The Scent of Rome Read online

  “Nadine?” She rolled her eyes at herself for stating the obvious.

  “Yeah, it’s me.” There was a pause while Nadine cleared her throat. “Sorry, I know it’s late.” She hesitated. “I’m not even sure why I’m calling, I guess I just wanted to wish you luck. You have a great product and I really hope it works out for you.”

  “Thank you.” Rome smiled at her kind words and the sound of her voice. “Why did you do that for me? Why did you help me?”

  “Because I like you,” Nadine said. “And because you seem passionate about what you do. It’s fascinating to watch your face light up while you pitch and I know more than anyone how important it is to do what you love.” She chuckled. “You’re probably wondering why an escort would say something like that, but there’s more to me than my job,” she continued. “And us women need to stick together when our livelihoods depend on men like Flavio, for whatever reason.”

  “That’s very kind and so true,” Rome agreed. “And although I desperately need their money, I’m not sure how I feel about them. I couldn’t believe it when Matteo ordered for us. Is that an Italian thing?”

  Nadine laughed. “Most certainly not. But you’d be surprised how many men think it’s perfectly normal.” There was another pause, and all Rome could think of was how strange and exciting it was to talk to Nadine on the phone. She felt like she was doing something forbidden, something secretive, even though that made no sense. “Hey, do you want to have a coffee with me tomorrow morning?” Nadine asked.

  The question came out of nowhere and Rome fell silent as her pulse started racing. It would have been a perfectly normal question, if it wasn’t for the fact that Nadine had been sniffing her neck and commenting on her ass only a few hours ago.

  “Come on, it’s just a coffee,” Nadine insisted when she didn’t answer immediately. “Even if nothing comes out of this trip at least you will have had the best coffee in the world.”

  “The best coffee in the world? That’s quite a promise,” Rome joked, and managed to relax a little. “Sure. I’d love that.” She could picture Nadine smiling on the phone, and closed her eyes for a moment, imagining her full lips and perfect, white teeth.

  “Great. Message me where you’re staying, and I’ll pick you up at eight.”

  “Wait… eight? In the morning?”

  “Yeah. The city is beautiful when it wakes up. Unless that’s too early?”

  “No, no, eight is fine.” Rome’s eyes darted over her open suitcase in the middle of the floor, already wondering what to wear tomorrow. “Are you sure you don’t want me to meet you somewhere?”

  “No, I’ll pick you up, otherwise it will take you forever to get here.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow then. I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Me too. Sweet dreams, Rome.”

  Rome stared at her phone long after she’d hung up. “Sweet dreams,” she repeated to herself. Wasn’t that a weird thing to say to someone you barely knew? She let out a long sigh and once again, tried to think of nothing at all because the way her mind was spinning, she’d get no sleep tonight. There was still a chance she’d get the funding. A small chance, but a chance, nevertheless. Curiously though, it wasn’t the funding that had her tossing and turning.

  5

  When her alarm went off at seven, Rome was already awake, and that was strange because she wasn’t really a morning person and did most of her best thinking at night. It was during the dark hours that her brain worked at full capacity and ideas and solutions came to her. Her brain had certainly worked overtime last night, but she hadn’t fallen into the deep sleep that normally gave her a good rest.

  She groaned as she dragged herself out of bed and headed for the bathroom. The shower adjacent to the small, stuffy bedroom was moldy and worn-out but the hotel was cheap and cheap was a necessity right now. It took her forever to decide what to wear, suspecting Nadine would probably rock up in glamorous attire sporting big, Italian shades.

  It was a beautiful warm spring day in early April, so she decided on a navy and white floral thin-strap summer dress and white Converse. Not too dressy, not too casual, she thought, studying herself in the mirror. Her blonde bob was blow-dried into a messy do, the way she’d worn it for years, but suddenly she was questioning everything about her appearance. There was no more time to change her hairdo or her outfit though, as she got a message that said: I’m here! X, then heard a horn honk several times outside her window. When she grabbed her purse and rushed downstairs, Rome noted that she felt more nervous than she had last night.

  “Hey, over here!” Nadine yelled, waving at her from the other side of the street. Rome didn’t recognize her at first with her helmet on, sitting on a mint green Vespa. She was wearing denim shorts and a tie-dyed black and white T-shirt and couldn’t have looked more different to last night, free of makeup and heels. Even in the white sneakers, her legs looked never-ending, and Rome did her best to keep her gaze at eye-level.

  “Are you the same person I met last night?” She asked, laughing as she took the helmet Nadine handed her.

  “It’s me, all right.” Nadine tilted her head. “What, you expected me to wear a ball gown and be in the back of a limo or something? Driving makes no sense in Rome. We’d never get anywhere in a car; there’s too much traffic.”

  “Honestly, I don’t know what I expected, just not this.” Rome gestured toward the back, then looked down at her dress, a little hesitant to get on.

  “You’ll be fine,” Nadine assured her. “It’s totally okay to show off your legs here. And those are great legs.”

  “Thank you.” Rome chuckled at the compliment and climbed on the back before tucking the front hem of her dress between her legs.

  “Closer.” Nadine looked over her shoulder. “I’m not hitting on you, Rome. Not right now, anyway. Your dress will blow up if you don’t.” She laughed, and Rome felt a stir deep in her core, totally caught off guard by her body’s reaction to seeing Nadine again. Hesitantly, she scooted closer and was surprised to feel another reaction skitter in her stomach as she pressed her body against Nadine’s own. Nadine reached behind her, took her hands and pulled them around her waist. “Hold on tight. I don’t know why the hell you decided to stay at this god-awful hotel in the worst part of town, but this is going to be a long ride.”

  Rome cursed herself for feeling the way she did when Nadine drove off. Jesus. Why did it feel like such a big deal having her arms around this woman’s waist? She tried to relax as they drove through the busy morning traffic, overtaking cars like all the other thousands of multi-colored scooters. The roads were chaos, and even though she was slightly terrified, it was also fascinating to see the city this way. Despite Nadine’s breakneck speeding and constant beeping, somehow managing to avoid hitting cars and other road users on many occasions, Rome actually started believing that she wasn’t going to die today. Nadine took lots of shortcuts, zooming through narrow alleyways with bikes and scooters parked on either side against the façades where people were drinking coffee on fold-out chairs outside their homes. They passed under low arcades covered in ivy and vintage posters, drove past ornate churches, old ruins with frescoes, and courtyards with Baroque fountains and orange trees in a more residential area that looked charming and bohemian. The roads were cobbled, the corners sharp and Rome held on tight each time they levitated after hitting a bump. She had mixed feelings when Nadine finally parked the scooter in front of a small coffee shop in a cute courtyard. On the one hand, she was glad to still be alive but on the other, she found herself missing sitting on the back snuggled against Nadine, which was a particularly interesting development. With one swift movement, as if she’d done it a thousand times before, Nadine chained the scooter to a drainpipe.

  “Best coffee in the world here, I promise.”

  “I believe you. I hope it lives up to its hype as you almost killed us getting here.”

  Nadine laughed and ran a hand through her hair after taking off he
r helmet. “You sit down honey; I’ll get you a cappuccino like you’ve never tasted before. That’s my apartment by the way”. She pointed skyward, to the top floor above the café.

  Rome took off her helmet and looked up. It was a beautiful building. Old, with cracks in the yellow painted stone façade, and ivy growing up on one side, crawling over the railing of Nadine’s balcony, where a small table and a cast-iron bench were placed. It looked ridiculously charming.

  “I see you’re living like a local. How long have you lived here?”

  “Almost four years. Best years of my life.” Nadine beckoned for Rome to sit down before opening the door to the coffee shop, causing an intoxicating waft of baked cookies and freshly ground coffee beans to fill the air. “I’ll be right back.”

  Rome took a seat at one of the tables and looked around, trying to imagine herself living here as a fellow American but it was so different from what she was used to that she couldn’t picture it. The streets were narrow, the houses were built close together and everything around her was old and authentic, like she’d travelled back in time. An old man who was drinking coffee in front of his door, waved at her from the other side of the street and she waved back. There was a small bakery next to his house, and another even smaller grocery store next door to that. She hadn’t seen many chain-restaurants or fast-food places outside the tourist area. Instead, the cobbled streets of the working-class neighborhood she found herself in were lined with quaint restaurants, trattorias, artisan shops, quirky bars, independent businesses and galleries.

  “One cappuccino for you…” Nadine placed the coffee in front of Rome. “And one for me.” Then she went inside again and came back with a plate full of cookies. “You need to try the biscotti too. They’re amazing.”

  Rome took a careful sip of her coffee and moaned. “You weren’t joking. This really is great coffee.” She watched Nadine dip one of the biscotti in her coffee and then close her eyes as she took a bite. It was almost erotic to watch, the way she licked the milky foam off her lips and enjoyed the small mouthful like it was all she cared about in that moment.

  “Mmm… so good.” She took another biscotti, reached over the table and held it in front of Rome’s mouth.

  Rome felt herself blush but parted her lips anyway and took a bite. “It’s delicious,” she admitted. Her face then pulled into a grin and she couldn’t help but laugh. “Tell me Nadine, what are you doing here with me? I get the feeling you’re flirting with me and although I love this coffee and these cookies and I’m forever grateful for what you did for me last night, I already told you I’m not into women.”

  Nadine shot her an amused look, clearly not fazed about her comment. “Right. You just keep telling yourself that.” She sat back and crossed one leg over another, resting her ankle on her knee. “So, how are you feeling about the investment thing?”

  Changing topic now, are we? “I honestly don’t know.” Rome pursed her lips and took another sip of her coffee. “My gut is usually a good indicator and at the moment it’s telling me no—I don’t think they’re going to take on my project. However, I’m still hopeful,” she added. “I have to be. Everything depends on this. If I don’t find an investor soon, I’ll have to look for a day job to pay my rent and the interest on my credit cards, and I’ll have to say goodbye to my dream for the foreseeable future because I just have too much to pay back.”

  Nadine shook her head. “Don’t be so negative, I think you stand a good chance.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “Because I’ve been booked to go to dinner with Flavio again tonight. Men never waste money on an escort who’s not going to sleep with them unless there are going to be other people around. So, I have a good feeling about this.”

  “You do?” Rome’s heart started racing and although she’d already told herself not to get too excited, Nadine’s tiny glimmer of hope made her feel better already. Once more, she found herself staring at Nadine, wondering how it was possible that the glamorous escort from last night had transformed into this beautiful but casually dressed woman who was flirting with her like a man. Nadine was a total mystery, not to mention highly confusing.

  “Yes, I do. But as I said, I can’t promise anything. It’s just my intuition.” She batted her lashes and reached for another cookie. “And my intuition is usually pretty great, too.”

  Rome wasn’t sure how to reply to that because there seemed to be an underlying innuendo to the comment. She wanted to know more about Nadine though, after lying awake for most of the night, thinking about her. “How long have you been doing the escorting?” she asked.

  “Eight years. Since I was twenty-one. I started out in New York for two years, then did two years in Paris and this is my fourth year here.” Nadine shrugged. “It’s not so bad as it seems, really. It allows me to travel and to live where I want, providing my agency has an office near me. It gives me the income I need to do what I love most and work on my future. I’m turning thirty next year, so I’ll stop then. Even if I wanted to carry on, that’s where my agency draws the line.”

  “Really? Thirty is too old? That’s ridiculous.” Rome frowned. “So, what is it that you love the most?” Before Nadine had a chance to answer, two young men on a scooter zoomed past and whistled at them. She shot Nadine a confused look when she waved at them and yelled something back in Italian. “Are you okay with that? Or do you know them?”

  Nadine shrugged it off and laughed. She had a great laugh, Rome thought. Deep and loud and hearty. “Okay, Rome. If you want to do your name justice, here’s rule number one while you’re here. If someone winks at you or smiles or even whistles, it’s a compliment, okay? People think you’re pretty and you are, so enjoy the attention. You smile and wave. Or at least acknowledge the compliment politely. If men or women do that, it doesn’t mean they’re hitting on you, they’re simply appreciating your beauty. I do it all the time myself.”

  “You do?” Rome grinned. “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah. I’d whistle if I saw you walking by.”

  Rome rolled her eyes. Here we go again. “I guess it makes sense when you put it like that. You’re right; there’s nothing wrong with a compliment.” She finished her coffee and noted Nadine was watching her intently when she licked the foam off her upper lip again. God, that intense stare. “You were about to tell me about yourself. About what you’re passionate about.”

  “Oh yes, that.” Nadine stood up and waved at the man behind the bar inside. “I’ll tell you about that later. We have a lot to do today.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, if you don’t seal the deal, you’ll be leaving tomorrow morning, right? And you can’t leave without seeing Rome.” She didn’t wait for an answer as she unlocked her scooter and jumped on, then gestured for Rome to get on the back.

  Rome hesitated and shuffled on the spot, a little taken aback by Nadine’s directness. The woman was persistent, but she was enjoying herself and it wasn’t like she had anything else to do. Shaking her head with a smile, she took the proffered helmet and climbed on.

  6

  Nadine maneuvered through the traffic once again, thoroughly enjoying Rome’s arms around her waist. It had been a while since a woman had held her, even though the contact was entirely innocent. The way Rome reacted to her flirtations told her there was definitely something there. She just doesn’t know it yet.

  She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to show Rome the city. Maybe because as a fellow American, she wanted her to see Rome for what it really was, see it like she had experienced it when she’d first arrived and fell in love with the place. Rome’s hands shifted, tightening against her stomach when she drove over a bump in the road, and Nadine tried to shake off the stir of arousal she felt. Flirting was one thing, but she wasn’t going to fall for a straight woman, even if that straight woman wasn’t as straight as she thought she was. Besides, Rome didn’t seem like a one-night stand type and Nadine didn’t do relationships of any kin
d. It wasn’t an option with her job, and even if she quit tomorrow, she simply loved her freedom too much. No, this was fun. Just a bit of flirting with the cutest and smartest woman she’d met in a long time, nothing more. It was starting to get warmer now, and she could feel the clamminess between their bodies as she steered the vehicle into Via Tagliamento in the northern part of the city.

  “This is Quartiere Coppedè,” she said in her convincing Italian accent as she parked and helped Rome off the back. “The smallest, cutest and strangest neighborhood in Rome. Are you up for a short walk?” She felt proud as she watched Rome take in her surroundings. The area was picturesque—even she herself was still impressed by the wonderfully odd buildings and whimsical feel of the streets and the small square.

  “What is this place?” Rome’s expressive eyes widened as she looked around, clearly overwhelmed when they passed under the archway that led into the main square. It was adorned with crests and animals, and a huge wrought iron gothic-looking chandelier hung from the arch.

  “This whole area was built by and named after the architect Gino Coppedè, who lived here and worked on it until his death. It’s a jumble of different styles; Art Nouveau, Medieval, Baroque, Ancient Greek... There may be more influences but I’m no expert. Normally mixing up building styles would be frowned upon, but it works, don’t you think? It’s like someone’s brilliant mind designed it during a surreal dream, then decided to make it a reality.” They entered a courtyard, surrounded by homes that looked like they came straight out of a fairy tale. Floral, medieval and mythological details decorated the façades of the buildings, some with randomly placed towers and odd out buildings.