Her hair falling loose and natural about her shoulders, some simple jewelry dangling from her ears, Elena was dressed all in white, in tight Capri pants and a breathtaking low-cut halter top. The simplicity of the look was all the more devastating because it revealed every delicate line, every tantalizing curve of her figure, while showing nothing. As she sashayed his way, her lovely eyes fixed on him, her face neither smiling nor frowning but serene and simply perfect, Carter saw not just any attractive young woman, but a goddess.

She was Venus.

“Ciao, Carter!” Elena said brightly, walking straight up to him and brushing her cheek against his. “Are you ready to go? Are you hungry?”

“Just a little,” he said.

“Good,” she said, taking his hand and leading him toward the piazza. “I know good place where we eat well, but first you meet my friends, yes?”

Had she asked him to remove his shoes and walk barefoot across a bed of coals, Carter would have gladly acquiesced. For all the hours upon hours he had spent in the gym developing his well-muscled frame, the simple touch of her hand in his had been enough to make him go weak. He was powerless to resist her, and had no choice but to let himself be dragged along by her like a Raggedy Andy doll.

Elena’s friends were gathered together away from the lights, a collection of silhouettes standing around on the far edge of the piazza. Most, if not all, of them were smoking cigarettes, the burning tips bobbing about in the darkness so that, from a distance, it appeared to Carter that he was walking toward a small swarm of orange fireflies. As he and Elena drew nearer, his eyes adjusted to the dim light, and he began to see them more clearly.There were eight or nine young men and women, all of them college age or thereabouts, he guessed.

“Ciao, Elena,” called one of the girls at seeing them approach.

“Ciao, tutti,” Elena called back.

As if to make a big show of him in front of the group when they walked up together, Elena slipped her arm more tightly around Carter’s, and stood there very close to him.

“Listen, everyone,” she said in a singsong voice, “I want you to meet my friend Carter. He just came to see me all the way from Rhode Island, where I went to college in the spring. Be nice to him. And be careful. He speaks Italian very well, so no talking about politics and America, capito?”