Page 2 of Eris

Eris subtly checked her makeup in a small hand mirror and then felt ridiculous. She shut the mirror with a snap and wrote in her journal:Experiment - Date.

If nothing else, she could use it as an opportunity to test her limits. If things started to fray, then at least no one would be around to see the moment he started trying to fight with her because her chaos was leaking out of her.

Enzo cleared off the rest of the tables, and the last of the customers left. Once he waved the last one out, he locked the door and flipped the sign to CLOSED.

"Still here? You must want a date after all," he teased and turned the music down. "I don't suppose you will tell me your name now?"

"Eris," she replied, closing her journal. "So how did you fail at being a shrink?"

"Straight to it," Enzo said with a grin. He came back around the side of the bar and poured himself a glass of red wine. "If you must know, I didn't fail so much as retire. This is the family bar, and someone needed to run it. There's also less of a chance of me being attacked or stalked as a bartender. What about you? What do you do?"

"I'm between things at the moment. Trying to figure out what I want to do next with my life," she said because no one had ever asked her that question before. She fumbled to find something else to tell him. "I'm used to selling and appraising antiques for people. I have friends here in Rome, so I am back for a visit."

Enzo's expression brightened. "I think I have seen someone with you. Short, slight, very pretty."

"That's Lavena. Though I should warn you, she has a very big, overprotective partner," Eris said. The fact that Lavernaand Rom were finally together was another strange and recent miracle.

"That's fine. She's not my type anyway," Enzo replied and sipped his wine.

''And I am?"

Enzo shrugged. "I don't know yet. Don't get me wrong, you are very beautiful, but that's not why I wanted to have a drink with you."

"And what is the reason?" Eris asked. No man had ever been interested in her personality, that was for sure.

Enzo studied her for a moment. "You seem lonely, and I know what that's like."

Eris swallowed hard. She didn't know if this had been a good idea at all, so she opened her mouth and ruined it. "Here I thought you wanted to fuck me out the back."

"It would be a lot more satisfying for you than fucking another priest, but I wanted to get to know you first," Enzo replied, surprising her yet again. "I was raised to be a gentleman that way."

"I'll have you know that priests are some of the kinkiest people alive, so it's a bold claim that you could satisfy me better than they do," Eris said, and her pulse leaped as he moved around to her side of the bar. She didn't move back when he leaned into her personal space.

Enzo trailed a finger over the curve of her cheek, leaving fire on her skin. "Bold of you to assume that I can't,bella."

It had been a long time since Eris had felt a flutter of anticipation in her stomach. She leaned in to kiss him when a phone rang loudly. Enzo swore and took the phone from his back pocket. The screen flashed with a picture of a pretty woman. His expression shifted from annoyance to worry.

"Sorry, I have to go," he said.

Eris blinked. "Are... Are you serious right now?"

"Unfortunately. It's my nonna. She's old and?—"

"Your nonna.Sure." Eris grabbed her bag and journal, an embarrassed bubble of laughter rising inside her. Of course he had another woman. She was such an idiot. She unlocked the front door of the bar and opened it.

Enzo had the balls to call out, "Raincheck?"

Erisdidlaugh then. "Absolutely not. Go home to your wife or whoever is really calling you."

The door to the bar slammed behind her, and she didn't look back. She had barely taken three steps when all the car alarms in the street started to go off, her chaos and annoyance lashing out.

With an irritated sigh, Eris went to find her own car. She turned off the alarm and sat in the driver's seat, trying to breathe and put the shields back up. She should have known better. She didn't attempt dates for a reason. It was just her luck that the first man she liked had a wife.

Eris swore and rested her head against the steering wheel. Loneliness was a chasm inside her, the rejection tearing fresh wounds over old scars. She should be used to it by now, but for some inexplicable reason, the whole horrible scene with Enzo hurt. It wasn't like she had any kind of moral high ground to judge him.

"Fuck him. He's just a bartender," she told herself and drove out of the city as fast as she could.

CHAPTER TWO

---