“Would you want to grab a bite with me somewhere? I’m starving.”

My stomach lets out a growl. “There’s your answer.”

She gives me a small smile, which sends my heart soaring because any smile she gives me does that to me. “Great,” she whispers. “Let’s go get our stuff. Maybe we’ll find a diner on First. I’d kill for a tuna melt and fries right now.”

We walk back into the house and up the rounded staircase to the room where we left our things before the concert started. Luciana takes some clothes out of her bag. “I can’t wait to get out of this dress.”

Just as she opens the door to go to the bathroom to change, clothes and purse in hand, loud voices begin to echo from the hallway. “What the fuck?” I hear her say under her breath.

I take a few steps toward her. “What is it?”

“Shh!” she hisses back at me. “Holy shit! It’s Davison and some blonde chick.” A few more shouts. “Oh my God, I think it’s Ashton!”

“Who is Ashton?”

“His ex.”

Without warning, Luciana pushes me back into the room, drops her bag to the floor, and starts to look for something frantically. When pulls out her phone, she curses. “Fuck. It’s dead.”

Suddenly, she rises up from the floor and her hands begin roaming over me, front to back, and then inside my jacket.

What the hell…

“Luciana, what are you doing?” I whisper back to her, rather demandingly, because as much as I would love this to happen under any other circumstances, what she was doing was not of a romantic nature.

“Give me your phone!” she hisses back at me under her breath. “We have to get this on video for Allegra!”

I take her insistent hands in mine and push them off me. “Woman, would you wait? I’ll get it.”

“Hurry up! And let me—”

I give her a slight nudge to the side. “My phone. I’ll tape it.”

“Fine! Just do it already!”

Luciana steps back so I can stand in front of her to get the perfect angle on my phone, aiming it at Davison and the blonde woman.

“I love you, Davis. We’re perfect together. You know we are. And I did it all by myself. Your father had nothing to do with it,” the blonde woman says to Davison.

Luciana gasps behind me. “Oh my God!” she whispers. “She’s the one who set up those videos! I’m gonna go kick her ass!”

I block her way out. “No, Luciana. Just wait,” I hiss back at her over my shoulder.

Davison shouts back at this Ashton woman, “Davison, Ashton! My name is Davison.” He pauses. “Oh my God, you hired some PI to investigate her, didn’t you?”

Ashton replies something, and then a sharp voice rings out. I watch as Davison’s mother steps into the hallway, calling the blonde woman a “bloody shrew” and a “little bitch.” Finally, she orders her to get her “skinny, bottle-blonde ass” out of her house.

The blonde then leaves but not before threatening Davison’s mother, who then tells the blonde that she’s the “one who’ll be sorry.”

I watch as Mrs. Berkeley steps closer to her son, but in a rage, he spins around and punches the wall, with his mother shouting his name.

Enough.

Luciana taps me on the arm. “Turn it off, Tomas. That’s enough. Leave him be.”

I turn off the video and ease back into the room, shoving the phone back inside my jacket pocket.

Luciana grabs my arms, shaking them, pure joy illuminating her eyes.

“Oh my God! Tomas, you’re amazing! We have to show this to Allegra when—”

I don’t even think. I pull Luciana’s face to mine and kiss her hard. I can’t hold back any longer. As desperate as I was to kiss her since I first met her, I just couldn’t for two reasons. I didn’t want to be like the other men she’d been with before who only wanted one thing from her. I wanted her to know that I liked being with her because of who she is as a person, that it was important to me to know her better before we moved onto something more serious.

But I also waited because I was so conflicted. There are times when I think I don’t deserve to be happy, and it won’t matter if things escalate between us because it will all fall apart in the end. Because of what happened back home, a dark cloud will always hover over me, reminding me that I indeed was happy once, married to my childhood sweetheart, but after the unexpected tragedy that tore us apart and should’ve made our relationship stronger, I turned into a coward and left everything behind because I was too selfish to deal with what happened properly, instead running away.

It takes her a second, but then she returns the kiss with her tongue. She tastes so delicious, so sweet. I don’t want to stop. Her lips are so soft and lush.

We finally do pull back, but only mere inches. I can feel her warm breath on my face.

Her eyes are soft and glazed over when she looks at me. “I can’t believe that’s what I’ve been missing all this time. I’m a fucking idiot.”

I laugh at her admission. Even though she puts up a strong front, I can see how vulnerable she is, which makes me want her all the more. “Yes, you are. It’s about time, I might add.”

She takes my hands into hers, looking down at them. “I was just scared, you know. All that stuff I told you in the cafeteria at school. It wasn’t bullshit.”

I kiss the top of her head, the scent of her shampoo that smells like wildflowers wafting up to my nose. “I know it wasn’t. Just like it wasn’t bullshit when I told you that I would remind you that you’re beautiful whenever I see you. I haven’t failed in that, have I?”

She smiles so sweetly at me. “No, you haven’t.”

Luciana untangles our hands, then takes my face between her palms and kisses me once more. I wrap my arms around her warm body, loving the feel of her curves under my hands.

This time when we pull apart, something inside me clenches and I look away, shutting my lips together firmly. Without warning, Luciana takes my face back in her hands, hard. She looks at me straight in the eyes, worry crossing her face. “Okay, Prague Boy, what’s wrong?”

My eyebrows narrow. I tilt my head at her. “What?”

“You tell me. I pulled away and you looked to the side, as if you couldn’t stand the sight of me. Like you’d rather be anywhere else but with me.”

Shit.

I didn’t mean it, my love.

What? My love?

No, it’s not love. It can’t be. Not yet. Just tell her. Tell her everything, then reassure her that you like her. That you want to be with her.

And then the coward returns.

I give her a wide grin. “How do you say, ‘news report’?”

“News flash?” she asks carefully.

I smile widely at her. “Yes, that’s it. News flash, Luciana. Nothing is wrong. Everything is right. I’m crazy about you, and I want to be with you. I hope you realize that.”

Her light blue eyes shine back at me with unshed tears. “I do. I just didn’t think I’d ever hear that from a guy.”

“Well, now you have. And I just hope you feel the same way about me.”

“I do, but now I need to do something else.”

“What?”

“Make up for lost time,” she replies before grabbing my head once more and slamming her lips over mine.

CHAPTER FOUR

Northern Italy

Present day

You did save the day that night, you know,” I inform Tomas.

“No argument there.”

“So modest.”

He shakes his head and grins. “How about the time we made love after my debut in Prague?”

“‘Made love?’ Honey, we…” I mouth “fucked” so the girls can’t hear…”each other’s brains out,” I remind him.

“I was being polite,” he counters.

“I know. Look at you blushing already. So cute.”

His face is rosy pink as he clears his throat, pulling at the collar of his t-shirt.

*  *  * Lucy

The Estates Theatre