Page 32 of Out of the Gold

“It is.” Leaving him, I stop at the donations box and drop some euros into it. Chase does the same.

We emerge from the cathedral, and it takes a few moments for my eyesight to acclimate back to the sun’s rays. A bunch of people from the movie are boarding the ferry.

“Oh, no!” I grip my purse. “We have to run. The ferry’s boarding.”

Chase’s hand lands on my arm. “No. Wait. We’ll never make it back in time. We can catch the next one.”

“Ican make it.” I snatch my arm back from his tense grip and make a run for it.

We race down the walkway and pass the beach. The ferry’s horn sounds. I place my hands by my mouth and shout, “Wait!”

The ferry ignores me. I halt as it pulls away, Sophia waving her arms at me. Panting, I curse, “Crap!”

Stopping behind me, Chase says, “Like I said up there, we’ll catch the next one.” The jerk isn’t even breathing hard.

My hands drop to my knees and I bend over, sucking in great gulps of fresh Italian air. He rubs my back. “Breathe.”

“No.” I pant. “Shit.” I wheeze and force my head up to look at him. “Sherlock.”

His arms come up as if in surrender. “I was only trying to help.” He steps backward.

Now I feel like the jerk. I bring myself up to standing, my breathing still labored but not the desperate gulps of a few moments ago. “I’m sorry, Chase. That was awful of me. You only came to get me from the cathedral so all of this could’ve been avoided.”

“Hey, what’s the worst thing that happened? We get an extra hour in Positano?” He smiles, the cleft in his chin enhancing his gorgeous face.

“Well, when you put it like that.” I flick the rubber band around my wrist. I need to make amends to this man who has been nice to me. “Want to get a gelato? There has to be at least twenty gelaterias nearby.”

“Sure, let’s go.” He loops his arm around my shoulders and we head off in the direction of the shops.

We pick the third place we come across and head inside. It offers at least thirty different flavors—all homemade, of course—with cute little tables off to the right. I order a hazelnut and vanilla double cup, while Chase opts for one of his preferred fizzy waters.

I lead us to an empty table in the back, where he might not be recognized. He sits with his back toward the front in order to facilitate his anonymity. “No gelato?”

“It’s not on my diet. And we’re still filming.”

“Man, that sucks.” I dig my spoon into the deliciousness and bring it to his lips. “A taste would be all right?”

His eyes dart from the spoon to me and back again. “I wish. I already did a ton of damage with that slice of pizza earlier.”

“But you worked it off at the beach gym.”

“Well, let’s not tempt fate.” He takes a long swallow of his water.

“Would you like to leave?”

“Nah. Finish your gelato. For the both of us.” He winks.

I laugh. And it hits me. This is the first sort-of real conversation I’ve had with the leading man since filming started.

Before I can assess how this makes me feel, he asks me a question. “So, who’s King?”

My body tenses. He must’ve heard my prayer back in the cathedral. “Since I’m torturing you by bringing you in this gelateria, the least I can do is give you an explanation.”

He taps the bottle onto the table.

“King is my half brother. My dad’s son with his first wife—he’s eight years older than me. He used to come and visit us when I was a kid, but he stopped coming when he was a teen. My dad and he have a very rocky relationship and they’ve been on the outs recently.” I shake my head, not knowing exactly what transpired. “Anyway, King was the victim of an attack. I was praying in the cathedral for his health and for the person who did it to be caught.”

His tenor voice drops. “I hope your prayers are answered, Melody.”

“Thank you.” I scoop some more gelato onto my spoon. “Even though I don’t really know him, I don’t want anything bad to happen to him.”

“I get it. My sister and I have gotten closer since we’ve been adults, but family dynamics can be a bitch to overcome.”

My spoon stills in my gelato.

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