Legs trembling, Sam came to her feet just as he said, “Is something wrong, Ms. Fischer? You look troubled.”
Usually, she wasn’t an overly emotional person. It had been drilled into her that stress could kill her, literally. But this man was like a specially designed aggravation machine. “No, I’m not okay. You left me here, and your staff wouldn’t say anything.” She fisted her hands. “I expect that from Matteo, not you.”
The flare of his nostrils told Sam what she’d just blurted out.
“I apologize. I didn’t have your—”
“You must have told yourself the poor fool has neither the choice nor the self-respect to walk away,” Sam said, cutting him off.
He reached for her, and she jerked away. “I thought no such thing.”
Tears clogged up her throat. “Nothing justifies leaving me here like some rotting vegetable in the fridge. You made fun of me from the moment I showed up—”
“Matteo had an accident.”
“What? When? How is he?”
“He was driving his motorbike and took a curve too fast. He has multiple fractures in his legs, and he hit his head. They worried he’d slip into a coma, but he gained consciousness two hours ago.” His exhaustion weighed down the words. “I left the hospital for the first time since they called me at the café.”
“Wait, that was the phone call you got? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Sameera, look at me.”
She lifted wary eyes to his face. Exhaustion was etched into his sharp features, making him look even more austere than usual. “I couldn’t think straight. All they said on the phone was that he had an accident. When I arrived, though…” A groan rattled through him. “I would not have left you alone for so long out of choice. Say you believe me.”
She nodded, even though his request was a demand. As if it was imperative that her trust in him wasn’t broken. “I thought I got Matteo into trouble with the Bianchis and that you hated me—”
“Shh,tesoro. Take a deep breath.” His arm came around her waist, and she fell into his embrace, like a puppy starved for attention. He pressed his mouth at her temple, his breath warm on her skin.
Sam thumped at his chest, as if he were her very own punching bag. “Stop ordering me around. I’ll push myself into hysterics, if that’s what I want.”
He fell back against the wall, taking her with him. Her body jostled against his, sending a different kind of shiver down her spine. “You have every right to be angry,” he whispered, dry humor coloring his tone. “But I didn’t forget about you for a minute. I left the hospital the instant I was free. I needed to explain in person.”
Her anger over him had had two whole days to build, but it blew out of her in two seconds flat. “Is he still in danger?”
“He’s slipping in and out of consciousness, but there’s no risk of him falling into a coma.”
She buried her face in his chest, worry twisting her stomach. “Whatever Matteo’s faults, he’s my friend. My anchor to the world when I…” She swallowed the lump of tears in her throat.
The corded arm around her loosened. Alessandro’s hand lifted and hovered over her face, an uncharacteristic hesitation in his eyes. “I’m sorry I made you defensive about your relationship.”
Standing so close, Sam felt the tension in his lean body. How his movements were taut and economic when he touched her, as if he didn’t want to cross his predetermined limit.
She pushed back and instantly missed the warmth of his body. “How areyoudoing?”
A ghost of a smile tipped up the corner of his mouth. “I’m fine now.”
“Will Matteo get back to normal?” That she was asking the question to probe into his heart as much as for info on Matteo was not lost on her. When he gave her that condescending expression she was beginning to know well, she held up a hand. “Not the version you told your parents or Angelina.”
“Everyone wants optimism and faith from me. Not you?”
Now that she could see beyond her own distress, now that she was beginning to know the man beneath the remoteness, she saw the strain of the past few days in his eyes, the worry lines digging deep grooves around his mouth. If the truth was painful, she wanted to give him the small comfort of not bearing it alone. “No one should have to shoulder life alone.”
His gaze clung to hers. “I’m used to it.”
“But I’m here now.”
His chin dipping, he looked taken aback. As if she had morphed into someone else right in front of his eyes.
