“Fine.” I leaned my elbow against the bench, placing my face in my palm to appear casual and denote the butterflies in my stomach. “One of my favourite book boyfriends is this vampire who waited a thousand years for his fated mate. One night, after he finished showing her his castle, she told him she’s never stargazed because she’s from the city and you can’t see them there. The next day, the hero took it upon himself to set up a picnic for her and they spent hours staring at the constellations. It was a simple gesture but extremely thoughtful. Acts of service are clearly my weakness. Plus, I’ve never gone stargazing, so that scene lives in my mind rent-free.”
Hunter’s expression softened. “You’re a romantic.”
“I am.” There was no point denying it. “And yet I’m not really a relationship girl.”
“Why?”
I gave him a white lie. “There’s a lot on my plate. Balancing a relationship with my demanding academic life would be difficult.”
That couldn’t be further from the truth. After Franco and his cutthroat words, I was afraid of letting anyone too close to me. What if they found something within me that they didn’t like—a deal-breaking flaw—while I’d fallen head over heels in love with them? I didn’t think I was strong enough to handle that kind of rejection, let alone put my heart back on the line. Maybe in a few years, a man would enter my life and change my mind.
Maybe I’d be willing to take a chance on love again.
But right now, that was a slim possibility.
Sometimes it felt like Franco had stolen everything I possessed until my well had dried up, with nothing left to give.
Hunter appeared like he wanted to call bullshit on my lie. Ever the gentleman, he simply whispered, “I see.”
I turned the tables on him, leaning closer until we were almost tête-à-tête. “What about you? Is there a special someone in your life?”
Hunter gazed at me with an unnamed emotion, giving Luna a final stroke before she padded over to me for a snuggle. “No. I haven’t dated in a really long time. Not since high school.”
“How come?”
He shrugged, continuing to twirl a lock of my hair around his pointer finger. “My ex-girlfriend, Ginette, cheated on me with my teammate. I had trust issues for a while.”
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. Shook my head, shocked.Why would she do that to him?
Hunter saw the question on my face.“I guess I wasn’t enough for her,” he stated plainly, but there was a sad edge to it that made me ache.
My heart broke for a young Hunter.
How devastated he must have felt to be faced with a cheating girlfriend whom he probably loved with his whole heart.
“Well, screw her. You didn’t deserve to be treated that way,” I defended. “I think you’re perfect just the way you are.”
The finger playing with my hair froze and the atmosphere charged with an electrifying energy. It felt crackling and tangible.
When Hunter’s left hand reached for mine, his fingertips grazing my knuckles, a final cog clicked into place. No matter how much I tried to run away from the possibility of us, it would catch up to me. One day, I wouldn’t be able to avoid this connection that continued to pulse between us like a living heartbeat and flow through my veins like ambrosia.
Hunter’s fingers braided with mine in a manner that was quintessentially ours and he smiled tenderly. “I think you’re perfect just the way you are too, Gabriela.”
CHAPTER 13
In Too Deep
Gabriela
The next two weeks trickled by expeditiously.
Mamma and Neal, boyfriend number sixteen, broke up. He ended it with her via text message like a total asshat. She was currently sulking and Papà walked around with his chest puffed out like a self-satisfied, arrogant man who’d conspired with the universe to get exactly what he wanted. I wouldn’t put it past him to not only get on his knees and beg God to free his ex-wife from the shackles of a younger man, but also threaten the men she dated to help speed up the process. Enzo Bellafiore was relentless in his pursuit when he wanted something, and the truth was that he never stopped wanting his Lucia. He wouldn’t rest until he made her his again.
My guard, Oscar, still followed me around everywhere like a shadow. I often checked over my shoulders wherever I went, worried that the culprit who’d vandalized my apartment lurked close by. We were nowhere near finding them. But thankfully, there hadn’t been another disturbance since that first one. I was beginning to wonder if someone played a one-time prank just to scare me. Or if that said someone had gotten the wrong home.
Eventually, I also gathered the courage to tell my parents about the real reason for Franco’s and my breakup, including the fact that he was conveniently back in Montardor after all these years. They were livid.
“Say the word and I’ll lodge a bullet into his skull, Gabriela,” Papà had offered, fuming. “No one is allowed to hurt my daughter.”
