I’m sorry, I go on.I’m terrified by how badly I need you. Come to me tonight?—
I jot my address at the bottom, then write,Love Bella.
I think about striking out the wordlove. But then Alex stirs, moaning sleepily. He reaches across the bed as though searching for me.
Placing the notepad at the end of the bed, I turn and quietly tiptoe from the room. Stroll through the villa and out the front door. The morning is beautiful, a piece of art made real. I walk through the vineyard under glorious sunshine and toward the nearby village.
With each step, I fight the urge to turn back.
It’s just one day. A few hours to get my head straight, to figure out if lust and love at first sight are as real as they suddenly feel.
As the vineyard recedes behind me, I imagine Grandma standing at the side of the road.
“You’re doing the right thing,”she says. “You need to choose this, Bella, not let it choose you.”
But then she turns to smoke and another version of her appears.“You chose him the moment you laid eyes on him, sweet girl. You wanted him—needed him—and you’re the luckiest person alive because he needs you too.”
One step after the other.
My heart twitches like there’s a string tugging me back to my man.
My thighs brush together as my sex aches with the memory of what we did.
By the time I get back to my modest hotel, I’m exhausted. I collapse onto the bed and close my eyes, hoping sleep will take me.
But it doesn’t. I roll, restless, seeing that image again. My man, my future husband, the father of my children with our children vying for his attention and a smile of pure love and devotion on his kissable lips.
8
ALEX
The notepad trembles in my hands. She’s sketched me looking more peaceful than I ever have—than I would’ve believed before I met my Bella. Sleep still clings to me. The deepest I’ve ever experienced because she was beside me.
Her words punch through me. Give her one day to process this. One day to figure out if she feels the same.
But it’s a lie. I know she feels the same, and so does she.
I get dressed. Stride through the house. Find my cell. Call my contact in the village.
What time did Bella leave? How long have I been lying in bed alone?
What if somebody saw us together—someone out for blood?
Panic threatens to tear through me, but I force it down. I need to be cold and focused. I need to somehow be strong enough to stay away from her for a day. Just one day. And yet, with her, it feels like she’s asking for a lifetime.
I call my contact. No answer.
Dammit.
That’s not good. I stationed him in the village to watch for Russians. To make sure nobody followed me from the States and invaded my new life. I call him several more times, on all three of his numbers.
Still nothing.
This is very fucking bad.
If he’s not answering, it means they might’ve gotten to him. If they got him, then maybe they’ve been watching me. Maybe they saw my artistic angel on the balcony. Maybe they saw the hunger and the need in my eyes.
Maybe they saw her leave. Maybe they’re going to find her.
