Page 41 of Samson

Her shoulders sagged. “Then don’t.”

“I wouldn’t if it wasn’t important.”

She sighed, then folded the page in her book and laid it on the kitchen table, hoping this favor wouldn’t keep her long.

“Your mom would kill you for doing that,” Luca said.

“What?”

“Folding the page. Don’t you have a bookmark?”

“Are you stalling on purpose? Is this favor really that bad?”

“Samson’s here, and he doesn’t usually come in on a Thursday.”

“And that’s a problem because…”

“Because I didn’t expect him to be here.”

“I thought he was good for business.” She folded her arms, unsure where this was going.

Luca picked at his fingers.

“I’m afraid to ask,” she said. “But you’re going to have to spit it out.”

“I need you to distract him.”

“Samson?”

“Yeah.”

“When you say distract him, you mean…”

“I mean I need you to draw his attention to you so he’s not paying attention to anything else.”

Her jaw worked as she searched for the most fitting refusal she could think of. Finally, she said, “No.”

“Come on, D. You have to do this for me.”

“I don’t, actually.”

“I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t important.”

“What could possibly be important enough for me to give up my self-respect? And you’d better not say it has anything to do with Marc.”

“Does it matter why? How about doing a favor for your cousin?”

“It is Marc?” She turned away from him and walked across the room. “I don’t even know what to say to that.”

He sighed. “It’s not a big deal.”

“I can’t believe this.”

“D.”

“I should have seen it coming. When I found him in your office, I should have known this would all blow up.”

“You’re being a bit melodramatic, don’t you think? Nothing is blowing up. Or at least it won’t if you do this one small thing. I know you don’t like him, but I’m trying to be a good friend.”

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