Lorenzo gestured to the unicorn in his hand, and his Italian accent brushed every sensitive spot in me, echoing the effect of his captivating smile. “My cousin. Her foster family and I pray … for remission.”
“Oh?”
The muscle in his jaw clenched. “She’s too young to be a permanent resident of a cancer ward.”
My heart melted for her. Been there.Survivedthat. “Are you on your way to visit her?”
Exhaustion washed over Enzo’s face. He nodded. “I haven’t seen her in a while.”
“Because you’ve been on tour?” He’d mentioned deploying around September when I had offered excuses because Lachlan had more time. But I had been up-front since that rom-com and kept it strictly simple text chats this entire time.
And, although the love was written on my face, I had told Enzo point-blank that my heart belonged to someone else.
“Yep. Got deployed.” He forced a cough as if our discussion veered toward a top-secret area.
“Do you want comp—” The elevator door swooshed open.
I shook my head, arms folded, staring at my tail. Apparently, my dad had lost his ever-loving mind and thought he was in some old Cold War exercise. I wasn’t the KGB’s most wanted!He’d assigned surveillance instead of simply sticking an Apple AirTag in my purse like any normal paranoid parent.
The white-blond Russian jammed a finger against the button, and the elevator doors closed again with him still inside.
“You know him?” Enzo asked.
“Yes, if giving him a black eye the day after Christmas implies we’re acquaintances.”
He chuckled. “For real?”
“Yessir.” I winked.Ugh.Why did I just wink? Time to move on.
“What did your bodyguard do?”
“Why, you plan on trying me too?”Okay. Where did this girl come from?
Another chuckle slid from his beautiful lips. He shook his head.
“Good.” I gestured to the other elevator. “I’ll walk you to …”
Enzo pushed the button. “Rain.”
“Beautiful name. Now, the sparkly unicorn makes sense.” I nudged my chin to the magical animal in his clutch. “Had a friend named Sunny. My old roomy here. She loved unicorns. She was …” I brushed a tear from my cheek. Sore subject.
As I entered the smaller space, I focused on what was important now. “So, you remember my undying vow of affection for Lach.”
“Sí.” He leaned a large shoulder against the elevator wall, staring at me. “He hasn’t let you down yet?”
Meh.“No.”
“Pft. I guess so. You promised to call me?—”
“No, I did not. You thought you were being funny, referring to the movie we’d just watched.”
He laughed. “Nah. That’s not how I remember it. You said you’d call me the second you came to your senses.” Enzo caressed wavy hair from my vision.
“I didn’t agree to that.” I chomped my teeth.
He let out that attractive laughter, then dropped his hand.
“My father hired that guy you just saw after the holidays. He might’ve taken my punch without a flinch. Won’t be the case for you, Lorenzo. So, you might wanna cool it, Happy Hands.”
