“Oh God, Cosi, he is the most beautiful man I’ve ever met.” I sighed and flopped on the bed in my bathing suit and cover up.
“Oh, don’t let Sebastian hear that,” she whispered, referring to our good naturedly arrogant brother, her twin, who took his good looks very seriously.
I laughed but was too distracted by the thought of Sinclair to really mean it.
“Wow, he must be something,” she murmured, picking up on my emotional state. “When did you meet him?”
“Just yesterday,” I said, still incredulous that all of this could have happened in only one day of knowing someone.
I picked myself up off the bed and grabbed my oversized bag, propping my sunglasses on my head as I left the room. “Listen, have you ever had a holiday affair?”
My little sister, only twenty-two and already light years ahead of me in the romance department, laughed her throaty chuckle. “Oh, yes. I highly recommend it.”
I bit my lip as I walked down the four flights of stairs to the lobby. “Have you,” I hesitated. “Have you been with a committed man?”
She paused and I could almost hear the cogs whirring in her head. “You mean like a married man?”
“Not exactly, someone with a girlfriend though, a long term one.”
“Hmm.” She thought for a few moments but it felt like hours before she finally said, “Yes. Never a married man, I demand a certain level of attention and married men just can’t provide that.”
I smiled, as she had intended, but I knew it was more than that. Cosima was one of the most honest people I knew; it would have been impossible for her to live a lie like that.
“But I have cheated with a man before. Usually, I didn’t know until the deed was done but I also hardly saw them again.” She clucked her tongue, a habit she had inherited from our mother. “Why do you ask, bambina?”
“The man, he has a girlfriend back home.” I smiled at one of the Mexican bartenders as I claimed a lounge chair and shed my cover up.
It was a beautiful day with clear glowing blue skies and I settled down to get some sun on my pale limbs. I closed my eyes and allowed my sister’s voice to council me, soothe me down from my frenzied state of the night before.
“Listen, Gigi, normally I would say stay away from an attached man, especially for you. Given your lack of experience, I would urge you to think carefully about how far you are willing to go with a man you hardly know in a foreign land. But, at the same time, I think this could be good for you, to have some fun with a handsome man. It won’t be serious and you won’t be able to get hurt. As far as the girlfriend is concerned…” Her voice was strained, her Italian accent much thicker and I frowned with worry over her change in tone. “If he wants to cheat on her, then he will.”
It wasn’t exactly reassuring advice, but it was true, and I could always count on her for that. I took a deep breath and felt the sun soak into my skin like a balm.
“So you think I should do it, have a holiday affair?”
“Gigi, from the sounds of him, I think you’d be crazy not to.”
I smiled into the phone and accepted the acute pang of homesickness that pinged in my chest. It had been thirteen months since I had last seen my sister, and before that eighteen months since I had visited with any other member of my family. I was nervous to be moving to a new city, rejoining my entire family after over five years of being separated from them, but hearing the familiar strains of Cosima’s liquid voice reminded me why I was so desperate to see them.
“I love you,” I said.
My little sister laughed loudly, no doubt stopping people on the street with the sight of her joy. “And I you, always.”
I hung up feeling lighter than I had in a long time and coupled with a brisk half an hour swim in the cool waters of the pool, I was happy and pleasantly lethargic when I emerged from the water to bask once again in the sun.
“Can I get you a drink, Signorita?” a sweet-faced man asked.
“She’ll have the Sex on the Beach,” a strange voice answered for me.
I turned to my left to see a man stretched out on the lounge chair one over from me. His skin was the color of mahogany and it rippled across his gym-toned body. He wore small black briefs and nothing else. I blushed and looked away quickly. The waiter nodded and left to place our orders.
“What if I don’t drink?” I asked with soft reproach.
“Ah, but I am usually a very good judge of character.” He swung into sitting position and leaned forward to offer me his hand. “Stefan Kilos.”
I took his smooth palm in mine and smiled into his beautiful face. “Elle Moore.”
He had startling green eyes in such a dark face and his thick coffee colored hair fell to his broad shoulders in glossy waves. I wondered briefly if he was gay, considering how beautifully maintained he was, but one flash of those perfect pearly white teeth dissuaded me.