"Who is she again? A waitress you met at a party?"

The opening of the European leg of Luc's tour was a resounding success, only minor technical glitches, and an encore that nearly caused a stampede. Lewis had come out to play a duet with Luc, which had nearly brought the house down.

And now Gigi had finally arrived, fresh from modeling someplace or another, hair perfectly bleached, blue eyes crystal clear, lashes long and separated.

They were in Luc's bedroom with the door closed, and Luc hoped Haley couldn't hear them, though Gigi didn't seem to have any such qualms. Her slightly low pitched, nasal voice reverberated through the suite.

"A caterer's assistant," Luc corrected automatically. "And yes, we hit it off, she needed a place to stay for the summer, and things just sort of worked out this way."

Gigi looked at him skeptically, perfectly plucked eyebrow raised. "And you're not fucking her?"

"No!" Luc was surprised at the vehemence in his tone. "Definitely not. We're just friends."

"Right. I've seen her, you know, with those boobs and those eyes of hers." Gigi walked over to the bar and poured herself a drink, even though it was barely ten in the morning.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Luc asked, gesturing toward her glass.

"Please, I'm on vacay, cut me some slack. Besides, we're going to be on the beach all day, I'll sweat it out before it turns into calories." Gigi tossed off the shot in one go, grimacing at the taste.

Although Luc was pretty sure alcohol didn't work like that, he let it go.

"What's the problem here, anyway? I frequently have people traveling with me, many of them women. Why is this particular one bothering you so much?" Luc asked, looking out the window at the view of Rome.

Gigi shrugged elegant shoulders, coming to stand behind him. She put her arms around his waist. "What can I say? Women's intuition? I mean, I know we're not exclusive or committed or anything, but her presence bothers me. Does she have to come to the beach with us?"

Luc removed Gigi's arms and turned to face her, holding her hands in his own. "What do you want me to do, leave her here for the next two days?"

"You could indulge me by doing just that, yeah," Gigi responded, giving a little smile, toying with the muscles of his abdomen, which were visible through his T-shirt.

"Not going to happen," Luc said firmly. "She's here as my guest, and where I go, she goes. Now, can we get going?"

Gigi sighed. "Fine," she replied ungraciously, dropping her hands. "Let me grab my bag."

Luc opened the door to his suite, calling as he did so. "Haley? Ready to go?"

"Yes, I'm ready, I'm ready," came the breathless reply as Haley came skidding around the corner. She was wearing a cover up over what he assumed was a bathing suit, beach bag slung over one arm. A big floppy hat sat on her head, and she was already wearing sunglasses, even though they were still indoors.

Luc laughed, happy with her joyful enthusiasm.

"Okay, then, let's get going, shall we?"

"What about Gigi?"

"I'm right here, no worries," came the response as Gigi sauntered into view. She was garbed much as Haley was, beach bag hanging over her arm, though in her case everything was designer. Three thousand dollar sunglasses sat atop her head, holding her hair off her face.

Haley suddenly felt self-conscious, like a clumsy child at an adults only party.

She felt Luc's hand on her elbow, guiding her toward the door.

"Come on, Haley with the hazel eyes, let's go enjoy ourselves at the beach, shall we?"

"Okay."

They made their way down to the SUV with the darkly tinted windows for the drive to the beach.

"So where we're going today is private? Like you own it or something?" Haley asked as they headed toward the outskirts of Rome.

Luc laughed. "No, I don't own it, but it's semi-private, let's just say. It belongs to a group of which I'm a member, and there will be very few people there to bother us."

"People being there wouldn't bother me a bit," Haley declared, turning her animated face in Luc's direction. She was sitting in the front seat, while Luc and Gigi were behind her.

"I for one get sick of the paps and the fans, bothering us constantly for selfies and autographs," Gigi interjected. "So tiresome."

"I guess someone like you, famous and everything, would get tired of it," Haley agreed. Her glance was caught by a particularly picturesque fishmonger's, and since they were stopped at a light, she pulled out her phone for a quick picture.

"You're such a funny child," Gigi said from the back seat. "What on earth made you want to photograph that old couple and their fish shop?"

Haley decided to let "child" go, though Gigi couldn't be more than five or six years older than her. "The colors were marvelous, the silver of the scales of the fish, the red of the old woman's scarf? I just thought it would make a nice picture."

"Please show it to me later, okay?" Luc asked from his place next to Gigi.

Before Haley knew it, they'd arrived at the beach. It was a beautiful spot, white sand and blue water lapping gently at the beach.

"Oh my god, Luc, look how gorgeous," Haley enthused as they got out of the car.

The sky was darkly blue, the sand blinding, the water nearly fluorescent, with jagged rocks jutting out here and there. And as he'd said, there were very few people, little tanned specks of dark brown in stark contrast to the sand.

"It's passable, I suppose," Gigi agreed with a shrug. "I really prefer the beaches in Greece and France, though."

"Why?" Haley wanted to know.

Another shrug. "Just better, I don't know. Better amenities, for one. Who knows what kind of food and drinks we'll get here?"

To Haley, who'd had nothing but fantastic food and drinks since she'd arrived in Italy, this statement was ludicrous, but she kept her opinions to herself.

"Come on, ladies, enough chit chat, let's hit the beach, as they say," Luc requested as he exited the car.

Their arrival had been noticed by the people in the small cafe which sat well away from the surfline, and someone came out to greet them as they lifted their feet to walk through the sand.

An umbrella, towels, and chaises appeared as if by magic, and they got set up, far enough away from the other beach goers to ensure privacy. It was already scorching hot, even though it was only early June.

A very nice man named Senro took their drink orders and reappeared almost instantaneously, bearing them on a tray.

Gigi set herself up under the shade of the umbrella, but Haley set her chair up in the full sun, quickly braiding her hair and pinning it up.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Gigi enquired as she reclined. "You'll get too much sun, maybe even burn."
"No worries, I never burn," Haley answered. "I have my SPF, besides. I'm so pale, I haven't gotten any sun this year, this will be a real treat for me."

She pulled off her cover up, and Luc was nearly rendered speechless by the sight of Haley in a bikini. Not that there was anything salacious or scandalous about it in anyway, it was just a pink bikini, more in the style of a workout bathing suit than anything else.

But still.

Haley was a curvy girl, and filled every inch of the suit perfectly.

Luc carefully looked away before Gigi caught him staring.

"Oh my god, this feels amazing!" Haley murmured, eyes closed behind her sunglasses. "Thank you so much, Luc."

"Yes, thank you, Luc, for the sun and the beach and everything," Gigi echoed, and Haley and Luc could both hear the slight sarcasm in her voice.

"I just meant thanks for the opportunity to be here," Haley said. "For the chance to come to Italy and lie on a beach and have the most delicious drink I've ever had in my life."

"I think you mean 'lay,'" Gigi corrected, putting an arm behind her head. She herself was wearing a barely there white bikini which hardly covered the crucial areas. "One 'lays' on a beach."

"Um, no, I mean 'lie,'" Haley reiterated, lifting her head so she could look at Gigi. "To lay is a transitive verb, which means that, in the present tense, it needs a direct object. To lie is an intransitive verb, no direct object required." She put her head back down.

Luc laughed. "Don't correct the grammar of a journalism major," he admonished.

"Whatever," Gigi snapped. "Please hand me my headphones, Luc?"

After a while, Haley did indeed get warm, and she went for a dip in the water, a move which Gigi watched with amusement.

"She's actually getting in the water," she murmured to Luc, who was next to her. "With all that hair, she'll never get all of the salt and sand out of it."

"Well, I'm going to get in with her," Luc announced, rising from his chaise. He bounded down the beach to join Haley, who was swimming out to one of the rocks with sure, even strokes. She was obviously a competent swimmer.

She climbed onto the rock, sitting on a convenient smooth outcropping to survey the beach and the Atlantic Ocean.

Luc joined her a few minutes later, shaking the water from his eyes as he sat.

"Oh my god, I've never seen anything so beautiful," Haley gushed as they sat together.

"Yes, it's very nice, but wait until you see the Amalfi Coast, la Costiera amalfitana," Luc said, smiling down at her. 

"I thought this was the Amalfi Coast?" Haley turned to look at him, and Luc could see tiny bits of salt had dried in her eyelashes already.

"No, it's farther south," Luc informed her. "I wish we were going to Egypt, there are some really stunning beaches there."

"Well, this is plenty stunning for me," Haley assured him. "I mean, the color of the water, the sand, the sky, wow."

Luc saw Gigi waving from under the umbrella, and waved back before once again turning his attention to Haley.

"You're going to need more sunscreen before long," he informed her.

"Oh yeah?"

In response, Luc lowered the strap of her top, and sure enough, her skin had already tanned, with a bit of red at the edges.

"You're right," Haley exclaimed, looking down at her shoulder. "I guess I'd better head back and put some more on. Wanna race?"

Luc stared at her and burst into laughter, shaking his head. "No, I don't think so. Aren't you a swimmer?"

Haley shrugged. "I've never been on a team or anything, but I was a lifeguard at the county pool in high school. Competent, I guess is the word."

"Well, my claim to fame is simply looking good in a bathing suit," Luc quipped, gesturing at his body.

"You do look good, no doubt about that," Haley responded with a wicked smile. "I didn't realize you were all talk."

"You little vixen—" Luc grabbed at her, and she dove off the rock into the cold water.

Luc followed in hot pursuit, and the chase was on.

He did catch her when they were nearly at the shore, picking her up and throwing her back into the deeper water as she shrieked.

They finally made it back to their chairs, laughing and shaking the water off themselves.

"Oh, must you, really?" Gigi asked, irritated.

"You won't go to the water, so we're bringing the water to you," Luc explained, shaking his head in Gigi's general direction.

"Honestly, Luc, you can be such an infant at times," Gigi complained, reaching for a towel to dry herself.

Haley watched this exchange as she put more sunscreen on herself.

"Here, let me get your back so you don't end up looking like a lobster," Luc suggested, reaching out for the bottle.

"Thanks." Haley handed over the bottle and turned over on her tummy.

Luc applied the lotion, trying really hard not to caress her skin as he did so, aware that Gigi was watching.

"Okay, all done," he managed, handing the bottle back.

"Quite the domestic scene, how intime," came a voice from behind them.

All three turned, Gigi lifting her sunglasses to see who was there.

"Hello, gang, the party has arrived!"

Lewis.