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I smile, feeling it crinkle my eyes. When was the last time I smiled so deeply? And this, from only a casual conversation about my city. “You definitely will,” I promise her, and bend my head over the map again. “Now, you’re going to want to circle this area here…”
And all the while, I start to think about how I can make my promise true. How I can give her as much to see or do as she wants.
And this time, I’m not talking about Monaco.
Chapter Four
Liliana
I don’t know how I’m getting through this conversation without dissolving into a nervous wreck. Every time he looks at me, I feel like I’m going to say something incredibly stupid. Someone cool and calm has taken over my mouth because that certainly isn’t me responding to him as though everything is normal.
I can’t help letting my eyes stray over him as he talks. He looks down at the map, his eyes shaded by lashes that are far too long to be fair on a man, his mouth quirking at the corners. I can’t help but watch every tiny muscle working under the skin of his face, the way he moves, the way he talks. He’s so quick, and I think he must be very intelligent. The fact that he went to dad’s school helps to confirm it.
He’s not stuffy or uptight like I might have expected. Even though I can tell just by looking at him that he has more money than we do, he’s not worried about talking with us, reminiscing about his old school with my dad, and all the rest of it.
Which reminds me of how old he is.
I have to keep looking at him because I just don't believe it. How can it be true? He's really twenty years older than me? I don't think I had considered how old he might be when we first met, but of course, I knew he must have been older than I am. I just didn't quite expect it to be this much older.
He looks so amazing for his age, completely different from my dad. And he's just so... hot. Old men aren't supposed to be hot.
Which I guess means that he's not as old as I was thinking.
It makes sense, I suppose. When I was a teen, I thought that twenty was kind of ancient. Now that I’m that age myself, I can see how it isn’t. Maybe being forty is the same thing. It looks old from here – but in reality, he’s still young enough.
And that accent more then makes up for any difference in age that might have made me pause.
“There’s so much to remember,” I say, blinking down at the map we’ve been working on together. It’s now ringed with various lines and annotations that I’ve made while he pointed out where we ought to go. I can barely see the actual map itself anymore. “And this map is unreliable, too. I hope we don’t get lost looking for any of these other sights.”
“I’m sure it’s easier once we’re used to it,” Dad argues. “It’s only a small city. We’ll be able to find our way around like locals by the end of the week.”
“Well, maybe not quite like locals,” Nico says, and I look up to catch a teasing smile on his face. I’m glad he’s looking at my dad because if he was looking at me like that, I don’t think I would be able to manage it.
If he was looking at me like that back at my hotel room…
I force myself to snap out of it, taking an overly large gulp of my mocha and then nearly choking to death on the hot liquid. It goes completely the wrong way down my throat, making me feel like I’m about to cough up an entire lung. I feel a reassuring pat on my back, someone pushing me to lean forward and then slapping along my spine.
The coughing ends, and I fight for breath, my eyes blurred with tears. When I finally manage to straighten up and breathe again, I look up with horror to realize that it’s Nico standing over me. His hand is still on my back, and he’s peering down at me, his face so much closer to mine than I expected.
“Are you alright, now?” he asks.
“Yes. Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” I say, feeling my cheeks flame up so hot I could literally be on fire. “How embarrassing. First I bumped into you, and now this. You must think I’m such a klutz.”
He remains where he is for a long moment, his eyes looking down deep into mine. I feel a kind of heat between us, something that almost sizzles in the air. My eyes dart down to his lips, and –
