Part V Compari and Soda
To have said Astorre Gregorii Marcello lives large was an understatement. From the moment they leave the Beaulieu, she's is in the world as he knows it a flamboyant way of life...
They board an awaiting Gulfstream IV a steward is right there, “Good day Mr. Marcello we’ll take off in about ten minutes.” Its roomy and nicely decor-ed. He doesn’t ask if they want anything in this world his every whim is known and catered to. Lunch has been prepared, drinks are mixed, his pillow fluffed. Yes she knew as Gregor he made a decent living running his family's wine business but never had a clue until now to what extent. What's still troublesome is eating a buffet on his ass right along with all his other women, who is she to talk, if she was a relationships guru she wouldn’t be divorced.
His steward a man at least fifty with gray finely cropped hair returns, “excuse me,” handing him a note the man waits for a reply.
Gregor reads while talking, “if you need to stop home it can be arranged.”
In his world everything can be arranged, “no I’ll make do; I’ll pick up some things along the way.” Besides she hasn’t bought anything since her separation but a dress in Marseilles she wants post marriage clothes and not just Kate sending her things.
He hands the note back, “Thank you Guillermo I’ll look into this.” He heard her response and is amused she's always been so very different especially from the women he dates not one of them would wing it, if they don't have their props, they throw a hissy fit. He's always liked her style she's not the most beautiful woman he's ever been with but she is the prettiest no one quite does it like Elizabeth.
She doesn't know where they're going or how long it'll take to get there but she's falling asleep where she's sure he'll invade her dreams in some way or another. She’s agreed to live in this bubble for now until it burst. Then she'll have this whatever it is out of her system hopefully their friendship will survive he says he loves her but what does that entail, is he in it for the long haul, marriage? Or just more of hanging out together without commitment, traveling around on vacations.
She keeps forgetting the new line of thinking she's not into it for the long haul, that's old baggage, this Elizabeth Webber enjoys the moment and takes nothing for granted, besides, they aren't a couple they haven't made love, who knows if she's in love with him, t she's putting the cart in front of the horse. They're enjoying each others' company.
Naples (Capodichino) International Airport
She gradually pulls herself up from a nap she's in a bed, Damn how did I get here?
She squints at an illuminated sky but its dark out. “What time is it ... how long have I been out?" her inner voice just won't keep still. The sheet is gathered about her she makes way to the bath checking her cell for calls from the kids, after freshening up, there's a tray with cold dinner to eat. By then she makes it to the front of the plane after she putting on her washed, ironed, neatly folded clothes from yesterday. He can’t have a washing machine and dryer on this plane.
Gregor is watching a movie. "Good evening my darling come sit with me."
"I was more tired than I thought," or more hung over. "Sorry to have messed up the plan."
"We'll leave at day's light the car is waiting," he points from their window "Right out there."
a blue sports car…he leads such an arranged life.
He tells her the movie is BUtterfield 8. "I've seen it so many times but I like the cast."
She's never seen it and has a mixed reaction about Gloria Wonderous, Elizabeth Taylor, who falls in love with a married man. Laurence Harvey, she reminds her of the ersatz persona of Sandra McIntire living for pleasure bouncing from man to man more than willing to take what she can get from them.
"Oh Elizabeth Taylor didn't like it either probably right up until she was nominated for an academy award. She had a contractual obligation to complete one film ..this is it."
He knows so much about films its a wonder he didn't become an actor like his father.
He switches subjects Gregor has a habit of just starting a new topic right in the middle of a discussion, its not quite digression its more like rushing to a point before its forgotten.
"Don't be cross with me but I went shopping ...just to get you started. The martial arts studio has a store its a retail center there...so..."
“So you went in a store to buy ladies underwear I would like to have seen that.”
“Well they’re too small they're not for me, ” he jokes.
It makes her laugh she takes from her new suitcase another bag, another color and style flip flops, white shorts this time, hair brush, comb and a T-shirt that says Naples. She throws her legs over an arm of the sofa she's tempted to lay her head in his lap but doesn't. While she's making the decision of just how far to go with him, Guillermo brings them more buttered popcorn she takes a handful, pops open a diet coke. Instead of complaining, she genuinely appreciates him thinking of her,
"thank you for getting me started with a suitcase."
Just then she catches sight of boxes of Junior mints she pours one over the popcorn, "you remember."
Gregor was born into film royalty he grew up on locations he traveled to every one of his father's movie sets from infancy it bonded him with a famous father who loved every aspect of filmmaking. In the late sixties, he was already a teen sensation so he honed the rules of the game he never complained and took his trappings of fame in stride, "it comes with the territory," he always said. But he knew how to play the press to his advantage.
In later years, he took on character roles, directed and co-produced a few. He hob-knobbed with many icons of his time novelists, playwrights, actors, in stage and film: Ursula Andress, Sean Connery, Alaine Deleon, Jean Paul Belmondo, Harvey, Cliff, Olivia deHaviland the old school stars of black and white.
After years dating an assortment of starlets Alessandro eventually fell for his mother, Paola de Angelis Pierli, an intellectual, who studied Viticulture and Enology, from generations of winemakers only after their arranged marriage. Why? He hasn’t yet been told, maybe because he never asked but they fell in love in Piedmont and stayed that way until he was killed on location in a crash. To this day, in his collection of toys there isn’t a helicopter and he refuses to ride in one.
There were many truths spoken at the Beaulieu he apologized for the way he handled her visits he confessed, "I was way out of line; I’m use to getting my way forgive me."
He repeated what he's said before, "I assumed because I love you it was a done deal. I wanted you to choose me… when it didn't happen; I lashed out."
Elizabeth accepted his apology, "feelings threw me I never considered you romantically in love with me it was important to you and I quickly dismissed it."
When he corrected her 'is' Elizabeth, "I am in love with you right now."
She snuggled in his arms wanting to know everything about him, from him, not a magazine. She tells him she asked once how dangerous he is on a scale of one to ten.
He suspects Jason never trusted him, “What did he say?” he asks curiously.
“Twelve.”
Is it time to tell her that he interceded an assassination attempt to save Sonny’s life by resting the tip of a gun in Andrei Karpove's ear and blew his brains out, probably not.
Positano Campania
They're driving south from Naples down a stretch of a twenty-eight mile coastline around a mountain range but he cuts across land. An hour and some later they stop on a brink of an enclave on the face of hill to stretch their legs; the wind is high but warm. After this respite, they stroll off the beaten path through a vertical town stop shopping along the way. At one boutique she picks up some things. Souvenirs for the kids and Monica, Tracey, for Em a bottle of Paestum perfume from Le Sirenuse. They went to a place called Profumi di Positano she gets something for Audrey, Robin, Lainey, Kelly. They end up sampling the Limoncello lemon liqueur while soaking the spectacular scenery he points out the sights and explains some of town's history, its churches.
They check in a small place similar to an American bed and breakfast, its not by chance, it’s been pre-arranged what surprises her they’re in separate rooms, across the hall from each other. They meet on his terrace for lunch while he makes calls she stands before a magnificent view. He also made arrangements for martial arts practice…he may want this as alone time she didn't intrude besides she has plenty to keep busy make and return calls, texts, she mails a postcard to Cy.
Hope you are and yours are well.. We're in a town that is built on the side of a mountain. We're on our way up to Nocelle, a tiny village also carved into the side of a mountain. The sights are a dream and our sea is at its best, it sparkles today.
Your Liz must sign off now having lunch w/Guess Who .....Ha-ha Tee hee-hee...
Later, they're strolling the town its a very relaxed but sexually charged evening they're shooting sparks off each other this thing between them is undeniable. She thought she was attracted to Heveraux, now she's not so sure less than a week after that she feels an attraction to Gregor that's overpowered her fleeting interest in the photographer. Its almost ten months since she's had sex something she had daily or more for over six years. In this sexual drought its hard to determine if these feelings are real or maybe she's just horny.
“So what do you think?" He interrupts her sexually charged train of thought, "some of these towns are one or two big hills maybe with a beach but it doesn’t detract from their beauty.”
“All my years in this country I’ve never been here; it’s true what they say a spectacular sight, truly incredible.”
But not spectacular enough to sketch, thinks Gregor his intent isn't to bully and pummel her into it. This must come from within but he’ll do all he can to push it along something …someone has suppressed her desire to paint. They passed an art store she didn’t go in or give it a second glance.
What is it Elizabeth what damage has he done this time?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning she walks farther down a precipitous pathway drinking a cup of coffee its view is simply as amazing. While Gregor goes to another studio for martial arts and meditation she spends the morning in the spa getting the Cy treatment: manicure, pedicure, and a massage in mineral oils they say will condition her fair skin against the sun. The masseuse hands glide over her gently squeezing and kneading in just the right places she's oohing and ahhing aloud..
Next a treatment that leaves her hair darker with more redder tones but they swear by it, it will alleviate her hair frying in the sun.
"Senora it will return to the natural color in a few hours."
If you say so
In the boutique, the saleswoman shows her a black skirt with a colorful print, black T she buys them along with a simple red fitted dress an extra blouse with a pocket that reads 'I’ve just left Positano'. When she returns to the hotel she quick changes for another walk then comes across a hat shop she buys two straw hats.
Ravello commune Salerno,
They’re back on that coastline going up another hill about forty-five minutes later they pass a sign that reads in Italian, Welcome to Ravello the perfect break.
In the main square, the residents are chatting; children play football. There are more small boutiques she stops in one and goes to the shoe section’s rack of new arrivals and tries on black thong sandals with a small heel and some walking shoes that don’t look orthopedic. "These feel great I'll take them." At another boutique, she’s talked into buying Aqua Di Ravello an Eau de Toilette. Gregor holds up both pieces of a green suit, “for swimming in the sea,” he says, then holds up a white cover. Gregor likes shopping no online buying for him.
This time they don’t stay in a hotel but with Gregor’s friends she’s escorted to a guest room while Gregor is in the living room on a let out sofa cellos, violins are in a glass walled sun room with cobalt blue tiles.
“We’re members of the Concert Society’s chamber music orchestra but it’s the annual season of the Music Festival we are playing tonight with the John Tesh orchestra last week was jazz Wynton Marsalles.”
Renalto spoke of the famous who spent holidays here movie stars, writers: Humphrey Bogart, Greta Garbo and her lover, Jacqueline Kennedy, Tennessee Williams.
"That's how we met, his father and my uncle, a sound editor, were the best of friends Astorre came here on vacations. Davide tells stories of their childhood playing in the hills pulling pranks.
“Ah since he’s older he should have known better,” laughs Gregor.
Elizabeth doesn’t realize until a few hours later that Renalto is a same sex partner, not an unusual occurrence in the art world,
“So you’re musicians my daughter plays the piano they tell me she's pretty good... a prodigy.”
“And web designers we have a company. Would you like to see it?”
“Sure.”
“He takes her outside to a small stand alone structure like a garage. We tried working from the house but its too distracting we like to separate it from the music.”
Afterwards they show her some of their work web designs and sites they maintain. Renalto set up refreshments outside on the side of their company on a table with fruit, Foccaccia, mozzarella di bufala, assorted nuts, orange juice, a large salad and Marcello wine. Its here she’s confronted when Davide asks what she does for a living.
“What do you do Elizabeth Webber?”
“An artist.”
“So are you famous like this bloke?”
“I guess not you haven't heard of me but I have a studio."
Gregor is tempted to say she's being modest she has three studios and an art school but she should tell her story the way she wants it told besides he can gage her response to get a clue as to why she's not painting. Before he finishes his thought,
“Are you working on something?” Asks Renalto between chews he stops scooping up cheese with bread waiting a response.
"I’m ahhh…. considering … some old sketches with... maybe a new technique I haven’t tried something different in awhile. Right now I’m just hanging out."
“with this tall one?”
She smiles, “Umm humm...he’s been a wonderful guide.”
Gregor watches the exchange he’s been revered as a good listener people have said they can hear him think. Maybe somewhere he can find something to latch onto, first impression, she wants to bolt from that chair after he asked what she's working on.
"So what is next a day trip to Pompeii... Sorrento? Asks Renalto.
They all walk back to the house, “maybe next time we're on a tight schedule. But tonight its the festival, right after, we head out ...so! I need a nap." He goes to their living room lays his long sensuous body over the couch when he catches her staring adoringly he winks and purses his lips in a kiss, smooch style, it makes a funny sound she laughs uncontrollably.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before the concert, he squires her about the festival's art shows, she was genuinely interested which surprised him, there's dancers, photography exhibits, clowns, balloons,discussion groups now they're walking around a garden, this one, attached to a medieval church, he holds her hand squeezing it when he wants her to pay attention at some detail.
She took great care with the one dress she has its not a KHO but the red is a good contrast against the night its hugging every curve she has and the thong heeled sandals work.
Gregor is much the same understated khaki pants white shirt, sunglasses, leather slip-ons with no socks. Sounds simple except the pants are tailored; the shirt is hand made. Still, it doesn't take much for him to look good those curls rippling with wind helps. He compliments her darkened hair which hasn't totally returned to its original color.
"You look very Italian I like it."
Well, so much for blonds.
Finally they settle in their seats the concert's main attraction there's no introduction Tesh, playing a piano, rises on a platform overlooking the coast center stage The acoustics in the open air theater more than make up for swatting a few insects; its a romantic night he holds her hand off and on whispers in her ear, "you look lovely....you smell delicious." Or she catches him gazing at her when she's trying to gaze at him.
At the end, the platform lowers and fireworks begin to pop off the water its a beautiful night. Gregor waves his goodbye to Davide and Renalto, a few minutes later, they're heading back to his house to pick up the car its already packed including an extra carryall, compliments of Renalto, they take off again.
"The kids would have loved the fireworks.
"Then we'll bring them next season they have a children's program."
She wonders how he knows this and again he reads her thoughts.
"My parents brought me every year even when I was old enough to come on my own we always came together its my favorite festival."
"Where now?" She asks.
"Down there," he answers.
Click to viewAmalfi province of Salerno, Campania, Italy,
Half hour later they pull up to a residence well it doesn't seem to be a hotel he leaves the car in the drive below they walk up steps, lots of steps... to a front door of a house edging on a cliff maybe its another friend's place but he takes a key out and opens the door. There is no houseman, he brings their luggage starts opening windows, its stuffy, He looks mischievously,
"Before you ask, its my father's we don't come here often anymore when I was a boy....every year." He speaks on his father's liking for real estate, especially Italian, he called it an 'investment.'
"He was an excessive man it started when he was to buy, fix up, sell but he never got around to the last part instead he got so attached he kept them. A few properties were inherited from my grandparents but it was so inexpensive back then now its a lot different. My father got this for not even two thousand American dollars now its worth millions. I can never bring myself to let them go especially while my mother is alive even though she doesn't come here. The memories are too strong so she doesn't try anymore."
He tells her about when he saved his allowance his second year at Oxford; after a year of giving it a go, he realized his intense dislike of dormitory communal style living and craved privacy. He was so starved for solitude he saved every shilling to buy a place set back off the street surrounded by a high wooden and wrought iron gate. He never makes excuses for being rich because he simply doesn’t know any other way to live.
"I never had to buy much because it's already here I just maintain."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elizabeth is still in the red dress sitting lotus style on the bed looking out at another view just as amazing as the one before it. A heady scent of pine trees fills the room she closes her eyes. I still have no desire to draw.
After awhile she calls Audrey who sounds just as feisty as ever the kids will be with her starting tomorrow."
"Oh Grams I don't know if all three at once is a good idea idea."
"You'll be home soon enough I haven't spent much time with them it'll be fine Steven and his friend Olivia are staying over to help. They've had a wonderful time of here and Emily wore them out for me."
"Wait a minute, since when does my brother have a friend Olivia."
"Never mind all that I'll give you precise details later we've got everything under control on this end... how was the date with Gregor?"
"We're still on it." Before Grams can maneuver the conversation to ascertain if they've had sex she manages to end the discussion with her virtue in tact, "I'll call tomorrow, Gregor just walked in."
From a night market wearing swimming trunks and a T shirt, "there's a little place that stays open late and I propose if you're up to it we take a dip in the sea before bedtime." When he leaves she changes into the green swimsuit. The inner voice is still speaking loud and clear,
you are seducing me and I want you too.
This evening is mind numbingly beautiful...they walk down more steps then a few more, ten minutes later, they're at the beach there aren't many people its somewhat semi-secluded. The sounds are swimmers cutting through water, faint laughter. They're in the water now she pokes her head up he's flipped on his back his dark hair moon streaked they're playful, frolicking, swimming up against each other through the waves.
After a few hours in and out they wind up on the sand drying off from the last dip. He's tempting her with an outcome that is a foregone conclusion that's become a shrouded silent game of will. In the meantime, they walk back up the stairs, say good night then go their separate ways. She hears his door close she's holding her door handle wanting to swing it back open and run to him....but she can't.
Neither can she sleep he's on her mind she's spent the last few hours vacillating, one minute she wants run to ravish him then the next, doubts are holding her back. Maybe a walk ... air always clears her head. When she rounds the corner there's a glow of an inhaled cigarette amidst curls of smoke.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twenty minutes after saying goodnight Gregor can't sleep he's back outside with a glass of private stock berating his quest for Elizabeth's muse as a failed mission. Somehow in his pretentiousness he expects her to run full speed to an art supply store to start a masterpiece, so far, it hasn't happened. Moreover, she hasn't confided to him about her lack of inspiration. So he took it upon himself to speak with Urania using the Brush and Chisel as a cover. Not only has she not drawn since Jason left her she hasn't been to the studios, no press junkets..lectures nothing but modeling in some magazines which isn't something she normally does. She's completely abandoned it, maybe forever, turns out, she's the love of his life what is he suppose to do... nothing? He flicks the butt and lights up another Gauloise.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elizabeth is awestruck he's sitting on the side of a hammock drinking, swinging..smoking and he's nude!
Before he looks up he smells the eau de toilette from Ravello and isn't surprised by her dual look of uncertainty....poor Elizabeth she wants to make love but she's probably in some stage of a process talking herself out if it. He rises and and meets her halfway ... kisses her... nibbles on her lips, “say something, say something.”
Disconcerted, she struggles to find a voice, “W-What’s going on here?”
Les Américains for all their bravado they're still stuck in the stone age when it comes to sex. "Elizabeth don’t be coy if you don’t want to; if you aren't totally aware I’d never force it on you,” he just wants to put her in a bed…the closest thing is a hammock by the time they walk back she'll have changed her mind again he has to seize the moment. Shockingly he doesn't have to.
She hikes up her gown and straddles herself on his lap she centers herself where he fills all of her, they move slowly she’s moaning uncontrollably. She needs him to know she's still his best friend, but he's become so much more,
“I..I need to know this is about me and noone else,” she cries out breathing unsteadily.
He's moving around in her and out, up then down. She struggles with what to say next, at time like this, she should hold back but words storm out,
“I need to know this means something this is not just one of your defenestrate conquest. That we'll still be the same friends I'm not just another one of your whores you throw out when you tire of them" so much for living in the moment with no question asked.
"There's been too many of those," he cups the sides of her face delving into her sapphire stare. "You are more to me than just another whore on the side I've loved you for nearly ten years of my life. This what this means to me."
Détente
He unhooks the back of her gown it falls off his hands lay on the flat off her back, so smooth, her skin gleams against darkness he’s finally touching her everywhere each crevice he guides her fingers each place he dwells her skin quivers beneath the touch.
She's lost inside mahogany eyes trying to find a way out, “Astorre,” she whispers as he plunges softly inside. All the way through he calls out endearments: il mio amante americano, lamia stella, il mio fiore his American lover, his flower, his star she doesn’t know if he’s always this vocal but she likes how it makes her feel, its slow…calculated ...intense he’s irresistible, sultry, her classic Italian lover.
The ambiguity is all on her face, with each kiss a doubt floats away. “I could never leave you alone. I can’t sleep, eat without you... you captivated me and I’ve never been able to escape.
She’s enjoying this more than she should. Its been so long maybe that’s it, sex starved, whatever the case its one thing she wants him to know, “I want to be with you.”
"From when I first saw you I’ve been a desperate man.” Astorre speaks to her in Italian with every stroke he’s moaning uncontrollably pouring ten years of himself into her those years of longing and waiting for this very moment for his time for love. He holds out as long as his passion allows she follows seconds after. They're spent but she wants more.
He wants a cigarette, he goes to the balcony to smoke he looks back, “we will do it again later. Yes?”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.”
“Oh,” he waves the cigarette; they stopped manufacturing these a few years ago maybe that’s why he enjoys them whenever he can find them.
“After this there won’t be another."
"Is this a promise?"
"I'd like it to be. How do you feel?” That look of ambiguity returned on her face, her doubts didn't stay away.
“Alive.” And why wouldn’t she after being laid by an expert love maker it doesn’t take long to flip back to the old place his reputation as a cad who loves em’ and leaves them. I’m suppose to believe he won’t leave me.
He faces her as if he reads her mind, “you are my one and only I’ve never loved a woman before you or after.”
He takes a quick shower he's been blunt she’s headed in a familiar pattern he doesn’t like countering her but it’s always been his most effective way to deal with Elizabeth he's had years of experience she’s bound to end up with someone...
but this time it will be with me
By the time he lays back down she's had time to put things back in their proper perspective she makes it clear, “look Gregor, I’m a big girl that knows the score there’s no need to go on and on with your romantic bullpoo…we had sex it was wonderful .. well on my part it is. I got caught up in it. Lets just enjoy what we have for now then when its over we can still be friends.”
She let down her guard with Jason Morgan threw caution to the wind an old cliché’ then he walked out without looking back. Astorre is an international sensation, with smooth words of a seasoned lover, falling for him would be another big mistake she can't afford to make a long term emotional investment.
Expounding on the incomprehensible, “I see... so! I’m just your sexual object.” Damn she’s all over the place now we’re back to this.
"Well I'm an object of your obsession."
"An object of my desire," he waits for a snappy comeback that never comes maybe he'll eventually get through that playboy hype really gets to her. He can't fault her he's been photographed with countless women over the past six years but its best to leave that subject for now.
"Tomorrow we’ll spend a few days on Capri then sail back to Naples from there we’ll get you back to Port Charles.”
She rises, “I should freshen up too.”
It’s the first time he’s told her where they’re headed and she can't remember how they got from the hammock to his bed. She was too busy orgasming to notice they were making love from point A to point B they even wound up on the grass. She's trying hard to ignore the feeling in the pit of her stomach the notches on his belt a list of the most glamorous influential women and is tempted to ask the proverbial after glow question “was it good for you?”
Yet, is reluctant to hear his response well not in itself he’s a polite man he wouldn’t say anything rude at a time like this. It’s the tone of which its conveyed the choice of words that could piss her off…but he answers it as if he reads her mind,
“I was content but rarely this satisfied. He laughs at the delicate situation, "you're making me do hard time on this one. What about you?”
"I don't recall exactly my memory needs refreshing." Is she sending mixed signals yes because she has mixed emotions..she can't figure this out. He was short with her earlier he seems to be fine now so she tells it like it is or rather how it at this moment ...
"you are my sex object but I didn't ask permission so you ok with that?"
He doesn't have the same advantages as Jason Morgan he didn't have to work this hard to get her to fall in love with him...she already was. "Yes." Its her painting or presently her lack there of he's hoping she'll find her way back to he'll help for however long it takes.
Her leg rests atop his, their bodies are welded by passion, "I keep blowing it don’t’ I? This thing between us comes right when I'm trying to live with being...divorced; ...I never thought I'd be left like old rubbish; I hit a brick wall blindsided. Then you come back in my life; well, maybe I dragged you in you're here still saying you love me. What I'm trying to say is; I hope you're not thinking you're a rebound because that isn't why I'm so confused. Do you think that?"
He's so close she feels his breath over her face, "No, I’ll show you why.”
They start again that's how its been for the last few hours. He pulls her on top of him, his hair matted against her chest he's rubbing and spreading her all over him moving fluidly, slowly... then holds her hand between them. Its then she sees the colors that have been missing from her mind for nine months while she's enjoying the color display his cell beeps he has to answer it, suppose its about the children,
He cuts them off, “I'll get back to you; I'm in the middle of something."
Her finger trails along his jawline.. the stubble prickels, “you certainly are," she says, "I have mixed emotions... flip flopping; it doesn't seem like it but for sure I want to reclaim my love life with you," she smiles radiantly. "Because I'm falling for you and I don't know how to handle it."
He doesn't say anything his long black hair brushes against her face when he kisses her. she tightens her legs around his hips clenches his hair for leverage. And watches a tall sleek shadow against the wall moving up, down and around.
Isola di Capri
It only takes thirty minutes to arrive to the island, "we'll divide our day the morning is for the caves at Grotta Azzurra Blue Grotto the water is so clear so light blue its amazing then we fish for dinner. We'll hike to San Michele for a tour of a 19th century home of a Swedish writer. After that, I can be your sex object for the rest of the day. We'll set sail tomorrow by afternoon."
Gregor maneuvers the harrowing winding narrow roads with the same ease he has since their drive along the Amalfi Coast this is the playground he grew up in. Another day like all the others filled with amazing views of the crystalline sea.
The bed has become their base of operation. She sits upright, “amazing.” She laughs aloud shakes her head, “its true you know, I’ve read things about… you.”
He smiles back at her, “Oh my what did they say this time.”
“The Pom pom girls,” she teases.
“Pom pom?”
“Only now, I’m one of them,” she tenses up.
“What?”
“The women who flock around in and out of your bed.”
“Not my heart Elizabeth,” he says cavalierly, he’s well aware of his exploits and never bothers to confirm or deny and certainly doesn’t wish to discuss them now.
Elizabeth presses on, “What they say in magazines…about making love with you.”
“A lot of those so called conquests were in it for their own reasons, some were all about the money, or publicity sometimes both. I can’t remember how it all started it got out of hand. Elizabeth there are gold diggers out here; I've been used many times but these so-called conquests. I can't believe you of all people reading that s.hit.”
She pokes her forefinger into his chest, “of course I do and it says you’re a playboy.”
“Not anymore, what a relief it always sounds more like a cabana boy such nonsense!”
She laughs louder never realizing his take on his notorious publicity, “and quote a philosophical womanizer.”
"Elizabeth its simple I love you from the first moment I saw you and you didn’t see me. Before I knew your name, where you came from, you could have been married for all I knew it was just that fast just that complete.”
“At first sight for a playboy.”
“It is just that simple so are you letting me off the hook? Lets talk about something more important. How did I make you feel?”
“Sensually satisfied, sexy, I haven’t felt this way… in …a ..,” she stops herself and ask a question instead, “What are you thinking about…this ?
“That you've taken me off the market.”
Her cheerful attitude quickly dissipates, she believed a man wanted her enough for a life style with her, but three children and five years later he walked away with a quick goodbye in a courthouse.
Thinking its best to change the subject, he does, “What I’ve read about you is true as well.” He counters batting luxurious lashes at double speed.
“There’s nothing like that about me in print,” she responds curtly.
“Sure there is," he opens the drawer to his night table and pulls out Artist du Jour magazine then reads, “Under her cool porcelain exterior is a fiery passion that replicates on canvas after canvas but never redundant.” He's erotic to her right now. “I can vouch for that,” he says extremely erotically.
She looks at curly lashes stuck together that unusual but handsome face. And that body charismatic perfection. Normally she would go to her sketch bag get a pad and pencil. But she doesn't... instead,
“but I want to do something more with you. I want more of this, ” she murmurs above a whisper.
He acts as if he doesn’t hear her, “what was that?”
"I admit my mixed emotions put me in a state of holding back; I’m going full speed and let the chips fall where they may,"
“Really?”
She nods yes, "Mmm-Umm, yep"
"Yep? ... Will you marry me?”
She didn't expect her heart to flutter at the words she's surprised and tempted to call his bluff. An exquisitely shaped brow lifts. “What if I say yes?”
“Then I’ll be a happy man.”
He’s acting as if his life has just begun like a college frat boy on a first date. A beguiling paradox under a mysterious veneer no matter what … she’s under his spell sighing his name impassionately.
"O ohh.. Astoree.”
“You’re not calling me Gregor anymore Umm…” he kisses her deeply. Her eyes are so fiery so blue, “You called me that all night.”
Almost smiling like he's discovered her secrets with those dreamy lashed eyes she blushes another unexpected reaction that surprises them both,
“I like the sound of it; its beginning to suit you, Gregor is the fisherman from the cove, the paint school, our time in Corse but…Astoree must be the side I never knew the one when you disappeared… mystifying, like Audrey says suave …… and debonair.....”
He stops her with another soft long kiss, “and don’t you forget that, listen to your grandmother she's a wise woman.”
When she's able to catch her breath, “How did you get named Astorre?
“From a novel written by a friend of my father’s my mother read an advanced copy while she was pregnant he wanted her opinion and she liked the character since her only criteria was any name that starts with an A like my father's it fit ... cappuccino?”
Elizabeth is seriously interested in everything about the enigma that is Astorre, "Did you ever feel slighted, you know sharing him with the public attention?"
"Not at all I inherited celebrity he included us in everything he did; my mother included us in everything she did and I included them. We were together every step of the way ... inseparable except the day he perished in that damn crash" he says pungently.
It's evident he still grieves his father's untimely death. "You miss him."
There is a saying, "The amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in. He was engrossing because he was immensely talented, people gravitated to him on and off the screen. Famous was my heritage from both my parents and grandparents ingrained in my life, I never knew any other way."
She asked not only because of him but because of her children who will grow up with the legacy of a father who abandoned them...a notorious gangster.
Scene Gallery Part V Compari and Soda