Felicia Read Free Page B

Marcello. He was still at the table, leaning forward on his elbows, his eyes bright, his expression avid. She reached out one hand to him. He almost toppled the table over in his haste to get to her, and quickly she was wrapped up in his arms and he was kissing her with a passion that she hadn’t felt in him since their first night together. She began to sway again in time to the music, and Marcello had to sway with her. What they were doing wasn’t exactly dancing, but she didn’t care. She was content to wait until Marcello had to breathe and break the kiss. She smiled up at him.
    “Dance with me,” she said. “Just hold me and dance with me for a little while longer.”
    Marcello said nothing, but he loosened his grip on her just enough for them to dance as she had wanted. She leaned her head against his shoulder and smelled his cologne.
    “You have bewitched me, Felicia,” he murmured.
    “Mmmmmm…” she purred. “That is exactly what I was trying to do.”
    “You have done the same to many of the other men here as well,” he continued. “I consider myself to be extremely fortunate.”
    “As do I, my darling,” Felicia said happily. “I could dance with you like this forever.”
    “Ah, but I could not,” he said. “I desire you. You must know that. When this dance is over, we will go to the villa, and there we will do a very different dance together.”
    Felicia had intended to stay longer than that, at least until the band had finished their set. But Marcello seemed to have recovered from his earlier drinking far more quickly than she would have thought possible, and in truth she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
    “As you say, Marcello,” she agreed. “But I do not think we will need a band for that.”
    He laughed, and slowly spun her around. As Felicia’s eyes swept across the club, she thought that she saw a familiar face. It looked like the man she had spotted following her before, but her glimpse was too fleeting, the lighting too uncertain for her to be sure. When Marcello spun her around again, she looked to the shadowy alcove where she had seen him. All she saw was a young couple talking animatedly to each other over the drinks they held in their hands. There was no sign of the man. Had she just imagined him? She must have. There was no reason for the man to follow her as long as she was with Marcello, was there? No, of course not. She thought of mentioning the matter to Marcello yet again, and yet again decided against it. She had nothing to hide, but if Marcello wanted to ease his mind by having her watched while he was not around, she didn’t really mind. Anyway, she was in Europe. They probably did things like this all the time.
    By the time the song ended, she was more than ready to go to the villa with Marcello. Her flesh felt very, very warm wherever he touched her, her skin was tingling, and her head felt oddly heavy. She could recognize the signs of her own arousal. When Marcello took her by the hand and started to lead her away out of the club, she didn’t resist at all.
    Stepping from the warmth and noise of the club out into the cooler, quieter night air helped to clear her head, but only a little. She waited as her lover called for their driver to take them to the villa. She’d only been there once before. Usually, the trysts they shared were at the cozy little apartment he had gotten for her back in the town. It was comfortable and plushly appointed, but compared to the opulence of the villa it might as well have been a bare-bones efficiency apartment back in Louisville. The villa had no less than three bedrooms, each with its own magnificent bathroom. There was a broad veranda that overlooked the beach, with a hot tub at one end. There was even a small permanent staff at the place, no more than a cook and a maid, both heavy, older women who seemed to take everything in stride. Felicia had no idea if they approved or disapproved of her coming there, but they both seemed