“I’m still afraid to trust you.”
I nodded, the ache in my chest tightening.
“And I’ll spend the rest of my life proving you can.”
She blinked slowly. Her gaze dipped briefly to my lips, then returned to my eyes. She shifted slightly, weakly.
“Let me go.”
“Afraid of falling?”
“I’m afraid of forgetting all the reasons why us being this close is wrong.”
I inhaled deeply, breathing in her sweet, intoxicating scent as it flooded my senses—my body, my mind, my defenses.
“Then remember quickly,” I murmured, far too close to her lips, “because the urge I have to kiss you is becoming unbearable.”
We stayed like that for long seconds—the tension so thick it felt cuttable.
Valentina exhaled slowly and stepped out of my arms, regaining her balance, her breath, her composure.
She tugged irritably at her shirt, grabbed a dish towel like someone gripping a sword.
“Clean the floor,” she said without looking at me. “And if possible, make it look like this moment never happened.”
I turned slowly. Picked up the towel.
And smiled to myself in silence as I knelt to clean the mess.
Because if she was asking me to pretend it hadn’t happened…
It was because it had.
And it wouldn’t be easily forgotten.
FIFTY-ONE
VALENTINA FERRARA
I knew exactly what I was doing.
Every inch of the dress I chose, the carefully applied lipstick, every deliberate drop of perfume placed at my neck—none of it was accidental. And it wasn’t meant to provoke Enrico, no matter what he might think.
It was meant to remindmethat I still existed beyond him.
Fabrício had texted me hours earlier:
I’m in town. Dinner?
He had always been kind. Easy. Light. A dear friend who had been very present in my life when I first arrived in Tiradentes—someone who had never crossed a single line with me.
He moved away only six months after I arrived, but we kept in touch. Our conversations were always pleasant, uncomplicated, effortless.
And that was exactly what I needed.
Someone who didn’t look at me with the shadow of the past reflected in his eyes.
When I finished getting ready, I stopped in front of the mirror and took a deep breath.
