Dinner that night is relaxed and cordial, the best I have enjoyed since I have been here. I wonder if she aims to impress whenever Romano is present, but tonight’s asparagus and pancetta crostini, followed by a porcini mushroom risotto, is the best dish she has served to date. Dessert is again in the form of a bowl of seasonal fruit and a jug of coffee. Mrs Bellacci finally relaxes and tells stories about missions she has shared with Lorenzo, many of them little more than acting as a bodyguard to one promising political figure or another. Lorenzo chips in withfunny anecdotes, making us all laugh. I don’t think I have ever seen him so relaxed. These people are my family now.
When I am finally in bed, I feel comfortably full and tired. The night is seasonably cool, and I have left the balcony doors slightly ajar to let the night breezes temper the stuffy bedroom air. For long minutes, I stare at the ceiling fan, pondering the day’s events. Since I arrived at Eagle House, I have felt a greater sense of belonging and affiliation than at any other time in my life. And tomorrow, Mrs Bellacci will work with me on completely changing my appearance. As I fall asleep, there is one thing I know beyond question.
Gabriel Redbrick is no more. If he ever existed in the first place.
I wonder who will rise from his ashes.
A barely noticeable noise from the balcony wakes me. After last night’s intrusion, I am fully alert to any sounds. Within a flash, I am awake, perched on the side of the bed with the gun steadied in both hands and levelled at the balcony door.
“Gabriel?” I know the voice instantly. Lorenzo. I breathe out a sigh and place the weapon back beneath my pillow. “Are you awake?”
“I am now.”
What better way to end a perfect day?
Chapter Thirteen
Aksel
With the moonlight silhouetting his body, I watch Lorenzo undress. When he pulls down his underpants and turns to toss them onto a chair, I see he is already aroused. I throw back the covers, inviting him to dive onto the bed, meeting me with a fierce kiss. When he pulls away, we both chuckle. Tonight is unhurried, not frenzied like in the afternoon. Tonight, there is no urgency, and, unusually for me, I let go and allow him to take his fill of my body. I know I am giving in to trust, and a part of me is wary. But everything about his presence in my bed feels natural, too fervent and mutually pleasurable to be a simple act of seduction. Eventually, I silence my brain and allow myself to enjoy the exchange.
Once again, he ends up sitting on my stomach, but this time he shuffles up to my chest, his intention plain. His head and hair dangle down as he stares intently at me. With a jerk ofhis hips, the head of his cock bobs down and touches my lips. Wrapping my hands around his arse cheeks, I yank him forward, taking his length into my mouth while caressing my fingers into his crevice. I have already come to learn that Lorenzo gives very little away when we make love, but there are small tells—a stutter in his breath, a tremor in his thighs, or, as I hear right now, a barely inaudible whimper when I swallow his length while delving my forefinger into him.
Before long, he pushes back, a hand gripping my hair but not painfully. I can feel him occasionally tensing and trying to hold off the inevitable. Eventually, as he reaches climax, he begins to pull away, but I hold him tight and let him fill my throat, taking every drop of him. His hands on either side of my head ball into fistfuls of bed covering, and his thighs shudder. I cannot read his face in the darkened room, but sense the glint of pleasure in his eyes.
Once he has caught his breath, he shifts back and kisses me again, and I imagine his tongue tasting the saltiness of himself in my mouth. Only for a few seconds. After that, it becomes clear that he is intent on undoing me, returning the gesture and squeezing an orgasm from me. I lie with my hands behind my head and watch him work on me, his silhouetted head bobbing up and down on my groin, alternating speeds and using his tongue to work my head until I can feel the gathering climax.
With one hand pumping my cock, he reaches the other between my legs and touches the crease of my backside. With lightning reflexes, I reach down and grab his wrist. He snorts and withdraws the offending hand.
“Maybe not today, Gabriel.” His hot breath caresses the head of my cock. “But one day. One day, I will have you.”
“Maybe,” I reply, but I don’t believe he ever will.
Fortunately, the intrusion has not affected my arousal, and very soon, he has me spilling my seed on my stomach. Once I amdrained, he makes a point of reciprocating, licking up every spill before kissing me and letting me taste myself.
We lie on our backs together, unspeaking, staring up into the corners of the ceiling, until I feel myself drift off to sleep.
I stir too early, with nightfall outside the window. When I rise on my elbows, Lorenzo is still in my bed, lying on his back, breathing gently. Moonlight shines a path across the bedroom floor, lighting his face. Asleep, he seems at peace, untroubled by dreams. I also see a man at his most vulnerable, trusting me enough to share my bed. The sudden thought makes me miss a breath. Since Albert’s passing, I have only looked out for myself. But I know, as I look down at Lorenzo’s face, that if anyone should even think of harming him, I would end them. I breathe deeply and analyse that thought. Unusually, there are no dissenting voices, no critical opinions arguing or finding logical flaws in my assertion.
I lie back and wonder what is happening to me. But not for long, because the sound of his breathing, combined with his body warmth, lulls me back to sleep.
When I wake again, Lorenzo is gone. I notice light beginning to dilute the darkness, and I step naked from the bed to reach for my Speedos and towel. There is something to be said for swimming lengths as dawn breaks.
On my way through the villa, as I head back to the bedroom, I spot Dr Romano standing by the front door, a phone clamped to his ear. When I nod a welcome, he ends his call.
“Once you’ve changed, come to the kitchen. Mrs Bellacci is up early to make breakfast and get started on your reinvention,” hesays. I wonder absently if he stayed the night. “We have a lot to accomplish today.”
After breakfast is out of the way, Mrs Bellacci takes me to the bathroom in her lodgings and sits me down. I notice the annexe is at right angles, and Bellacci’s bedroom and bathroom sit at one end, with French doors leading out onto the grounds. There’s a communal living area in the middle, and I assume Lorenzo’s bedroom must be at the other end. A chair sits in the middle of the shower area, and after telling me to remove my shoes, socks and shirt, she instructs me to be seated. I close my eyes and let her cut my hair with an electric shaver. After she sweeps up my dark hair, I remain seated while she mixes a potent chemical concoction. She applies this to my head, massages the potion in thoroughly, rinses while I lean backwards, then repeats the process. This happens four or five times. After she has towelled off and blow-dried my head, she instructs me to wear a dark woollen cap.
“Now get dressed.Il dottoreis waiting by his car outside the front gate.”
“What will I need?”
“He has everything. Maybe get a jacket to wear, but take nothing else from your room.”
“The gun?”
Mrs Bellacci smiles as though she is humouring me.