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“Yet,” Rhia says mischievously, putting away her phone.
I roll my eyes at her.
“I’ve seen the way he devoured you with his eyes, and you stared back! The air was crackling between you two. Don’t deny it! I’m calling it now. There’s something special between the two of you. I can recognize it these days.
“And to think I was only meters away when you saved that sinfully hot man’s life… completely clueless to what was going on. I’ll never forgive myself that I wasn’t there to witness the moment when my best friend’s life changed forever.” She pauses, grinning widely at me.
“Just imagine, in years to come, when you’re married to Signor De Marco and have half a dozen bambinos with him, you’ll think back to this day and thank me for accepting his dinner invitation because it was the beginning of a great love story.”
I stare at her. She’s really lost it now. “And I thought I was the one with an overactive imagination,” I mutter. “You’re crazy! You know that, right? Absolutely bat shit crazy. This isn’t a Hallmark movie.”
She ignores me. “I wonder where I will be?”
“Well, you’d better be wherever I am,” I say. “You’re in my life for the rest of eternity. So, you better live in the same place!”
“That goes without saying. I think Lex would like Sicily.”
She pulls out her phone again and starts typing, looking pleased with herself.
“What are you doing?” I ask her suspiciously.
Rhia has a devious smile on her face. “Texting Lex.”
“Why?”
Instead of answering, she shows me her screen.
Rhia: Would you like to live in Sicily with me?
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold your horses.” I look up at the sky and pray for patience with this devilish lunatic.
“In all seriousness Rhi, what has gotten into you? I’ve just explained my concerns to you, and you ride off into the sunset.”
“El, I’ve never seen you react like this to anyone, and that includes your exes. Gualtiero is completely taken with you. Why wouldn’t I dream big?
“Why aren’t you more excited?! An outrageously handsome guy wants you. And you’ve admitted you’re attracted to the man, too. What’s holding you back? What on earth are you so afraid of?”
“Rhia, come on. You’re normally a lot more practical. We live in different places, come from different cultures. All this could ever be is a vacation fling. A tryst. An escapade… whatever. And I don’t have those.”
“Do I really have to remind you that my happily ever started as a vacation escapade? If things are meant to be, there’s always a way.”
“Your situation was entirely different. Lex has a job that allows him to live wherever he wants.”
“You’re not chained to Dublin, either. You can train dogs anywhere.”
“Yeah, but I’ve got my entire life set up in Dublin… and Knox wouldn’t like the heat.”
The Highland bull I won in a speed stacking competition on our Scotland trip is like an enormous puppy these days. I keep him at Rhia’s parents’ property and visit whenever I can. He’s really affectionate, but you’d never tell looking at him with his menacing horns. I love leaning against my gentle giant, reading a good book.
“More importantly, you’re there and you can’t easily move your company.”
She waves her hand dismissively. “I can create campaigns from anywhere. Plus, think big, El. I can expand and have subsidiaries.” She gleefully rubs her hands together.
God, she’s really on a mission, thinking about things not likely to ever happen.
“You need to come back to earth, sweets,” I tell her. “I’ve only just met the man, and spent less than half an hour with him, and already I feel I’m in way over my head. Don’t you think it’s premature to plan moving and creating subsidiaries? If… and that’s a big if… we go to dinner with him tomorrow, he might turn out to be a complete jerk. Or he’ll get to know me and lose interest. I’m nothing like the girls he’d usually date.”
“Perhaps not. But that’s what might be so appealing. I’m telling you, there’s something there. But even if it turns out to be only a fling, why not go for it? You haven’t been with anyone since Marco, and you sent his sorry ass packing two years ago. TWO years, El. I haven’t been pestering you about it, because you weren’t even remotely interested in anyone. This guy, however… it’s written all over you. You need to break your drought. Just do it.”
