Page 13 of Alessio

Ginevra wouldn’t argue that point.

“But what are you doing in here?” he asked.

“Reading.”

“Why?”

“Because I like to.”

Alessio made another one of those noises. “But why?”

“I like how others express themselves in words. Everyone is different. I’ll read just about anything—not a standard textbook meant to teachme something; I learn more reading things that aren’t being spoon-fed like I should fit in the same box as everyone else. You can tell a lot more about someone in the way they write than in the things they say.”

“Huh.”

She didn’t expect the response.

Then, again …

“That’s not the answer I expected you to give,” Alessio murmured. “But still a good one.”

Yeah, she was full of surprises.

“It’s the only right answer for me. That’s why I majored in English.” Ginevra shook her head, laughing under his breath. “Not that college matters with me here, I guess.”

“You’ll get back to school, eventually.”

“Who knows?”

“You will. I’m sure he’ll make sure of that, if it makes you happy.”

She stilled in place.

Did he mean Corrado?

Ginevra turned, only enough to watch Alessio where he stood in the doorway. Not much about him had changed in the time since she had seen him last. He still wore all black, from the jeans molded to his legs, to his leather jacket, and even the black necklace with a cross made of skulls hanging down from his throat. His face, still hauntingly handsome, seemed carved from stone. His eyes, hiding secrets and warring emotions, nailed into her from across the room.

She stayed quiet as he scrutinized her. Not because he bothered her. Oh, he unsettled her, sure, and made her fine hairs stand on end, but she didn’t dislike it, though. She found something familiar in his gaze and recognized it. That intensity in his gaze as he surveyed her from a safe distance was the same way Corrado liked to watch her when he assumed she wasn’t looking.

That was the unsettling part.

The only thing that had changed about the man in the doorway since the last time she laid eyes on him was his hair. He lost the shaggy mane he seemed to hide his gaze behind. Shortened around the sides, but still long on the top to push the strands back, if he wanted. A touch wild, still, but more tamed.

It suited him better.

Not that she had any business thinking that at all.

Then, all at once, Alessio rocked back on his heels, hands loose in his pockets, before he came forward, closing the distance between them. Ginevra didn’t know if she should keep standing there or get the hell out of his way. That concentration stayed in his gaze like he wanted to burn her to the ground right where she stood, but as though he also found her extremely interesting.

Would he hurt her?

Would he do something to her to hurt Corrado?

Those were things she didn’t know.

The closer Alessio came, the more Ginevra teetered on a sharp edge. He wasn’t the only one curious and muddled in his heart and mind. She only had to look at him to feel those things.

What was it about him?