An American in Venice
By Luca Domani
()
About this ebook
Tom has always been steady and predictable—a formula he’s sure will lead him to success in his career. When his method fails him and he loses his job, he throws caution to the wind for the first time in his life and books a European holiday.
Maybe Tom shouldn’t be surprised that Cupid’s arrow finds him in one of the most romantic cities in the world: Venice, Italy. When he encounters Giovanni working in the family pizzeria, it’s lust at first sight. Their time together touring the city is so magical it feels like a dream. But Tom is shy while Giovanni is charming and flirtatious. Tom has a newfound freedom with his unemployment, while family burdens weigh heavily on Giovanni. Add culture differences and miscommunication into the mix, and their brief romance might fade as quickly as the beautiful dream it resembles.
World of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the globe.
Related to An American in Venice
Titles in the series (8)
The Seventh Flower Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dusk Parlor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Paradise Is You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wheat Kings and Pretty Things Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsToo Many Temples Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Truth Beyond the Bitterness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMeet Me in Shanghai Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn American in Venice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related ebooks
Tom Johnson's Submarine and How He Met Napoleon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMonsterland: (A Hulu Series) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thirteen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsProofed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNorth American Lake Monsters: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood on the Book Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow's the Pain? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Continuum 2012 - Second Edition - eBook Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCent'anni! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMerde Happens Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5While You Sleep Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTransient Desires Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Responsible One Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bitter Truth: Adam Kaminski Mystery Series, #6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFields of Dust Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDream Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHousekeeping Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Plan C: Just in Case Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Life Aches: In and Out of the Fishbowl Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIs Time Travel Possible? Time Travel Twins. How to Time Travel. The Return of James Maxwell's Equations. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIfriqiya Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTo Rome With Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ocean in the Well Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrawlspace: A Selection from Screamscapes: Tales of Terror Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Pocket Surprise -Series Part 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDark Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConfluence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRack, Ruin and Murder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Valentine's Revenge: Valentine's Vendetta, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTom Sawyer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Contemporary Romance For You
Ruin Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dirty Thirty Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wildfire: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Ends with Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Icebreaker: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scandalized Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Intense: Erotic Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The American Roommate Experiment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Starts with Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ugly Love: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Spanish Love Deception: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wallbanger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beautiful Bastard Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All Your Perfects: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Under the Roses Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Before We Were Strangers: A Love Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Animal Farm Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Maybe Someday Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heart Bones: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Confess: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Without Merit: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One Italian Summer: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hopeless Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beautiful Disaster: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wicked Villain Shorts: Wicked Villains, #7 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Perfect: A Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Losing Hope: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Point of Retreat: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slammed: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Swear on This Life: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for An American in Venice
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
An American in Venice - Luca Domani
An American in Venice
By Luca Domani
Tom has always been steady and predictable—a formula he’s sure will lead him to success in his career. When his method fails him and he loses his job, he throws caution to the wind for the first time in his life and books a European holiday.
Maybe Tom shouldn’t be surprised that Cupid’s arrow finds him in one of the most romantic cities in the world: Venice, Italy. When he encounters Giovanni working in the family pizzeria, it’s lust at first sight. Their time together touring the city is so magical it feels like a dream. But Tom is shy while Giovanni is charming and flirtatious. Tom has a newfound freedom with his unemployment, while family burdens weigh heavily on Giovanni. Add culture differences and miscommunication into the mix, and their brief romance might fade as quickly as the beautiful dream it resembles.
World of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the globe.
Table of Contents
Blurb
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
About the Author
By Luca Domani
Visit Dreamspinner Press
Copyright
Per Marco, l’amore della mia vita.
Chapter 1
THE WATER was up to his socks. Tom cursed his lack of preparation. At least the loafers were old and worn, so he didn’t care that they were ruined. But the only other shoes he had brought were a pair of slippers. On the other hand, he was grateful he had packed light and only carried a duffle bag on his shoulder. A rolling suitcase would have been a disaster in this situation.
Acqua alta,
the clerk had explained apologetically before handing him the key.
There weren’t any rooms available on the upper floors, so Tom sloshed his way down the hallway, grimacing with each waterlogged step. He could hear a pump churning away somewhere down the hall. He wondered if there was water in the room, doubtful of the clerk’s assurances that it would be dry. When he opened the door, he almost tripped on the little ledge at the threshold. The rooms were a step higher than the hallway so that the water couldn’t seep into them during flood conditions. Still, it felt damp, and the watermarks on the wallpaper told of other acque alte that had overcome the few inches into the room. Tom looked around the small interior. It was cramped, furnished with a full-size bed and a mismatched bureau and nightstand. A dingy mirror hung on one wall. The windows were small and set high, looking out onto a neglected courtyard. At least it had its own bathroom, which was sized for efficiency. The shower stall consisted of a curtain around a drain. Still, it could have been worse. Venice was notoriously expensive, even in the off-season, and Tom had received what he paid for.
It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, to come to Venice. It had been fifteen years since he had visited, and that was when he was still in high school and accompanied by his parents and older brother. Despite the teenage embarrassment of having to travel with his family, he had fond memories of the magical city. He had always wanted to return to visit on his own when he was older, but never had a chance until now. That first visit had been in summer, though, when the weather was hot and the streets were crowded with tourists and gondoliers plying their trade. Now he was here in November, and it was cold and wet and quiet. He didn’t mind the quiet, but he hadn’t anticipated the floodwater.
He hadn’t anticipated the circumstances that brought him to Venice either. He had been laid off after working at the same biotech start-up for the past five years. The company had failed to obtain FDA approval for their drug delivery system, and they started letting people go. Tom had naively thought he was immune, as one of the people who had been there since the conception of the company, and he hadn’t bothered with job hunting like the rest of his colleagues. Too late, he realized he had been overconfident. The stock options that had once seemed like such a great benefit of the job were now worthless. The only silver lining was the size of his severance pay—one month for every year of service. Tom had been paid handsomely as one of the senior engineers, so nearly half a year of salary would give him a comfortable buffer as he looked for new employment.
He could have been prudent and saved the money, which was what everyone expected him to do. Instead he did something very un-Tom-like and impulsive: He decided to fulfill that unrealized dream to return to Venice, as well as see other parts of Europe. Unlike some of his friends, he hadn’t seen much of it, having spent a good portion of his twenties as a poor graduate student. After finishing his dissertation, Tom had immediately gone to work for the start-up. Now in his thirties, he saw it as an opportunity to do his version of backpacking across Europe, only with better lodgings. Venice