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Diana nodded and pushed past me. With one last warning glare to Harris, I followed after her. I could tell be the way her boots were grinding the pebbles into the ground that I was in for a good tongue lashing.

Sure enough, as soon as we made it to my car, Diana spun around, eyes glittering with murderous intent. “Seriously, Levi? All you had to do was not show up Friday and we were in the clear! Why are you doing this?”

“I’m trying to help you!”

“Help me? You’re making everything worse. I was doing fine on my own.”

“You didn’t look fine back there. And let’s be honest, you wouldn’t have gotten invited to this weekend at all if it wasn’t for me.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose and started pacing up and down the length of the car. “So now you’re what? My knight in shining armor. How fucking convenient for you to show up a couple of times and ‘rescue’ me, so you can feel good about ignoring me for the past decade.”

Another cold blade to the heart. “Honestly, that’s not what I’m doing. I didn’t like what I saw back there, okay? I’m not leaving you alone with that pervert for an entire weekend.”

She clapped her hand over my mouth. “Will you keep it down?! He’s not a pervert!”

“No, then why was his hand inches from your ass?”

She shook her head and buried her face in her hands. “Levi, don’t you understand? I can’t spend an entire weekend with you.” When her dark eyes met mine again, they were pleading.

Of course. I’d momentarily forgotten about the kiss I’d forced on her yesterday. God, maybe she thought I’d try it again. Okay, I had wanted to back there, but this was Indy. Just Indy. A friend. I did have some restraint. I wasn’t going to ruin things with her again.

“If this is about what happened yesterday, I promise you it will never happen again.” I thought that would reassure her, but if anything, she looked even more hurt. “Let’s just forget about it.”

There was an awkward pause while both of us, I imagine, were thinking about it. Then Indy threw up her hands. “So don’t come!”

“Not an option, Diana. I have a weird feeling about this weekend, and I’m not letting you go alone.” Once the words were out there, I knew that going to that weekend was inevitable. To hell with my meeting, Indy was more important. I had no excuse for my behavior anyway, maybe it was time to move on.

“You don’t need to protect me, Levi!”

Yes, I absolutely fucking did, but I knew she didn’t want to hear it. “I just want to help. I’ll distract Professor Popinjay while you go get your grant.”

“Fellowship,” Indy corrected, running her hand over the bridge of her nose again. “Oh god, what choice do I have now anyway? Fine!”

“Really? Great, then I’ll pick you up.”

“Because we’re going in Francine?” she wailed.

“Yeah, were you planning on walking?”

“Fine, fine.” She pulled out her phone and texted me her address. “See you Friday. And you better not embarrass me.”

Chapter 15

Diana

“You have lost your damn mind, D.” Sabrina flopped across my bed as I zipped my suitcase. “Going away with Il Re Leone for an entire weekend? Chiara is going to flip her shit when she finds out.”

“Then don’t tell her.” I was following my own advice and had avoided telling Sabrina the full story. I hadn’t even told her Levi was coming until ten minutes ago. “Anyway, he promised not to kiss me again, so . . .”

“Hold up, D. Kiss you again?” She jolted upright like a marionette who had her strings yanked.

So much for secrets. I shrugged, pretending that kiss wasn’t on perpetual replay in my mind. Forget documentaries about archaeological hoaxes, I was convinced I’d end up on a worst kiss ever playlist on TikTok. “Levi kind of kissed me in front of Helen Harris and Signora Visconti.”

“He ‘kind of’ kissed you?”

“Okay, he full-on kissed me. But Signora Visconti and Helen Harris were goading him on. He didn’t want to and I panicked. I was all gums and teeth.” I turned around so she wouldn’t see the color rushing to my cheeks.

“I should’ve just ripped his balls off when I had the chance.”