Liaison

Copyright© 2012 Natasha Knight

All rights reserved
.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is
purel
y coincidental.

Except
in the case of brief quotations in reviews, no part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission at [email protected].

Chapter One

Gabrielle
drove down the narrow dirt road that led to
Villa Flora
, the small
bed and breakfast she and William had discovered while honeymooning seven years ago
.
They hadn't missed a year since
,
but
this would be the first summer
she
would be
here
alone.

Tuscany was having a bad summer;
it was too dry. Evidence of the drought had shocked her as she’d driven the remote road through tiny villages to the
B&B
.
The tires stirred up a dust storm behind her as she slowed, seeing the familiar gates ahead
.
Once
they
fully
opened, she
drove her little
Peugeot
into
the parking lot.
Three other cars
stood in the shade of the trees; it
would be
a quiet
weekend
at the B&B
.

Stepping out of t
he car,
Gabrielle
opened the
trunk and slung her weekend bag
over her shoulder, making her way to the
old, yellow structure
that was the main building
.

"
Gabrielle
,"
Luciana
, the owner,
was working on the garden when she saw her
.
Immediately, she took
Gabrielle
into a big hug
and kissed her on both cheeks. "
Oh, it’s been two years! How have you been since the accident, dear? I was so
sorry
to hear
about your husband
.
"

"
Thank you,
"
Gabrielle
muttered
,
"
I'm doing better
,
"
she lied.
S
he knew coming back here
wouldn't be easy
, but she
didn't want it to be
;
she
needed it to be
hard
. 

After an awkward moment, Luciana spoke again.
"
I’ve booked
you in one of the new apartments
.
I’ll show it to you, come.
You must be tired after the dri
ve from Verona.
"

It had been cheaper to fly into Verona than Florence so she’d driven the four hours and, between that and the emotional toll of the trip, she was exhausted.

She followed the
older
woman out the door, stopping for a moment to take in the view. She could only describe it as breathtaking. The luxurious B&B was set atop a Tuscan hill where the countryside rose
and fell
in the typical, picturesque greens that exemplified the region.

As she
followed
Luciana, something
, or more
accurately,
someone,
drew her attention
.
She turned
toward the source of the disruption,
catching
the
gaze of
the man who
sat watching her, his eyes so dark, so intense that they’d
done nothing less than command
her
to
see him
. He didn’t sm
ile, but remained studying her,
as if
reading her
thoug
h
t
s
. It made every hair on
her
body stand on end.

"
Gabrielle
?
"

She
startled and
turned to Luciana who called from the end of the walkway. One last glance
at the
stranger whose eyes still hadn’t left
her and she stu
mbled to catch up with the
older
woman.

The room was stunning. It was in what looked to be an old building but was actually a completely new
structure
in the style of
a typical Tuscan villa. There
were four apartments
in
total, a
ll
with
a gorgeous view of the countryside
while offering
complete privacy. Just what she
needed.

"
Will you have lunch?
"
Luciana asked.

"
No, I don’t think so. I’d like to swim then perhaps take a short nap. Will you have a place for me at dinner tonight?
"

"
Of course. Anything you need, my dear. Anything
at all,
"
Luciana said
, handing over the key and closing t
he door behind her as she left.

Gabrielle
opened all of the windows and breathed in the hot, dry air. It was all so familiar, the olive trees, the grape vines. Everything
had grown just a little but it was all still so much the same.

Unpacking her bag, which contai
ned just a few dresses,
bathing suits
and some sandals,
she undressed and slipped
on the
black bikini. At thirty-two
, she looked good. But then again, depr
ession had always been the best sort of diet
for her. She weighed all of one
hundred
and
twenty pounds and stood five feet, five inches tall.

Letting her hair fall loose from its clip, she brushed the dark curls with her fingers, t
rying to work through the never-
ending knots. Washing her face free of makeup, she grabbed a towel, her key and a book and headed to the swimming pool.

She
was walking
the small path through the grape vines toward the pool when she heard the other coup
le. They didn’t see her
;
they were too involved with one another
. Thinking they were alone, their
tongues were united in a sort of kiss that was
pure sensuality
.
But it wasn’t so much the dance of their tongues
that had her
glued to the spot
. It was the fact that his hand had slipped ins
ide the bikini bottoms the tall
blonde
wore and his fingers
worked
her clit
. 

Gabrielle
swallowed and remained still, her eyes on the pair. The woman was moving her hips rhythmically and
Gabrielle
could make out the soft sounds of breath as
the
blonde
enjoyed the pleasure of his fingers. A moment later, a sigh came and the woman broke the kiss, laying
the top of
her head on his
chest
as she melted into this hand.
Gabrielle
’s own sex heated with the vision of the couple and it
took all she had to remain still when
he pulled his hand out of her
bikini
and licked his fingers
clean.

***

At the pool, she dropped her towel an
d
book on a lounge chair, stripped off her wrap and quietly slid into the cool water. Allowing herself to disappear beneath the surface,
Gabrielle
did what she’d been doing every day since the accident that had killed William: she screamed. She swam daily at the pool by her house in Florida and when, in the beginning, she’d been unable to control her tears, she’d just let herself go under and scream and scream, knowing the
water wou
ld swallow the sound
.

She swam the length of the pool, turned while taking a b
reath, and once again submerged, continuing
to swim, screaming all along.

Twelve
more laps and she
lifted
herself
out
, squeezing moisture from her hair
as she made her way back to her lounge chair.
Picking up her towel, she patted herself dry and scanned the area. One
woman
played with her
young daughter
along the edge of the pool, but other than that, it was
deserted
.

She sat down, adjusting her sunglasses and picking up her book when she saw him. It was the same man who’d been staring at her when she’d checked in. He wore
tight fitting
swim shorts and carried a newspaper an
d was heading straight
toward her.
His body was solid, not built up like he spen
t time working out, but strong: a
tanned chest with a dusting of dark hair, beautifully sculpted arms a
nd shoulders and narrow hips
that
led
to
powerful
legs.

Her heart raced while she worked
to manage her expression
, trying to rema
in casual, as if she hadn’t noticed
him at all. As
if he didn’t have
some strange e
ffect on her. At least her glas
ses were dark enough that they w
ould hide her eyes.

"
May I join you?
"
he asked, setting his towel down before she had a chance to answer.
His looks were enough to do her in.
Tall, just over six feet, she'd say, with d
ark hair to his shoulders. His
face
was
shadowed
by what seemed to be a few days w
orth of stubble
.

"
I was actually hoping for some alone time,
"
she said, picking up her book
when he removed hi
s sunglasses. His eyes were
pure black, it was like nothing she’d ever seen before. They seemed to laser into her, to know her
. Why did this man make her nervous? She hadn’t felt
like this in a very long time. Why now?
And why h
ere
,
of all places?