Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“Remember when we lost our keys on the beach?” I ask. I barely recognize the seductive tone of my own voice. “You took me out for ice cream because you said you were proud of me.” I laugh.
“Oh God,” he says with a laugh that thrills me. “You pranked Sergio. He was all super old school and had that chalkboard in his office at The Castle. You snuck in and put baby powder in the eraser.”
I nod. “Yuuppp. And you were like, no one has ever pranked him so thoroughly and so well, and the next thing I knew we were getting ice cream sundaes at the beach. And after giving me shit about my ability to eat a sundae in record time when I licked my sundae cup clean… you then proceeded to lose your keys.”
We’d looked and looked until it was so dark out we couldn’t see a thing, and when we didn’t find them—
“Yeah,” he says, before he swallows, tugging me closer to him. “I remember.”
Three years earlier
Timeo had promised Sergio we’d be back by dark, because something had happened at the club involving one of their friends. I could hardly remember the details at this point, but I knew Timeo and I had just witnessed the wedding between Quinn, one of the members of the club, and Sergio’s closest friend Adriano, one of the men of the brotherhood.
We sat on a flat rock, still warm from the sun, until the streetlights behind us came on and the waves looked such a dark blue, they were almost black just beneath the surface.
“Do you want to get married someday?” Timeo asked. I stared at him, uncomprehending, until it dawned on me that he was only asking the question in general and not… if I wanted to marry him.
“Maybe. You?” I asked him while mentally nursing my wounds. I sat next to him as a lone gull picked at something washed up on the beach.
“I have to.” He tossed a shell at the gull when it got too close to where we sat, but it only flapped its wings at us, undeterred by two shadows on the beach when there were still stray snacks to be found.
“What do you mean you have to?” I asked, sifting handfuls of sand through my fingers. “You didn’t grow up like me, expected to marry a stranger your parents picked for you—”
Timeo laughed mirthlessly. “So I guess no one’s told you yet.”
My mind raced with the possibilities. “Told me what?”
“I’ll have to marry,” he said with a frown. “We all have to, and it’s rarely for love. Quinn and Adriano didn’t marry for love, did they?”
I frowned. “She kind of looked like she hated him.”
“Yeah,” he said with a sigh. “Ricco’s marriage was arranged, too. Most of them are.”
That took me by surprise. Minus the religious norms and strict regulations, it made no sense to me, but the worst part was the sinking dread I had in the pit of my stomach. The sudden need to cry.
It took me a minute to even realize why. Up until then I had told myself that Timeo was my best friend. I knew I had a crush on him but assumed it was a schoolgirl thing. But the thought of him marrying someone… especially someone he hadn’t met or even liked… it dashed any hope I had.
I stood. “I have to go home,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “The streetlights came on so it’s getting late and I have a lot I have to do.”
Timeo stood up wordlessly. “Listen, Starla, I— fuck.”
“What?” I looked at him in alarm.
“My keys. They were in my pocket. They’re gone.”
“No! Oh, I bet they fell out when we were walking down toward the other end of the beach. Remember, you gave me your sweatshirt when I was cold?” We looked at the wide expanse of the beach. It went on for miles and was almost entirely plunged into darkness.
Walking along the beach at dusk and walking along the beach after dark were two completely different things. I knew Sergio and Eden wouldn’t be happy, but when Timeo took my hand in his, I didn’t care anymore.
He wasn’t engaged.
Not yet.
Maybe he wouldn’t be married after all…
We wandered the beach together, hand in hand, and never did find those keys.
“Oh my God,” I say with a laugh, covering my mouth with my hand. “Sergio sent you to Tuscany on a job after that. After the corn maze and getting lost on the beach thing. Did he think— we—”
Timeo’s eyes go dark as he reaches for me. “Of course he did. Not that I didn’t want to, but I knew better.”
“Knew better because Sergio would kill you?”
Timeo cups my jaw. God, I love when he does that, the feel of his warm hand on my skin, the way his eyes burn with intensity —