"But I do know how to peel a shrimp!"
"Of course you do, beautiful," Valentina smiled. "But didn't I promise you the princess treatment?"
Anna sighed and guessed it was just the Valentina way. Ever since she'd arrived at the airport in Pisa five days ago, every minute had been like a dream. First day, visiting Valentina's friends who operated a small vineyard in the Tuscan countryside. Then by car to the hypnotizingly beautiful hillside town of Siena, where of course Valentina knew the owner of a local pizzeria who made Anna the most mindblowing Quattro Formaggi she'd ever had. She'd hardly had time to flush it down with a bottle of local red wine before they were off to a cocktail party, where Anna found herself sipping fragolino until the early morning, enjoying the spectacular view of the valley and the attention heaped upon her by Valentina's friends. The days flew by like that, until two days ago they had finally arrived in Follonica, a small, lazy seaside resort catering mostly to Italian tourists. Valentina owned a bungalow here. It was mid-October and the season was practically over, so most places were less than half-empty and the atmosphere laidback, everything happening in slow-motion.
Yesterday they were walking on the beach when Valentina pointed to a small wooden cabin some 100 meters in the distance.
"Let's see if Giovanni is at home."
Giovanni, it turned out, was a retired fish merchant in his early 70s, but apparently still capable of getting hold of the goods, as demonstrated by the delicious meal he made them. Downing another glass of white whine poured her by the friendly old Tuscan, the Ukrainian tried her best to catch the drift of the two Italians' conversation. It was not easy - Giovanni seemed to be speaking some kind of local dialect - but Anna listened attentively. As another mug of wine was placed on the table, it struck Anna that life really couldn't get any better than this. And - just a moment later - that it was past 8 pm and she hadn't been thinking about Mona the whole day.
That night, with Valentina gently snoring next to her, Anna coudn't sleep, despite being exhausted after a day of walking and an evening of love-making. The Ukrainian wanted to phone Mona, but that was not an option: her girlfriend had an important run tomorrow and needed to sleep.
When Valentina had invited her to Tuscany, the Ukrainian had not said yes right away. True, she and Mona had an open relationship and in the past Anna had spent weekends at Julia's, her Polish lover's place. It never filled her with guilt because Julia was just that - her lover. Just like Kristine was Mona's. With Valentina it was different. It is true that whenever they met with people, the Italian took care to underline that Anna was "una mia amica" and not her girlfriend. But for some reason people still seemed to assume she was and treated her accordingly. At the cocktail party in Siena, Anna heard from everybody that they'd never seen Valentina this much in love. And then there was the fact that the Italian had broken up with Marta only a few days after she and Anna's first night together. Valentina, of course, tried to explain it away: "Marta wanted kids." "It wasn't working between us." Then almost immediately the invitation to spend a week with her in Tuscany. It so happened that Mona had track & field event in Northern Norway at the same time so the redhead did not voice any protest.
"Baby, I know you want to go to Italy. Of course I'm not gonna stop you. Just promise to come back to me, OK?"
So Anna had decided to go. And decided to just go with the flow, let Valentina take her to amazing places, treat her like a princess. And not to think too much about what all this meant. But now, as one of the most fantastic weeks in her life was slowly coming to an end, she found it increasingly difficult to push away certain questions.
Anna quietly left the bedroom and found her sister's name on her contact list.
"Tanya, sorry to wake you up."
"That's okay, Anya," her sister yawned. "What is it? Have you overdosed on ice cream?"
"I think Valentina is in love with me."
"Wow, you don't say, Sherlock! From what you're telling me she couldn't be more obvious if she started writing poems to you or something. I told you this would end with at least one broken heart - Valentina's or Mona's."
Actually, Valentina had written a poem to her, in Italian. The Ukrainian decided to keep it to herself.
"But she's so nice! I really don't want to hurt her. And besides, she knows I'm never gonna leave Mona. I don't understand what is her game."
"Maybe she doesn't have one? Everybody who ever sees you and Mona together knows how tight you are. Julia saw that and never allowed any illusions to get the better of her."
That was true. Julia once told her that trying to come between her and Mona would be like meddling with the forces of nature.
„I think your Italian admirer just couldn't resist the chance of spending one week in paradise. She knows it's gonna end in tears, but at least for a few days she can pretend that you're her girlfriend."
"Think so? Fuck, I'm so stupid!"
"No, you're not, sis. Deep down of course you knew this, it was blindingly obvious. You just couldn't resist it either - the prospect of spending a week in your beloved Italy with a gorgeous Italian woman who
openly adores you. And I don't blame you - probably would have gone myself given half a chance!"
Tanya continued.
"Anya, don't feel too bad about this, ok? At least you gave her one week in paradise. That's more than most people get! Valentina seems like a true romantic so she can probably sustain herself for a long time just on the memories. And then, eventually, she will fall in love with someone else."
A true romantic, that was Valentina! Anna remembered how Julia, Anna's ex-lover and unreformed Marxist, had warned her against studying Finance.
"Those people are completely soulless, Anna, they are only driven by greed. I don't want you to become like them."
Whoever "they" were, they were certainly not like Valentina, who read her romantic poems, placed freshly picked flowers at her bedside every morning - and seemed to be entirely incapable of practicing sex without having her favourite music playing in the background. Whenever there was love-making in the air, the Italian would produce a vinyl and carefully put it on the turntable before any garments could come off. She was delighted that Anna had taken such a liking to her favourite singers and had already figured out which melodies were Anna's favourites.
"So you don't mind listening to Mina again?"
"Of course not! Play that 'Ancora'-song."
"Perfect choice," Valentina replied with a smile, putting an old 33 on the turntable and turning up the volume a little bit, before removing her blouse and jumping into bed with Anna, her gorgeous naked breasts pressing against the Ukrainian's, her wet, delicious tongue sliding thirstily into her mouth.
"Io ti chiedo ancora, la tua bocca ancora..."
Agonizing over breaking Valentina's heart was slowly turning into reliving all the romantic and erotic moments they'd shared since Anna's arrival in Italy six days before. The Ukrainian slowly brought her hand down to her panties and quietly brought herself off. She moved her fragrant, sticky fingers to her face and wrapped her lips around them - falling asleep with the taste of herself in her mouth had been a favourite thing of hers ever since the first time she played with herself many years ago.
***
Saturday morning was spent intensively in bed. Valentina's niece, Luna, would be arriving in the afternoon - she was on her way from Puglia to a friend in Firenze and would be staying the night. Obviously, with an 18-year old relative in the cabin there would be no talk of love-making tonight. Anna realised this might well be their last love-making ever, but tried not to think about it, immersing herself in the sights and smells of Valentina's delicious body.
Three hours and twice as many orgasms later everything was so soaked in sweat that the bed sheets were practically glued to their naked bodies. They put on their bikinis and sprinted the 100 meters down to the beach. It was mid-October and the water was chilly, but in their current state it just felt refreshing. Realizing that they still had a couple of hours before Luna's arrival, the two women just lay on the beach for a while, cuddling and giving each other massages. Anna wondered if it was time for some kind of serious talk or something. Valentina though seemed very determined just to live in the moment so Anna decided to let it go. With all the grapes Valentina was feeding her mouth it would have been difficult to start a conversation anyway.
***
"She's a smart girl, very opinionated and more than a little bit frustrated - like many teenagers I guess."
They were having a cold beer in the bar outside the railway station and Valentina was telling Anna about her soon-to-be-arriving niece.
"My sister and her husband are religious and conservative and I don't think Luna's too happy with that. She confided to me once that she is bisexual - her parents wouldn't be overjoyed to hear that, if it's really the case."
