Page 19 of The Italian's Pregnant Enemy (A Diamond in the Rough)

“For sure.”

She took a bite of her sandwich, and right then, all the lights around her went out.

Her phone call kept going, owed to the satellites, certainly, but it was very clear the power was... Out.

Now, not only was she trapped in a snowstorm with Dario, she was trapped in a snowstorm with Dario withoutpower.

And right then, it wasn’t the darkness, or the potential cold that frightened her.

It was herself.

CHAPTER FOUR

“THATCAN’TBE. He said that there was enough battery backup to last.”

“Do you need me to call somebody?” Carter asked.

“I mean, maybe. You can call my dad and let him know that now we’re stuck here with the power out.”

“Yeah, I’ll definitely do that. You should save your phone battery.”

“Okay.”

She hung up. Now she was standing in total darkness. And after leaving the kitchen in a huff because Dario had annoyed her, it felt absolutely irritating to stalk back in there to find him. But the problem was, she felt... Afraid.

She didn’t like this at all.

She didn’t want to think that she was naturally seeking out a man because she felt nervous. But the truth was, what Dario had said to her earlier had felt reassuring. He had been through a lot. He had survived a lot.

And what she tended to write off as him just being overly grand was actually a testament to all that he’d been through and all that he had accomplished.

It was easy for her to be defensive about that. Because she always felt like when he talked about his experience he was actually talking about the lack of hers.

But that was... Perhaps a limited perspective. It was perhaps selfish. Or at least self-centered.

“You said that the generator was going to work,” she accused.

“Because it should,” said Dario. “There was an official guide to the house and I read it.”

Of course he had.

“Well, what are we going to do?”

“We’re fine,” he said. “We are able to have heat, and the stove is gas, so we should be able to melt snow in a pan. There’s plenty of dry goods. It’s hardly a difficult survival situation, and I would say at most it will only be a couple of days.”

“A couple of days,”she said.

“Yes,” he said. “A couple of days. And all will be well.”

“Our phones aren’t going to last that long.”

He lifted a brow. “Perhaps don’t make video calls.”

“But...”

“In fact, you should probably turn your phone off. It would be best if we made sure to conserve the battery in case we have an emergency.”

“You said it wasn’t an emergency. You said everything would be fine.”

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