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“This is La Sangre de Las Flores. It’s a very good wine.”
“I’m sure it is.”
“Just try it. You might like it.”
When Lila did not reply, he cleared his throat. “I have Gregorie in my cabin. I could fetch a bottle and—”
“Don’t bother, Nico. I just don’t drink.”
“Sangre is a good wine to begin with then. It puts all other wines to shame.”
Lila pressed the glass back into his hand, too tempted by the smell to hold it a moment longer. “Yes, Sangre is excellent, the very best, in fact. I just don’t drink wine anymore.”
“Oh.” His cheeks reddened slightly, and he turned awkwardly toward the kitchen.
This was not a man who had dug through records to find her favorite wine.
This was a man who had fumbled. This was a man who had no idea what he was doing.
It was endearing—or it should have been—but Lila had thought La Roux was innocent once.
“I’m sorry, Lila. I didn’t know. I’ll pour them down the drain.”
“Don’t. It would be a waste of a very good wine. You drink them.”
Nico settled the glasses on the oracle’s coffee table with a few little clinks and clatters. Then he sat on the couch, gesturing for her to sit beside him.
Lila curled one leg under her knee as she sat. “I thought you were cooking dinner.”
“The oracle is late. Dinner isn’t. I have everything under control.”
“Everything?”
He shifted a little closer. His gaze dropped to her lips. “Not everything.”
Lila tried not to laugh. She’d seen that trick many times.
Heck, she’d done that trick many times.
“What? Do I amuse you?” he asked.
“Do you want to amuse me?”
His mouth twitched. She could almost hear him think. “I’d rather you be amused than sad. Sometimes you look sad. Why?”
“Why is anyone sad?”
“Because something sad has happened? I don’t like to see you sad, but even if you are, sad people can have fun too. They don’t have to be sad all the time. I know a place where you could have a great deal of fun.”
“If you say cabin twenty-four, I’m going to shoot you with my tranq.”
“Harm falls backward.” He chuckled. “Do you know what that means?”
Lila shook her head.
“It means that if you harm someone, it falls upon you to make it right again. That’s the old ways. You’d have to nurse me back to health after I woke up.”
“Is that so?”
