Page 14 of Someone Exactly Like Me (Wounded Hearts 1)
“So, when you make up the hero for your next book, what’s he like in your fantasy?”
I draw back my head, shaking it. “I’m not telling you that.”
“I already know you fantasize. I’m sure you have a vibrant imagination.” He pauses, studying my eyes. “So tell me, what’s he like?”
I break his gaze and spin my stool away from him and toward the bar, clearing my throat. “He’s…” I hesitate. How did I get myself into this conversation? Thank goodness for those drinks or I’d be shaking from nerves right now. Will he put two and two together? “Taller than me with dark hair and brown eyes. Broad shoulders.” Envisioning the man I’m describing, I let my eyes drift upward. Will he know who it is? “He’s muscular yet gentle. Confident, passionate, and knows how to please a woman. He appreciates and revels in the anticipation and sensuality of foreplay.”
“So.” His voice breaks my reverie, bringing me back. “Someone like me.”
I turn my face toward him. His gaze freezes me. “No,” I say firmly. “He desires me.”
He spins my stool to face him and drags it toward him with my legs between his, locking his eyes on mine. “Someoneexactlylike me.”
A blaze of heat lights up my body and I suck in a breath. Yes, it’s him. I’ve just described him to him and now he knows I fantasize about him. I open my mouth and nothing comes out. Nothing.
“Are you two going to sit here and talk all night?” Giovanna’s voice extinguishes the flames combusting between us.
I’d been holding my breath and finally exhale.
“Maybe we will,” Nicco says with an edge.
“Nicco, come dance with me,” she whines, tugging on the sleeve of his shirt.
“I’m not in the mood for dancing, Gigi.” He looks at me. “Please excuse me.” Pushing his stool back from mine, he goes to the in-suite restroom.
Bouncing up and down to the beat of the music, Giovanna orders another drink and doesn’t say a word to me. Barry whips up her drink and she goes back to join the others who are still huddled together and dancing.
I’ve got to get my head on straight so I ask Barry for a glass of water which he promptly gets for me.
Nicco comes back from the restroom, sits on his stool, and sips his whiskey. “Where do you get your inspiration from? Also other books and movies? Sitting in a park?”
I nod. “Those, sometimes. For me, I often get visions that come to me. I don’t really sit down and make up what I want to write and then write. A vision pops into my head and I have to write the story of the vision. Usually I get them after I watch a movie. I know, it sounds strange. We writers have crazy things that go on inside our heads.” I chuckle at my admission.
“No, not strange. Sometimes that’s how my songs come to me. So, what are you writing now? What’s the story?”
I pull my lips into a grimace. “Well, I’ve been in a bit of a slump lately.”
“Ah. I can’t stand when my brain is stuck like that. What do you do when that happens?”
“I used to take walks on the beach and that usually helps. But it hasn’t lately.”
“No?’
“No. But I did start writing something tonight while you guys were shooting.”
“Really? That’s good. Can I see it?”
“No.” The word flies out of my mouth. “I mean, it’s really very, very rough.” No, no, no. I’m not letting him get his hands on these pages. Talk about complete mortification. I’d die if he read them. My fantasies about him splayed out on paper. Oh no. Not happening.
Okay, it’s time to break the seal. Although I know that I’ll have to pee every ten minutes after the first one, I just can’t hold it. The door to the in-suite restroom is closed and I can see light shining from underneath.
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to use the restroom.” I stand up, remove his jacket from my shoulders and lay it over the back of the bar stool.
“Yes, of course. I’ll have a cigarette. Meet you back here?”
“Oh, um, feel free to mingle. Maybe you can find tonight’s conquest.” I wink at him. Hah! Look at me, winking at Niccolo Mancini. WhoamI?
“Or not. Remember, I’m on a mission to convince you I’m someone other than what my reputation has you believing about me.” He winks back at me.
