When the day met the night

2

I was up early as usual despite my late night, I was staying at Antonio's house as I usually did when I was in Italy. It was early in the day but had already warmed up, I was wearing a bikini bottom and a sheer see through singlet. I hadn't bothered with the bikini top, no one was around apart from Antonio and Marco who had absolutely no interest in my boobs, they were much more interested in one another. After about an hour of sitting out in the warm sun, I heard a voice, "how long have you been sitting there?" it was Antonio. I got up and walked in through the huge open patio doors, "I've been up for hours" I said smiling at him and went over to the counter where he was making coffee. "Actually I was talking to our other guest" he said pointing to the couch that faced the patio. My mouth dropped, Jared! "What are you doing here?" I said rudely, "I was invited to stay, same as you" he said smugly, "no, when I'm here, i live here, it's my home" I huffed. "Harper, please, be nice to our guest" said Antonio in a warning voice. "How long were you sitting there watching me?" I snapped, he grinned, "not long, I looked out and you just happened to be there" he said innocently, his eyes flitted down to my breasts briefly. I suddenly realized he had a perfect view of them through the barely there material and the fact that I had been lying out there topless. I gasped and stormed out of the room, shouting at Antonio in my very broken Italian, that he was an asshole for inviting someone he knew I disliked to stay there while I was there. I bumped into Marco on the way up the stairs, "what's wrong bella?" He said concerned, "he invited that, that, ass to stay here when he knows I don't like him!" I shouted, I hoped he had heard me. "He's a guest and Antonio is trying to talk him into being a part of the new line, please just try and be polite that's all" he whispered. I groaned loudly and slammed the door of my room. I had just found my bikini top when I heard a knock at the door, "come in!" I growled. I was surprised to see Jared come in, "what do you want?" I said coldly, my hands were trembling so much that couldn't tie up the back of my bikini. "Turn around" he said firmly, coming toward me as I held the front over my boobs. He quickly tied it up and stepped back. "Look I don't know how many times I can say I'm sorry, I barely remember these things there are so many of them, people are constantly being put in front of me, if I don't know you I say hi but that's usually it, you can't tell me you haven't done the same at some point, in my defense I was in the middle of a tour, I had a lot of personal shit happening and I really didn't want to be there, it wasn't personal, you can believe me or not" he said folding his arms and standing there waiting for a response. I finally nodded my head, i knew he was right, I had blown people off unintentionally dozens of times. "Fine, thanks, for apologizing" I said quietly. He smiled a warm sexy smile and walked out. I fixed up my hair and decided I needed to stop acting like a child. I had finally landed a great part that was hopefully going to really launch my career, I couldn't afford to fuck it up by being a bitch to an influential Hollywood player. I was in Italy not only to help Antonio but to give myself more exposure, so he was right I needed to behave and suck it up.

I made my way downstairs taking a deep breath before I entered the kitchen, the three of them were sitting at the kitchen table having coffee and breakfast. I went over to the counter made myself a coffee and stood there sipping it slowly. "Come and sit down" said Marco, "have some breakfast" I shook my head. "No thank you I had something earlier" I said continuing to sip my coffee, carefully avoiding Jared's eyes, which I could feel on me. I ignored him. "Antonio, can I please borrow your car, I wanted to go down to the beach?" I said, "of course, I can just use Marco's car, though I doubt I'm going anywhere today" he said looking up from his laptop. "Oh great, I was hoping to go to the beach do you mind if I hitch a ride?" said Jared grinning. I frowned, I was about to say no, I've changed my mind and I'm not going, but a warning glance from Antonio stopped me and I muttered, "I guess so, as long as you can be ready in ten minutes". He jumped up, "sure, I'll be right back" and he disappeared upstairs. "For fucks sake!" I sighed quietly, "stop it, be nice he could really help your career Harper" said Marco, "I don't need it" I said snidely. "Just try not to kill him" he said laughing. A couple of minutes later he reappeared, with shorts, a muscle tee and flip flops. I did a double take, I had to admit he looked hot, his well defined muscular chest and arms clearly visible through the ripped top. I looked away before I started gawking and headed to the garage.

A half hour later I had parked the car and we walked down to the beach, it was one I went to whenever I was here, hardly anyone was ever around and the water was always calm and a beautiful azure blue. We laid out our towels and sat down looking out over the water. "This is beautiful, the water is so blue" he said, his face looked out in appreciation. "Yeah it's nice" I said quietly. "So, do you come here often? I mean to stay with Antonio?" he asked turning to face me cross legged. "Um yeah when I need to get away from London" I murmured. He nodded, "so you live in London?" he asked, I sighed, he was intent on taking. "Yep right in the middle" I said hoping it would shut him up. "On your own, do you have family?" he pressed, "no, no one, my parents died and I've got no siblings, just me, that's it" I said firmly, I hated explaining this to people, they always gave me the apology speech and I was sick of hearing it. "I think I'll go in" I said standing up and heading toward the water before he could say anything. It was warm and inviting, so clear I just stood there up to my thighs enjoying the lapping of the water around my legs. I heard splashes and he appeared next to me, I turned to see him grinning at me. "It's so nice, are you going to swim?" he said, I shook my head, "no, I just kind of splash around a bit and cool off then get out, I'm not really much of a swimmer" I said. He walked out a bit further and dove in under the water, coming up a few moments later. He stood up and pushed back his long hair out of his face, water dripping down his torso, I tried not to stare he looked so fucking sexy. I shook myself mentally, trying to remember that I disliked this guy, but the view he was giving me was making my mouth dry. He walked back to where I was standing, "do you want to get out?" he asked, I nodded and quickly turned to head back to the shore. We sat down snd then he started talking. We talked about where he was going, his band was touring, everywhere it seemed. Lots of appearances, he was extremely busy, but he seemed to thrive on it. He listened as I told him about my fledging career, and my new part, he just smiled at me as me as I rambled on about it. Despite my initial opinion, I was slowly starting to warm to him. The hours had flown by and I heard my phone ring, it was Antonio, "Harper, you haven't drowned him have you? It's 4 o'clock are you ever coming back?" He said laughing, "shit really, yeah okay we will head back now" I said hanging up. "It's 4 o'clock we've been here for hours they want us back for dinner" I said to him. He stood up and held out his hand to help me up, "I had a really nice day Harper" he said smiling looking into my eyes, I nodded. "Yeah me too, thanks" I murmured avoiding his gaze as I packed up my stuff. I straightened up and came face to face with his, he leaned in and gently pressed his lips to mine, lightly at first, but when he put his hand around my neck to pull me close I pulled back and stared at him for a moment, "let's just.....can we not go there... not right now" I stammered not really knowing how I felt about it. He nodded and we walked silently to the car.

The ride back was quiet and luckily short, we walked in and Marco looked at us both as if we'd grown two heads. "Did you have a nice day?" He said curiously, "yeah it was great so much beauty to see, it was amazing, I could have stayed there forever" said Jared glancing at me. I quickly looked away, "I'm going to shower are we staying in or going out?" I asked. "Antonio is cooking" I was about to say something when he stopped me and laughed, "don't worry it's stuff you'll like" he said rolling his eyes. "Good, okay see you in a bit" I said heading out of the room. I chanced a backward glance and sure enough his eyes followed me out the room. I came down a little later wearing a strapless white shift, they were the three of them milling around the kitchen watching Antonio cook. "Your shoulders got red today" said Jared, running his fingers lightly over my bare shoulders. "You'll have to put some sunscreen on tomorrow" he said, i didn't speak but nodded slightly in agreement. I saw Antonio and Marco exchange a curious glance at one another. Dinner was a quite a noisy affair, the boys all talking about the new collection and Jared really was interested in being apart of the advertising campaign. I sat quietly taking it all in. We moved onto the patio it was still beautiful and warm, I lounged on one of the deck chairs and before I knew it, I was being shaken awake. "Hey c'mon everyone has gone to bed" said Jared. I cracked open an eye and nodded, he held out his hand helping me up and walked behind me up the stairs to my room. "Beach, nice and early?" He said standing at my door. I yawned and nodded, "Um, okay I guess, if I wake up early enough" I said sleepily. "I'll wake you up, don't worry" he said grinning, "well goodnight" he said quietly standing there, "night" I whispered. He leaned in and brushed his lips lightly against mine and walked off. I smiled to myself and spent the next few hours tossing and turning going over the whole day in my head and anticipating what was to come in the next one.