Page 25 of Wishing Stone

The plates smashed up against my chest, the remains of pasta sauce soaking into my white cashmere sweater. We both stumbled back, and in my tall heels, I struggled to keep my footing. Before I could stop myself, I slipped and went down hard.

The plates fell from my hands and onto the marble floors. The sound of them shattering into hundreds of pieces echoed down the hall.

“Oh, dear!” Vivian exclaimed, bracing herself on the edge of the wall to stop herself from joining me on the floor. “Are you alright?”

I glanced around me to see little bite-sized chunks of eggplant and other food bits littering the floor with the broken china.

“I’m okay,” I said, shifting to my right and rubbing a hand over my backside. There was no doubt that my ass would be black and blue before morning.

As I moved to stand up, I noticed Vivian frowning at the mess on the floor.

“I guess Matteo’s eggplant is better,” she said lightly with a small smile.

“No, no! Yours was great!” I said too quickly.

Oh, good God. I’m so terrible at this!

Thankfully, Alexander came rushing down the hall. His presence dominated anything else that may have been happening as he hovered over me with a concerned expression.

“Angel, are you okay? What happened?”

“I wasn’t paying attention and bumped into Vivian. I’m fine, really,” I tried to assure him.

Leaning down, Alexander positioned his hands under my arms and pulled me to my feet. Worry lines marred his handsome face as he scrutinized me. He ran his hands up and down my arms, up to my head, and pushed my hair aside as if he were inspecting for damage.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

I pulled my head away, embarrassed by his doting in front of Vivian. Turning to her, I said, “I’m so sorry, Vivian. I should have been more careful.”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it,” she assured me as she moved to get a broom from the pantry. “The two of you go back to your romantic dinner while I get this cleaned up.”

“I can help—” I started.

“Nonsense! Now, out with you both,” Vivian shooed, motioning with the broom.

“Leave her to it, angel,” Alexander assured as he tugged at my arm. Tossing me a quick wink, he added more quietly so only I could hear, “The night is still young, and I have plans for you tonight.”

I looked between him and Vivian, torn between the devilish gleam in my husband’s eyes and helping our aging housekeeper clean up the result of my clumsiness. Ultimately, he won out—as if there’d actually be another scenario.

Alexander looped his arm around my waist and led us back into the dining room. But rather than resume my seat, I paused and looked up at him.

“I don’t want to ruin whatever else you may have planned, but I’d like to change out of this sweater if that’s okay with you.”

Alexander looked down at my sauce-stained sweater as if noticing it for the first time.

“Of course,” he said with a brief nod before leading me past the table and out the door. When we reached the bottom of the grand staircase, I glanced up.

“I hope I didn’t ruin dessert,” I joked.

“There will be plenty of dessert, angel. You can count on that. I’ll just need to adjust my plan a bit—not that I mind. I kind of like the way my new plan is taking shape.”

“Oh?”

“You mentioned something about a bubble bath when we were on the phone earlier.”

“I did,” I said with a smile, remembering our flirtations from the afternoon.

“Seeing as I’ve had to modify this evening’s agenda, I’ll need a few minutes. Go strip out of those clothes, then meet me in the master bath.”

---