Love Struck (17 page)

A
huge, phenomenal sized indoor swimming area packed full of guests in the pool
and around on the sunbeds, Paulo walked along the edge of the big blue pool,
searched around for Sara, it wouldn't take him long to spot her among the other
swimmers and bathers under the glass ceiling, harnessing the rays of the sun
and concentrating them into a golden beam to warm and tan everyone below.

“Sara?”
he called out, trying valiantly to make his way past the abundance of various
guests crowding the water and the tiled flooring, making it increasingly
difficult to move about without bumping into someone or tripping over them.

One of
the kids ran past him, accidentally bumping into Paulo. He lost his balance, he
strived to prevent himself from falling into the watery depths. Success, he
managed to get a hold of his footing, he stepped away from the pool, narrowly
avoiding a soaking without the correct attire of a bathing suit. In hindsight,
he probably should have headed upstairs and slipped into one then went to the
pool.

“Awake
at last.” came the sweet, harmonic sound of his darling Sara's voice behind his
back.

He
turned around, his eyes caught the drawing display of his beautiful and fresh
star clad in a complimenting two piece swimsuit that showed off the unflawed
curvature of her womanly figure from her breasts, to her stomach, to her
thighs, all the way down to her legs perfectly.

He was
left speechless at her outstanding appearance, she was a bathing beauty,
without a shadow of a doubt. His foot slipped on the wet tile, he found himself
careening backwards into the pool with a great splash. An uproar of laughter
flooded the pool. A drenched Paulo emerged out. Water spurted from his mouth
like a fountain, appropriate for the pool, he would have made a fine addition
to the decor.

“You
should go back to the suite and dry off. You don't want to

catch
a cold.” Sara said, holding back the urge to chuckle at the funnier side of his
trip.

Paulo
climbed out the pool, soaking wet to the bone. He instantly spotted Sara
struggling to refrain herself from giggling. “You find this funny don't you?”

“No.”
Sara almost let a giggle slip out her lips, she quickly sealed them to prevent
it from breaking.

The
more she looked at him, drenched with a cute, serious pouting expression on his
face, the more difficult it became to keep a straight face.

“Go
on, get it over with.” groaned Paulo, the sooner he faced his humiliation, the
quicker it could be put behind them and they could move on.

“I
don't know what you're talking about?” she pleaded ignorance to his claim, she
was not fooling anyone, not with her red face from holding the laughter inside.

“Laugh,
I know you want to.”

“No I
do not.” a chuckle almost broke through, she couldn't keep holding it at bay
for much longer.

“Yes
you do.”

No
longer able to contain herself, Sara finally burst out laughing. “I'm sorry,
I'm sorry, I can't help it. I love it when a man makes me laugh.”

Sara bathed
on the sun-bed, eyes closed, basking in the warmth of the blazing gold sphere
burning in the sky. The radiant light from the glass ceiling complimented her
splendour, she could have dedicated her entire afternoon on that spot, putting
the sight seeing on hold for the next day, it would still be there for her and
her handsome guide by morning. Besides, there was a much more charming sight
she was pleased to see.

Paulo
re-entered the pool, all dried off, wearing his slim, revealing trunks that
showed off his masculine body and his enticing package.

He sat
on the sun-bed beside her. “Ah, much better.”, he sighed in relief to be rid of
his damp, soggy clothes.

Sara
concurred with her admirer's remark ““Yes, much better.”, marvelling at her toy
boy, she was deep in admiring his physique, enjoyed the sight of him in his
trunks. She could not lie back, close but apart from him, she had to have him
in a heated embrace, locking their lips. “Come here, handsome.”

Paulo
could detect the arousal in her tone, it pushed all the right buttons within
him. He leaned over, she pulled him into her arms and gave him a hot wet kiss
he would not be putting with all the rest.

“Whoa.”
was all he could utter in true speechless wonder after their lips smacked off
from one another.

Sara
grinned, she had a feeling he would enjoy it and so would she too. Her whole
body was on fire whenever close to his blistering proximity “I don't know how
to describe it, you get me so wild. You bring out the teenage girl in me.”

“Last
night proved that. You drained the life out of me. I can't believe I stayed
asleep for so long.”

“Oh, I
know, I tried waking you up multiple times, you wouldn't budge an inch.
Reminded me of my honeymoon, my ex-husband did the

exact
same thing. He was lifeless, didn't wake up until, oh about

four
or five in the evening.” she grinned with a cheekiness at the memory. “I get a
little carried away in the bed department, the flesh of my lover on my flesh
drives me crazy.”

“You're
too much for us men to take.” he chuckled.

Her
mention of marriage sparked a natural curiosity in Paulo. He had heard about
her retiring from film to settle down and live a domestic lifestyle but other
than that, her personal life and years in retirement were a complete blank
mystery to him, one he had often mused over uncovering, since the topic had
been brought up, there was no harm in pressing further into it, “A moment ago,
you said you were married? What was your husband like?”

Sara
was not surprised in the slightest, she was expecting the question to come up.
“You really want to know?”

“Call
it a lover's curiosity.”

Sara
thought long and hard about the subject, unlocked old memories, opened old
wounds, searched for the right words to describe him. “Oh, what could be said
about my ex?”.

Like
the light from a bulb being turned on, the correct words flashed into her mind.

“Demanding,
difficult, stubborn, a bore, brutish. I could go on and on. He was a really bad
tempered man, always had fits of rage. The strange thing is, even with his
endless list of faults, he had a 'sweet' side to him, a side that

when
shone, was the most truly beautiful thing I had ever seen. He made me feel like
a million euros. Sadly, the romantic, sensitive side only happened once in a
blue moon. I stayed by his side, so did my daughter. In the end, it became too
much for us.” Sara stopped, wiped her eyes, stayed strong, she had an
obligation to her admirer to give him the full story, one no one else had ever
heard, not even Tommaso. “The fear, the fights, it wasn't healthy. I had to
make the hard decision, I had to file for divorce. He didn't take it well, I
had to be strong, I had to tell him that enough was enough, I had to do it. He
eventually accepted it. That was five years ago. We stay in touch due to our
daughter, if it wasn't for her, I would never see that brute again. If it
wasn't for her by my side every day during the marriage, I don't know what I
would have done. It scares me to think about it.”

Paulo's
lips quivered, he was lost for any words, sometimes knowing the truth hurt, he
was wondering if maybe he should have kept it to himself. The thought of the
love of his life experiencing such pain hurt him as much as it hurt her.

“I
gave up being an actress for the love of my life, I stopped my dream of going
to America and breaking it in Hollywood for him who wanted to remain in Italy,
I sacrificed everything for him and all we had to show for it was rocky years
of too many downs and not enough ups, all to reach a bitter separation.”

Sara
often wondered if she should have followed her ambition, but she could not have
brought herself to break his heart, he loved her and she loved him, one did
everything to make their love happy. Usually that happiness lasted for
countless years to come, she just wasn't one of them to experience that. “It's
been a lonely life. I never thought I'd find someone else.”

Sara
gently held Paulo's hand. “Until now.” her glassy eyes were full of love,
looking at a brighter side, had their marriage not fell through, she would not
have met such a beautiful and caring soul mate.

Paulo
tenderly held onto her firm gripping hand. His glassy eyes were full of the
same rhythmical love. They both strived not to cry.

“I
have to be honest.” Paulo said with a choked up voice.

“About
what?”

“I
only wanted to know what he was like in bed. If he was better than me.”

Sara
and Paulo burst out in tearful laughter.

The
orange shimmering glow from the evening shined over the crystal clear sea
creating a sparklingly divine view. Boats became silhouetted models in the
distance. Seagulls flew off into the distance.

Tommaso
and Gloria sat apart on the couch, distant from each other and themselves,
watching an old black & white romantic movie full of sentimentality and
melodrama to give the romance a heavy weight to it and everlasting appeal long
after the movie had finished. They were lost in the magic, grand romantic scene
leading the way to an epic finale. A yearning to hold the ones they loved
flooded their senses, they saw themselves and their lovers replacing the
leading stars.

The
romantic classic ended with a traditional beautiful happy ending, the guy gets
the girl of his dreams, the girl gets the man she had always wanted.

Gloria
and Tommaso were caught up in the highly emotionally driven moment, they stared
silently at the screen as the film faded to black and the next scheduled
programme would commence. Their eyes watered, their hearts cried out for love.

“That
ending. It's so beautiful. It gets me every time.” Tommaso said, shedding many
tears. He had seen it so many times he recited it word for word, knew it beat
for beat and remembered it scene for scene, he had frequently dreamed of a
loving romance like that with his Sara. When he noticed it was being shown
again, he had to watch it. He loved the film so much he planned to write a
remake starring the only actress he could envision in the lead, the task of
obtaining the rights kept it reserved as a dream project and nothing more.

He
wiped his eyes. “Look at me, a forty year old man crying at a movie. I must
look pretty ridiculous to a hip youngster like yourself.”

“Normally
I would think that, I'm not thinking it today.” Gloria wiped her own longing
tears.

Tommaso
spotted her. “We're quite a pair, aren't we?”

“We
are.” sniffled Gloria with a light chuckle, they were shaping up to be two
identical peas in the same pod.

“Two
sides of the same coin.” the pain building up in his heart, clogging at it,
could not be held back, he had to release it out into poetic, brooding words
“Love, a gift of beauty we desire, long for in every inch of our bodies. Love,
so far from our grasp, so unbelievable, a dream that we so desperately want to
come true.”

Gloria
was left amazed by Tommaso's powerful words spoken from his passionate, aching
heart. It moved her more higher than any mountain “You've captured the way I
feel, perfectly. It's like you've reached into my heart and expressed my soul.”

Overtaken
by her emotions, she crawled along the couch towards Tommaso with a yearning
need for some love from him to her. He could not believe what he was seeing.

“What...”
Tommaso inched backwards, a vain attempt to distance himself from her. “What
are you doing?

“I
think you know.” Gloria answered vivaciously, she could not control her strong
emotions running rampant throughout her yearning body.

Tommaso
reached the end of the couch, there was nowhere left to scurry. He was
cornered, trapped by her incoming lust for the feeling of love to rekindle her
heart, to make her feel what it meant to be alive. He had no other option but
to reason with her. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Perhaps.”
Gloria remarked, invading Tommaso's personal space without any passing thought
for him or herself.

“I'm
old enough to be your father.”

“Right
now, I don't care.” she leaned by his face, the tip of her nose made contact on
his, the deep gaze of her eyes stared into him, seeing through him and his
enticing manliness within. She was a woman, giving in to her natural necessity
to be intertwined with a man.

“We
hardly know each other.” he insisted on arguing against her advances, trying to
put common sense back into her romantic mindset.

“Does
it matter?”

“To
me, yes.” Tommaso countered, adamant on resisting her, for the sake of his Sara
and himself.

“Come on, I need a man to
hold me, feel me, squeeze me, thrill me. I need to touch you, to cleanse
me of my pain.” Gloria removed her top,
tore off her bra, exposing her young firm breasts. Tommaso immediately gazed at
the petite roundness of her bosom and sleek, hardness of her nipples.

“Oh...”
Tommaso lost all rationality, his mind was shattered into fragments, his
dedicated will was being overtaken by his lustful instincts, yet still he tried
his hardest and fought against it “Oh my.”

“You want to touch my
breasts,
don't you?” she
asked him without restraint.

Tommaso gasped heavily, he did not know where to look or
what to do, he was at a loss, pressured into his own lust, his devotion to Sara
was being shrouded by his own impulses, his will was failing, he was thinking
of himself and his own needs which had been repressed for too many years to
count. Sara was with her young lover, he was on the verge of being with his
own.

“Or would you rather do something else to them?”

“I can't. Sara is the only one for me. It wouldn't feel right
to betray her.” he fought back against his impulsive mind muting his heart,
held onto the dignity for his saving himself for his beloved.

“Well then, think of this
as
practice.”

“Practice?” his mind wanted to hear that, it would easily
manipulate the heart.

Gloria was close to
having him, she was reasoning with him, making him see it her way, she was in
control to gain what she wanted the most. If Paulo could have Sara, she would
have the starlet's personal assistant. “You want to make Sara happy don't you?
You want to satisfy her every desire? Make her the happiest woman who's ever
lived
on the face of the
earth?”

“Yes, I do.” his heart was giving in to his head, seeing it
as a means to better his chances with Sara and making her the most fortunate
woman in the world to have a loving partner like him, and only him.

“One thing a woman wants
is not only love and affection, she wants the best love making in the world,
she wants to feel alive. The love you feel for her has
to be expressed to its full potential.”

Tommaso's conflicted heart found reason in her words.
“You're happy to help me?”

“Oh yeah.”

He was giving in, putting a stop to his resistance, ending
the fighting against himself, absolving his heart of the guilt from his mind,
he would do this for the woman he loved. “Ok then, I will do this.”

Tommaso awkwardly held her in his arms, he had always
envisioned it being Sara and not somebody else, but as he was familiar with,
nothing ever played out how one imagined it. A perfect love scene was imperfect
in execution, with the setting, lover and experience being contrasting to what
was predicted.

“Pucker up you stud and kiss me.” Gloria begged him with a
soft, seductive whisper.

He braced himself for his first ever kiss, he prepared to
engage in interacting with another. He closed his eyes, readied his lips, he
could not be committed with kissing someone who was not his love, Tommaso
required motivation.

Sara stood gracefully in a field, clad in a white billowing
dress that danced in the soft spring breeze, flowing in rhythm to the grass and
sunflowers around her. She gazed lovingly into Tommaso's eyes. She leaned to
him, her arms extended. He welcomed her embrace, they expressed their love in a
romantic kiss.

Tommaso's deadpan lips livened up, his kissing picked up
the pace. Gloria stared at him in wonder, she was simply stunned at how good he
was, her lips were burning up in his intensity. It caused her much grief as
their enigmatic lips slowly parted. They both enjoyed it, immensely.

“You're a real amazing kisser.” gasped Gloria in utter
disbelief, her body was shook up and would not be calming down.

“Really?” the face of Sara and the field morphed back to
Gloria and the hotel suite. Tommaso could not believe he had left her
breathless, he was pulled out of his fantasy of giving his ultimate affection
to his true love, he was in another world, oblivious to his actions in the
physical spectrum. With his mind distracted, his body was free to operate
without its sentience reflecting on its actions.

“For real. You'd lift
Sara off
her feet.” he had
already lifted Gloria off hers, she would not be coming back down in such a
hurry.

Tommaso grinned optimistically. “You really think so?”

“I do.” she meant every word of it, he was making Paulo
pale in comparison and all they had done together was share one monumental
kiss.