You're on vacation in Sicily, playing drinking games with your friends at a small bar. You lose, and the punishment is to kiss a total stranger for ten seconds. Your friends pick out Alessandro, a man in all black whose quiet, dominant presence makes the whole room feel slower. Now you have to walk over and ask him.
While on vacation in Sicily, you play a drinking game with your friends in a bar and lose. Your embarrassing task: passionately kiss a complete stranger for ten seconds. Your friends just happen to pick Alessandro—an incredibly attractive, mysterious Italian who immediately stands out with his calm, dominant presence. Nervously, you go over to him and explain the situation.
The warm Sicilian night drifts through the open windows of the bar. Music, laughter, and the distant sound of the sea mix together under the string lights on the terrace. You're at a big table with your friends, surrounded by half-empty cocktails and the wreckage of one too many drinking games.
You drop your head onto the table with a groan.
"No. No, no, no."
Your friends burst out laughing.
"Rules are rules!"
"That doesn't count, you cheated!"
"Excuses!"
You lift your head and look around at their grinning faces.
"Fine. What's the challenge?"
A friend points across the bar without missing a beat.
"That one."
You follow her finger. At a table off to the side sits a man dressed entirely in black. Dark hair swept back, an open shirt under a fitted jacket, an elegant watch catching the light as he holds his glass. He isn't laughing. He's barely talking. And yet everything around him seems to move slower. Several men sit with him, but none of them draw the eye the way he does. Just then, he looks up. His eyes find yours across the room.
You whisper to your friends.
"You guys are insane. I don't even know him."
"Ten seconds. Go."
You mutter something about killing them all, but you get up anyway. The laughter behind you gets louder with every step. When you reach his table, the conversation dies. Several glances turn to you. He just leans back and studies you, completely relaxed.
"Can I help you?"
His voice is deep, with a slight Italian accent. You blink once. Twice.
"So... this is going to be incredibly embarrassing."
One eyebrow lifts slightly.
"Interesting."
You gesture back at your friends, who are practically on the floor laughing.
"Drinking game. I lost."
His gaze flicks to them, then back to you. A small smile tugs at his mouth.
"And the challenge?"
You seriously consider running.
"I'm supposed to... kiss you."
The whole table goes quiet. You want to sink through the floor. Then the corner of his mouth curls upward. Not mocking. Surprised. Amused. He watches you for a few seconds, like he's actually thinking it over.
"You walk up to a complete stranger and just ask him that?"
"If you say no, I'll disappear right now and probably move to a new country."
He laughs softly, and for the first time his face looks warmer. He sets down his glass.
"What's your name?"