Mitch held his tongue when she came to him first. He tried not to laugh as she sniffed around his person. She wasn’t allowed to touch. Her nose was the only tool.
Shaking her head in a definite negative, she moved along without hesitation. She did this for the next three men, until she came to Rocco. Chiara had to hold her shoulders to stop her nose from sliding against his chest. It took her a little while, but finally she said no, and then moved along.
I released a breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding.
The tenth man came, and after Chiara told her there were no more men to sniff, she stood still for a moment.
“I can’t find him,” she said, biting her lip.
“You can’t smell—” Chiara laughed at this “—him, Scarlett?”
“No, I can, but he’s not in the lineup. Get in the lineup, Brando. And you accuse me of being clever!”
She had called me out. I hadn’t been in the lineup. I had stepped over to the side, waiting to see if she’d know. She had.
When I stood next to Rocco, she sniffed at him again, and then at me. Side by side, it took her even less time to distinguish between the two of us. She placed a solid hand against my bare chest and the room erupted into cheers and whoops.
I released her from the blindfold. Her face was smug, only because of the look on mine. She wasn’t basking in the win—she knew what she could do.
She wasn’t impressed, but I was.
“There’s something I haven’t told you about the night we met out in the snow.” I tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and after my fingers barely brushed her skin, she shivered.
“Oh?” Her head tilted.
“As much as we’ve discussed that night, and all of the secrets it’s revealed over the years, you’ve never asked me why I got out of Elliott’s car in the first place.” That night had been full of mysteries, I thought. Over the years bits and pieces had revealed themselves when the time was right.
“Nick had been inside the car,” she said, the fact dawning on her that she, Lady Curious in the flesh, had never thought to ask. “He didn’t get out, but you did.”
“It was effing cold,” I said, using her more gracious word for the real one.
“It was.” She nodded. “I wouldn’t have gotten out.”
“You would have. If what happened to me would have happened to you.”
The room around us became quiet, waiting. I could feel their curiosity as strongly as I felt hers, though my wife was all that I could see.
“Are you going to keep me in suspense long,mio angelo?” she whispered.
No, I thought, hoping my eyes conveyed my intentions. After I spoke the truth, I would take her to bed and love her for hours. “I thought Nick was messing with me. I felt him touch my sleeve and then call my name. I’d been fiddling with the radio, not paying much attention. When I said something about it to him, he swore that he didn’t touch me or call my name. He wasn’t lying either. He swore on his mother. Both of us thought that maybe I just hit my arm on the seat and maybe someone had called me from outside of the car. I got out to check. The feeling of someone touching me could be explained—maybe I did hit my arm on the seat—but not hearing my name. There was no doubt that I heard it. That’s when you caught me, dancing in the window, a ballerina from a music box. The rest…” I lifted one shoulder and let if fall.
“You think—”
“I know,” I said, handing her the handkerchief to wipe her eyes. “You called to me that night. I could find you so easily after that. No matter where you were. You’ve called to me ever since without speaking my name. It’s your love that calls to me,il mio cuore.”
Chiara made a noise and ran from the room. Donato went after her.
“The French have a word for it,” my wife said, smiling up at me. One tear overflowed and ran down her cheek, following the line of the ones that had come before it. “Coup de foudre.”
“Yeah.” I smiled at her, keeping my emotions in check. I’d show her those later, in the privacy of our own room.
Her nod was subtle as she looked down at her feet, then back up at me. “Am I calling to you now,mio angelo?”
I swooped her off her feet, eliciting awhoop!of surprise. She threw back her head and laughed.
“I wouldn’t call it calling,” I said. “More like screaming.”
“Youcanhear me!”
