A Family Affair Ch 02 8

Authors Note -

Please note that this is Adult Fiction, so should only be read by those who qualify!

This is the second part of this little mini-series, and is probably best looked at after reading episode 01, but for those who can't wait, here's a little précis of events so far...

Paolo has a hot experience that he'd only ever dreamed of whilst on holiday in Italy. It set him thinking about a very strange, and enlightening, week!

Paolo lives on the outskirts of London, a member of a big wide-spread family that stretches throughout Europe. At the end of his first year at University his family had arranged to spend some time at his Aunt's Villa in Tuscany, but for various reasons the rest of his family had dropped out at the last minute and he'd made the trip alone.

At Pisa airport, he'd been surprised to find no-one there to meet him, and had been shocked to witness a passionate re-union between a young Italian couple that had really opened his eyes! However soon after that, he'd had an even bigger shock when his volatile Sicilian cousin Isobella, 'Izzy', had finally appeared to pick him up and drive him to the Villa...

I'm always interested in people's comments if you'd care to leave one, and please vote too. All feedback is useful!

I sincerely hope that you enjoy...

Duke

*****

4.Arrival at the Villa

After the dramatic events at the airport, the journey from Pisa around Florence and up into the Tuscan hills above Sienna with my cousin Izzy was interesting to say the least.

Initially, she seemed intent on showing off the paces of our sleek Maserati and when we hit some open motorway North of Pizza she put her foot down and my eyes widened as the speedo shot up to the 140 mph mark. All this while she was casually describing life in Sicily, one hand on the wheel, the other making elaborate gestures to amplify her stories!

Eventually though she calmed down and slowed to a more pedestrian 90 mph. It may have been that she'd spotted my white knuckles gripping the side of the seat and door rest, or the slightly strangled, monosyllable responses that I was making in the name of conversation. But, whatever, I finally relaxed somewhat and enjoyed Izzy spilling the beans on all the family scandal. She was a natural storyteller and, in our family, their always seemed to be plenty of juicy gossip to exaggerate, so the time passed quickly and before long we were off the motorway and heading higher into the hills. By then I was laughing and teasing her back, and also enjoying the sight of her long, bare legs that were barely covered by the scandalously short polka-dot dress as they worked the pedals. I tried hard not to stare, but I'm sure she caught me a few times and I could have sworn that there was a sly smile passing over face on one occasion.

All too soon though we were onto the dusty back-roads as we approached the villa, parched fields flying quickly by, tall cyprus trees surrounding small, red roofed farm buildings and the smell of wild flowers in the air. It was just as I remembered it, beautiful and idylic. Just what I needed after a hard year at uni!

That was until Izzy did the emergency stop!

When we'd approached the gates to my Uncle's villa, I'd been a bit surprised that she hadn't slowed down more, and as we headed up the dusty drive around the trees and shrubs that hid the main buildings. the drive went into an arc before twisting round into a gravelled courtyard in front of the old villa itself.

As we slid round the last bend my eyes snapped shut, leaving the frozen picture of the imposing villa imprinted on my retina. It was a like a still photograph, everything frozen in time. The taxi parked up in front of the stone steps, boot open and full of cases. The driver leaning into his open door, my Uncle Flavio on the steps with his arm around my Aunt Luisa, both heads swivelled round in our direction with an expression of shock on their faces.

There was no shriek of tyres, just a loud rumbling noise as the ABS and gravel struggled to slow down our yellow missile. I cringed and waited for the impact!

But nothing happened. When I finally dragged open my eyes again, we were stopped. And, thankfully, short of the taxi!

I was still recovering, and nobody else had moved, but Izzy quickly pushed open her door, bounced out and rushed up the steps.

"Hey, Uncle Flavio, look who's here. It's Paulo!!"

My Uncle seemed to pause and take a deep breath. He is quite short and has grown wider over the years as his love of good food has outstripped his enjoyment of exercise. His hair is thinning and greying fast, and our abrupt arrival had probably speeded that process considerably.

"Well, Izzy, I'm pleased to see that you got him here in one piece. Just!" he said sarcastically, staring pointedly at the two foot gap between the two cars. Then he came down the three steps separating us as I dragged myself out of the car. His normal good humour instantly back, he opened his arms to embrace me, then shook my hand enthusiastically.

"Paolo, Paolo!... so good to see you again. You are most welcome!"

I was pleased that everyone seemed to be speaking English in my presence, if a little guilty that my Italian was so badly regarded! I attempted to remedy the situation.

"Buongiorno zio, è un piacere vedere anche voi..." I stopped as I watched his face cringe slightly and heard Izzy laugh behind me. Maybe my accent wasn't quite perfect? He continued in English, "Well, thank you Paolo, but everyone wants to try out their English on you so that might be best, eh?"

I glanced at the taxi driver who was looking at his watch, and Uncle Flavio had seen the gesture too.

"Now, Paolo. Mille apologies, but something important has come up at my business in Milano so I'm going to have to sort that out for a few days. I have a train soon." He half turned to his wife and she too stepped forward and embraced me, kissing cheeks. My Aunt was taller than my Uncle, about my height, slender and graceful, with her raven black hair cut stylishly short in a 'bob' around her narrow face. Her grey eyes sparkled warmly as she smiled and hugged me tightly, "Ciao Paolo."

My Uncle was looking impatiently around him by now, and also at his watch, "Now where are the other two?" he asked nobody in particular.

Puzzled, I looked at Izzy. "What other two?" I mouthed. She'd already told me that Guilio was away somewhere on the drive up here, but she hadn't mentioned anyone else at the villa. Then I heard the garden gate at the side of the house squeaking open and two figures tumbled through in a twirl of girlish laughter. They wore short tennis dresses, and were soon rushing over the drive to meet us.

"Ah, there you are! I was beginning to think that I'd miss you," he boomed as I recovered from another surprise as my twin Austrian cousins Ilse and Frieda joined us on the steps, kissing him dutifully on the cheek. Then they'd joined me and I was grasped in two more big hugs as they kissed cheeks and gabbled out an excited welcome.

They were both looking good, fitness and energy radiating out as we stood in our small group. They were sweating slightly and clearly the tennis dresses weren't on for show and I remembered how Ilse in particular had taken great delight in trouncing me the last time that I'd played them on a trip to Austria. That would have been just over a year ago I suppose.

And, although they were twins and just six months younger than me, they looked nothing like that! They were quite different. Ilse was about Izzy's height, slim with golden, shoulder length wavy hair and bright blue eyes. Frieda was shorter, more compact with short brown hair and penetrating hazel eyes, her strong muscular thighs glistening under the short white tennis dress.

Before we could say much more than 'hello' though, my Uncle had taken my arm again.

"Now than Paolo, I'll have to go for the train and as Guilio's not here, I'm leaving the women in your charge," he winked at me as he added semi-sternly, "And keep an eye on that 'Izzy' for me will you. She's in need of some male 'controlling' influence."

Izzy responded from behind me with a burst of quick Italian that had everybody laughing, including my Uncle. I had a feeling that I was probably the butt of that particular joke so I gave her a pained look, but that just seemed to make them laugh even more!

Then the taxi doors were slamming and my Uncle was waving at me from the back seat as the car swept away.

5.Settling In

So, after the dust settled, my immediate future was also settled!

It appeared that Izzy had already arranged a packed lunch, and the intention was for the four of us to drive up to a mountain lodge that the family owned. It was higher than the villa, but only about thirty minutes away, and would be cooler. I'd been there many times in the past, and was pleased at the idea. It was a small wooden building set in woodland and with a small lake. The attraction for the girls though seemed to that it too had a clay tennis court. My Uncle must have been really keen in his younger days because he seemed to have built them all over the place!

When I protested that I didn't have any tennis gear with me, I was quickly informed that my Aunt had dug out some of Guilio's and that I could use those. End of protest!

As my Aunt looped her arm round my waist and began to guide me up the steps to a stone archway that sheltered the main entrance, she was asking about my mother and sister, checking that all was well. I passed on their apologies a bit huffily given that they'd let me down at the last minute as well, but my Aunt just smiled graciously and just said that 'these things happen'.

It made me feel a bit guilty though about just shooting off with my cousins as well.

"I'm sorry Aunt, here I am just arriving and then leaving you again. It seems a bit un-sociable!"

"Oh don't worry Paolo, I've plenty to do here, and you can tell me all your news at dinner tonight," she said, before glancing at me and catching my eye, "You know I'm really looking forward to it...and here's Caterina, she'll show you up to your room."

The woman who had appeared at the doorway was a little older than my Aunt, shorter and much rounder in shape! A big smile spread across her face as she came forward.

"Signor Paulo! Buongiorno!!" she absolutely gushed, before enveloping me in a big, bear hug of an embrace. Catarina was my Aunt's housekeeper and had been with the family ever since I could remember. She was wearing a big black dress that swept down to her ankles. I think that it was some sort of uniform, because she always seemed to wear black around the house and her short black hair was fastened severely back in a bun.

She was apologising straight away that her husband, Jose, had gone down to the village so that I would have to carry my own case, but Izzy shouted up from the drive that she needn't worry, because I was going to need all my strength for this afternoon and it would be good practice for picking up balls that I'd missed! I gave her another pained look which drew a similar response to before as Catarina shepherded me inside, into the cool of the villa.

I kept my voice as neutral as possible when I'd asked how Catarina's daughter, Maria, was. She was one day younger than me and we'd almost grown up together playing around the Villa and it's grounds whenever I'd visited, and with our birthdays being so close there had been plenty of joint celebrations. We'd become great friends, and I was really looking forward to seeing her again on this trip.

Catarina was full of apologies when she explained that Maria was still in Florence, finishing off some University work, and I'm sure that she was teasing as she let that hang for a few minutes before casually mentioning that she would be back in a couple of days for the holidays. I wasn't really that surprised, because I'd contacted her the week before to tell her that I was coming and she'd told me then, but Catarina's next remark did surprise me.

"She said to tell you that she was looking forward to seeing you and that she had something special to tell you."

That made me both happy and intrigued. 'Special?' I thought as my brow furrowed, 'Whatever could that be?'

Then we'd arrived in my bedroom and I threw my case onto the big, spacious bed, alongside the tennis gear that my Aunt had apparently dug out for me. Catarina checked that I was alright and left me to do some quick unpacking as Izzy had given us a tight deadline of meeting back up on the drive in thirty minutes for the trip up to the lodge.

Un-packing didn't take long. I hadn't brought many clothes, expecting the hot, sunny climate to obviate the need for anything warm and thick. So it was mainly tee-shirts, shorts and slacks with a couple of shirts for anything semi-formal. I checked my watch. I was even ahead of Izzy's crazy schedule as I thankfully pulled my way-too-warm pullover up and off my head before being distracted by what sounded like a cry of distress in the corridor outside. I quickly went to the door and stepped through to see if help was needed.

That's when I stopped dead. Further down the carpeted corridor, a beautiful, semi-naked figure was bending down to pick up a dropped towel. She had her back to me and all she seemed to have on was a tight pair of pink panties, her generous behind filling them nicely as she'd stooped down.

I suppose that my strangled cry had alerted her to my presence, and as Izzy rose and twisted towards me, she was dragging the big white towel up to cover herself. But not before I'd had a fleeting glimpse of two very nicely shaped, bare breasts bouncing up with her.

"Paolo!" she gasped in apparent confusion, taking a couple of steps backwards.

"Izzy!" I responded in embarrassed alarm.

She seemed to recover quickly, "What are YOU doing here?" she spluttered as I tried hard not to stare at her long bare legs again, and the way that she was holding the towel clutched to her throat meant that a pink pantie covered triangle at the top of her legs was also peeping into view.

I swallowed as my throat suddenly felt seriously dry, "I, errr...well, that is my bedroom," I explained pointing, probably unnecessarily, behind me, "...and I thought I heard you cry out..."

Izzy was still taking steps backwards to her own open door, "That's because I'd dropped my towel idiot! Ohhhhhh men...!!" she gasped as she finally retreated into her own bedroom and slammed the door shut. I was left staring at the empty corridor and wondering why all the women that I seemed to know could be so illogical!

I spent the next ten minutes trying hard to push the image of the almost bare Izzy out of my mind. She was my cousin after all, and we'd seen each other naked before. Snag was that we were probably about four or five at the time and she'd changed a lot since then! That voyeuristic view would had been distinctly disturbing on its own, but the thing that I was really struggling to deal with was the physical response from between my legs!

Getting into my tennis shorts looked like becoming a bit of a challenge!

6.The Lodge

In the end it was touch and go, but I did make it to the front of the villa on time, to join up with Ilse and Frieda who were already standing on the steps above the drive and chatting in German. There was no sign of Izzy, which wasn't entirely unexpected and did at least delay the possible embarrassment of what I could possibly say to her!

The twins were wearing fresh new tennis dresses, Ilse in pale lemon and Frieda in a more sophisticated affair that started with pale orange at the top and then changing gradually to a deeper shade as it flared out over her hips. Both dresses had short, loose skirts, and thin straps around their shoulders with tops cut deeply down the front either to aid skin respiration or maximise cleavage display. Whatever the design purpose, they both caught my attention!

I was moving a little warily as my shorts had turned out to be a little tighter than I'd expected. It was strange really because the last time I'd met Guilio, I'm sure that his waistline was no smaller than mine, but this pair had been a bit of a tight fit, even after my emergency cold shower following the incident with Izzy!

I'd been quietly pleased that there'd been no racquet in my room, and I'd had a sneaking hope that I could escape being slaughtered by the twins by getting to the lodge and 'finding' that I'd got nothing to play with. Unfortunately that hope was quickly dashed as I'd seen the big tennis bag at Ilse's feet. It seemed to be absolutely full of spare racquets.

After quick hugs of greeting again, Ilse asked me to check through the bag and choose one, which was why I was bent over when I felt a resounding slap across my bottom!

"Hey!" I protested as I shot upright and twisted round to see that Izzy had finally appeared silently behind me, grinning from ear to ear. She was wearing a plain white tennis shirt over a short, bright pink pleated skirt that clearly matched the panties that I'd seen earlier.

"Sorry!" she laughed, "Couldn't resist...you shouldn't wear such tight shorts, especially across that pert bum of yours! What do you think girls?"

The initial shock had instantly been replaced by rising embarrassment as they all seemed to be examining my 'pert' rear, and Ilse in particular seemed about to step forward with her hand outstretched to feel it.

"Ilse!" I said warningly as I took a quick step backwards. Then they all laughed at my discomfort and Izzy disappeared to the garage to dig out our transport. At least, I thought with a flash of relief, that moment appeared to have overcome any possible awkwardness after the corridor episode!

And soon we were wending our way higher into the cooler mountains along twisting side roads, through small, picturesque villages. I suspect that Uncle Flavio had told my Aunt that the Maserati was off limits to Izzy, and we were in the big family Fiat estate car which Izzy was driving somewhat more sedately than the bright yellow sports car. I was again in the passenger seat trying hard not to stare too blatantly at her long tanned legs which the short tennis skirt was doing an even poorer job then the previous polka dot dress in hiding! Fortunately, the twins in the back were barraging me with questions about home and the rest of the family, so the journey passed quickly and we were soon driving along a shaded mountain track, high trees flashing by to appear dramatically in a bright, sunny clearing.

Izzy brought the car to a holt next to the low wooden building, in the shade of a large pine tree. As we piled out of the car, I was relieved to feel a gentle, cool breeze waft around us as the sun still shone down from a clear blue sky with mid-day fierceness. Izzy soon had the rear door open and was pulling out a big hamper that Caterina had provided for our lunch. She threw me a large, gaily coloured blanket which was clearly for us to sit on. I scanned the veranda of the lodge where there were table and chairs, but quickly chose a spot on the grassed lawn which led down to a small, wooden jetty jutting out into a picturesque little lake. The grass there was soft and shaded by two more high pines. Perfect!

By the time that I'd spread out the big, orange checked sheet, the girls were approaching with the hamper and an assortment of other packages, one of which was a big cooler bag from which Ilse proudly produced a bottle of Chianti. It was looking like being a good meal, and my travel fatigue was soon dispersed by the thought of Caterina's superb cooking and a drop or two of the local vino!

My cousins were still chattering relentlessly among themselves as they lay everything out. I took responsibility for the serious job of opening the wine, and then we were all sitting around the feast and tucking in heartily.