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“I don’t have a car seat,” Katerina says.
“Iris is five; does she even need a car seat?” I ask.
“Honestly, I have no clue,” she admits.
“I won’t tell if you don’t. Iris, you wanna ride with me or Aunt Kat?”
“Who has my favorite music?” Iris wonders.
Katerina and I both point to each other.
Kat
We’re halfway through a princess movie, and I glance over to find Iris asleep with her head on Fabio’s chest. His muscular arm is wrapped around her little body, and dammit, it does something to my ovaries.
Telling my entire reproductive system to stay out of this, I whisper, “Let’s carry her to bed.”
Fabio nods, scooping Iris up in his arms. She doesn’t stir as I follow them down the hallway to the guest bedroom. He lays her gently down on the bed, and I fix her covers before we both sneak out and close the door quietly behind us.
I follow Fabio to the kitchen, where he pours us both a glass of wine. “I’m accepting this, only because I watched you open the bottle,” I tell him, taking a sip.
A shrill ringtone has Fabio moving quickly to the bedroom. I hurry after him, wondering if it’s Darius. My eyes land on the bed; that stirs up too many memories of me and Fabio rolling around in it, so I avert my eyes while he speaks to someone on the phone in Italian.
And that’s when I see it.
He ends the call, but before he can say a word, I’ve already stormed across the room, now waving the collar in the air. “You call your idiot bed warmers Kitty Kat?” I fling the monogrammed collar at him; it bounces off his chest.
He charges, tackling me onto the bed, and I squeal in surprise.
Pinning my arms over my head, his chest heaves as he grits, “No one’s shared my bed since you. This collar is yours; I ordered it for you after our weekend, before?—”
“You made the biggest mistake of your life by not trusting me?”
“Dammit, yes! Katerina, I’m sorry. I fucked up, alright?” He rolls off me and onto his back, staring at the ceiling with his hands under his head. He’s silent a moment before he says, “There’s still a big part of me that doesn’t believe someone like you would want someone like me.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Fabio?” I ask, rolling to my side and propping myself up on my elbow. “You’ve got the looks. You’ve got the swagger. You’ve got the position. You’ve got the brains. Most of the time. Except when it comes to me, you act like a complete fucking idiot,” I inform him, and he snorts a laugh.
“When I was a teenager, I was a gangly nerd who got his ass kicked on the regular. Girls didn’t give me a second look,” he admits quietly. “I transformed myself physically, but sometimes my mind forgets.”
“The world’s tiniest violin,” I say, holding my hand over my shoulder while moving my other one back and forth.
He barks a laugh, shaking his head. “Not just any girl; you never gave me a second look.”
Fabio, seventeen-years old
I arrive at the bakery belonging to Darius’ aunt, taking a seat inside the empty shop.
“Be with you in a second!” A female voice sounds from back.
A girl appears—the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. Tall and lean, with just a hint of curves; her curly black hair flows down her back like some kind of Greek goddess come to life. She smiles at me, and I’m suddenly finding it hard to breathe.
“What can I get you?”
I go to speak, but words have escaped me; not that I’m big on words to begin with.
“Cat got your tongue?” She teases, handing me a menu. “I’ll give you a minute.” She disappears to the back. Good thing, because I’m this close to passing out.
The door chimes, and Darius joins me. “Hey, man,” he says, fist bumping me.
