The Italian

anners surface, and he smiles. “Nice to meet you, Natalie.” He shakes her hand and then passes me my drink.

Natalie goes back to the man she was talking to, and Enrico bends to whisper in my ear. “So, I’m your friend?”

“What would you prefer I introduce you as?”

He sips his drink with a straight face. “Not that.” Unable to help it, I smile over at him and he smiles back. “How has your week been, Olivia?”

“Good. Yours?”

He shrugs. “Okay.”

“Just okay?”

“Just okay.”

We fall silent, and I don’t know what to say. He makes me so nervous.

“Let’s go and sit down.” He gestures to a bench seat beneath a canopy.

My eyes flicker to it. “Okay.”

I follow him over to the corner of the courtyard. It’s darker here, but the space is lit with fairy lights. We find our spot and sit beside each other.

“Closer, bella.” He grabs my hips and drags me to him. The dominance of the act starts a series of memories to flood my mind. The way he moved me while we made love. He just flipped me around like a feather. My body was at his disposal.

“Tell me why your week was just okay,” I say.

He smiles as he looks out over the other clubbers. “Let’s just say that having you in town is very… distracting. I’ve been unable to focus on anything knowing you were so close.”

Hope blooms in my chest. I don’t know what I’m hoping for, but it’s most definitely there.

I look out over the club, searching for something intelligent to say. “I’m sorry about your father,” I whisper. “I was so shocked when you told me, I didn’t offer my condolences.”

A soft smile dusts his face.

“I wish you’d told me back then,” I say softly.

He clenches his jaw and stays silent.

I twist my fingers in front of me. “Do you come here often?”

We turn back to each other, and his dark eyes hold mine. “No.”

“Oh.”

An awkward silence falls over us. I have to concentrate to remember to breathe. He’s not chatty like he was before. He seems more intense, or am I imagining it?

“You’re different,” I whisper.

“How so?”

“You’re quiet now.”

He smiles sadly. “I just….” He stops himself from saying more.

“You just…?”

He shrugs. “Words escape me sometimes.”