Page 32 of Light Me Up

What had happened to Lella was over. It was past and gone. She was here, right now. With Noah. They were safe. Shecould breathe.

“Morelli seemed like an OK guy,” she commented, changing the subject.

Noah made a disgusted sound. “He’s a walking oil slick.”

She was startled. “Are you feeling jealous? Seriously?”

He shrugged.

She smiled at him. “We’re not staying for dinner or dancing. All I want is to see the cross. Then we can blast on out of here.”

“Thank God. It can’t be too soon. I did not like the feeling I got from Lella.”

Caro shivered. “I know what you mean.” She opened up her evening bag and pulled out the red leather ballerina flats she’d stashed in there.

The quality of the silence tipped her off. She looked up, and caught his intent stare. “Busted,” she said sternly. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“You don’t have to monitor me.” She grabbed his thickly muscled forearm to steady herself as she unbuckled the beautiful but useless red high-heeled sandals, then tugged the soft flats on. She buckled the sandals through the handle of her evening bag. Her skirt was now a couple of inches too long, but that was a small price to pay for being mobile again.

“OK,” she said briskly. “Now we’re talking.” She gathered her skirt up into her hand, and slid an arm through his.“Let’s stroll.”

They walked silently for some minutes on the path that bordered the pool. The air felt charged with intensity. It hummed between them.

A drift of flower petals landed on the shoulder of Noah’s tux jacket. Caro reached up to brush them away.

Noah grabbed her hand and kissed it. Then hung on to it, as if he were working up to something. “Caro,” he said.

“What is it?”

He pulled her hand to his lips again. “I want you tohave all this.”

She shook her head, baffled. “All what?”

He gestured around himself. “Beautiful places. Great experiences. I don’t want your life to be limited by all my tormented Obsidian shit. I also want you to be safe. And I want you always with me. These things just don’t mesh. It’s making mefucking nuts.”

“I know.” She gazed at him for a moment and smiled. “So? Embrace it. Be fucking nuts, then. What other choice do you have?”

A brief smile came and went on his face. “None, I guess,” he admitted.

“Right,” she said. “There is no plan B. Get it through your head.”

“Keep your voice down,” he murmured, his gaze darting around. “We’rebeing watched.”

Caro was beyond the point of being shushed. “You always act like it’s just you who has to make all the tough choices and the painful sacrifices,” she said. “But it’s not just you. Get over yourself. We’retogether now.”

“I hear you,” he said, eyes flicking around them. “The whole Palazzo hears you.”

“Be warned,” she said. “If you try to pull some bullshit noble sacrifice routine on me, I will kick your modified ass into next week. And I’ll be noisy about it.”

He looked like he was trying not to grin. “Are you threatening me?”

“Hell yes! And I mean everygoddamn word!”

He pulled her closeand kissed her.

Whatever she meant to say was lost in the wild rush of emotion. A hidden part of her was always shocked awake when he touched her. She felt stronger, wilder. An untamed animal, dangerous and unpredictable. A force to be reckoned with. Fears, restraints, shyness, all of them just…gone. Like they’dnever existed.

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