Page 20 of The Fear of Falling
“Wait, is she the real reason you bailed on the winery yesterday?”
“Yup.”
“And you’re falling for her?”
“Maybe.”
“Where’s she from?”
I laugh, feeling almost manic. “No idea.”
“You spent all afternoon with her and don’t know where she lives?”
Groaning, I stand up straight again and stuff my hands into my pockets. This restaurant has a fantastic view of Florence, though it doesn’t quite compare to looking at it from the dome at the Santa Maria cathedral. I wonder if Avery stayed to do her tour or if my sudden personality shift messed her up. It’s been a few hours at this point, but is she standing in the dome right now, gazing in my direction?
With a grunt, I shake my head and force my focus to Riccardo and his justifiably concerned expression. I’ve known Avery fortwo days. There’s no reason I should be freaking out like this. “No, I don’t know where she lives because we agreed to keep anything personal out of it.”
Riccardo’s eyebrow somehow rises higher. Impressive. “Out of what, exactly?”
“Our…relationship.” That’s not what we have. It’s a fling. But based on the way I reacted this afternoon, it’s more than a fling. It’s…something. Why is it so impossible to find the rightwords when it comes to this woman? I’m better than this. “We’re keeping things casual.”
He scoffs. “You always keep things casual. It’s your entire MO.”
“Butshedoesn’t. So we decided to take the pressure off and keep it all surface level on both sides.”
“Uh huh.”
He’s not getting it, but I’m too wound up to keep explaining. “Just… I don’t know where she lives, okay? Or what she does for work or her last name.” Not that any of it matters. As soon as this trip is over, I’ll be out West for a bit, then on to spend a few weeks in Alabama. That says nothing about my goals to expand my business, not just in the number of clients I have but into other countries as well. My job doesn’t lend itself to settling down, which is exactly why I ran from Avery when things started to feel more…
Well,real.
“Let me get this straight,” Riccardo says. “You met a woman on the plane, gave her your hotel room, decided to ditch your best friend to hang out with her, and you haven’t tried to learn more about her? Seriously? And I know you’re not getting any action because my cousin Nick said you were an excellent bed mate last night, so what’s your goal here?”
I groan. “Please tell me those weren’t the words he used.”
“Verbatim, unfortunately.” Though he chuckles, there’s sympathy in his eyes. “We can try to find someone else with space.”
One of Riccardo’s coworkers has a sofa in his room, but having worked with the guy back when I was helping Riccardo start his trading company, that might be worse than Cousin Nick. And no one else I talked to has space.
“It’s fine,” I mutter. “Nick’s sleeping habits aren’t the problem here.”
“Right. This is about you having feelings. A new experience for you.”
I don’t like the way his explanation paints me as cold and heartless, even if he’s not wrong. Not about being heartless but about generally avoiding feelings. But I’ll deal with the implications of my dislike of Riccardo’s assessment some other time. “What do I do, Ricky?”
His eyes practically roll to the back of his head. “You tell her how you feel, you idiot.”
Tell her that my plan to keep all things personal out of our interactions has failed because even the most inane facts about her are fascinating? Great idea. No chance of that backfiring at all. “I can’t do that,” I mutter. “She deserves someone who can stick around.”
“You do remember you set your own schedule, right?”
“The whole reason my business works as well as it does is because I’m flexible and mobile. You know that.”
“Sure,” Riccardo agrees, “but you can adapt. Some might say that’s your strongest suit.”
“Change my whole life for a woman I met three days ago?”
Dropping his arms, he laughs and starts making his way back to where Siena is sitting. “You started this conversation, Bens. Not me.”
