Page 47 of Burning Beauty

Finally, she looked over at Cassandra, her face growing serious.

"Do you often get like this, like you don’t want to leave your bedroom or talk to anyone?" She didn't want to ruin Cassandra's good mood by forcing a conversation she didn't want to have, but Maria thought it would be healthier if they talked it through.

Cassandra pressed her eyes closed, and after a moment of silent contemplation, nodded her head. "Maybe every few months. This one wasn't too bad."

"It gets worse?" Maria asked.

Cassandra nodded again. "Sometimes I don't come out for weeks." She looked over at Maria imploringly. "Sounds selfish doesn't it?"

"No," Maria disagreed right away. "I don’t think it makes you selfish. In fact, the opposite. It makes you tough, since you manage to fight it and find a way out each time it happens."

"I never thought of it that way," Cassandra said softly, then sharpened her gaze on Maria's face. "Have you ever felt this way… been depressed?"

Maria thought about it, thought about the way she felt after Marc's death. "Yeah, I think so. After someone important died and I had to deal with the fallout. It was an excruciating time, and I felt helpless and alone. Even my brother couldn't help as much as he wanted to. And my mom had died too, so I couldn't go to her for advice."

"I'm sorry. Are you okay now?"

"It was five years ago. I've been scared since, worried and sad, but not depressed. Not like what you experience."

Cassandra shrugged. "I wish I wasn't like this. I don't know why I do it, and I hate when people see me this way?"

Maria looked over at her with sympathy. "Are you mad that I barged in on you and saw you in your pajamas?"

Cassandra laughed and shook her head, then reached for the tequila. She took a healthy swig straight from the bottle causing Maria to laugh too. When she finished, she wiped her lips with the sleeve of her robe and handed the bottle to Maria who gamely followed suit.

"No, you can barge in any time you want. Especially if you bring booze and desserts with you."

"It's a deal," Maria said with a grin, handing the bottle back. "Want to do some online shopping with my credit card? I don't think we've put much of a dent in the limit yet and I'd love to see Nic's face when he gets the bill."

Cassandra gave her a pitying look. "Oh honey, you have no idea how the super-rich live, do you? There's no limit on that card."

Maria's mouth fell open as Cassandra grabbed her arm and dragged her from her chair, snagging the bottle of tequila as she headed inside for her laptop.

Chapter Twenty-Five

"You do it," Cassandra whispered edging back when they spotted Maria's bodyguard. "He'll say no to me. At least you're Nic's woman, you have more of a reason to ask for stuff."

Maria rolled her eyes, grabbed Cassandra and strode down the hall. "Chicken," she muttered, before turning the full force of her attention on her bodyguard. She engaged all the seductive techniques she knew without actually flirting, because she suspected Nic would not be okay with that.

"Antonio," she said, adding a breathless quality to her voice and tipping velvety brown eyes up to the man as he turned to look at her. "Can I ask you something? A favour?"

"Of course," he said, standing straighter. His eyes drifted down her body and a slight smirk creased his lips. Maria shivered and crossed her arms over her chest. He reminded her of one of Franco's guys, rather than one of the professional bodyguards on Nic's payroll. She wondered how he was chosen for the assignment as her personal guard.

"Would you mind driving us into the city?" she asked innocently. "Cassandra and I have a ton of shopping we need to do if we're going to be ready in time for Christmas."

He frowned and looked at her more seriously. "I'm sorry, Ms. Sanchez, you and Mrs. DeLuca are not allowed to leave the property without permission."

"Don't call me that," Cassandra said sharply, stepping up to Maria and growling her annoyance at the man. Her worried gaze flickered down to Maria. "I am either Cassandra or Ms. Luciano to the staff."

Maria put her hand on Cassandra's arm to stop her from talking again. While she appreciated her friend's concern, she didn't need her piping up right now. They had a different objective than establishing Maria as more than just Nic's mistress.

"But we do have permission," Maria assured Antonio. "Nic said we could go to South Beach for some shopping before he left."

Maria held her breath as she lied. It didn't sit well, but she and Cassandra had decided the evening before, as they were polishing off the tequila bottle, that what they really needed was to get away from the estate for a few hours. To go shopping, to sit in a coffee shop, to do lunch. Whatever it was that rich women did who weren't cooped up all day every day.

Antonio frowned. "The boss didn't say anything to me about this."

Maria sighed. She was dealing with a shrewd one. "He was in a hurry, and he assumed since I'm a grown ass woman, I could make my own arrangements to get into the city."

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