Nicholas Stone is a Rogue Special Operations Agent with a deep wallet and a hungry dark passenger who has a ravenous taste for blood and a pension for playing the long game. He has chosen his new target, the Cross brothers, Sebastian and more specif...
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Point of View: Isla Ardelean
I took my gifted latte and exited the coffee shop. I had watched Nicholas Stone leave before I turned my back to him and grinned wider than I had in a while. I couldn't believe my luck—another person—foreign—who was able to communicate with me in easy English—and a Realtor, no less! Lord knows I needed the help. I was constantly dredging rock bottom with the house hunt, and an experienced hand was exactly what the doctor had ordered.
I was excited to return to the room and tell Alex what had just happened and that we had someone willing to help us look for and secure a home. I was eager to put forward the money and get Alex and I, finally, into a place of our very own. Not one that I owned prior, not one that I picked on my own, something that we both agreed on. It was momentous. If I had it my way at all, we would be long since settled by the time we got married, and if we were fortunate enough, we could even do it straight on our property.
I eventually made it to the room. My hand was slightly sticky from the splashed bits of coffee as I tried too quickly to dodge in and out of people in my hurried state.
"Alex!" I exclaimed, swinging open the hotel room door. There he was, waiting. My heart swelled seeing him as the words started to race out from between my lips at an almost inhuman speed: "You... aren't going to believe this!"
As I raced inside, I set the coffee on the table just inside the door. He had been straightening up the room. I could tell as I glanced around and realized there were fewer things everywhere than when I left. I'd started to ponder how long I had been gone. It certainly didn't feel very long, but then again, I was only supposed to be ordering a coffee and ended up conversing with Nicholas instead.
"Hey Babygirl!" He seemed so happy to see me. That grin pulled across his lips and melted me on the spot. Keep it together, Isla. You had news to share.
"Alex! You're not going to believe this," I repeated. I found us a realtor!"
He paused for a second. "...a... a what?" I needed to elaborate further. "I went downstairs to get... to get a coffee," I pointed to the cup I'd abandoned on the table. And there was this guy, and he must have heard me talking to the lady behind the counter, or well, trying." I paused, remembering that the woman behind the counter probably had no idea what I was trying to say to her as I rattled on and on about homes in the area.
"He's foreign but speaks impeccable English! He offered to help you and me find a home out here! He said I could ask for him downstairs and that he's staying in the hotel and will help us! Isn't that amazing?!" My eyes must have been like two planets as I carried on. I could tell Alex's demeanor changed quickly as he had stopped what he was doing in a half bent over state as he absorbed the words coming out of my mouth. He slowly put what he had in his hands down as he stood facing me.
"You found a foreign man downstairs who offered to be our realtor?" he repeated. I gave him a funny look.
"Yes!" "How Foreign, though, like... like us, like an American Foreigner coming to Italy?" Alex pried.
