Only You by K.T. Quinn

25

Donovan

The Day We Explored Rome

I had been having an amazing time with Molly. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to be stuck with for the last week and a half. And I wasn’t just saying that because of the way she looked in a sun dress, bent over the pool table. We’d been having a blast playing house in the hotel.

But tonight, I didn’t want to be stuck inside. I wanted to explore Rome with her. I wanted to see the sights, to touch blocks of stone that were older than Christ himself.

And I sure as hell didn’t want to wait until a future trip to do it.

“Let’s go see the Colosseum,” I said.

She looked at me like I had started speaking Russian. “But it’s closed.”

“So what? I want to see it up close.”

“We’re under a lockdown,” she said, as if it were obvious. “We’re only allowed out in the morning, and that’s just to get food or medicine.”

“Then we’d better not get caught.”

“And if someone does catch us?”

I grinned. “What are they going to do? Kick us out of the country? Sounds like a win-win.”

She laughed as we climbed down the ladder. “I don’t know. I’ve never broken the law like that before…”

“Here we go with the rules again.”

“This is different than stupid hotel rules,” she insisted. “This is serious. We could get in real trouble if we’re caught.”

I pressed the elevator button and turned toward her. “Do you trust me?”

She looked up at me and nodded.

“Then I’ll make sure everything is okay.”

I meant it. I would do whatever it took to protect Molly, while also showing her a good time.

She smiled like she believed it, too. “Okay. I trust you.”

We grabbed two of my masks from the room and went down to the kitchen to take the cookies out of the oven. Then I went into the office behind the concierge desk. There was a drawer with a small supply of hotel toiletries. I found a bottle of Italian-brand cough syrup and shoved it in my pocket.

Molly took a big step away from me. “Are you feeling sick? Do you have a cough?”

“I feel fine. Let’s go.”

I turned off the hotel alarm and then unlocked the front door. Leaving to get groceries felt strange, but that trip was during a designated time when people were allowed to go out to get food. This time it felt like we were crossing an imaginary boundary. Prisoners who were stepping out of their cells.

I closed the door and locked it behind us, and then we hurried across the plaza in the darkness.

“It feels weird being out,” Molly whispered behind her mask.

“I know what you mean.”

“This is the first time I’ve left the hotel since the lockdown started,” she said.

I held her hand. “Relax. I’m here with you.”

Molly clung to my hand as we exited the plaza and walked down a narrow alley. There were small shops and stores on either side, places which should have been bustling at this hour if the plaza were full of tourists, but were dark and deserted now. At the end of the alley we stopped to peek out at the next street. When we were certain the coast was clear we hurried along as quietly as we could.

It only took a few minutes to reach the Colosseum plaza. One minute we were skulking down an alley, and the next minute there was nothing but open ground between us and the ancient Roman structure. A traffic circle wound its way around the Colosseum, but the streets were empty.

Molly’s eyes were round and wide in the moonlight. “It’s so much bigger than I expected.”

“I get that a lot,” I whispered.

She gave me a playful shove.

I caught a glimpse of a light on the other side of the structure, so I pulled us back into the dark alley. Moments later a police officer came around the side of the Colosseum. They were masked, and they were staring at a rectangle of light in front of their face. A cell phone.

The officer kept walking along their patrol, and after forty-five seconds they disappeared around the other side of the Colosseum.

“Okay,” I said, taking Molly’s hand. “Let’s go.”

“Wait,” she hissed. “You want to get closer?”

I pulled her into the street and toward the enormous, hulking arena. We were out in the open, totally exposed by the street lamps illuminating everything. If any other police officer stumbled onto the plaza it would be impossible for them to miss us. I tensed as we ran along, waiting to hear a police whistle or siren cut through the night.

But fortune was on our side, and we reached the first barrier of the Colosseum without anyone seeing us. The outer facade loomed above us, three levels of curving arches and a solid top section. From this angle I couldn’t see any of the gaps or damaged parts of the structure. It looked totally intact. I could use my imagination and pretend we were actually back in ancient Rome.

“Okay,” Molly whispered. “This is impressive. I’m glad we got this close!”

I examined the fencing. It was a temporary barrier ten feet tall, and comprised of interlocking metal sections. I approached the place where two sections connected together.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Looking for a way in.” I lifted the metal an inch off the ground. There was a hook where the section locked into the other one. If I could raise it high enough…

“We can’t go in!” Molly hissed.

“I didn’t come halfway around the world just to miss out,” I insisted as I raised the barrier. Just a little bit higher…

The hook slipped out of the metal barrier. I pushed it inward, then lowered it to the ground. Now there was a gap. I slipped through and then beckoned Molly along.

She hesitated, then followed. I slowly pushed the fence section back into place. The hook wasn’t connecting it to the other barrier, but nobody would notice unless they came close.

I gazed around the area. We were underneath one of the lower arches of the Colosseum’s base. A tunnel led deeper into the structure, with felt ropes marking where tours were allowed to go and where they were prohibited.

“See?” I said. “We’re in the normal walking area. We won’t go in the areas where we could damage any of the—”

I cut off as I heard footsteps outside. Molly and I ducked under the arch and pressed ourselves flat against the stone. She looked up at me with confusion. Had I actually heard something, or was it my imagination? I was probably jumpy because of what we were doing. That’s all.

Seconds later, the policeman walked into our view.

I held my breath. We were veiled in darkness, but there was nothing between us and the barrier. If the officer had heard something and took a closer look with his flashlight…

But the policeman continued walking along his patrol route, never taking his eyes off his phone. He disappeared out of view. Neither of us moved until his footsteps had faded away.

I took Molly’s hand. “We’d better be quiet.”

I expected her to protest, to say that we should go back before we got caught. But her eyes sparkled with mischief, and she nodded.

We walked deeper into the Colosseum, hand-in-hand. We stayed in the tourist sections, which led us through the dark concourse underneath the outer facade. It was eerie at night, but beautiful. We gazed in awe at the dark arches, and at the crumbling stones that had stood there for nearly two thousand years. The bones of a civilization that had fallen long ago.

The path led us up to the second level. From there we could see down into the Colosseum floor, which was open and full of vertical pillars.

“Those tunnels ran underneath the floor,” Molly explained quietly. “The Romans used them to move gladiators and animals around. They could even fill it with water to simulate naval battles.”

The sight was awe-inspiring. I was struck with literal awe as my brain processed what I was looking at. A shiver of understanding ran up my spine.

“It’s so empty,” Molly whispered. “So silent. So peaceful. I wonder how many tourists have seen the Colosseum like this.” She squeezed my hand. “Thank you for making me come along.”

“I just wanted an accomplice in case I got caught,” I joked. “I figured they would go easy on a woman.”

She smiled at me and pulled her mask down. Slowly, I did the same. No more teasing, no more games. There was just Molly and me, and the quiet darkness of the ancient place. She was beautiful, so beautiful, and I knew I couldn’t resist any longer. I ached to finally know what it was like to kiss her.

Our faces drifted together softly, slowly, simultaneously.

Molly’s lips were as soft and warm as I imagined. I folded my arms around her and held her against my body, shielding her from the dangers of the world, protecting her the way I had promised I would. Her fingers gripped me with need, clinging to me like I was the only thing she had ever wanted.

We kissed in the shadow of the ancient Colosseum, which tonight was oursalone.

Molly pulled away, rested her head against my chest, and then smiled up at me. Her dark eyes sparkled in the Roman moonlight.

“How many people have had their first kiss like this?” she whispered. “Breaking into the Colosseum during a pandemic?”

“Only you, and me,” I said, caressing her cheek.

“I’m glad you made me wait. It was worth it.”

“Yeah,” I whispered. “It was. Want to head back now?”

She bit her lower lip. “No.”

Before I could ask what she meant, she dropped to her knees and unzipped my pants.

“What are you…” I quickly looked around. We were underneath an archway on the second level, shielded from most angles. Nobody would see us unless they were inside the Colosseum.

Molly gazed up at me. “The only reason we’re here is because you pulled me out of my comfort zone. I’m glad you did, and I want to do this…”

She pulled me through the hole in my jeans. Her fingers gripped my shaft tenderly, and I could feel her hot breath on my skin. Then, while looking up at me through her long eyelashes, she wrapped her lips around the tip.

I sighed and leaned against the stone slab as she began sucking me off. She stroked me steadily and moved her lips back and forth. Her mouth was warm and wet and felt better than anything in the world.

I gazed out at the sight before me. It was a once-in-a-lifetime view, and I was enjoying it while getting a blowjob.

I didn’t expect this when I signed up for cooking school, I thought.

Molly’s lips were wrapped tightly around my shaft, and I moaned as she moved faster. Everything was perfect—the view, the speed at which she sucked, the hand she ran up my chest, the way she batted her eyelashes and looked up at me innocently. Molly herself was perfect—the perfect hotel neighbor, the perfect friend, the perfect woman. Soon I was running my fingers into her hair and pushing her along softly.

“Molly,” I groaned softly. “I’m close. I’m so close.”

I expected her to pull away so I could spill my seed all over the Roman stones, but she tightened her lips around my head and stroked my shaft rapidly.

“Oh my God,” I gasped. “Molly…”

Tingling ecstasy ran up my legs as I realized what she intended, and then I just fell apart. She kept a tight grip on my shaft as I spasmed, and she hummed a moan into me as I filled her mouth with my come, rope after rope of it. The whole time she gazed up at me longingly, and when I was spent, my knees were so weak that I almost couldn’t stand.

Molly stood up and grinned at me. She must have swallowed it already because she asked, “Did that feel good?”

“Are you kidding? I think I’ve died and gone to Roman heaven. Did the Romans believe in heaven? If so, that’s where I am.”

“They called it Elysium.” She giggled and said, “I’ve never done that before. It wasn’t as gross as I expected. And it was worth it to see you come so hard.”

She rested her hands on my chest and leaned in to me, then stopped.

“You probably don’t want to kiss me right now, do you?” she asked.

I pulled her closer and gave her a long, convincing kiss. “I’ll always want to kiss you, Feisty.”

“Know how many guys have gotten a blowjob inside the Roman Colosseum?” She pointed at me. “Only you.”

“I’m sure plenty of Roman emperors got frisky here two millennia ago.”

“You’re the only one this century,” she said. “Okay, ready to leave?”

“Leave? Babe, I can barely walk right now. You sucked the life out of me.”

We giggled, then quietly retraced our steps downstairs and out to the Colosseum barrier. We waited until the police officer walked by on his patrol, then sneaked through the metal barrier. I picked it up and threaded the metal hook back into the groove so nobody would know we had been here.

We ran across the road and into the safety of the dark alley. Molly clutched my arm and sighed happily.

“I’m going to eat three cookies when we get home,” she said. “And I don’t want you to judge me for it.”

“We’ve already established that you’re on vacation,” I said. “You can do whatever—”

We rounded the corner and stopped as a blinding light hit us in the face. I held my hand up to block the light so I could see. A police officer was standing five feet away.

Oh fuck.

“Non muoverti,” the officer said. I didn’t know what that meant, but he said it with a warning tone.

“Shit,” Molly whispered next to me, holding up her palms.

The officer barked a question that I didn’t understand, but I assumed he was asking what we were doing out.

“Medicine,” I said. I reached a hand toward my pocket. The officer struck out a hand to stop me, then gestured for me to do it slowly. I pulled the bottle of Italian cough syrup out of my pocket and held it up to the flashlight beam.

The officer grunted. “Home?” he said in halting English. “Where is?”

“The Residencia Al Gladiatore,” Molly said, punctuating it with a cough.

The police officer finally lowered the flashlight. “Bene. Come.” He waved for us to follow him.

We breathed a sigh of relief as we were escorted back to the hotel.