Finding Love in Florence: The Italian Bachelors, #1

By Shanna Delaney

A wonder-struck art school dropout and a disillusioned Italian bachelor have ten days in Florence to change their lives.

 

After Samantha dropped out of art school to care for her grandmother, the two spent years planning a trip to Italy together… but now her grandmother is dead, and Samantha is left to pick up the pieces of her own life and dreams. She'll start with Florence: stay at a charming countryside castle, study all the sculptures… and try not to get distracted by the sculpted jaw of her hosts' dreamy—but definitely not interested—son.

 

Edo has come home after six years, summoned to take the reins of the family's bed & breakfast—a fate he's dreaded most of his life. He's not even home a day before his mother is pushing him to play tour guide for their current guest, a pretty girl who seems different from the tourists Edo remembers.

 

As Florence begins to open Samantha's heart, she opens Edo's eyes to the city and home he'd forgotten how to love—but Samantha only has ten days in the country; will that be enough for them to build a future on?

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Thousand Fables
• Release date: Mar 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9798201730871

Shanna Delaney

Shanna Delaney loves traveling and writing stories that take readers to new places. When she was a teen, she could never go to a new place without imagining the perfect romance for that location; now that she’s happily married with three kids, she continues the daydreaming but lets her characters take the starring roles.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Samantha stumbled down the airplane boarding ramp. She was so tired her limbs felt like they were made of too-wet clay, heavy and unable to hold her up. The first leg of her journey had proven disastrous, with cancellation after cancellation leaving her stranded in airports for the better part of two days, trying to sleep curled up with the armrests of those awful black vinyl seats wedging into her ribs. She’d barely gotten onto this flight as a standby passenger. This was her dream trip, but now she didn’t even have the energy to be excited—she just wanted to sleep.

She funneled through the narrow airplane door with the rest of the economy class passengers and caught her breath at a blast of wind. There was a gap between the boarding ramp and the side of the plane that showed a heavy gray sky and darker gray tarmac. She had nothing against gray—her favorite sculpting clay was gray—but this day needed to learn some color theory. Squeezing past stewardesses wearing their usual perma-grins and skirts and jackets—also gray—she began the stop-and-start trek toward the back of the plane. Why on earth didn’t they fill these things back-to-front? It seemed like common sense. Instead, the entire line would have to wait while people tried—and often failed—to shove their bags into overhead bins that never had enough space.

Samantha had studied lightweight traveling for two months, ever since she’d booked this trip, so all her belongings were tucked away in her old red backpack. Thank goodness, because with the number of times she’d been bumped and shuffled in the last two days, a checked bag wouldn’t have stood a chance.

She only got past the first few rows of seats before the line stopped again. She glanced around at these economy plus seats, trying not to sigh with envy. If she could afford to sit up here, she’d actually be able to rest on her way to Italy, and maybe she’d actually be able to enjoy it. The seats were wider, with more legroom. A woman a few seats over had her seat reclined already, and it went back much farther than any airplane seat Samantha had ever sat in. Not that she’d sat in many; just that time she and her grandmother had flown to Florida when her grandmother had won a week’s stay in the Keys from a radio contest.

Samantha swallowed a lump in her throat. Even just getting on a plane reminded her of her grandmother.

The man next to her grunted and leaned slightly away from her. Samantha’s face flamed. She probably didn’t smell great after two days in the airport, but she hadn’t thought it was that obvious. It would be her luck to get stuck standing next to some hot rich guy when she looked her worst.

She double-checked. Dark brown hair, green eyes, sideburns, a suit—yep, he was hot all right. She flicked her eyes away, but not before he caught her looking. She craned her neck around the giant of a man in front of her, trying to see what the holdup was. A man and a woman were fighting over the last space in an overhead bin. Samantha sighed.

Suddenly a stewardess’s voice came over the intercom. Samantha Harrington, please report to the door of the aircraft; Samantha Harrington to the front.

Samantha swung around in surprise and almost immediately felt her backpack smash into something. Someone, judging by the muffled noise of protest. She spun back around to find the hot guy now holding his eye and looking even less pleased to have her standing next to him.

I am so, so sorry, Samantha said, automatically reaching for him. He pulled back. It was an accident, I swear! Oh my gosh, I am so sorry. Of course she’d hit him. That was how this day was going. That was how this trip was going. That was how this life was going! Could she not just have something go her way for once?

He lowered his hand and blinked a few times, and there was a little scratch on one of his eyelids, probably from her backpack’s zipper. It’s fine, I think, he said. His voice was smooth and had a slight accent. He was probably Italian.

Samantha started to apologize again, but he really was super handsome, and she looked like garbage, and he probably would just rather she left. So sorry, she muttered one more time, and then fought her way toward the front of the plane.

EDO PULLED OUT HIS phone camera and turned it to selfie mode to check out the cut on his eye. It wasn’t bad, but it stung. The girl had apologized, of course, but he’d just as soon she hadn’t, because it had involved fluttering hands in his space, which was nearly as annoying as getting hit with the backpack.

He put his phone away. The girl was up talking to the head flight attendant now. She must have been the Samantha they had called for. She looked exhausted, and it didn’t look like the flight attendant’s news was good. He watched her face crumple, and her voice rose enough for him to hear. What? No! I can’t get bumped again. I can’t! Please! She’d set her backpack at her feet, and her blonde ponytail flipped back and forth as she shook her head. The flight attendant shook her head in response. The girl put her hands to her face, smooshing her cheeks up in stress and frustration. It was kind of cute. He probably shouldn’t be enjoying her distress, but she had just hit him with her backpack.

The line of people boarding trickled down. They should be almost ready to leave, except that this Samantha girl was still begging the older flight attendant. Edo looked around. There were two empty seats here in premium class. In khaki capris and a pink babydoll t-shirt she didn’t look like a premium passenger, but Edo had met millionaires dressed in t-shirts and jeans, so he tried not to judge on clothing anymore. The flight attendant was stone-faced, though; she wasn’t likely to budge. Edo looked at his watch and groaned. They were already an hour late boarding. It was going to be a long overnight flight, and it needed to get started.

Standing, he pasted a smile onto his face and approached the flight attendant. May I ask if we will be departing soon?

The flight attendant turned toward him, her face instantly pleasant. Yes, sir, we will. Just taking care of some last-minute changes.

The backpack girl turned tear-filled blue eyes up toward him. Her eyes went to the cut on his eye, then she looked directly at him. I’ve been hit with cancellations and delays for two days! I have to be on this flight!

He raised an eyebrow at the flight attendant. Cancellations?

The flight attendant appeared unfazed. Miss Harrington was granted a standby ticket for this flight, but at the last moment we had passengers arrive and now the plane is full.

Edo turned and gestured to the two empty seats. Not entirely full, it seems.

The flight attendant shook her head. She has an economy ticket.

Samantha flushed, and her eyes dropped to her outfit and her worn backpack.

This really wasn’t his fight, and he ought to just let them kick her off so they could leave, but for some reason Edo didn’t feel comfortable with that. It was probably the way she’d smooshed her face. She seemed even more tired than he was. He looked back at the flight attendant and raised an eyebrow. But she says she has been dealing with canceled flights. Doesn’t Jetstream have an obligation to assist customers they have disappointed? Aren’t there upgrades for that sort of thing?

Samantha looked up at him, radiating gratitude. The flight attendant’s smile faltered.

I’m sure there’s something you can do to assist her, Edo said, smiling once more and glancing at her name tag, Rosie.

It worked. The older flight attendant smiled back at him. I’ll see what I can do—no guarantees, she hastened to add, then hurried off to speak with the gate attendant.

Samantha’s relief was nearly palpable. Edo shifted backward automatically as she turned toward him. Thank you so much! She reached out her hand. I’m Samantha.

Eying her hand, thrust between them, Edo considered quickly. If he gave her any encouragement, she’d probably do something like switch seats to sit next to him and then talk his ear off the whole flight, or try to get him to lead her around the airport once they got to Italy. He retreated behind a mask of disdain. I simply wanted a faster departure. Then he turned and walked to his seat, leaving her frozen with her hand extended behind him.

Chapter 2

Samantha stared at the man’s retreating back. He’d swept in like a knight in shining armor and then brushed her off like he was actually a tin man with no heart. She lowered her hand, suddenly very conscious of the stares of the other premium passengers. They did not look thrilled at the possibility of her joining them.

But this trip was all that had kept Samantha going as she’d cared for Grandma Lucy through those last awful months of Alzheimer’s.

Grandma Lucy had presented Samantha with the Florence jar her first week home from the hospital after breaking her hip. Against all Grandma Lucy’s objections, Samantha had dropped out of art school to rush to her grandmother’s side, and when Samantha had made it quite clear that she was staying, Grandma Lucy had come up with the jar.

It was a huge old glass jar that probably held 3 gallons or more, that Grandma Lucy had always used for spare change. It was a quarter full already, but now Grandma Lucy had glued a big picture of the Florence skyscape across the front of the jar. She waved a ten-dollar bill in Samantha’s face before dropping it in.

Everything extra. All of it, you hear? She shook the jar. When it’s full, we go. And you will spend a good long time drooling over all those statues, and I will stay in a castle and pretend I’m a princess.

They’d had four years to add to it before Grandma Lucy had passed, but it had filled slowly. Samantha had even dipped into the jar to help pay the nursing home fees toward the end.

A month after the funeral, Samantha had finally gotten up the courage to cash the jar in at the bank. And before she could second-guess or be practical, she had rushed home and bought the plane ticket.

And now here she was, standing on a plane to Italy and maybe, finally, on her way.

The head flight attendant—Rosie, Samantha remembered; that had been a nice touch of the man to use the woman’s name like that—returned and waved brusquely at the empty seat in the front corner against the far wall. Please be seated. We’re preparing for departure.

Samantha nearly gasped in relief and hurried to the seat before the other woman could change her mind. She dropped her backpack at her feet and turned to smile back at the man who had saved her.

He was wearing headphones and his eyes were closed.

Turning forward again, Samantha reached for her belt. And she actually had to reach. These seats were so much bigger than coach seats it was unbelievable. Not to mention more comfortable.

She checked her email one last time before setting her phone on airplane mode. There was a scheduling email from Apple Grove, and Samantha felt a rush of satisfaction when she clicked into it and saw her name in red with on vacation beside it instead of shift assignments. It had been a natural step for Samantha from caring for her aging grandmother to taking a job at the nursing home where her grandmother had spent her last months, and Samantha loved the people there, but it was exhausting work, and Samantha needed this vacation so badly. It was just a shame she’d lost two days of it in delays.

But she was on her way now. The plane was taxiing out to the runway now, and the next time Samantha touched down she would be in Italy. In Florence.

Before the flight attendants had finished their safety presentation, the previous two days’ exhaustion had taken over, and Samantha was unconscious.

EDO LEFT THE RESTROOM and picked his way along the softly-lit aisle back to his seat. Nearly everyone was sleeping, and Edo couldn’t help pausing a moment to look over at the girl he’d helped. She was curled up in her seat with her feet tucked beneath her and her head leaned against the window cover. If she’d been stuck in airports, she was probably glad to finally be able to rest.

It had been a long week for him, too, shutting down all his accounts and transferring everything over to Italian banks. He had been in the states a long time, and had spent most of that building a successful career. Only to throw it all out the window.

He sighed. There were good things about going home. His mom. The food. Mostly his mom’s food. And the birds. He’d been surprised the few times he’d visited over the last few years just how much the birdsong near his home meant to him.

Granted, he hadn’t visited very often. He’d always been afraid his dad would make him stay. And it had finally happened.

He looked over at Samantha again before sitting back down. At least one of them was excited about going to Italy. What would she be doing there? It was technically the off season, as it was only April, but there were still plenty of tourists. Half the people on this plane were probably tourists. Still, there had been something in her voice as she’d pleaded that said this trip meant more to her than just a little sightseeing.

He shouldn’t have turned down her handshake earlier. She’d just been being polite. But Edo had already been on edge from all the hassle of traveling; waiting in lines, getting whacked in the face by backpacks—she’d cut his eye! She should just be grateful he’d helped her at all after that. She’d been standing too close, anyway; he’d never liked people getting in his space. That was something he wouldn’t be able to avoid when he got home.

Home. He’d been summoned and he’d hopped on a plane. It wasn’t something most of his coworkers had understood—certainly not his boss—but though he’d spent six years in the U.S., he was still Italian. Family first—always. Even if it made him shake his own head at himself.

He put in his earbuds, turned up his Fabrizio Moro playlist, and closed his eyes again. He could do this. It wouldn’t be so bad. And he’d do it without thinking about Paola.

Chapter 3

Samantha woke as the captain announced that flight attendants would be coming around shortly with breakfast. She’d apparently slept through dinner and all the other services. Who knew she could get such great sleep on an airplane? Or she had just been tired beyond all reason... which pretty much summed up her last year.

She stretched and raised her seat. It was a little disappointing she’d wasted her chance for all the free snacks and drinks, but the sleep had been way more valuable.

This was her first time flying overseas, so she had