Love Struck (8 page)

Tommaso returned to his lovely
angel's side with the strawberry ice cream she desired so much safely held in
his firm grip, there would be no accidents like with the iced tea, not this
time, he was taking extra precautions to not let her down. “I got your ice
cream. I apologize for the delay, the line was astronomical. Everyone had the
same idea in this heat.”

“That's ok.” Sara's voice was
distant, her interest in the ice cream was trivial compared to her interest in
something a million times more appealing to her.

Tommaso was not blind or indifferent,
he could see the infatuated gaze in her eyes and it was not directed at him or
the treat he had purchased just for her. Whatever, or more appropriately, whoever
it was, they were holding her undivided attention, in a way he had never seen
from her when looking at him or anybody else. A terrible feeling crept over
him, one that clutched at his throat and made the air grow thinner, his heart
was caught in turmoil, beating so fast he thought it would burst from the
rushing overload.

He looked in her direction to see the
object of her fascination walking away in the distance. A young, handsome and
attractive stud, he fitted in the hot, continental environment perfectly like
one of the locals, even if he had 'tourist' written all over him. He was the
type of heated charmer that any woman could easily fall for and never get back
up. He had no hope of overshadowing or rivalling against someone of that
calibre. Maybe he was jumping off the boat before it had docked, it might have
been nothing and she was simply eyeing up some passer-by, there may have been
no need to fret, his worst fear may not have become a torturous truth.

“Who's that?” Tommaso asked calmly,
acting as if he thought nothing of the youthful stallion in comparison to the
tired old steed.

“An acquaintance.” his worries were
set to ease, it was a warning he would take notice of, he was so close to
losing her, he was running low on time, he would have to make a move unless he
wanted to face someone else doing the same. However, she wasn't finished, she
added a rather suggestive “For now.”

Her implicative words with a
revealing tone were like a dagger being thrust into his heart. His suspicions
were not mistaken, they were true.

“For now?” his composure was
faltering, his heartache was seeping through his breaking voice.

Sara softly took the ice cream from
him, all the while focused on the charming and compelling young man, she was
finding it hard to take her eyes off Paulo. “We've arranged to meet later.” she
said joyfully.

Tommaso swallowed his jealousy and
pain. It was going from bad to worse in one fell swoop. “Meet?”

“He's going to be my tour guide.” she
boasted with cheer “My biggest and possibly youngest fan, I never would have
guessed I'd reach the new generation.”

“I see.” he said, trying to hide his
disappointment. “You know, I thought that we could have toured the resort
together. I've studied the map extensively.” Tommaso was hinting at their
relationship, he had thought the inseparable twosome would spend their time
together on the island as such, keeping their closeness going.

Sara pulled herself away from Paulo,
she looked at Tommaso with great sweetness. “Oh, you're such a sweetie but you
don't want to be tied down with little old me. It's your vacation too, you're
free to enjoy yourself, see the sights at your own leisure. Who knows, you may
even find a nice local woman.”

He wasn't interested at all in
spending the vacation by himself or finding someone else, he never told her so,
he thought more about her than himself during the vacation “What about you?”

“Don't you worry about me, I'll be
fine. I'm a big girl, I can look after myself. You just think about yourself
for once, have fun, you deserve it.”

“You're...” Tommaso put on a false
smile to make her believe everything was fine “too kind.”

Tommaso did not press on any further
from that, he did not have the edge, he submitted to her whim, fulfilling his
loyal his duty to his beautiful maiden.

He should have spoke out, expressed
his displeasure, rivalled against his younger adversary, fought for her
affection and won her over, there would be no wrong if he challenged his rival
and showed his own devoted admiration for the woman he adored for so long he
did not know how to adore another. All was fair in love and war, after all.

The time called for Tommaso to stand
up and think of himself, his own happiness, and what he merited for a change.
To put him in front of someone else, to let Sara see he was a confident and
self-asserting man who had the passion to strive for what he sought the most,
her love.

Instead, Tommaso held on to his
conviction of putting others before himself, selfless as ever, the only
fighting he did was to hold his emotions back and stay professional to make her
happy, at the cost of his own. He was afraid of causing an argument with her,
upsetting her and losing her for his own superficial aspirations. What did it
matter about his thoughts, opinions and feelings, as long as she was pleased
and enjoying herself, it was all that mattered to him, that was how it had been
for thirty years and counting.

Sara gave him a cute wink, walked off
equally as merrily as Paulo did, she had much to do and little time to get
started, it was going to be a big day.

Tommaso's false smile quickly
dropped, replaced with his true feelings, he was entirely devastated. “If only
you knew you're the only one for me.”

He let out a long, distressed sigh,
he pushed away his personal emotions. Tommaso gathered his professional
composure and caught up to Sara.

Paulo and Gloria walked along the
side-walk, resuming their trek back to the grand hotel, he was back to carrying
the bags with extreme zest, a beaming smile shining on his face that would not
fade. He was having the greatest day in his life, he could not be brought down.
Ignorance was bliss when one was shielded by the glaring actuality right beside
them.

Gloria was less enraptured by the
whole thing, she bit at her lip, overwhelmed by envy. “You took your time, what
was you doing, asking for her life story?”

Paulo was detecting her jealous
nature directed at him, he was so busy indulging in his own passionate
precedence, disregarding his own responsibility to his girlfriend and neglected
his role as her boyfriend, he had nearly forgot about Gloria and their
relationship together, it was pushed into the shadows of obscurity by Sara.

He could not help it, no flame
burning at its highest maximum intensity could overshadow the intensely beautiful
and intensely hypnotic flame of Sara Sarracini, blazing so huge and so bright
over all, swaying to absolutely mesmerise, shining to absolutely captivate and
dancing to absolutely enchant all with her heated, warm sensuous glow.

That was about to change drastically,
things would be set back to the way it was before the starlet showed up. Gloria
had leapt out the shadows, she was giving him a bitter reminder he was with her
for the remainder of their time on the island, not his idolized diva.

“Baby, I'm sorry to have kept you
waiting.” Paulo said softly, obliged to make it up to her.

“You should be.” she scolded her
lousy boyfriend sharply to leave a permanent burned scar “I thought you were
going to get her autograph?”

“I did, I just didn't want her to think
I was talking to her only to get an autograph from her, I thought I'd be polite
and engage in some small talk.”

“As long as it was only small.”
warned Gloria, she was putting him in his place, he had to remember where he
belonged and who he belonged with.

Paulo did not catch on to her
warning, his mind was distracted, he could not stop thinking about Sara, the
mere thought of her in her hat and dress, speaking directly at him sent him to
dazzling heights. “She's just as great as I imagined.”, he stated, changing a
topic he did not know was taking place.

Gloria was not at all impressed, he
was pushing his luck with her, but he could only push her so far and she would
push back at him twice as hard, that he wouldn't even know what hit him. “How
nice.” she sarcastically retorted, increasingly envious. His obsession was not
subsiding as quickly as she hoped, it would stop soon enough, she would see to
it. He would have wished he had never brought Sara Sarracini up to her in the
first place and kept her to himself like the dirty little secret she was.

Paulo detected the hint of bitterness
in her voice, he could taste it. He looked to her, only now grasping that he
was upsetting his girlfriend with his constant esteem towards another member of
her same sex. “Hey, you're not jealous are you?”

Gloria glared at the narrow minded,
thick headed bastard she called her boyfriend. “What do you think?”

Paulo couldn't help finding her petty
jealousy funny. “Oh, come on. I told you, you're the only one for me. I'm just
a fan of Sara Sarracini, that's all. Besides, don't you think I'm a little
young for her?”

Gloria's jealousy subsided, his
assuring words rested her over defensive anxiety, rationality returned. He had
a knack for soothing her, it was the only way either could get any peace. “I
guess you're right. I'm just being silly.” she placed her arm affectionately
around him. There may have been no necessity to give him a hot tongue-lashing
and cold shoulder followed afterwards. “I know you wouldn't leave me.”

“That's right.”

“I shouldn't be jealous of your crush
on a celebrity. Especially

one who's old enough to be your
mother.”

“Good.”

Gloria closed her eyes to savour
holding her boyfriend close to her. She was glad everything related to Sara
Sarracini was done and dusted, she was gone and never to return throughout the
rest of their summer holiday and back home, the star would not come between the
two loving youngsters. She looked at it in that light, her boyfriend did not.

“I'm relieved you understand how it
is with Sara and me, because I'm seeing her again later and I didn't want to
think there would be any tension between us.”

As fast as she closed her eyes, she
reopened them, with a sharp and condensed “What?”

She pivoted up at him to eye-level.
If looked could have killed, he would have been dead in a second.

Even he was not so dense to spot her
penetrative, glacial glower, piercing into him like cold knives chilling his
blood to ice. He would be facing the wrath of his scorned girlfriend, he had to
explain and fast if he wanted to see the light of another day, let alone his
diva. He wasn't finding her jealousy so funny and innocent this time. It was no
laughing matter, it was dead serious. The hot weather was unfelt around her icy
shower raining over him.

“Well, one thing led to another and I
kind of promised to be her tour guide.” he told her, cautiously, Paulo wasn't
sure what to expect.

Gloria let go of him, moved herself
as far from the two-timing jerk. What she was hearing was insane, this was all
unreal. “You can't be serious?”

He further strived to explain himself
and the justification of his impulsive decision, one he could not control, it
was beyond his willpower. He could not go against himself and disappoint Sara
Sarracini “It's her first time over here and she asked so nicely. What was I
supposed to do?”

“You could have told her to get a
map.” Gloria argued, her defences were back up at full power. His sweet words
would not lower them so easily.

Paulo countered that argument, “That
wouldn’t have been very hospitable.”

“Hospitable? You're a fan, not a
friend.”

“A fan could be a friend.” Paulo
persisted in arguing against his girlfriend in favour of his diva.

Gloria was so furious she could have
lashed out at him, how she managed to refrain herself was a testament to her
love for him, she took a moment to calm herself down. “What are you going to
do?”

“I can't change my mind now, she's
got her hopes up, I couldn't bear to shoot her down.”

She stopped to think about it. Paulo
waited anxiously for her blessing, he hoped with much tension she would
comprehend and see it his way, and know why it was important to him, and to his
superstar.

Gloria looked at him, she knew she
had no hope of making him change his mind. She let out a defeated sigh, this
was out of her control, a battle she had no hope of winning, much to her peeved
annoyance.

It was a first in her life, she was
giving in to someone else's demands and giving them what they yearned-for,
instead of the other way around.

Paulo may have won this round, he would
not be making it a constant habit, he got lucky and away with it this time.
Next time, Gloria would be calling the shots and the status quo of her having
it her way, and her boyfriend doing what she said would be permanently back to
full swing.

“Fine, you can be her tour guide.”
she reluctantly said, it annoyed her a great deal to submit and not have it go
how she wanted it.

Paulo grinned rapturously, she was
thinking of him and what it meant to him. He was the happiest guy in the world.
“Great, you have no idea how much this means to me.”

“I think I do.” she stood
intimidatingly close to Paulo, the grin was wiped clean off his face. She was
not messing around, her authority was not to be taken lightly, he was on thin
ice with her. She would give him one tough but fair warning to take with him
when seeing his precious starlet. “I want you to keep one thing in mind. If I
discover that this is a plot for you to score with her, we're through.”

Gloria violently grabbed his
vulnerable appendage: his crotch, without warning. Slowly she applied
constricting pressure to his manhood. The pain crushing at his groin was
indescribable. She was giving him a little something to take with him, to
remind him of what she would do to him if he dared try anything while alone
with the woman he thought the world of.

“And you can spend the rest of your
break with your precious Sara Sarracini.”

Paulo let out a silent yell of
insufferable anguish. Her grip tightened, grasping his manhood in a painful
clasp. The bags dropped out his released grip, he couldn't feel anything but
the aching pain shooting throughout his inflamed body, his nerves were
electrified by an agony only a man could experience.

“Do I make myself clear?” she grunted
under her gritted teeth, her face turned red from the high pressure she was
applying. It was the toughest form of her love.

He nodded, unable to get a word out
his strained, clenched throat choking on the excruciation.

“Good.” Gloria released his manhood,
freeing him from her scorned hold, the redness of her infuriated face faded.
Paulo gasped in relief, he could not have lasted one more second of her tough
love.

Gloria walked on, leaving him to sort
himself out and get her bags.

Paulo rubbed his aching manhood.
“That was a close one, little buddy.”

He picked up the bags, staggered
along behind. His expression showed great discomfort from his nether regions.
He had felt her claws shoot out at him in his most tender area, has she
expected, Paulo would not want to go through it ever again.