Then she pulled away.
His heart clenched. If she was going to put a stop to this before it had a chance to begin…well, he didn’t know if he could stand it. His pulse was racing, and he felt as if every inch of his skin had had an electrical current pass through it.
She looked up at him, her eyes wide, and Lucas thought she must be feeling the same way he was.
“Do you want to see my apartment?” she asked him breathlessly.
Thank God.
“I would love to see your apartment,” Lucas said.
She got to her feet, pulling him along with her, and they made their way out of the piazza and up the street.
Chapter 3
Elise
As it had every day in Rome, the sun coming through the window woke Elise.
She had gotten used to waking up this way, and it took her several minutes to remember what was different and why she felt so warm and satisfied.
Then it came to her.
Lucas.
She kept her eyes closed as she pieced together the events of the night before. They had stumbled along Via dei Capocci together, unable to stop touching one another. He had wrapped his body around hers like a glove as she’d struggled to unlock the apartment door. Elise remembered feeling as if her mind was shutting down, as if she was at serious risk of forgetting how to breathe.
And then, when they’d made it inside…
Well, everything was a blur after that.
Snapshots from the night arose in her mind. The way it had felt when he had swept her up in his arms and carried her into the bedroom, tossing her onto the bed and jumping in after her. Later, in the shower, the hot water beating down on their shoulders, their bodies pressed together as she breathed in the scent of him.
She rolled over in bed, her arms automatically reaching out to pull him close.
But her hands were met with empty air.
No one was there.
For a moment, Elise was afraid that the fantasy of the night before really had been just a fantasy. Could something so strange and wonderful really happen?
But she was naked in bed, and that wasn’t normal. And as she closed her eyes and inhaled, she realized she could feel the aftereffects of last night in her body. Her muscles were sore, as if she had been through an intense workout.
Yes, it had definitely happened.
But Lucas was definitely gone. And she knew immediately, by the still silence of the apartment, that he hadn’t just gone into the other room to make breakfast or something. He had left. She was here on her own.
He left without even waking me up to say goodbye.
For a moment, as Elise processed that fact, she felt as if her stomach had been hollowed out. It felt as if her dream had turned to dust in her arms. She had never expected that it would all be gone when she awoke. She had fallen asleep in his arms last night feeling perfectly happy, but would she have been able to do that if she had known she would start the morning this way?
It doesn’t matter, she told herself firmly. You knew this was just one night.
Yes, she’d known that. But she had hoped to have the chance to say goodbye to him. It was disappointing to realize that her fairy tale had ended while she was sleeping.
It was like missing a step going downstairs. The disappointment was so acute that it felt like falling.
Maybe it’s for the best, she thought glumly. This way, she wouldn’t have the chance to dwell on what had happened, or to make a fool of herself asking to connect with him on social media or something. It was over, quickly and cleanly.
She took a few deep breaths, steadying herself, and began to feel a bit better. What difference did it make that he was gone? The night had still been what it was—a wonderful fantasy come to life. She wouldn’t have changed anything about it.
She got out of bed, went to the closet, and grabbed a T-shirt. Glancing at her phone, she saw that she had slept much later than she ordinarily would have.
Gianni’s going to be wondering where I am today.
Then again, maybe he wouldn’t. He had seen her with Lucas in the coffee shop yesterday. Maybe he would put two and two together and figure out what had happened.
The thought made her feel pleased and embarrassed at the same time.
She went into the kitchen and took her coffee grounds out of the refrigerator. Though she would have preferred one of Gianni’s cappuccinos this morning, it felt like a good day to sit on her balcony and soak in everything that had happened over the past twenty-four hours. She wasn’t ready to leave the apartment just yet. It felt like doing so would burst the bubble her experience with Lucas had left her in.
But as she turned away from the refrigerator and toward the coffee maker, she saw it—a folded piece of paper on the counter.
She recognized the paper at once. It had come from the notepad mounted to the fridge, something the apartment’s owner had put there. Elise had gotten used to seeing the yellowish paper every day, but she had never actually used it.
Which meant that this was a note from someone else.
Lucas.
He hadn’t left without a trace. Here was a trace of him, right on her kitchen counter.
She looked at it for a long moment. It was like a perfectly wrapped birthday present. No matter what was inside, there was something special about the moment before you opened your gift. In that moment, it could still be anything.
She picked up the note and unfolded it carefully.
Elise,
I had an amazing time last night. I hope you did too. Thank you for everything. Enjoy the rest of your vacation and have a safe trip back home.
Lucas
617-555-0158
She stared at the note for a long moment.
That was a phone number.
He had left her his phone number. She had never expected that. They had never talked about exchanging phone numbers, and Elise certainly hadn’t given hers. And yet, there was nothing else a number formatted like that could be.
Did he want her to call him?
He must want me to call him, she reasoned. There was no other reason to leave a phone number. But they had never talked about seeing each other again after last night. And the note didn’t say anything about getting together again either.
And besides, she thought, if he had really wanted to speak to her again, why would he have left so early this morning? Why wouldn’t he have waited to say something to her?
Maybe he was called in to work.
He was in Rome on business, after all. And even though his conference wasn’t supposed to start until tomorrow, it was possible that something had come up. He had responsibilities here. Unlike her, he couldn’t just spend all day lying in bed.
But then…why wouldn’t he have just put that in his note?
She couldn’t figure it out. Why hadn’t he just written the words “call me”? Was she supposed to just know?
If so, she didn’t.
But, of course, there was an easy way to find out.
She hurried back into the bedroom and unplugged her phone from the charger on the nightstand. Then she sat down on the bed and carefully dialed the number.
He’s probably busy, she thought as she dialed. He won’t be able to answer right now. But I can leave a message.
Her mind raced. How could she leave him a message so soon without seeming weird and desperate? He would know that she had called as soon as she’d found the note.