Because Of Love

Talia stirred, turning onto her belly and burrowing further in the soft plush pillows under her cheek. She didn’t want to wake up. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept so well and so comfortably. It felt like she was laying in a bed of clouds. Had her mother been here? She didn’t remember her beddings being so soft and wonderful. Just as she was drifting off back to sleep, the bed swayed from side to side under her and Talia froze. What was that? Was that an earthquake? No, earthquakes didn’t sway, they shook, loudly, and when was the last time there was an earthquake in Boston?

Talia opened her eyes then, blinking a few times to clear her vision. She tilted her head a little in wonder, pushing her chin further into the pillow. Since when was the wall so close to her bed?

Were those shutters?

She turned her head to face the other side. That window did not look familiar.

Shouldn’t there be a building out there?

She wondered as she looked out at a darkening sky over empty space instead of the sun blocking, red brick four story building.

She faced forward, balancing her head on her chin against the pillow. Directly in front of her was what looked like a tan leather headboard instead of the white wicker tropical style which had always stood over her bed. The more she looked, the more confused she felt. Just to be sure, she pulled her hand from under the pillow and touched it. It was soft, smooth and cool to the touch.

Huh?

She looked further up to the wall and for a moment, she needed to close her eyes.

Was the wall texted? And that color…

She opened her eyes and assessed with more scrutiny. Her walls were a sky blue not a – she squinted her eyes to see clearer in the dimly lit room – white. The wall was white. Like a vacuum, the sleep fog got sucked out of her head.

I don’t think I’m in my bedroom…

Fully alert, she pushed herself up to sit on her knees and the thick comforter pulled around her folded legs, falling off her back. She stared at it. It matched the rich gold and ivory color tones of the room. She stared at the bed, twice the size of hers, and the pillows looked too high end to be hers. Her eyes widened, she quickly turned, falling on her ass and looked around her.

“Where the hell am I?” she spoke into the quiet room.

Just then, the wall right in front of her that she suddenly came to realize was a wooden partition slid out to the left, creating an opening that let in a small amount of light. It was a door. Then someone stepped in, a tray in his hand.

“DeLuca?” she called out in her surprise.

He looked up and paused, his hand still on the sliding door and stared at her blankly. She’d come to learn that hard, unrevealing stare was his way of assessing people without letting his thoughts show. But why was he trying to read her?

“Where am I?” she asked, without moving from where she sat.

“You’re awake,” he said in the form of a response as he stepped fully into the room, letting go of the door and holding the other end of the tray. “I made you something to eat.”

“Huh?” she exclaimed in surprise, both eyebrows shooting up to her hairline. “You cooked. For me?”

His face softened then and one side of his lips pulled up in a half smiled with a soft short chuckled, “What is it that you can’t believe? The fact that I can cook or that I cooked for you?”

Talia blinked several times, rolled her tongue in her mouth then answered, “Both.”

He placed the tray on the dark varnished, slick finished waxed wall unit under the shutters. He then reached for something she couldn’t see and immediately the shutters pulled up to expose a large window that allowed some streams of lights to come in and fill the room. He then turned to face her with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Come ti senti?” he asked, concern plainly in his voice.

Talia pinched her brows in confusion, “Why?”

With a raised brow he asked, “Why what?”

“Why would you ask me that?”

After a short moment of silence he asked, “You don’t remember?”

Concern piqued inside her, “Remember what? What happened?”

His head tilted slightly to the right, “Do you even know where you are?”

She snorted, “Not home, that’s for sure.” The bed swayed again and her hands fisted around the bed sheet under her, her eyes shooting around the room with rising urgency. “Why does the bed keep moving?”

He moved then, coming to sit by her on the bed. “Are you feeling any dizziness, nausea?”

Her stomach flipped a few times, but she shook her head. “Nope. Just wondering why you are so calm when we might be in the middle of an earthquake.”Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“It’s not an earthquake,” he answered flatly.

He raised his hand and pressed the back of it against her forehead. Talia held her breath and sat perfectly still, her pulse jumping at the contact.

“You’re on my yacht.”

Talia reared back, breaking the contact, “Come again?”

DeLuca dropped his hand, “You passed out from exhaustion.”

Confused, Talia looked down at herself and gasped. Her legs were bare, completely exposed to the thigh where the tails of the shirt that was three sizes too big and definitely not hers lay. Quickly she grabbed the comforter and pulled it over her legs. Her head snapped to DeLuca and she glared at him.

He snorted a laugh, his lips lifting in a half smile and said, “Not that kind of exhaustion.”

Her heart leaped then and Talia had to swallow hard to catch her breath. He sat too close and too calmly for her comfort. Considering where they were at the moment, some space was required.

With a hand on his upper arm she pushed him away from her. “It better not be. What then?”

Catching on that she wanted him off the bed, he stood to resume his early position. “From puking your guts out. How can you not remember that?”

Oh yes, that had happened. A spell of dizziness had hit her the moment the boat had begun to move. The next thing she knew, her stomach was trying to exit her body through her mouth. She remembered rushing to the railing, but after that first heave, everything was hazy. She placed her hands on her belly, expecting to feel the tightness and pain that came after a violent vomiting session, but there was nothing.

“Huh, I don’t feel like my stomach has shrunk to the size of a walnut.”

“That’s because I’ve been feeding you soup on the hour. You’ve been out for over three hours.” He pointed to his side where the tray with a bowl sat. “I believe this marks hour four.”

Talia stared at him, speechless. Every time she thought she had him pegged as a cold business tycoon, he surprised her. Warmth burst in her chest and spread out to her limbs.

“You looked after me?” she said.

He shifted from one foot to the other, one hand going up to rub the back of his neck. “Don’t make it sound so strange.”

She smiled at his discomfort. “Easy for you to say. You’re not the one staring at an enigma.”

Immediately, as if realizing what he had allowed her to see, his arms quickly resumed their crossed position over his chest.

She shook her head amused. With a wide grin she added, “Thank you.”

He gave her a short nod, a shadow of a full smile on his lips. “Il piacere è tutto mio.”

They stared at each other, their eyes speaking and revealing emotions that honestly frightened her.

Suddenly, he cleared his throat, dropped his arms from his chest and stood up straighter and said, “Since you are up, let’s go watch the sunset.”

With a raised brow she echoed, “Watch the sunset?” Her eyes narrowed and her brows pinched. “Who are you and what have you done with the famed Rafael DeLuca II?”

With a cocky grin, he slowly approached the bed. He bent down, placing his fists on the mattress for support and leaned closer to her. Talia fingers curled into her palms, taking the soft cotton with them. She didn’t dare move, just watched him with baited breaths as he drew his face close to hers.

“There are drawstring shorts over here,” he jerked his head slowly to the right to indicate where they were but never once did he break eye contact. “And the bathroom is over there,” he jerked his head to the left. “You have half an hour before you miss the show.”

His voice grew even deeper when he said that last part, fanning her arousal like strong wind to a bush fire. She wouldn’t mind missing that show for a different kind of play that would require both their involvement.

As if to echo her thoughts, his eyes dropped to her lips and unconsciously, she slid the tip of her tongue over her lower lip and sucked it into her mouth only to slide it out free once wet.

His eyes unblinkingly held and he said, “You do that a lot.”

It didn’t escape her how hoarse his voice had grown. She squeezed her thighs together as her core pulsed with need.

“Careful where you do that.”

DeLuca then quickly pushed off the bed and turned towards the doorway. Without a backwards glance he said, “Trenta minuti. Andare.” Then he grabbed the sliding door and slid it closed behind him.

The moment the door latched, Talia let out a heavy tense breath through her mouth. She was going to need a quick cold shower to calm her hormones down. Actually, what she needed to do was head home as soon as possible. She looked around her, remembering where she was and why she got sea sick and laughed at herself. Since he’d kept her on the boat – yacht and taken care of her instead of going back to shore, he clearly had no intentions of going anywhere any time soon. She was stuck in that small space with nowhere to run to.

She pulled the comforter off her legs and got off the bed, grabbing the shorts he had left out for her and with shaky legs walked to the door he’d pointed to. Forget cold showers, they were going to need to dunk into the freezing ocean waters if they were going to survive the night without jumping each other.