Honeymoon For One (7 page)

“Have you had an enjoyable visit so far Ms
Ramirez?”

“Please don’t call me Ms. Ramirez. We’ve shared a
couple of car journeys and now lunch. I think you can call me Ava now.”

“So, how has your day been so far Ava?”

“Interesting.”

“Did you like Juliet’s balcony?”

“It was average,” she replied, taking a sip of her
wine.

Nico lifted an eyebrow in surprise. “Most
interesting.”

“What’s so interesting about that?”

“Most women love the romance of the whole story
behind Juliet’s balcony.”

“I am not most women.”

“I’m beginning to see that.” 

“Though I confess I am a hopeless romantic at
heart. When I admit to it.”

The
waitress soon arrived with Nico’s food.

Ava polished off the last of her salad and then
sat back replete and content to watch Nico eating. As she looked around she
noticed that the women who walked past their table often stared at Nico. But he
was too busy eating his food to notice.

 “They were getting ready for a wedding at
the house. At Juliet’s house,” she said after a long silence.

“I see.” Nico stopped eating for a moment and
looked at her. He stared so intently at her that she felt his dark eyes were
trying to look into the windows of her soul.

“So I didn’t really get to see anything. I left.”

Please, please don’t ask me why I was crying.

He
drew in a deep breath and said nothing.

“I think I’d like to spend the rest of the day to
unwind. It’s been a tough day. All the walking around.”

 “Of course Ava. I understand completely.”

They sat for a few minutes, enjoying the afternoon
sun. Ava wondered about what she would do later that afternoon. Maybe she would
take a short nap. Perhaps go for a walk near the hotel and see what the local
area had to offer.

Nico was silent for a while and ate the rest of
his salad. When he had finished, he pushed his plate away and the waitress came
running to clear it from the table.

“I finished before you and she certainly didn’t
come running for me,” said Ava noticing, now that it had happened so many
times, that Nico seemed to have this effect on people, mostly women, around
him.

“Are you jealous?” he asked cheekily, his eyes
daring hers and at the same time his lips breaking out into a playful smile. He
had taken his suit jacket off and wore a white shirt underneath which made his
olive skin look more tanned.

Ava
almost laughed out loud. “Jealous? Who me?” her gray-blue eyes surveyed him
with interest. “Certainly not.”

I hope you’re not flirting with me,
she prayed, taking a sip of wine again, because
she needed to do something with her hands.

Nico rested his elbow on the table and placed his
index finger across his chin. As he leaned in towards her, she suddenly caught
sight of his Breitling watch. It was almost two o’clock. He smiled at her
again, watching her as he often seemed to do.

He is flirting with me.
Ava took another sip of wine then realised her
glass was empty.

This made him smile even more. She was vaguely
conscious of the outline of his biceps through his shirt. It occurred to her
that he probably met a wide range of women in his choice of profession and being
charming to hotel guests must be something he excelled at. “Why do the women
around here turn to jelly whenever you’re around Nico?” she asked innocently
enough.

He stared at her face for what seemed like the
longest time then replied, “I don’t know.” Changing the subject, he asked
quickly, “And what brings you to Italy Ava?”

The
waitress hovered around them and Ava grew more disgruntled, more so now that he
was prying into her personal life. It was bad enough that he had encroached on
her lunch.

“Ava?” Nico was still waiting for her answer and
she had drifted off on other thoughts.

Boy, you’re nosy for a hotel driver
. There was one thing to be said for making this a pleasant and
personal experience. It was entirely another to be so forward and so interested
in her personal affairs. She would make sure to mention this in the hotel
questionnaire survey which she had seen on her table back the hotel, before she
left.

“Business and a bit of a rest.  As I already
told you.”

“Yes, you did. A working holiday you said. It’s
peaceful here and the people are friendly. You’ll come to peace here.” His face
expressed sympathy and Ava wasn’t sure where this conversation was going.

“I’m actually looking to source a few products. I
have a business that sells organic products for children.”

“You sell these products yourself?” Nico asked.

 “I sell children’s things, and baby things.
Pretty things, things you can’t always find easily in the big stores. Unique
and different things. Stuff like feeding bottles and bowls that stick onto
portable tables that fasten easily to the back of the drivers seat, so that
moms can feed their babies if families are going on a long trip. Rucksacks that
become car seats, stuff like that. Its got to be functional and looks good too.
I’m always on the lookout for new products.”

Nico listened and watched as Ava gushed about her
store. She came alive when she talked about her business and the passion she
had for it was easy to see.

“You’ve put your heart and soul into this store,
no?”

“Absolutely,” replied Ava, rubbing the palms of
her hands together. She was passionate about her store and her passion showed
in the way she talked animatedly about her it, unable to sit still.

“I have just the place for you,” said Nico when
she had finished. His voice carried a hint of excitement. He arched his eyebrow
and glanced at her with expectation; he felt sure she would enjoy this. “I’ll
take you to Montova.”

Ava tried hard to conceal her wariness. She didn’t
want this smooth charmer taking her anywhere. It was bad enough that he had
followed her all morning, and then invited himself to her lunch and now he
wanted to take her to this strange sounding place with him.

She rested her index finger against her mouth but
Nico carried on, unfazed by her lack of enthusiasm. “There are
many factories and outlets there that you might like. The products are all
authentically Italian, so naturally, with the usual Italian flair for style,
you’re going to find some wonderful products here. I guarantee it.” He looked
so pleased with himself that Ava found it difficult to turn him down
straightaway.

She could see from the fire in his eyes that he
was super excited by this new idea of his. But she had been looking forward to
having a day to herself to explore, all alone. After all, this had been the
whole purpose of her trip to Italy. To collect her thoughts and to be alone.

The excitement in Nico's eyes waned when he saw
her muted reaction.

“Too much too soon?” he asked dejectedly.

Ava stared at the man before her. His calm posture
belied the twinkle in his jet black eyes.

“Well….” She hesitated, putting her glass down
slowly. She was here on vacation and perhaps she could look around. If he was
taking her to an industrial place, she might as well see if she could get some
unique products for her business. Why waste the opportunity?

He waited for her to make up her mind but her
answer knocked his composure.

“Won’t your boss get angry at you? I mean, is it
alright for you to drive me all over the place? Don't you have work to do or
something?”

Come to think of it, why was he so intent on
showing her around?  Him giving her so much personal attention didn’t seem
right. Perhaps Rona was right about Italian men after all.

“I have a meeting late tomorrow morning so I am
going there anyway. I thought it might be good for you to have a look since I'm
going that way. You don't think I'm going out of my way especially for you do
you?" He ran his hand through his hair again.

“No, no of course not,” said Ava quickly. How
presumptuous of her to think he was doing all of this just for her? Now it was
a case of
her
flattering herself with the notion that this handsome
looking man was going out of his way doing things for her.

Feeling silly, and not wanting him to think what
she had been thinking all along, she asked, “Is it far? It is easy to get to?” 
Maybe she could secure exclusive distributor rights if she found the right
product. It wouldn’t do any harm to go and see, now that she was here anyway.
Would it? Her heart started to beat faster.

“It’s less than an hour away. I can take you there
and back easily.”  

“Alright, tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow then,” he said, looking at his watch. “I
admire people who have their own businesses. I know how hard it is to do that.”

Ava looked puzzled. “But you’re just a hotel
driver.” She blurted out before she could stop herself.

“Yes. I am. But I’m hoping one day to run my own
hotel. You have to start somewhere.”

“And for now your boss is happy for you to run
around and drive me here and there?” she asked playfully. She was starting to
enjoy this little banter that they had going.

“Our mission statement is to ensure our guests
have the best perfect experience in a home away from home. And I hope, by doing
my little bit, that I’m helping you to have a great time here in Verona at least.”

“A hotel driver with a mission statement,” replied
Ava, looking at Nico’s chiseled face for more clues.

“You see how seriously we take our business here
in Italy?” said Nico, turning around to grab his jacket from the back of the
chair.

It was then that Ava realised the Breitling watch
he wore was very expensive. She knew it must have cost upwards of thousands of
dollars. And the reason she knew this was because Connor had always wanted one.

She wondered how well he was paid in order to be
able to afford one of these?

As soon as they arrived back at the Casa Adriana,
Ava was busy on her phone. She walked distractedly up the stairs to her room,
still flicking buttons rapidly.

On the journey back she seemed to have a lot of
things to handle over there, wherever “over there” was. Nico had listened in on
her conversation and it was obvious that the business was going well and she
had a helper, someone called Kim, covering for her. After the call she had
seemed sad again. What terrible bad luck for Ava to have witnessed the
preparations for a wedding taking place at the Casa di Giuletta. It was no
wonder that she had been crying when he had seen her.

The sight of Gina coming towards him in a hurry,
interrupted his thoughts.

“Mr. Cazale, Nico  – your father called from Rome asking to speak to you.”

“Why didn’t he just phone me on my cell phone?”
said Nico in a fit of frustration.

“Because he obviously expected you to be here at
the hotel, taking care of things in his absence.”

“I was taking care of things,” said Nico slowly
letting out a sigh of annoyance. Gina looked at him curiously.

“I hate lying to him Nico. But I see you are doing
your best to prove yourself.”

“What did you tell him?” asked Nico impatiently,
moving over to the desk behind reception and flicking through the diary.

“I told him you were out at the back overseeing
the supplies delivery,” said Gina dutifully following him. She winced as she
looked at the crestfallen expression on Nico’s face. She knew only too well how
hard he tried to prove to his father that he was capable of being the man that
his father once was. The problem was that Nico’s previous playboy reputation
preceded him. She also knew that the tragic death of his mother affected him
more deeply than he cared to admit. Nico’s father, Cazale Senior himself, was
having problems dealing with life after the death of his beloved wife but Gina
felt he was not thinking things through properly, especially when it came to
the future of his hotel empire. She felt that he was being too hard on Nico.

“Where’s Alphonso?” Nico asked with a hint of
irritation in his voice. “My father knows that’s not something I would do.”

“He’s off sick again,” said Gina quietly.

Nico
flicked his fingers through the diary, his brow tightened and his eyebrows
pushed together angrily. “He called to remind me of the three o’clock meeting
with the new suppliers,” said Nico slowly reading from the book.

“Thank goodness you’re here then because it’s a
quarter to three now.”

Nico’s
brows relaxed. It was purely by luck that he had returned.

How could he have forgotten this important meeting?  
It was something that he had set up himself. How
embarrassing that his father had to remind him.

“Thank you Gina. I don’t know what I’d do without
you.”