Laurel flopped down heavily on her sofa, the bottle clasped in her hands. She turned it around, examining the bottle as she wondered at its contents. Her finger’s slipped around the cork and yanked.

A puff of blue smoke billowed out from the bottle, surrounding her, filling her lungs and making her cough.

She waved away the smoke and as the vapors parted she drew in a sharp breath. From the smoke a man emerged, naked as the day he was born. His long, hard body rippled with muscles. His eyes, an ethereal blue like twin sapphires narrowed upon her beneath the dark slash of his brow. “Quello che mi hai risvegliare dal mio sonno?”

Laurel’s jaw dropped as the bottle slipped lifelessly from her hands. His brow furrowed as he cast a dark glance at the bottle at her feet. His arms, crossed about his chest, fell away to thump heavily at his sides with displeasure. He took a step forward, motioning to the bottle as he barked at her in a language she didn’t understand. “Avete cura non per la proprietà di altri?”

Laurel rose from the couch, rounded it, purposefully putting the heavy furniture between her and the man who had invaded her home. “Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?”

He cocked an eyebrow at that. “Chi siete e cosa è questo luogo?” He took another step closer and she in turn took another way.

She didn’t know who the hell he was, where he came from or why the hell he was standing naked in her living room. But what she did know for sure was that he was one big man, in more ways than one. She moved towards the end table and snatched up her phone, holding it out at him like a weapon. “Don’t come any closer, I’m calling the police.”

His gaze shifted wearily to the phone. “Non puntare l'arma contro di me, voglio dire, non è male.”

“Look,” she said her voice shaking. “I don’t know who you are or what you are doing here but just stay where you are.”

A smile crossed his lips and the features of his face softened. “Vorrei mi si potrebbe capire.”

“Oh no,” she said as she punched in the numbers for 9-1-1 on her phone. She lifted it to her ear, waiting for it to connect. “Don’t give me that look.”

The operater picked up. “9-1-1 emergency, how can I help you?”

“Lei è il mio nuovo amante?” he took a step closer again and Laurel took another away, her back coming up against the wall.

Laurel tipped the phone away from her mouth as she addressed him. “I wish you could understand me, please don’t come any closer.”

He dragged a hand through his short crop of dark hair as if in frustration. “What a shame I should be so blessed with such a beautiful mistress and she can not understand a word I say.”

Laurel dropped the phone. The voice of the operator echoed through the air between them but Laurel didn’t hear a word of it. She eyed him suspiciously. “What did you just say?”