Page 48 of A Taste Of Darkness

He nodded, though I wasn’t sure he meant it.

Milo watched carefully as the bartender started to mix my mojito. I didn’t get heart-shaped ice cubes that night. Instead, I got a heart-shaped slice of lime, for which Milo almost killed the bartender.

26

HANDSOME AS... BALLS?

Milo Marucci

“My feet are hurting.” Sterlie stopped walking and then looked around us as if to find something, but I wasn’t sure what she was looking for. Eventually, she walked over to a tree with a bigger stone in front of it and took a seat on the stone. It was raining, that stone was drenched…

She wanted to walk and ditch our security, and though I wasn’t a hundred percent convinced this was a good idea, I agreed either way. Arguing with a drunk person was like arguing with a child. If you didn’t want a headache, you caved.

“Cuore mio,” I sighed. We didn’t have a lot of time. Sure, it was nighttime, and only a few people were still outside, but that didn’t make it any less dangerous. As I made my way over to Sterlie, I tried to come up with a reasonable excuse to carry her back to the penthouse, but no matter what I said, she’d always find a different solution.

Sometimes I wished we had a different relationship, so I could’ve just thrown her over my shoulder and sprinted off.

“If I have to take another step in these shoes, my feet will fall off,” she complained.

Her unwillingness to continue to walk made me nervous, especially as two visibly drunk guys passed us by. One of them looked at me, then away, and back at me as if he made sure he saw correctly. Luckily, they didn’t stop.

I needed to get Sterlie back to the apartment. Now. Actually, I had to get her far away from Sicily, but since she didn’t budge, I had to settle for the apartment, where we were safer.

After I handed her the umbrella for a moment, I knelt before her. “I’ll touch you,” I told her, and she nodded before I grasped one foot and unclasped the band around her ankle, then moved on to the other shoe.

“What are you doing?”

“Your feet hurt,” I said as if it was an explanation. Once her heels were undone, I stood back up and did what I never even thought about doing before; I kicked off my own shoes. Not once in my life had I been walking outside without any shoes on, but I suppose there was a first time for everything.

“You don’t have to do this, Milo.” And yet she spared no time to slip her cold feet into my shoes, which were far too big for her.

“No woman should have to sustain the pain of hurting feet if there’s a great solution, cuore mio. Besides, I’m already wet anyway, whether I keep my shoes on or not won’t make a difference.” The umbrella that was now in her possession only ever kept her dry. She was more important anyway.

She smiled up at me, eyes gleaming with something soft. “Thank you.”

When the umbrella was back in my hand, her shoes in my other, and Sterlie stood, I let myself believe that we were finally going to go back to the apartment, but boy, had I been wrong.

Sterlie crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at me with furrowed eyebrows and a truly awful attempt at angry eyes.

“What’s wrong, cuore mio?” I cocked my head at her. “Still in pain?”

“Why do you like me?” she asked. “I mean, why do you care so much about me when we’re not even friends? Why did you follow me here when this is clearly a very bad idea?”

Her eyes coated in what looked like tears to me, but I couldn’t confirm because her gaze fell to the floor.

Dropping the umbrella because it wasn’t like we could get any wetter, I carefully reached my now free hand up to her face. She could see my every move, I made sure of that before my index finger laid underneath her chin and I lifted her eyes back up to mine.

Inhaling deeply, I said, “Let’s discuss this when there’s a little less alcohol inside of you.”

I suppose Sterlie wasn’t happy with my reply because her hands flew up to her waist, her chest puffing out, and she held her head up higher. Her eyebrows fell into what I would call the cutest frown ever.

“You’re being mean,” she told me. “I’m a grown woman. I can take a couple of drinks.” The moment the words left her mouth, Sterlie lost her balance.

I must’ve developed some sort of spider sense because I’d never reached for someone quicker in my entire life. I’d never stopped someone from tripping in the first place, yet here I was, saving Sterlie from unnecessary injuries.

Touching her without prior notice.

Before Sterlie even realized she was about to fall because her brain was a little slow right now, I already scooped her up in my arms and threw her over my shoulder.

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