AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed that Lucia tensed a little.
“Yes.”
“When did your parents die?”
She waited a second before she replied. “When I was young.”
“How did they die?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Her tone was cold and distant – very unlike her normal way of speaking.
I was used to sarcasm or her telling me to go fuck myself. I’d never heard her react like this.
I knew I was treading someplace I ought not to go… so I didn’t press any further.
“Okay,” I said simply.
We just sat by the fire in silence, sipping our brandy, until the flames died out.
41
Lucia
After the fire was down to embers, Massimo said, “I think it’s time for bed.”
It was still early, around 8 PM… but I was tired from hiking all afternoon, and the brandy had made me sleepy. I agreed without a fight.
Massimo led the way into one of the smaller bedrooms. The only light now was what little moonlight filtered through the trees outside. And without the fire to warm me, I was quickly growing cold.
“If you need anything, I’ll be right next door,” he said, then started to walk out.
I pulled back the covers and felt the sheets. “The bed’s fucking freezing,” I complained.
He looked back at me. “Well, the other option is sleeping next to me again, and neither of us wants that, so…”
“Great,” I muttered.
“Just wear a full set of clothes to bed. You’ll warm up soon enough.”
He waited for me to say something else. When I didn’t, he added, “Goodnight,” and then walked out.
I could hear the floorboards creaking under his heavy footsteps as he went into the next room.
I sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off my boots. I would have loved to have taken a shower, but I was not going to suffer through the icy cold water, so that option was out.
I crawled under the freezing sheets and lay there, trying to will the bed to get warm.
Didn’t work.
And now that I was lying down, I started to get bothered by the tightness of my clothes.
The yoga pants and sports bra were fine when I was up and about, but now they felt like they were constricting me… like they were made of rubber bands and were pressing into my skin.
I liked comfort when I slept, and this wasn’t it.
I had a choice: comfortable and cold, or uncomfortable with a tiny bit of warmth.
