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Oh, hell no.I don’t know when she started smoking, but that’s not happening. Visions of lung cancer, pulmonary disorder, asthma crowd my brain, and I stalk over to her swiftly and yank the offending cigarette from her startled fingers.
“What the hell are you doing?” she snaps.
I toss it into the water, the orange flame of the cherry flaring briefly before it disappears against the waves, and I slip my arm beneath hers before pulling her in tightly against my side. “Disgusting habit. No more, Carina.”
“Fuck you, Luca.” She tugs at her arm, but it’s going nowhere, tucked in between our bodies as it is.
“What are you even doing here?” This is no place for her.
“Supporting our boys in blue, of course.” She attempts a smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.
“You don’t play for that team,” I remind her.
“Neither do you,” she fires back. “When Henry invited me, I honestly couldn’t help myself.”
“Why?”
She manages to disentangle herself and turns toward me.
“I knew I’d get to see you again if I came,” she says softly.
Her answer elates me when it really shouldn’t. I glance over her head and toward the reporters who are snapping pictures of all the important people.
“I’m engaged, Carina.” l glance down at her. “You know this.” It was only yesterday that I informed her of my engagement to Evie. There is no way she has forgotten that snippet of information.
Carina reaches up and touches the medallion hanging around her neck. It’s a tell that she is nervous, but I don’t point out the obvious.
“Do you love her?” she asks.
Her question is silly. Love has no place in our world; we learned that the hard way. But that won’t stop this marriage from going forward. Nothing can.
She is the only person who ever rattled me, and even telling her the truth of the matter hurts more than it should. I don’t want to hurt her, but I also can’t play these games with Carina. It’s too dangerous.
“The contracts are signed.”
Her fingers lift and flutter close to her medallion, but she doesn’t touch it this time. Her brows drag closer together, and she steps a bit too close for comfort with the media so close at our backs.
“Jesus, Luca. Do you even like her?”
I’m wondering why she is toying with me like this. She was the one who left the city; she didn’t pause to see what damage she was leaving behind. She just kept marching to her father’s orders. But as she looks into my eyes, waiting for an answer, that part of me that only beats for her stirs to life. Along with it is bitterness and anger at her coming back to fuck around with me.
“Play with fire, Carina, and you might get burned,” I warn her.
Walk away.
A gleam lights up her eyes. “I can handle the heat.” Her lips part slightly. I glance around, wondering if anyone is paying us any attention. The reporters’ attention is directed elsewhere, so I use the moment to curl my hand around Carina’s upper arm and usher her into the Concorde that is parked on the decks and open for us tonight. We climb the gangway swiftly, my hand on the small of her back, pushing her up the steps and into the shadowy interior of the plane.
As I enter, I’m aware we may not be alone, that others could be viewing the plane. I release Carina’s arm and glance down a long, narrow aisle lined with engineering apparatus and ending in the flight deck.
What the hell am I doing?
“What the hell do you want from me, Carina?” I ask, my voice deepening with want that I can’t keep hidden.
Carina smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. I see a flash of sadness before it’s swallowed up with desire. She takes a step toward me and reaches up as if to fix my tie.
“I want…” She starts, then stops and frowns, and I wonder if she’s playing games. Leading me on, only to think she can leave me hanging.
I turn away from her, my tie slipping from her fingers as I walk down the aisle. I don’t stop until I reach the cockpit. It’s small and cramped, lined with instrument panels, but one of the seats has been removed to allow for visitors to move around, and most importantly…it’s empty. It’ll work. I count to ten before the click of her heels stops behind me.
