisses intensified, he cupped my ass and pulled me against him. It had been so long
since anyone had touched me or kissed me, and even when they had, I’d never felt that kind of desire. It was so powerful that it knocked over my inhibitions like bowling pins. I couldn’t even overthink things like I always did. I couldn’t think at all. I could only feel and react and need. God I needed this.

Luca swung me around the big boulder, away from the streetlights along the top of the beach, hiding us in shadow. He pushed me against the rock again and dropped to his knees in the sand, then freed my cock from my pants and briefs in a few deft moves. When he took it in his wet, insistent mouth and began to suck, I had to force myself to stifle a yell. He sucked me with single-minded determination, demanding my orgasm, and in just a few minutes I complied, moaning as I unloaded into his mouth, tangling my fingers in his hair.

He kept sucking me gently, almost soothingly, guiding me back down from my orgasm until he knew I was completely satiated, then planted a kiss on the tip of my cock before pulling up my briefs. I dropped to my knees, and he pivoted to lean against the rock, right beside me. I practically flung myself into his arms.

Luca stroked my back as I caught my breath and held on to him. I was shaking a little and my emotions were all over the place. I knew I was a mess, and about five percent of me demanded,
“Come on, get it together!”
The other ninety-five percent just wanted to hold on to him forever.

“You’re so sweet,” Luca murmured after a while.

I grinned and asked, “Literally?”

“Well, yes, actually. But I wasn’t referring to the way you taste.”

“I’m sorry I’m crushing you. I’ll get up in a minute, I promise. I’m just all gelatinous right now.”

That made him chuckle, and I felt it rumbling under my cheek. “We have all night Nico, there’s no hurry.”

“We do?”

“Yup.”

I tilted my head to look up at him in the darkness. “What’re you planning on doing with me all night?”

“Fucking you harder and better than you’ve ever been fucked in your life.” He brushed my hair back from my face so gently as he said that.

“Yes please.” I was punch-drunk from that orgasm and I knew it, but I couldn’t seem to care. He shifted me around and cradled me in his arms. God it felt good to be held like that.

When he kissed me again, it was incredibly tender. His lips caressed mine as the tip of my tongue and his explored each other. He was taking his time, but he’d been rock-hard earlier and hadn’t cum yet, so I began to feel guilty and sat up.

As I put myself back together and zipped my fly, Luca pulled my glasses from the pocket of his suit jacket and slid them on me. I murmured a thank you as I got to my feet, then offered him a hand. He took it and got up too, and continued to hold it as we walked back down the beach.

After a while he asked, “How long are you staying here?”

“We’re spending ten days here, ten in Rome, and ten in Venice.” I turned to look at Luca and asked, “How long are you staying in town?”

“Just a few more days.”

“What brought you to Viladembursa?”

“My grandfather lives here. He’s getting on in years and decided he wants to downsize. He owns a two-hundred-year-old house on the hillside and wants to fix it up before he sells it. I’ve been helping with that by lining up some contractors, including a competent project manager. Hopefully it’ll go smoothly and I won’t have to come running right back here.”

“Why are you staying in a hotel, instead of with him?”

“We’re not close. My mother and I would always stay at the Hotel Conchiglia whenever we came to town to visit. She and her father had a strained relationship after I was born, and they both needed some space. He and I have learned to get along now that I’m an adult, but I’m still not his favorite person.”

“I’m surprised their relationship became strained at that point. It seems like babies usually bring families together.”

“Not when the grandfather’s old-school Sicilian and the baby is born out of wedlock.”

“Oh. Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry,” I said.

“You didn’t, and I don’t mind talking about it. My mother passed nine years ago, when I was twenty. She was his only child. His wife had died years earlier of breast cancer, just like my mom, and I guess…I don’t know. He doesn’t have a lot of people in his life, so apparently he decided having a bastard grandson was slightly better than having no one at all and started to begrudgingly reach out to me.”

“How does your older brother fit in to this?”

“He doesn’t. We have the same father but different mothers.”

“I see.”

“What about you? What’s your family like?”

I thought about that, and finally answered by saying, “My immediate family is scattered to the four corners. I have a brother and sister. She’s married with children and living in Florida, and he’s doing God knows what in New York. Our mom’s remarried and living in Seattle. Last I heard, my father was living in Phoenix, and I live in San Francisco. We didn’t do it on purpose, but we all managed to end up as spread out as possible while still in the continental U.S. I have a great extended family though, and I’m really close to them.”

“Where does your grandmother live?”

“In San Francisco, too,” I said. “I’m actually living with her while I attend law school.”

“How is that?”

“Colorful.”

He grinned and said, “Does she always try to dress you?”

“She’s probably always wanted to, but until the airline lost my luggage, she really didn’t have the opportunity.”

“How do you normally dress?”