“Forgive me,” he said in Italian.
My head had been tilted back, eyes to the sky, hair skimming the water. At that, I looked at him, my heart beating faster. That woman’s flirty voice came to mind.
“Forgive you for…?”
“For not saying this earlier. You’ll be able to dance again. Maybe not the same as before. Different. But no less moving. There’s a rawness to your passion that can’t be dimmed by anything.”
“Yeah?” I smiled at him.
“Yeah.” He smiled back, but he had something on his mind. “Determination. Hardheadedness. Whatever you want to call it. It pushes you beyond your boundaries. If you do start to dance again—”
“It’s our secret,” I said, before he could say anymore. I could feel him like a second skin. “I want to give myself in that way to you only, now and forever. Always have,mio marito. We’ve come almost full circle.”
The papers had already reported on the “accident” that stole Scarlett Rose Fausti’s amazing gift. It would stay that way. Even if the day came when I learned to love again, to trust and accept another form of the lost one, the truth would be ours only.
“Figure eight,” he said.
I nodded. “Violet reminded me of my dreams. Dreams that I had left behind in our small town. Dreams that I kept in our home, secure under lock and key. They’re still mine, Brando. I’m just figuring out how to use them now. I’ve grown. They haven’t. We’re meeting somewhere in the middle.”
He kissed me. Kissed me hard enough that my breasts felt heavy, needing to be touched, and my womb contracted in anticipation. The salt from his skin mingled with the fresh taste of the water.
The intensity of the kiss made me think of something else, though. It hadn’t been the time or place to bring it up, but on the hike here, it had crept into my mind. Then it stuck.
“Brando,” I breathed when he released me. “You said I stole your rib, then your heart. You gave me your soul.”
He stared down at me, the look on his face clear. He was wondering where I was going with this. “You were a competent enough thief to steal this beast’s valuable rib, then his only heart. You were owed his soul for all the trouble. I’m not the easiest man to live with.”
I smiled, then bit my lip.
“Do that again,” he said, the warning clear in his tone. “I’ll bite you in a place that will make you scream—and I’ll show no mercy, even if you beg and plead.”
I smiled, but he didn’t. His brows furrowed and I knew his eyes had narrowed to daggers behind the glasses.
“I don’t have much of a sense of humor, Scarlett. Answer me.”
“All right,” I said, running a hand through his hair. “I’ll stop. But that’s not what I meant. I mean, I had understood what you had meant. About the rib, the heart, and the soul.”
After a minute, he gave me an impatient look.
“You didn’t mention body,” I said, resisting the urge to bite my lip.
He stopped wading, stared down at me, and then busted out laughing. His head went back, throat bobbing, the kind of roaring laughter that made birds flee from the trees. He let me go, and I sank underneath the water before he hauled me up again.
“You’re insane,” he said, still laughing.
I splashed him in the face with water. “Am not. I’m thorough!”
This made him laugh even harder, and I jumped on his back, trying to take him down. It was like trying to drown an effing beach ball. Rock seemed a much better comparison, but at that moment, he was more buoyant than solid. He refused to go down.
“Thorough, is it, baby?”
“Yes!” I scooped some water up in my palm and dumped it over his head.
“Ohh!” He pretended to shiver. “I give! No water on the head!”
“Effing beast!” I thumped him on the head instead. “Answer me!” I growled. “Do I have your body or not? And did I steal it? Or did you give it to me?”
“Seeing as you should know if you stole it or not, I’m not the one needing to answer, ah?”
