Within seconds, he pushed me against the wall and kissed me.

Ivo’s tongue inched its way into my mouth then finally had it sliding against my tongue. I loved it when he was like this, all over me, wanting more and more until he couldn’t take it any longer.

As we kissed, I started tugging at his shirt for him to take it off.

We made our way to the bedroom and Ivo positioned his body on top of me, our lips still locked in a kiss.

“Brandy,” he murmured.

I sucked in a sharp breath as he started to nibble on my neck and moaned as he went deeper into the kiss. He kissed a trail from my cleavage to my navel. He swirled his tongue around the outside once and trailed his hands over my stomach. My muscles tensed as he reached for the waistband of my panties.

We removed the last stitch of clothing separating us. I slid my hand up the back of his thigh and up over the swell of his ass, cupping it then gliding my hand down to his cock. He stopped me and said, “I want to make you feel good.”

Fear still lingered within me, but he’d somehow managed to make me lose myself. Each and every one of his delicate caresses set my nerves on edge, quickening my breath and increasing the fluttering in my stomach.

I moaned breathlessly as his tongue edged slowly south, toward the area that craved him the most. The throbbing between my legs dramatically increasing as the words slipped from my mouth. My head shot up, and my eyes flickered open as his tongue left my skin.

“You’re close.” He looked up to meet my eyes. His features were soft, but his eyes were dark, the darkest I’d ever seen them.

His eyes were locked with mine for a moment. I was pleading for him to continue. He seemed to be questioning if I was comfortable, seeing as his expression remained nondescript. Then it shifted, almost as if he admitted to himself that I was going out of my mind and that I needed him to continue before I shouted at him to do so. With a cheeky smile spread across his lips, his eyes narrowing slightly as they darkened with desire. He slowly ran his tongue along his bottom lip before biting it.

“So are you,” I whispered. It was getting harder to speak as my body neared the edge of the cliff that he was driving me to.

I took my bag and tossed him the condom. Within seconds, he had me on my back and hovered over me.

He thrust into me and began moving effortlessly back and forth, the warmth and tightness increasing in the pit of my abdomen as he did so. My eyes closed as my ecstasy continued to build. My hands went from his face to his upper arms, gripping them as he increased his pace.

A sublime pleasure crashed over me as the heaviness and aching in the pit of my stomach exploded. My body tensed uncontrollably as strangled, orgasm-fueled moans slipped from the very back of my throat. My body arched against him as my head lolled back in pleasure.

“Shit,” he groaned, his voice deep and strained as his head dipped into the crook of my neck. His body went rigid above me as he hit his high and released his load within me. His thrusts were weakening, and his lips fell on my collarbone, sucking on my soft skin as he grunted in pleasure.

Our chests rose and fell against one another as we tried to catch our breath.

He placed a single kiss on my forehead and held me close. His expression shifted to sadness, unease, and empathy. He then wrapped his arm around my body, pulling me into his chest and hugging me.

“Enough of the sex, Brandy. We need to talk.” At that moment, words failed me.

After a few minutes of cuddling, I whispered against his chest, “I’m hungry, Ivo. Can we just eat?”

“All right then, let’s go and after we eat you will tell me something about what I read in your journal, okay?” He ran his fingers through my hair.

My head jerked up and turned to look at him. “Ivo, just drop it okay, it’s not even your business.”

I shifted beside him and attempted to sit up. Ivo placed a hand on my shoulder, guiding me back to the warmth of the bed.

“Ivo, I’m fine.” I tried to sit up again before Ivo stopped me, his hand pressed on my shoulder once again as he leaned over me.

I remained silent as he gazed at me. Then, he lowered his head and kissed my lips. When he drew back, a slight blush crept to my cheeks.

“Hey, my underwear… can I put my underwear back on?” I spoke, a little embarrassed.

He glanced at me as he let out a laugh. “You’re so cute.” He grinned, placing a kiss on my cheek.

After retrieving the flimsy lace panties from the floor, he peeled back the covers and helped me pull my panties up my legs. His eyes were fixed on my face, and his lips gave a small smile as he instructed me to raise my hips, allowing him to pull my underwear from under the soft curve of my backside.

Suddenly my phone rang. Marge was calling. She really had great timing.

Ivo rested on top of me.

“Hey, Brandywiney! How have you been? Why aren’t you telling me anything about your sexcapades? Have you banged Italians already? Tell me how many? Tell me! Tell me! Are they big?”

We could no longer suppress our laughter.

“Oh my God! I heard a guy laughing! Are you… having… are you…?”

“Hey, Marge, even if you’re not on speaker we could hear you.” Ivo and I chuckled.

“Brandy Curtis! You can’t get away with this! Give me details. Give me, give me!”

Ivo stood up and shook his head, still laughing. He put on his boxers and headed for the door.

“I’ll call you back, Marge,” I told her, ending the call quickly. “Where are you going?”

He glanced back, running his fingers through his hair to brush some strands away from his face. “I’m going to buy you something to eat.”

“Oh, okay.” I awkwardly took a seat at the edge of the mattress, unsure of what to do. I’d never really been like this around a guy before, feeling so alone that I didn’t want him to leave.

My hair fell over the sides of my face as I looked down, fumbling with my fingers. I attempted to fight the smile threatening to creep on my lips as a pair of feet came into view. I wiggled my toes, the red polish glittering in the dim light.

“Nice color,” he complimented. My eyes found his face, and I saw him peering curiously at me. At that, my smile faded, transforming instead into something like confusion as I tilted my head.

“What’s wrong?” His voice sounded concern.

“Nothing.” I shook my head and gave him a weak smile.

“I’ll be back. If you don’t want to talk about it, I’m not going to force you.” The worried look on his face was adorable. He pressed his lips to mine, and I began to giggle as he proceeded to kiss me all over my face. I gently swatted him away, and Ivo laughed, pecking me a final time on the mouth.

As soon as Ivo left to buy us food, I went out of my room to call Marge and grabbed something to drink.

“Hey, what’s up?” I greeted Marge.

“What’s up, my ass! How could you be so selfish? Why did you hide it from me?”

“Hide what from you?”

“I can’t believe it, you’re my best friend, and you haven’t told me anything about that guy who has that sexy laugh yet!” Marge whined.

“Hey, you didn’t tell me when you screwed chief either!”

She went silent for a while, and then we both burst out laughing.

“I miss you, Brandy.”

“I miss you, too, Marge. I know you hate it when I don’t tell you stuff, but I can tell you now. What do you wanna know?”

“Everything!”

“Okay, Ivo and I are in this arrangement…” I started to say.

“W-wait what’s his name? Ivo?” Marge interrupted.

“Yeah Ivo, as in like Primitivo,” I answered and took a sip of the fresh milk that I got from the fridge.

“Eww! He doesn’t sound hot to me.”

I couldn’t stop laughing, just imagining her expression.

“Hey, guess who I bumped into at the wedding?”

“Who?”

“Matt. Matteo Moretti. My dear ex-boyfriend!”

“Whoa, you got a blast from the past that night, huh?”

“Apparently, he is Mia’s brother. Why did Carl hook up with his sister, of all people?”

“Carl told you Matt was Mia’s brother when they were just starting. You don’t remember?”

I went silent for a moment.

“Y-yeah, of course, I do…remember,” I paused. “I don’t really care actually. I was with Ivo that night. I’m telling you, Ivo is sexy and brainy. He’s hot and thoughtful, but he’s kind of clingy.”

“So? It’s not your problem. That’s his. Tell me about this arrangement.”

“Well, we agreed to exclusively hook up with each other for as long as I’m here.”

“What? You’re exclusively having sex with him?”

“Relax; it’s not as if I committed a crime or something.”

“So you mean, the moment your feet landed in Verona and saw this Ivo, you hooked up with him and are now exclusively seeing him until next week?”

“Um… yeah,” I answered while nodding my head.

“That’s gotta be boring!”

I laughed at the craziness of my best friend. I love this girl. We’d been partners in crime since high school. She knows me more than anyone else, aside from my mom. But thinking about my mom made me gloomy, so I shoved the thought of her out of my head, and just played along with Marge’s craziness.

“Ivo isn’t boring. He’s… well, let’s just, say he knows how to make me scream.”

“Oh, my Sugar Honey Ice Tea! Is he big?”

“I’m here.” I heard Ivo’s husky voice as he entered the suite.

“Got to go, Marge.”

“Oh, I heard him! You’ll pay for this! Call me if you need an interpreter, okay? You know, Italian language major here.”

“I know! Don’t worry, I will. Please send my regards to your mom.”

“I will, Brandywiney. Just enjoy your stay and enjoy Ivo!”

I ended the call and turned to Ivo.

“Hey, what took you so long? What did you get?” I took the paper bag from his hand. The food smelled heavenly as I prepared it on the counter.

“I went to Cantinetta and asked Antonia to make us some spinach ravioli lasagna.” Ivo leaned over and hugged me from behind. I stiffened. I guessed he noticed it because he gave me a what-the-fuck-is-up-with-you look but he didn’t let go.

“Agata asked me to ask you if you could go to our house in the countryside tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck.

Ivo wiggled his eyebrows up and down.

“Nah, I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Ivo, this is not what we agree—”

“Brandy, I won’t be there,” he said, cutting me off.

“What? You’re not gonna be there? Why are you asking me to go then?”

“It was Agata. She wanted to tour you around Verona. You can take Scotch and your brothers too if you want. You already had a tour of the inner city. It’s a perfect short break Brandy. Imagine yourself going to an unspoiled village a few kilometers away from one of the most beautiful lakes in Europe, staying at a charming house next to a watermill, tasting exclusive wines and having a cookery lesson with a great expert,” said Ivo, trying to convince me.

“Nah, I think they’re enjoying their stay in Valpolicella. Where are you going then?”

“I’m going to Rome. A colleague of mine asked me to handle one of his cases. I think I might need to take a look at it.”

“Oh, okay.” My hands dropped to my side.

“I won’t be gone for long.”

I cleared my throat and brought the cheerfulness back to my voice. “I actually don’t care. As long as I have Agata, I won’t be lost In Verona.”

“Great!” He gave me that turn-my-legs-into-Jell-O smile. “So can I tell Agata that you’re going?”

“Tell Agata I’m going to taste all the wines there so she better be ready!”

“She’ll be happy to hear that!”

Ivo left the counter and called Agata to tell her the good news. I felt something odd inside me. Ivo won’t be around for I don’t know how long.

Am I starting to be the clingy one?

He came back, and I put a smile on my face.

We ate dinner together and just cuddled on the sofa until Ivo drifted to sleep. His phone buzzed so often that I got so irritated, I wanted to turn it off myself.

I grabbed his phone and accidentally opened it to the new message section. I saw a message from Betina. I wasn’t the type who invaded privacy, but the curiosity was killing me. I clicked on the message and read it. I was overcome with curiosity to know what the message meant so I called Marge and asked her to translate it for me.

According to Marge, Agata told her that Ivo was going to Rome, and she wanted to go with him because she missed him.

I just shrugged it off and put his phone back down at the center table. To take my mind off that message, I browsed my inbox and decided to answer a fan’s e-mail.

Dear Juliet,

I have been a fan of yours for years, and I have enjoyed your articles. I was wondering if you could give me advice without having it published.

So here it goes, I have been dating a commitment-phobic individual off and on for over a year, and as can be expected, the relationship has been a roller coaster ride. He’s a very cool guy, intelligent and handsome. I really like him. I enjoy his wit and humor, but he made it clear that he’s just enjoying my company and our kinky fuckery. However, I want something more. I want a relationship with him, but he keeps changing topic whenever I try to bring it up. I tried to stay away from him but after a couple of days or so I found myself dialing his number, asking if he wanted to hang out. Now, it’s been three days that I haven’t contacted him. I’m trying hard not to reply to his messages. He says he misses me, but that’s it.

Should I try to contact him and discuss where both of us stand? Or am I better off just walking away completely and write it off as a loss even though I will miss him dearly?

I am truly at a loss.

I hope to hear from you soon, and I deeply appreciate your generosity in fulfilling this request.

Love,

Emily

***

Dear Emily,

Why run after someone who is this ambivalent about wanting a commitment?

It is one thing to call someone a commitment-phobic individual. It is another thing to keep hoping that things will be different. I wonder why you feel he will change. Is he in therapy? Is he working toward dealing with whatever issues made him so fearful of commitment in the first place? Probably not.

Basically, people don’t change all that much. If he doesn’t want to commit and has not already done so, he either has his own issues to work through or else he just isn’t ready. In that case, there is nothing you can do about this except to choose a direction that is more emotionally satisfying. As far as remaining friends, perhaps you could be in the future but right now. I would totally cool it.

I hope this advice has been useful. Please keep me posted and good luck!

Love,

Juliet

I was left staring at my PDA for quite a while rereading everything that I wrote down. After thousands of fan-mails I’ve answered over the years, this one came from Brandy this time, not from Juliet.