“The game?” I said, confused.
“In a casino, it’s a game. In life—it’s something different. It’s a game of fate. Like Russian Roulette. Except it’s a game played without protection.”
I stood there, staring at him, staring at the moon, wondering what madness he was speaking of. Then it made sense. We were not protected. He came inside of me.
He smiled, sofuckingcocky. “You could be pregnant.”
I wanted to throttle him, but it was my fault as much as it was his. I did not ask him to put on protection. I did not stop what I knew could end that way.
Mammaalways said it took two to tango.
“Bastardo,” I whispered, not at him, but at the bull who had put me in this mess in the first place.
Corrado cleared his throat. “You will marry me, Alcina. Not because of what we did, or what might happen, but because you love me. If you walk away from me, from what I’m holding—” he lifted the ring “—you walk away from life. Don’t say yes to me, say yes to life.”
“That is smug,scorpione. To consider yourself as powerful as life.”
He said nothing, still holding the ring up.
A tear ran down my cheek. I wanted him more than anything—more than life itself. But how could I put his life at risk for love? Love was the definition of selfless, and if I said yes, wasn’t I putting life in front of love?
“Life is just as important as love,” he said, reading my thoughts. “You can have both.”
I wiped the tear away, taking the ring from him, smiling. When I went to bend down to sit next to him, he pulled me over his chest, making me lose my balance, kissing me madly, making my laughter echo in the night.
* * *
“Alcina! Alcina!”
It took me a minute to open my eyes. Anna shook me again, my name on her lips, making me sit up too fast. We knocked heads and then both groaned as we rubbed the spots.
“Mamma mia!Anna!”
“Listen to me,” she hissed, rubbing the spot even faster. “Elmo—Eraldois here! He came to meet you!”
“What?” I jumped out of bed, wrapping my naked body in a sheet. Corrado had slept over. He was not in the bed. Where did he go?
“Get dressed!” She waved her hands around wildly. “Put on a nice dress and fix your hair!” She narrowed her eyes at me and then plucked a leaf from the snarled strands. “Youwillexplain later.”
I was moving too slow for her. She waved her hands at me, telling me tosbrigati.Hurry.I could not. My body ached from a long night full of hard sex.
I jumped in the shower, quickly drying my hair after, and then put on a pretty black dress. What about the ring on my finger? I took it off, feeling uncomfortable about doing so, but then thought it was best.
What were we going to do about this—situation?
I stopped in my tracks when I stepped out of the bathroom and into my room. Corrado stood with his back against the dresser, a cup of coffee in his hand, only his pants on. His black hair was slicked back. His dark amber eyes were intense on mine.
My sister sat on the bed, one eyebrow lifted at me. I did not miss the appreciative glances she kept giving his chest though. He was built.
“Alcina,” he said, his voice poised. He nodded to my hand. “Your ring.”
I nodded and went and got it. My sister looked between the two of us when she saw it.
He took a sip of his coffee. “He wants to see her,” he spoke to Anna.
“To meet her.” She nodded. “To walk with her. Maybe get to know her.”
“I should—” I turned my eyes to the door, ready to go.
