18. Marco

CHAPTER 18

MARCO

I had a whole romantic night planned for after our shoot — dinner and dancing, a late drive, the works. But Eve's phone started buzzing halfway down the mountain. She dropped it in her bag, then fished it back out.

"I wouldn't look," she said. "But it's my parents' last night here. They might want to see me."

I crossed my fingers they wouldn't, but Eve frowned, then sighed.

"You wouldn't mind, would you? Hanging out with my parents?"

Hell, yeah, I minded. I'd made reservations. We were meant to be dining in a place overlooking the Sagrada Família, on an ivy-draped terrace under the stars. The perfect end to our day and the perfect place to ask Eve, what if there's more to us? If we could be real? My race against Rafael was coming up fast, but there'd be more races after that. More trips. More adventures. Maybe they'd be sweeter with Eve by my side — and maybe, what if she felt the same way?

"What were they thinking? A couple of drinks?"

Eve glanced at her phone again. "No, they've asked us to dinner. My sister will be there, so you could meet her."

The way Eve said it, it sounded almost like a question. A shy invitation into her life. My heart did a stutter-step. Maybe this was a good thing?

"Dinner sounds great," I said. "Tell your family we're in."

We had to hurry to make it on time, which meant we showed up still made up from our shoot. Eve's sister had a field day with her showy new look.

"You know what this reminds me of?"

Eve groaned. "Don't say it."

Gabriella smirked. "When we were little and you stole Mother's makeup. And you made us all let you give us makeovers. Aunt Lynn found a picture, from when she caught us. Hold on a second…" She scrolled through her phone. Eve made a grab for it, but Gabriella snatched it away.

"I know it's here somewhere."

"Come on, delete it."

"What, this masterpiece?" Gabriella held it up so I could see it, a circle of little girls dripping with color. They looked like they'd faceplanted in a tub of rainbows. I tried to stay straight-faced for Eve's sake, but my lips twitched, and then I was laughing.

"That was thousands of euros," said Camille. "Every last color, every lipstick and blush. All my eyeshadow, and the mess was just…"

"I remember that." Sean shook his head. "They'd smeared it all over, this sparkling dust. I'd open my briefcase and it would puff out. Faceprints on the curtains and on the bed."

I took Gabriella's phone for a closer look. She and Gabriella stood grinning, blonde and blue-eyed, and I couldn't tell for the life of me which one was which.

"She used to make us play Oscars," said Gabriella. "She'd roll out this blanket like a red carpet, and we'd put on Mother's heels and totter up and down."

Eve waved her off, blushing. "I was, what, five?"

"Maybe the first time, but it went on for years."

"What about you, trying to dress up the dogs?"

" One dog, and I think that was your idea."

Their laughter washed over me, their smiles and their warmth. I sensed a million more stories, Eve's life with her family. Their easy closeness made my heart ache, a physical tightening in my throat and my chest. I stood abruptly, before I could think.

"Marco? You okay?"

I smiled down at Eve. "Yeah, be right back." I nodded in the direction I thought I'd seen the bathroom, and headed that way, but I didn't go in. Instead, I strode past and out to the terrace, and stood with the cool evening breeze in my face. I wondered what my ma was doing right now, if she had friends over or if she was by herself. A shiver ran through me — I should go visit. It had been weeks now since I last dropped by. Family was important. You couldn't just?—

"Hey. You all right?"

I spun around, startled. Gabriella had come up behind me on quiet feet, and now she stood watching me, head cocked to one side.

"I'm good," I said. "Got turned around coming back from the bathroom, and then I got thinking, it's pretty out here."

She frowned. "You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I slapped on my widest, most carefree grin. "I'm loving your stories, you know, about Eve."

"How about you? Do you have brothers or sisters?"

That pang came again, that painful tightness. The tightness of those hard years when it was just me and Ma. "No, it's just me, but I have plenty of cousins."

"Cousins are better sometimes," said Gabriella. "You can take a break from them when you're in a fight."

"Guess the grass is always greener. Should we get back?"

Gabriella fixed me with a searching look, but she didn't press. I took a deep breath or two to clear my head. Then I followed her back and we took our seats at the table, just in time to order dessert. Conversation resumed, light and sparkling, but I couldn't shake a strange sense of… loss. Like this night was a memory, fading already. This night and this table, and the people around it. Panic fluttered in my belly, barely suppressed. I'd let Eve so close to me, not seeing the risk. Not letting myself see it, because I didn't want to. But I couldn't see that as a mistake.

Tonight, I decided. I had to ask her tonight. I'd tell her straight out, I wanted more for us. Something like her parents had, what they'd built together. They'd started like us, on strange, shaky ground, but this family had come from that, imperfect but loving. I'd tell her, let's see what we can grow into .

Eve smiled at me across her champagne glass. My chest flooded with warmth, and I smiled back. Our story didn't have to end in goodbye.

Back in our suite, I felt good. Confident. Eve came out of the shower in her fluffy white robe, and I pulled her to me and stole a sweet kiss.

"You smell good. All fresh-scrubbed."

"You do too," she said, and laid her head on my chest. She breathed in deep, as though to inhale me. I ran my hand down her shower-warm back. She tilted her head up and pulled me against her. I took a long moment to bask in her affection, her lingering kisses, the heat of her skin. Then I drew back and led her to the bed.

"Sit with me."

"Just sit?"

I winked. "For now."

I patted the blankets and Eve sat beside me, cuddling up close so our knees bumped together. I shifted back just enough to meet her eyes.

"I had a good time tonight," I said. "Your family is great."

Eve glowed at that. "I'm so glad you like them. Especially Gabriella. They're a lot at times, and they get protective, but it went well tonight. They loved you too."

I cleared my throat, nervous. This was my moment. "I've told you about my family, my uncles, my cousins. But my parents?—"

Eve's phone buzzed. She ignored it. "Sorry. Go on?"

I coughed. "No, you know what? My parents don't matter. What I wanted to say was?—"

Her phone buzzed again. This time, she glanced at it, then set it aside.

"Answer it," I said. "Then we'll both turn our phones off and try this again."

Eve made a face. "Sorry." She picked up the phone. "Emma, hey."

Eve went by the window to answer her call, but Emma was loud. I tried not to listen, but I heard anyway — Emma squealing over the production shots from our commercial. Emma pushing for details on our affair. Eve telling her shut up , I was right there. Emma yelled a hello to me. I yelled one back.

"I can go shower," I said. "Let you two talk."

"No, no, don't go." Eve held up her hand. "We'll just be a minute. Hey, Emma, could I call you tomorrow?"

"I'm traveling tomorrow. I'll just take a second."

"Okay, one second. Marco's getting impatient." Eve sidled over and pressed up against me. I bit back a groan and let my hands wander. She smelled of soap and desire and I wanted her badly. Kissed my way up the side of her neck. Eve smacked me away, then pulled me closer, Emma still chirping about some trip to New Zealand.

"Down under," I whispered. "I could do that."

"Shut up," hissed Eve. Emma broke off mid-sentence.

"Huh? What was that? Did you say something?"

"Nothing," said Eve, one hand in my hair. "You were saying, New Zealand?"

I flicked my tongue at her ear. Breathed where I'd licked to make her shiver. Eve bit her lip hard and rocked her hips up against me.

"Spring is just starting there," said Emma. "So it won't be too hot. We're leaving next week, me and the girls, but there's room in the house for you and Gabriella. I thought you could join us after the big race?"

"I'm listening…"

I froze mid-caress. What was she saying? She wouldn't leave, surely, not so abruptly. But my race against Rafael was the end date we'd agreed on…

"We have the place for six weeks, so you'd still have plenty of time there," Emma said.

"Sounds fun," said Eve, still stroking my hair. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't think. So… she was going? Wham, bam, and done? I'd been sure I'd seen more for us, sure she felt the same way.

"You have to come. Everyone's asking."

Eve made a humming sound, like she was thinking. I fell away, gut-punched, and sat on the bed. Eve straightened up, not seeming to notice. "Can I get back to you? I'd need to ask Gabriella. She's leaving for London first thing tomorrow, but I don't know about her plans after that."

I sat with my ears ringing like she'd punched me in the head. Emma was laughing, Eve laughing with her. Anger flared in my chest, like they were laughing at me. They weren't, I knew that, but the sour feeling stayed. I felt like that nerdy kid in a million teen movies, asked to the prom, but it's all just a joke. I always wanted to shake that kid, watching those movies: how could he think he got so lucky? The line was too fine between hope and delusion.

"I'll call you," said Eve, and hung up the phone. She set it on the dresser and flopped down beside me. "Want to get room service? Tiramisu?"

I rolled away from her. "We just ate."

"Yeah, but I don't know. I'm still craving sweets." She rolled over with me. Cuddled up to my back. Slid her arms around me, but I couldn't relax.

"What's the matter?" She kissed the nape of my neck. I jerked away from her, a little too roughly.

"Marco?"

"Sorry," I said, wriggling free of her arms. "I'm falling asleep, is all. I think I'll go to bed."

Eve pouted, but she sat up and pushed my hair off my face. "I should've known. You've been working too hard." She smiled and stood up, then paused. Grabbed my phone. "You should sleep in tomorrow. Take a day off."

"What are you doing?" I sat up halfway.

"Turning off your alarm. No, don't get up."

I fell back, a hollow laugh caught in my throat. It was this type of shit that had my head spinning, gestures like this that screamed out I care . Then she'd turn around and make plans to leave me. I'd heard of mixed signals, but this was next level.

I cleared my throat. "Eve?"

She set my phone aside. "Yes?"

I lay for a moment, saying nothing at all. Then I shook my head. "Never mind. Nothing."

Eve glided out and I lay by myself. I lay awake a long time pretending to sleep, not wanting to talk to her if she chanced to look in. What was happening here was a nerd-prom situation, but the joke wasn't on me. It was on Rafael. He was the nerd here, the butt of the joke. I was the hot guy from some other movie, the kind where the single girl needs a fake date. The trick was remembering the key word was fake .

I sat up, feeling foolish. Fake, yeah, of course we were, but we were still fun. And we still had two weeks till our sell-by date. I got out of bed and went out to the lounge, and found Eve curled up reading on the settee. She smiled when she saw me and set her book down.

"Couldn't sleep?"

"Dreaming of you." I took her hand and pulled her into my arms. She beamed at me, moon-kissed, and I felt my pulse race.

Yeah, just a few more days of this, then we wouldn't have to pretend anymore. How lucky was I?