The Italian Billionaire’s Nubian Queen

Alyssa laughed a little.

“I suppose. I…”

Her stomach growled embarrassingly.

“I guess that’s punishment enough for keeping me waiting,” teased Matteo, and he opened the picnic basket.

“Oh. Oh, wow, this is not the kind of picnic I expected. There’s actual silverware packed in there, and proper plates, and… Is that a thermos? It’s a thermos with… gnocchi? There’s gnocchi?”

“You like gnocchi.”

“I love gnocchi! Who doesn’t love potato pillows? They’re amazing! And oh, look at this!”

She got the bottle of wine out, gleefully.

“This is practically Colombo’s best!” she said, a little stunned.

“Of course.”

“Well, I suppose it’s an ‘of course’ for you but it would be a birthday or New Year thing for me. Some of your bottles are far too expensive.”

“Don’t you think they’re worth it?”

“I suppose they are, but even people who can’t afford it should have some of the joy and complexity it brings, don’t you think? It seems unfair that only the rich can have the finer things in life. We all have a life, we all have aspirations and we all enjoy good things. This way of sorting out who gets those good things and who gets nothing seems very arbitrary.”

Matteo chuckled, and Alyssa shrugged.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

“No, don’t be sorry. It’s… Well, Alyssa, I can tell you quite honestly that I’ve never before been on a picnic lunch with a lovely woman who took me to task for having too much money.”

“That’s not what I’m doing. Well, that’s not what I meant to do. I didn’t mean to offend you, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, please. It’s fine. Believe it or not, maybe I even appreciate it a little. Here, could you hold the glass?”

She held it and watched as the bright, transparent red filled the glass.

“A toast, then. To the finer things in life, and to making sure that everybody gets a chance to sample them.”

Alyssa smiled.

“You’re indulging me, but I’ll take it.”

He laughed and she knew he watched her as she took a sip and rolled it around her mouth, swallowed slowly and sighed, her lips curving in sheer joy. That moment, she decided, was perfect. No matter what, nobody would take that from her.

“How did you discover wine?”

The question put her on familiar ground as he handed her the plate with that gorgeous gnocchi.

“Well, I didn’t really discover wine. It’s always been a part of my life. My mother, you see, she loves Italian wines. We didn’t have the money to buy more than table wine, but I watched her enjoy it. She used to share that with my dad, it was one of the things they did together. I’d watch them together and think that I would have a life like that one day, too. They just… they loved each other so much. When dad died, it wasn’t easy for her. But she said that she wouldn’t let the grief take away all the joy. She held on to the memories so fiercely. I was only ten but I remember it. I know how brave she was now.”

“Now you share it with your mother.”

“And my sister. By the time we were sixteen, mom would let us taste and try, and she would teach us how, too. It was smart, I suppose. Once you begin to learn to appreciate fine wines, it’s difficult to see the appeal of just getting drunk. So she managed to keep us from ruining our grades and partying too hard by letting us learn more about wine. Brianna—that’s my sister—she has as good a nose as I do, but she doesn’t have the confidence in herself. She loves it, but she didn’t want to… Well, I was the one who wanted to make it my life. So I decided that I would have a shop, and I would sell wine. That’s what I do.”

“You sell wine.”

“Well, I’m in talks to get a florist to open in the space right beside ours, and we’ll do some renovating to make it so you can pick up a bottle of wine, and you can order flowers you like, and it will both be delivered home, along with a coupon that can be redeemed at the best deli in town that has some very good cheese and cold cuts.”

“Smart.”

Alyssa sat up a little straighter because she did think it was smart.

“I think so. I’ve got a lot of it planned and a lot of it’s already being organized. It’s been so much, though. I needed this weekend, I think.”

“I’m only now realizing how much I needed it, too.”

She smiled at him, and she forgot that he was a billionaire. He was just a man who looked weary, as weary as she felt. She understood that.

“It’s like that sometimes, isn’t it? I’ve been coveting an invitation here for years. I couldn’t believe I got it, and I think it’s mostly because Naomi and Howie pulled a few strings. But that’s how everybody gets their foot in the door, isn’t it? There’s no point being good at your job unless you have somebody willing to tell people in your field that you’re good and deserve an invitation to join the club.”

“There you go again, making me feel unworthy of my own wine.”

Alyssa laughed.

“I don’t think you’re unworthy. Your family worked very hard to get to this point. You worked very hard to get your foot in the door and get invited into that club.”

Matteo laughed a little.

“I didn’t really wait for an invitation. It was more like I made so much money that they couldn’t afford not to have me.”

“That’s one way of doing it, I suppose. Takes a lot more strength and risk, I’d guess.”

“I suppose so. But it’s worth it, for a moment like this.”

Alyssa smiled at him and wondered if he actually meant it. She wondered if that moment felt as special to him as it did to her.

“You seemed surprised to find your brother here.”

Alyssa regretted it the moment she said it. He didn’t want to hear it. She could see that. He didn’t want to talk about it. But she needed to know what was going on. For some reason, it felt like she was caught in the middle.

“Gabriel does as he pleases. He doesn’t report to me.”

“Really? I thought you were the supreme boss.”

He looked at her sharply, as if he wasn’t sure if she was mocking him.

“Gabriel is family.”

“Well, yes, of course he is. I have family, too. I know what it can be like.”

Matteo’s laugh wasn’t the nice sound she’d gotten used to.

“I don’t think my family is quite like yours, Alyssa.”

“Family is family,” she insisted, but he shook his head. And volunteered no more information, so she sat there, sipping her wine, eating excellent Italian food, and wondering where she was supposed to go from there. She’d obviously said the wrong thing, and he was already brooding again. She’d been right. He was far too grumpy.

“We should be heading back,” he said, abruptly.

“What?”

“It’s two. You were nearly half an hour late. That threw off our schedule.”

“Oh… Well, sorry about that. I guess we should head back, then.”

It was one of those moments that felt like a fork in the road, as if choices made then would decide the rest of your life.

The urgency pressed against her. She didn’t know what to do.

“You’re a very special woman, Alyssa.”

His voice was so soft. She could almost feel it caressing her soft skin. She could just lean towards him, and it would be so easy, so simple, so natural to raise her head to his, to press her lips against his, to…

“Well, hello,” said a voice, and the choice was no longer there to be made.