Chapter Nineteen– Greece

Ramon watched her sleeping for a few more moments, not wanting to wake her but today, they had a tight time schedule and he had called in a few favors for this outing. He finally let out a sigh as she smiled and walked over to the bed, giving her a light shake.

      "Bella, it is time to wake up." She peeked one eye open and saw that it was still dark outside and then looked at him.

      "Why, Ramon, are you waking me up where there is no light coming through my window?"

      "Because we are going to a whole new country today and time is very limited." That woke Jeanette up.

      "What do you mean a new country? Are you kidnapping me?" Ramon rolled his eyes at that.

      "No, cara mia, I promise you will enjoy this. I cleared out today to take you to Athens but I do have to be back tomorrow by ten for an important meeting."

      "We are flying to Greece? I'm going to Greece?" He couldn't help but enjoy the look on her face; happiness mixed with a whole other kind of pleasure and he loved it.

      "Yes, my friend is flying us over there shortly and will bring us back tomorrow. So, get a move on, bella," he said, slapping her butt. She squealed and jumped out of the bed, running in to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

      Ramon looked around the room for a small bag and his eyes looked over her laptop, smiling as he noticed she hadn't been on it much, and he was rather proud of that. He finally saw the bag and sat it on the bed. "Jeanette, do you want my help with anything?" he called out when she as in the shower.

      "Oh, um, yeah, pack whatever you think will work. Mind you, I'm trusting you." He had to smile to himself on that one; might be a bad thing.

-----

      40 minutes later, Jeanette was beaming in a yellow sundress that he saw buried in her stuff and just had to get that for her to wear today. There was nothing fancy about their flying, nor where they were stopping off at first. In fact, as they sat in the back seat of the limo, he couldn't stop watching her and her excitement. 

      "Is this normal for you?" she asked and he lifted a brow as he looked at her over his sunglasses.

      "Is what normal, bella?"

      "You jumping on a plane and going from country to country?"

      "Not like you would think. And as much as I would love to say this whole trip is personal, it is not. I have a lunch meeting you will not be able to go with me too. And as much as it pains me, I must leave you alone."

      "Alone, in Athens, what a hardship I must bear," she exclaimed, clutching her chest. She gave him another amazing smile and he could feel his stomach flip at that. The limo finally stopped outside of the private jet and her eyes opened wide. Never had she been on a private jet and her look gave it away.

      "The man I am meeting with, he sent it over. I asked if he would mind if I was accompanied by a gorgeous woman and he said he had no problems. When we land, the bags will be taken to the hotel we are staying at, and we will have a personal driver there in Athens." They boarded the plane and he pointed to the bag beside her. "And because of where our first spot will be, after a quick breakfast of course, I left your camera out."

      "You thought of everything."

      "Not everything, cara mia, I just know you well enough and what you like."

      Maybe that thought should have freaked them out a little more than they both thought, but it didn't. In fact, for some odd reason, that thought was more comforting than anything.

------

      Jeanette took a sip of her coffee as she watched the sun come up fully, a smile softly settled on her lips. When they landed, she could already tell Athens was beautiful and rich with history. As much as she hated to admit it, her history on any part of Greece was very limited but she was not going to object to a trip with this gorgeous man anywhere, even if he had to take a couple hours away for him to work. In fact, she hated that he took as much time as he had. She knew he was busy, so she could only imagine the work load he had to deal with.

      She lout a quiet sigh and he smiled as he watched her, her face clearly showing her happiness.

      "Tell me, cara mia, did you ever think to see any part of Greece?" She ducked her head, a blush creeping up on her cheeks and he found that so endearing.

      "Honestly, when I booked the trip, I looked over a lot of things, various other places I could travel to in a day, as I didn't want to stay too far away. But when I started looking at prices of some of the trips, they so became out of my price range. I was already spending more than I would ever think coming to Rome. So, you giving me all you have has been more than I ever thought.

      "I also had every intention of seeing some things, but I also wanted to lounge around, probably by some water and write."

      "And you ran into me and I changed all your plans."

      "But all for the better! I actually got an email from my editor yesterday, saying she was thrilled that she hadn't heard from me. I told her that just because she hadn't didn't mean I wasn't thinking of stuff. But she knew that if I was really busy writing, that I would be sending her stuff, like I did when I took a semi vacation to the beaches of Florida. When I told her that, she soon came back with an excellent question."

      "And what was that dolcezza?"

      "What was my distraction? I told her I ran into a sexy Italian who wouldn't leave me alone and didn't seem to like the word 'no' very much." He laughed at that, a good hard laugh and she smiled at the way his eyes lit up. 'He really needed to laugh more,' she thought. She winked at him and took another sip of her coffee as his phone rang. He was still chuckling when he answered it.

      "Sì" He slowly lost his smile and then stood up, looking around before walking outside. Jeanette frowned as she watched him. After a few moments he came back inside, a frown etched on his face. "That was Palo Santani, the gentleman I had a meeting with today. He will be here shortly."

      "Why?"

      "He wanted to meet the woman that I would take on a business trip with me. He also wanted to meet the woman that could make me laugh; heard it on my voice."