He studies me with a thoughtful expression. “Tell me three things you’ve always wanted to do. Things you never had the time for, or never followed through with.”
“Okay... that’s going to take me a minute.”
“My time is all yours, Cecily.”
I don’t know how long I sit there thinking, my eyes fixed on the water from the fountain, but I can feel his gaze on me the entire time. Persistent. Patient.
“Doing something with my hands... some kind of art. Ceramics, painting? Just for the fun of it,” I say, watching the light dance on the water. “Planting something, too—though that would definitely be a challenge. I do not have a green thumb.” Ilaugh as I finish. “I’d also love to go on a real hike someday. That one actually feels possible.”
I bite the inside of my lower lip, wondering if I should say the last thing that crossed my mind. Then I turn to him. “Promise you won’t laugh at what I’m about to say next?”
“I promise,” he says, placing a hand over his chest, one eyebrow raised.
I take a deep breath. “I watched a movie when I was younger, and there was this couple who danced with so much emotion and passion it stayed with me for years. I even thought about signing up for classes in one of the styles they danced, but I never did.”
“Can you tell me what style it was?” Alexander asks, his eyes never leaving mine.
I nod. “Salsa.” I resist the urge to cover my face. “I know—can you imagine me dancing salsa?” I laugh at my own expense.
“I can,” Alexander says, his voice hoarse and serious.
I shake my head quickly and switch subjects. “And you? What are three things you’ve always wanted to do but never have?”
He gives me a half–smile. “I’ll tell you after you do at least one of the things you just confessed.”
I scoff, dramatically. “That’s not fair. You made me bare my soul with my most well-kept secrets in a public park, in broad daylight, and you’re not going to tell me even one of yours?”
He tilts his head, that amused smile spreading. “Life isn’t fair, bella mia. There are many things I’d like to do and say... but I can’t.”
I swallow and look at him... the fading sunlight catching in his black hair, turning the strands a deep bronze at the edges. There’s something in the way he watches the water—thoughtful, almost longing—that makes me wonder what he’s holding back.
And what, exactly, are the things he wishes he could do. Or say.
I set the book aside on the couch when my phone rings, and I answer it absentmindedly without checking who’s calling.
“I need to ask you something,” he says, “and I want you to promise you won’t overthink it. Just answer with whatever you feel—not what you think you should say.”
The tone of his voice makes something warm run through my body.
“No ciao bella or cara mia today?” I tease, trying to hide the hitch in my breath.
“Ciao, bella mia,” he says, and I can hear the smile in his voice. “Now promise me.”
“Alexander, I...”
“Cecily,” he says, interrupting me gently. “I know I have no right to ask for your trust. But you have my word. I wouldneverdo anything to harm you. Not in any way.”
This makes me smile. “I promise,” I murmur.
“I signed you up for a salsa class this Friday,” he says. “It’s at a studio less than an hour from your house. It’s a beginner class, so you don’t need to worry about being ready or anything like that.”
I don’t say anything for so long that he calls my name again.
“Cecily, you’re not supposed to overthink this, remember?”
“I... yes.”
“Perfetto,” he says, the Italian rolling off his tongue in that rough timbre. “Do you want me to pick you up, or should I send you the address and meet you there?”
