I looked up at Ben. “I don’t want to trouble you.”
“It’s no trouble at all.”
“Perfetto,” squealed Pia. “We will meet in Pienza.”
“Pienza? Is that where the other winery is?”
She shook her head and looked over her shoulder.
I laughed out loud. “What are you up to?”
Pia put her hand on her hip, but she didn’t look angry. “Nothing!” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “We will meet at La Terrazza Del Chiostro. It is owned by my friend Alejandra. That is where we’ll have dinner.”
I checked the time. It was early for dinner, but it would take us at least an hour to get to Sienna from here and then another hour from there to Pienza.
“This is me,” said Ben when we reached the parking area. He held the passenger door of a sleek black car open for me.
“Thank you.”
Before I could bend down to get in the car, Ben put his hand on my arm. “Wait.”
I stood straight and stared into his eyes. “Look, I’m really embarrassed about the way Pia is pushing us together. If you’d prefer to go straight to Valentini, I understand, and I won’t mind.”
“That wasn’t what I was going to say.”
“Oh.” I sighed and rolled my shoulders. “What were you going to say?”
“I would really like to…kiss you.”
And I’d ruined it. I should just face the facts I really wasn’t cut out for romance. Especially with someone like Ben—who was off-the-charts hot as fuck. When I bent down a second time to get in the car, he rested his hand on my shoulder.
“Catarina? Did you hear me? I said I’d really like to kiss you.”
“Still?”
He smiled and nodded.
“I would like that too.”
He leaned forward and touched my lips with his. His kiss was soft and sweet. When he ran his tongue over my lower lip, I opened to him and deepened the kiss. My fingers played with the soft curls at the base of his scalp, and I whimpered.
“I love that sound,” he whispered, blowing into my ear before pulling back and looking into my eyes. “We should probably get going.”
I bit my bottom lip. “Sure.” I spun around and bent to get into the car, but he stopped me for the third time.
“There’s a difference between not wanting to kiss you and feeling like I can’t for other reasons.” He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into him.
“Ciao!” I heard Pia shout from across the parking area. “See you later in Pienza!”
Ben buried his head in my shoulder while I laughed and waved. “We should go.”
“We should.” When he didn’t move, I gave him a push and got in the car.
When we arrived in Sienna, I offered to go into the pensione while Ben waited in the car. “I don’t have much. It’ll just be a minute,” I’d told him, but he insisted on coming in with me.
“Please, allow me to be a gentleman.”
Since I had everything already packed to leave, it only took us a minute to grab my bags from the room and be on our way.