Too late now.
She’s in my world and she’s not leaving it until I’m done with her. Which, if I have my way, will not be for the rest of our lives.
Eleven
Ophelia
Iwake up in a bedroom bigger than my apartment. I’m going to need to take snacks to sustain me on a trip to get to the far wall.
Where on earth am I?
I sit up and look down. I’m naked. That’s not good. A strange room. A strange bed. I’ve no clothes on. How did I get here? Am I dreaming again?
I try to think, my head pounding from the effort. No, not from the effort. Something else.
The last thing I remember was being in the bar with Cathy. Then what? Then a big fat nothing, that’s what. We were drinking. She went to see Rocky but then he left and then … ?
Nothing comes to me. I look around for clues. Heavy blankets on the bed along with a rock hard mattress. Drinks cabinet and two armchairs over by the fireplace. A bookcase. A dressing table. A couple of doors. One opens into an enormous bathroom. The other is locked. Am I trapped in here?
Where even is here?
What else is there to go on?
A great big pair of red velvet curtains on one wall. Paintings. A Tracy Benn of a man I recognize. Is that Vincenzo Felici in that painting? Younger than he is today. Naked, a chair blocking the part of his anatomy I most want to see. Did he pose naked for her?
Shit, is this his bedroom? What happened last night?
My cellphone rings and it makes me jump. I look at the bedside cabinet. There’s my handbag with my phone inside it.
I answer the call, relieved to hear Cathy on the other end. “Where are you?” I ask. “Are you all right?”
“I’m not sure,” she replies. “I don’t recognize where I am. Did I go off with someone last night?”
“If you did, so did I. What do you remember?”
“We were drinking and it all went weird. I don’t remember anything after that.”
“Me neither. I’d come and find you but I’m locked in.”
“Ditto. Call me if you work anything out.”
I look for my clothes after hanging up. Piled up on the floor next to the bed.
What on earth happened to me? How did I end up naked?
I’m bending over to pick my things up when there’s a knock on the door behind me followed by the rattle of a key. I yelp in panic and the door bursts open a second later. “Are you all right?” a voice asks as I grab the blankets off the bed and wrap them around me as best I can.
I turn and find myself looking into Vincenzo’s face, filled with concern. “You screamed,” he says. “What happened?”
“I’m fine,” I squeak back, doing my best to keep the blanket from slipping down my chest. How much of me did he just see? “Get out!”
His face darkens and he walks toward me. “You think you can tell me what to do in my own house?”
He seems a foot taller when he reaches me, towering over me and I’m acutely aware that I’m naked under this blanket. My nipples stiffen at the sight of that gorgeous face of his, even looking at me in anger like this.
Between my legs starts to tingle as he stares at me like he’s waiting for me to answer. “I want to get dressed,” I say, refusing to imagine bending over to be spanked for my impertinence.
“Go ahead.”