“Sounds intoxicating.”I masked the storm that brewed beneath.
“Absolutely intoxicating,” she echoed, and we clinked glasses.
The plates dwindled to crumbs.I traced the rim of my cup.“Catrina,” I began, and the words snagged.I pushed them out.“There’s someone.Enrico.”
“Enrico?”Her brows drew together.
I nodded.Saying the name aloud was like setting a spark on a wick.“He’s different.Dangerous.Everything I’ve rebelled against since I turned eighteen.”
“The same man who basically proposed to you the day you met?”
I nodded again.Mia might not know everything about my family’s world, and I’d like to keep it that way, but I’d mentioned a little about Enrico before.Small details.
“Girl, and he’s still pining after you?”
I nodded.Hell, even I didn’t understand why he hadn’t given up years ago.
“Your family name must change the rules,” she said, half-teasing, half-wishing.“I wish a man would be that dedicated to me.”
I’d consider her my best friend, hell my only one, but our lives were different.If she knew what my last name meant, she’d probably stop inviting me to brunch.So, for both our sakes, I’d never be completely honest.No one else took the time to hang out with me outside of doing it because of my name.Catrina had been genuine since I bumped into her here.A breath of fresh air.
“So enough doom,” Catrina said, smoothing my hand with hers.“Tell me about him.”
“His world is shadows.I’m drawn to him and repelled at the same time.”Honestly, how the hell do I describe what being in the same room does to me?I can’t breathe.I can’t think.My common sense flies out of the window.
“Fear can be intoxicating, but sometimes you have to risk the fall.If we ran from everything that scared us, we’d never live.”
So many things in my life scared me.Hell my own father terrified me.Never knowing what side of him I would get at any given time.“Sometimes I want to run, but…” I stopped and tried not to look at her.“Something tethers me to him.It’s maddening.An invisible string.”
“There’s a reason he keeps coming back.Maybe you want him more than you admit.Nothing wrong with that.But he won’t wait forever.And from what you have told me… he sounds like a keeper.Sure he’s dangerous, but sometimes that can be fun.”
In a world where trust was rare, Catrina’s loyalty was a lighthouse.“Let’s get out of here.”
Outside the cafe, people were everywhere.Catrina hooked her arm through mine and pulled me toward the boutiques.Even if I tried to get out of shopping, it’d never work.I’d learned to just give her what she wanted.
The bell over the first shop chimed and she immediately drifted to a rack of dresses; I let my fingers ghost over scarves and handbags.I could afford anything in this store, a hundred times over, but Catrina doesn’t need a reason to start looking into who I was.
“Look at this!”she called, holding up a crimson dress, deep as a heart.“Try it.”
“Not my usual.You try it on.”
“I already have it in the navy.Plus, this color is so you.”
The curtain brushed closed.The dress slid over my head and hugged curves I usually kept in check.I stepped out and spun.Okay, so maybe she was right to push me outside my comfort zone.
Catrina clapped.“Enrico wouldn’t stand a chance.That man would be on his knees begging to taste you.”
“Maybe that’s the point,” I said, and for a moment we laughed like ordinary girls.
We hopped from shop to shop: silk blouses and leather boots.Afternoons like this pushed the shadows back, at least for a little while.Catrina’s orbit pushed the darkness away; that was why I loved her.She helped me forget.I could be just an ordinary girl around her.Even if for just an afternoon.
Three hours later, our arms sagged under bags, but I needed to get home.“I’m gonna have to call it.My driver is probably getting antsy.Same time next week?”
“Of course.And when we do, I want more details on… what was his name again?”
I smiled and rolled my eyes.“Enrico.”
“Yeah, more details on him.Something tells me that you guys are meant to be.”
