“Was that okay?” she asked, her typical Cavetti arrogance melting off, leaving the sweet woman I knew behind. “I’m sor…”
“No.” I shook my head violently. “Neverapologize for that. That was…” I shook once. “Nice to meet you, Natalia.”
She giggled. “I don’t know what I would have done if you had reacted differently. I just…”
“It’s okay,” I said. “You have control here.”
Her eyes sparkled a little and then a smile rose to her face. “Yeah. Thanks.” She ran a finger along my stomach. “So… how long do you need.”
My head shot up. “What are you, the energizer bunny?”
She shrugged and raised an eyebrow. “I’ll letyoutake control this time.”
She was cruel and unfair. No one should be so perfect in so many ways. “I’m developing this strange feeling that you’re going to be the death of me.” The smile on her face faded entirely. She shrunk impossibly small before climbing off of me and sitting on the bed with her knees up to her chest. I sat up and wrapped my arms around her. “Natalia… What is it?”
“I… have something to tell you,” she said.
Before she could get the words out, someone knocked on the door. “Gio?” Chiara’s voice called across.
“Shit,” I groaned. “Uh, hang on!” I called back. Natalia was already climbing off the bed. “Wait… Nat.”
“We’ll talk later, don’t worry. I know you don’t get a ton of time with your sisters.” She pulled her shirt on and then grabbed a pair of pajama bottoms from the dresser and twisted them until they fit her enough to make the trip back to her room. “Can you make sure my brothers aren’t out there?” she whispered.
“Yeah…” I stood up out of the bed and put my shirt back on, tucked myself back into my pants, and then walked over to the door. “Chiara?” I called out.
“Yeah?”
“Is it just you?” I asked.
“Me and Alessandra,” she replied.
I unlocked the door and Natalia shook her head. “I don’t want them to tell my brothers.”
“They already know,” I said. “They’d have said something by now.” She relaxed a little bit and I opened the door. “Hey, come in.”
Chiara and Alessandra slipped into the room, their eyes immediately landing on Natalia. “Oh,” Alessandra said. “Hello.”
“Hi,” Natalia replied, clearly uncomfortable. “I’ll go.”
As she tried to pass through us, I grabbed her hand. “Hey. Will you come back later? I still want to talk.”
She nodded her head. “Yeah. I’ll be back tonight. I promise.”
Even with my sisters watching, I leaned down and gave her a kiss. I was very nearly tempted to say those three words that I honestly never thought I’d say to someone, but I figured that was best reserved for when we were alone. “I enjoyed myself.”
A warm smile found her face. “Me too. I’ll see you later.”
I nodded. “Yeah. See ya.”
With that, Natalia slid out of the room shutting the door behind her.
I stared at the door in her wake until a hollow whistle pierced my mind. I turned around and Chiara was shaking her head while Alessandra was giggling.
“Looks like you have it just as bad as the rest of us,” Chiara said, flopping down into one of the armchairs.
Alessandra looked at the bed but noticed the helter-skelter sheets and remains of Natalia’s shorts, and then dropped down onto the ground instead. “I’ll just sit here.”
I sat down on the end of the bed and smiled at my sisters. I loved them so much and was glad we’d been granted a little more freedom as of late. “How are you guys doing? I know you got to visit Lucia the day before yesterday.”
