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GINODIDMAKECONTACT, leaving a message for her at the hotel, and she sent him every piece of information she had. And then there was nothing.
Every day Alicia checked at Reception to see if there was a message, or a call, or some news about Beatrice.
Any word from him.
Dante Schininà.
An official-looking envelope came a week or so later and she took it to the head chef, who helped her with stuff like that.
‘You have to display your parking permit prominently,’ he said, explaining the contents of the letter.
‘I don’t drive.’
‘We all got one,’ he said with a shrug, and handed it back.
‘Thank you.’
She continued to check each and every day, but quickly became tired of waiting.
It was five a.m. on a Friday, and as she dressed in the dark she realised how tired she was. But it wasn’t the hour that exhausted her, nor the thought of the long shifts ahead this coming weekend. She was simply weary of clinging on to people who so clearly didn’t want her in their lives.
No more, she decided, fastening the clasp on her bra. On her next day off she was getting back on the dating site. She would meet someone at a cocktail bar, Alicia decided, and she would find something fabulous to wear for the occasion. She was going to kiss another man. Make love, even...
Well, perhaps not quite yet, but at least she would dance.
Yes.
But of course just when she’d got brave, and had decided it was time to move on, Dante pulled her back as if there was elastic between them, tightening, snapping her round to face him as she approached the hotel.
He walked towards her, looking depraved before dawn, a wolf slinking back to his lair, for Alicia knew Dante hunted at night.
He wore a suit and his morning shadow, and she did not want to get close lest she smell a scent that wasn’t his.
Of course she was wearing exactly the same dress as she had been a fortnight ago. Part of her wanted to point out that shedidhave other clothes, but it would reveal that she cared what he thought.
And although she broke her stride, it wasn’t because she was shocked to see him. It was more that her body was trying to prevent her from breaking into a run.
Towards him.
Years from now they might be allocated chairs next to each other in a nursing home and her heart would still soar, Alicia knew.
Her own passion angered her.
Frustration at his lack of it bubbled like lava beneath.
And so she was at her scathing best when he stopped in front of her.
‘How is your new hotel?’ She knew he had changed his location in Milan.
‘A bit boring.’ He shrugged. ‘The maids aren’t quite as entertaining.’
‘And how was your night?’ she asked, with just a dash of derision. ‘I assume you were in Lugano?’ It was a very deliberate assumption, for that was where the largest casino was.
‘Lake Lugano and a full moon is a sight to behold.’ Dante smirked.
Oh, he hadnotbeen walking by the lake and gazing at the moon, Alicia knew. ‘The moon is not actually full until Sunday.’
‘Then I might have to go back.’ He paused, and very deliberately put a stop to their verbal sparring. ‘Alicia, I’m not here by accident.’
