Nightswimming
There was only one thing that Jason Morgan regretted about killing Joseph Sorel.
And that was killing him.
Oh, he knew it was a good thing that the pint-sized mob boss was worm food. It was a good thing that Sorel was no longer trying to run narcotics through Port Charles, especially at a time when the government agencies were cracking down so heavily on such trafficking. And it was a good thing that Sorel was no longer plotting to kidnap Sonny's children, and it was a good thing that Sorel could no longer shoot Brenda – graves had a way of dampening such aspirations.
No, it was a good thing that Joseph Sorel had kissed off, for everyone concerned.
The only bad thing was that because he had killed him, Jason had been forced to remain in exile here.
God damn.
Here was San Adessi, a quaint little town in Tuscany, Italy. It was located about forty miles from San Gimigniano, one of the more famous Tuscan towns, and that was where one of Sonny's former associates lived. Sonny figured San Adessi would be a safe place to send Jason until things blew over and until both the cops and Sorel's friends stopped looking for him. And the associate in San Gimigniano was an added bonus: if Jason was in need of money or protection or Sonny needed to get a message to him without risking his best friend's life, the associate would take care of it.
It was all well and good on paper, Jason had to admit. Sonny said that San Adessi was a sun-kissed wine town that was one of Tuscany's best kept secrets, and that the chianti made there was unlike any found elsewhere in the world. When he had first been told of the plan, Jason had readily accepted.
And then he set foot in the town.
It was pretty enough, sure, but one could only get so far on 'pretty.' Maybe it was just that it was nighttime and every strange place only looked worse in the nighttime, but Jason found San Adessi far from impressive.
It had the bearings of a depressing one-horse town where the locals lived on a strict timetable despite the fact that not a clock had been wound in San Adessi for over a century. The dusty church with the cracking tower was the largest building in the actual town, located right across the street from the town hall. The houses were small and clustered together in streets that might have managed to look cozy in the daytime but only looked cramped at night. The grape orchards spread far and wide, sprawling around a vast stone estate that Jason guessed was owned by the richest man in town, the unofficial ruler.
There was always one of those, no matter what society.
His own little house abutted the magnificent stone estate and looked quite pathetic in comparison. It was something Jason wasn't used to, and he mused in retrospect that maybe that was why he was less than thrilled with the town of San Adessi. In Port Charles, he lived in the most upscale part of town. His office was on the valuable waterfront, he always drove the most expensive cars there, and his former family's house was the oldest and largest residential building in town.
Here in San Adessi, he had none of that. He was a nameless foreigner, a stranger in a strange land, and he couldn't rely on any of the luxuries that had made his life in Port Charles so…comfortable. He was starting from square one with these people, with this town. They had no reason to like him, no reason to hate him, but most importantly, no reason to fear, admire, or respect him.
And that just rubbed him the wrong way.
He growled and snarled all through the walk past the handsome stone estate, wondering just what the hell one had to do in such a slow, sleepy little town to amass that kind of wealth. Probably some old asshole like his grandfather that had cheated and lied and hoped to take all that shit with him when he kicked the bucket.
After what seemed like forever, he arrived at the gate of his own house. And standing there in the middle of the street, looking around him and then at his new abode, Jason had to admit that it looked just a little better than most of the other houses. It was one-story building just like the others, but it had a painted fence all around it while the other houses were just laid out one next to the other.
The rooms were spacious enough, especially considering that he was just one man and expected no guests. There was a cozy kitchen with a stove and a large oven and a refrigerator that, despite being old, looked to be in perfect working condition. There was a large dining room that opened out into a slightly smaller living room with huge windows that overlooked both the street and the back yard. After living the past few years in a fortified penthouse with bulletproof windows and a single balcony, the open exposure was something Jason wasn't altogether used to.
Though unsure as to how he'd like it, he pushed on and explored the rest of the house. There was one medium-sized bedroom that would barely hold more than his king-sized bed at home. Here, he had a fancy-looking armoire of some sort, a tiny closet, a small lounge chair by the massive windows, and a medium-sized bed.
Good thing he wasn't expecting any women here: the two of them would fall right off the bed!
There was another tiny room, the guest bedroom, he assumed. It held a single bed covered in a pretty patterned quilt, a little bureau that Jason seriously considered transferring into his room had the armoire not looked so heavy and breakable, and little else. It would do if he had a very petite person spending the night at his 'home.'
Grimacing, Jason rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands and headed into the kitchen once more, hoping that there was at least something to eat there. He found some bread and a few cuts of cold beef, which he was grateful for, so he slapped them together into a hasty sandwich that he consumed in less time than it took to assemble it. He'd have to hit up the market first thing in the morning if he wanted to survive here long enough for Sonny to bring him the hell back home again.
His hunger at least partly satiated, Jason decided to examine the property next. The front yard was nice enough. The grass was a touch long, just as he liked it, and thankfully there weren't any flowers for him to take care of. His back door was found in the kitchen, and a pathway of sanded stones led away from the house and down the gently sloping hill to the little meadow that opened out before his land was abruptly cut off by a pitiful little creek that trickled down from the larger river running through the property of whoever owned the stone estate.
But as he moved closer, walking through the tall grass of the meadow in his bare feet, Jason saw that the pitiful little creek actually was a larger river. It was surprisingly tranquil at night, but moved gently through the adjacent properties. The full moon hung low in the sky, its reflection rippling in the crystal waters. The river curved through the land and under the weeping willows, and was so wide that there was actually a small island full of bushes and shrubs in the middle, almost hidden from view underneath the low-hanging trees.
And the view only got better, because as Jason squinted out into the distance, he saw something pale moving through the inky darkness. A woman's form, petite but curvy, glowing like lit alabaster, could be seen on the little island.
She was exquisite.
Milky skin that he knew even from a distance would be smooth and velvety under his rough hands; limber, finely shaped limbs boasting supple but feminine young muscles; and long, silky brown curls that shone under the gentle moonlight.
Not particularly caring that he was ogling this nude young woman, Jason crept closer to the water's edge and just watched her. He was a little too far from the little island to get the clearest look at her, and the fluttering vines of the weeping willows hid strategic areas of her body that he most wanted to see.
She had no idea he was watching her. He was at a bend in the river, hidden from her view even though she was facing in his direction, and he could watch her freely without recourse. As it was, the nimble brunette was dipping her toes in the undoubtedly cool water, testing it, then drawing it back and taking a deep breath that seemed to elongate her entire form.
And then, smooth as silk, she slipped into the gentle waves.
Jason felt his jaw slacken as he watched her lithe form dip in and out of the water, treading the water like a lover moves over the beloved. Instead of stopping at the property line, of which this nymph clearly had no concept, she swam along with the gentle river until she was practically in his backyard.
Jason smiled to himself and watched her from his meadow, his arms crossed solidly over his chest. Maybe San Adessi wouldn't be such a slow, sleepy little town for him after all.