In the bedroom, I lowered the lights and turned on a little mood music. I felt like in all the busy work of getting moved into his apartment, we hadn't had time to connect like this. I was tired, but I wasn't so tired that I didn't want to engage with Alessandro.

I peeled off my clothes, hurrying into the bathroom to slip into a cute lingerie set Alessandro bought me for our trip to Ireland that I hadn't gotten to wear. I could hear him come into the bedroom, and my heart ...