Free Falling for Italy by Melinda De Ross

twitched slightly.
    “Don’t worry. Linda doesn’t like to talk about her work. It’s not even displayed in the house, except for a small wooden thing she sculpted when she met Gerard. A pair of hands. I think it’s a safe guess whose hands they are.”
    She laughed lightly.
    “Ah… So the man has magic hands, huh? And he’s a brilliant doctor. I suppose he doesn’t like to talk about his work either. I don’t know how he does it,” she said, shuddering a bit. The thought of sick people depressed her. She couldn’t understand how doctors worked, day after day, how they managed to cope with losing patients. Yes, they saved lives, indeed. But what about the ones they couldn’t save? Something like that must haunt them forever.
    “Gerard is a very strong and dedicated man,” Giovanni said, interrupting her thoughts. “Curing people is his calling. I guess he was born with that kind of strength. But it’s weighing on him, especially now that he’s going through a bad phase. I told you about his problems in patenting his cancer treatments. If this matter isn’t resolved soon, I’ll take him to Italy and pull all my strings if I have to, in order to help him. He has to succeed for the millions of people in need of cures, as well as for his and Linda’s peace of mind.”
    She was impressed by his words. She wanted to ask if he was really such a big shot in Italy, but she didn’t want him to think she was interested in his money or other such nonsense. Instead, she asked, “What is it exactly that you do in Italy? Tuscany, you said that’s where you live? What do you do there, at your company?”
    “I deal with clients, with stupid technical questions, I negotiate deals, I listen to moronic ideas from customers, approve alpha, beta and commercial versions of software…”
    He looked over at her and she felt her eyes cross under this assault of foreign information. He grinned wickedly.
    “Do you want me to get more technical than that?”
    “Oh, no! Please don’t. It’s…quite enough. I’m very impressed, to say the least.”
    “There’s nothing impressive about it. Your job is much more exciting. Do you have time for me tomorrow?” he asked, smile still in place.
    She thought about her schedule, then remembered the next day was Tuesday.
    “Afraid not. Tomorrow I’ll have a morning session with the boys, then a very short training with the girls in the afternoon, when they get off school. After that I go to the gym.”
    “The gym? Ah, I miss a good workout,” he said as he concentrated on the traffic jam growing in front of them. “I’m going soft with Linda’s cooking and nothing to do. Do you think I could join you?”
    She looked at him. Dressed in jeans and a tight blue sweater, he looked nowhere near soft , just mouthwatering. She cleared her throat.
    “Um, sure. Why not? I got the gym to myself anyway. The owner is a friend of mine—a fitness trainer—and she gave me a key. I go on Tuesday and Friday evenings so I can be alone, without people ogling me.”
    “Well, you’ll have someone ogling you tomorrow, if you take me with you,” he said and a corner of his beautiful mouth lifted, emphasizing his dimples. She noticed he hadn’t shaved. His usually perfect smooth skin was covered by dark stubble. He looked like a sexy pirate.
    “I think I can stand your ogling,” she remarked in a low voice. “After all, you’ve been staring at me ever since we’ve met.”
    He turned his dark gaze on her, his eyes sparkling with mischief.
    “You didn’t seem to mind it. I’ll try to behave myself tonight. Here we are,” he announced.
    He stopped in front of a massive old-looking gate and got out of the car to insert a code into a sideway panel. The gate glided open with unexpected grace. He drove down a vegetation-bordered driveway to a rust-colored brick house. It was quite big, tasteful and simple—not at all the eccentric mansion she had expected.
    “I love this house!” she