•••

The rain did, indeed, last 3 days. The roads are a bit flooded, but are draining pretty quickly.

Marie easily convinced me to spend the rest of my stay here instead of the hotel, to which Marcello simply gave the reply of "We'll see."

I don't have much more vacation time here anyway, by the time the roads are clear, I'll have to go home.

I still find it highly uncomfortable staying in the house of someone I hardly know, and I find myself questioning my actions a lot lately, but I blame the weather, not my stupidity.

Marcello was mysteriously able to fetch my things from the hotel room. Which I also find uncomfortable. If he had the transportation to get my things from the hotel, why couldn't he just take me back?

However, I'm not complaining, the hotel room would be incredibly lonely and I think he knows that.

I'm also uncomfortable with the fact that he'd managed to grab all my things, which means he'd have to have seen all articles of clothing, and pretty much half of my belongings.

A lot of things don't add up with him, and at this point I've stopped questioning everything.

There's so many loose ends I won't be able to connect.

I haven't seen much of Marcello, despite this being his house, but I don't think too hard about it. Instead, I settle for lounging around with Antonio, one of the guards, and the guy Marie has been crushing on for years.

Call me crazy, but I feel more at home here than I ever did at my actual apartment back in the U.S.

The room I've been staying in turns out to be Maries, seeing as Marcello is too high and mighty to just give me my own guest room.

The whole group has grown comfortable with me over the course of 3 days, which is nice.

Marie, Lucy, Antonio, Dante, and Grier are such fun to be around, Marie matching my level of craziness, Lucy being the calm one, Antonio's the peacekeeper, Dante is the one prancing around causing mischief, and Grier is...well, he's Grier. There's no other way to describe him.

They're an interesting bunch, and I have no problem trusting them. Something about the group makes me feel at home, so I don't think too much of it at how quickly I've managed to all of a sudden become besties with all of them.

Sure, it escalated quickly, but this is a vacation. I'm supposed to have fun. So I just throw all logic out the door as I munch on popcorn, watching some movie displaying an old theme and cowboys.

"This movie is so boring." I whine, looking at Antonio with puppy dog eyes, hoping he'll change it.

He looks at me incredulously, "You picked it out!"

"Yeah, and now I regret it." I grumble, setting the popcorn on the table and standing.

"Where're you going?" Antonio asks as I skip out of the room.

Just as I exit, I pop my head back in, "Pee." I state simply, laughing as his face crinkles in distaste.

"You could've just said that you're going to use the restroom." He replies.

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" I say before actually leaving this time, heading down the hall.

Before I reach the bathroom, I stumble upon something I haven't seen in a while. Well, not something, but someone.

"Why does it seem like you've made permanent residence in my house?" Marcello asks impatiently.

"Because I have?" I question innocently.

He rolls his eyes, "You should tell the owner of the house these things before making the decisions."

I look at him in shock, "Wait, you would actually let me stay here, and you wouldn't even care?"

He scoffs, "Of course I'd care. I only let my staff stay here, as long as they don't get too loud or annoying." He glares at me threateningly, seeming to accuse me for the sudden racket I've been making with his workers.

"Look man, I dunno what you're talking about. This house has been deathly silent since I've arrived. Plus, you act like i have a choice to be here. You're the one who dragged me here and told me to stay. Sheesh, I feel like a dog." I defend.

"Apparently our definitions of silence don't agree with eachother. And I didn't drag you here." He grits out, and I grin once I realize that I'm irritating him.

"But I believe my definition is more qualified than yours." I state stubbornly, lifting my chin, ignoring the fact that he believes I came here willingly. I hardly had a choice in the matter, but hes obviously too stubborn to see that.

"Is that so?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Mhm." I say triumphantly.

"And what makes you believe that." He asks darkly, taking a slow step toward me.

I step back, but run into the wall.

Woah. De ja vu or what?

"U-uh. Because." I curse myself when I stutter.

I'm not exactly scared, but I'm not totally at peace, either. When he steps closer, the heat of his body radiates to mine, causing an uproar of fluttering to start up in my stomach.

See, this is another thing that's been happening over the last week and a half...my body reacts confusingly every time I see him. And hear his voice. Even when he's not looking at me or talking to me.

And I can't tell if I like it, or if I don't.

I definitely want it to go away, not because I don't like it, but because it scares me.

I blame my hormones.

I'm no stranger to sex, obviously, but Derek and I hadn't been sexually active for a while and now it's catching up to me.

Or maybe it's because there's an insanely attractive man standing two feet away from you and staring into your soul.

I snort to myself.

Yep, that's a possibility I'll keep in mind.

"You never have a solid answer." He says thoughtfully, then proceeds with giving me a hard look.

"Only because I don't have to." I prop an eyebrow up.

"And who made that rule?" He asks condescendingly.

"Me, of course." I state obviously.

"And what gives you the right to decide that?" He asks, seeming to mock me.

"The fact that I have control over what I say. These are my vocal chords, my tongue, my mouth, and I get to choose what I use them for." I glare at him, daring him to challenge.

His eyes stare holes into my soul as the continues to look at me intensely, "I wouldn't be too sure about that, love."

I scoff, trying to ignore the fact that he's practically pressed up against me. "And for what reason would that be?"

"You belong to me now."