14Chapter 1- Bella and Leo
'Hey, Honey, could you pass the sun cream please?'
Bella jerked her gaze away from the gorgeous piece of eye candy on the other side of the pool. He was tall, dark, and most definitely Italian. His abs were perfectly defined and his skin was deeply tanned. She hadn't seen his eyes yet, but she was sure that they would be just as yummy as the rest of him.
The only problem was, he was a complete stranger. Bella didn't do complete strangers, it just wasn't her style.
In a daze, she reached for the bottle of sun cream and handed it to her mother. Her mother, Melanie, accepted the bottle with a word of thanks and then looked over at her daughter. Bella had sunk low on her lounger with her book right in front of her face so that she wouldn't be tempted to look at the guy on the other side of the pool. But Melanie didn't know the last part.
'Honey, are you okay? You look awful. Do you have sunstroke? Heatstroke?' Bella looked at her mother, a wry smile turning up the corners of her lips. According to her mother, someone with a chipped nail looked awful- so there also was no point in telling Melanie that sunstroke and heatstroke were practically the same thing.
'I'm fine, Mum. Completely fine. Nothing's wrong; nothing at all!' The lie- complete with bright smile- was enough to convince Melanie that everything was normal. Bella's mother seemed to think that she was a born matchmaker and if she discovered that Bella was flustered over a guy she would go bonkers.
Bella tried to focus on her book. It was interesting enough; how could it not be? It was by Steven King. But it was still extremely hard to concentrate on a book when you were worrying if there was a patch of cellulite showing on your thighs, a bit of excess fat on your stomach, several stretch marks on your hips (souvenirs of growing to be a tall teenager).
It wasn't that Bella was overly vain about her appearance; she didn't really give a damn to be honest. But with a piece of very nice looking man-flesh sitting but a few feet away from her it was hard not to worry.
She sneaked a peak over the top of her book. Her plan of attack was mainly fixated on the fact that she was wearing dark sunglasses so that no one would guess what or who she was looking at.
Crap! He was looking right at her!
She ducked back behind her book very quickly while colour flooded into her cheeks. His eyes were beautiful. They were a deep green, almost like emeralds, but darker. And they had looked at her with so much intensity...just...wow.
Right, Bella thought, I'm gunna do something, because if I don't then I won't be able to stop thinking about him, and then it'll really annoy me, and then...argh!
'You know what, Mum? I think you were right about that heatstroke thing. I'm going in the pool to cool off.' Melanie waved her hand slightly to signify that she had heard.
Bella got up, took her sunglasses off and flipped her blonde hair behind her ears, showing off a pair of medium sized gold hoops. She adjusted her black bikini, knowing that he was watching her. Then she walked around the pool to where the steps were.
She knew she was torturing herself by going in slowly instead of diving in and dunking her whole body quickly but she just wasn't the type who could do that. The water may look warm and inviting but that was just a very clever rouse to make innocent swimmers shiver violently.
She stepped in slowly, squashing the squeal that almost bubbled from her throat. If she was going to play the temptress then it would hardly do for the guy to think she couldn't handle a bit of cold water!
Once she was in the pool completely she ducked her head under once, gasped under water, and then resurfaced. Bella was about to wipe the excess water from her hair and face when another figure caught her eye.
There was a man standing on the diving board. The very one whom she had been looking at; for which she was thankful. There must be at least twelve other people lazing about the pool and if she was going to stage this conversation then she would rather no one overheard it.
She carried on watching the man on the diving board, and just as he was about to leap off of the plank he looked up, caught her eye, and winked at her. It was enough to make her knees weak. He sprang off of the board and executed a perfect dive. She watched briefly the way his muscles rippled before he sliced cleanly through the water.
When he surfaced he shook the water out of his hair, leaving it tousled and unruly. He saw Bella off to his side and swam through the big pool towards her. The look in his eyes had her grasping the sides of the pool firmly to keep herself upright.
He stopped in front of her- leaving just enough space to not be invading her personal space. Part of her was thankful for this, but another cried out for him to come closer.
Bella tried to look aloof and carefree but her heart was pumping so fast she was sure that he would be able to hear it!
Jeez! What was wrong with her? She had never reacted this way to anyone before, and she'd been out with her fair share of good-looking guys. There had been Josh Davis- now he was gorgeous! But as she frantically scanned this man's face she realised that he apparently wasn't gorgeous enough.
Just as she had looked him over, he was looking her over. Taking in every single detail of her appearance. Right from the chocolate colour of her eyes, to the silver nail polish on her finger nails.
He lingered for a moment on her chest, which she guessed was inevitable considering he was of the male species. But the way he did it didn't feel creepy or sleazy in any way. In fact, it probably made her want to stick her chest out and bring to his attention just how cold the water was.
Bella snorted inwardly. What on Earth was she thinking? Here she was in one of the most romantic and foreign places in the world (if you compared it to England) - of course she was getting sudden urges! The urges to throw her morals out the window and experience an Italian fling!
Besides, he had probably been with enough women for him to guess what cup size she was just by looking!
She was just getting to grips with herself when he smiled and said, 'Buon giorno. I am Leo.'
Okay, so I said I would delete this story and then put it back up chapter by re-edited chapter, but pressing that 'Delete Story' button was harder than I thought it would be! (The small quantity of alcohol helped somewhat!)
So, here's Chapter One (again), for old readers - I love you, lol. And for new, I hope you stick around!
Nat x