Page 79 of This Could be Love

“You should set up a telescope.”

He wrinkled his nose. “Nah, I don’t know enough about the stars for any of that. I can barely find the Big Dipper.”

I laughed, took his hand, and traced the seven stars in the sky with my index finger. My knowledge of astronomy was limited to two or three constellations, but the Big Dipper immediately caught my eye. When I tried to let go of his hand, he intertwined his fingers with mine. It felt so intimate, so close, my breath got caught in my throat. He looked at me penetratingly.

“So, what happens next?” His voice was soft, a little husky.

“No idea.” It was the most honest answer I could give him.

He let a moment pass before saying, “I see it like this. I kinda like being around you.” He gently ran his thumb over mine. “It feels good. And I think…we have fun together.”

“Yeah,” I said carefully, unsure about the direction our conversation was taking.

He glanced at our entwined hands, then continued. “I’m well aware that you’ll only be here another three weeks. And that you’ve got a lot on your plate. And I’ve got the hostel. But”—he took a breath and looked up—“there’s nothing against…enjoying a sunset together now and then, right?” The grin he gave me was ambiguous and insinuating, naughty and incredibly sweet. And infectious.

“Are you asking me officially if I want to be your summer fling?”

“My summer make-out fling, yeah.”

I gave him a lighthearted slap, and he let go of my hand and ducked, laughing. I immediately missed his warmth. With more seriousness he said, “If you aren’t interested, that’s cool too.” And added with deeply hooded eyes, “Assolutamente.”

“Hey! That’s no fair!”

“Just a bit of lobbying on my behalf, so to speak.”

Our back-and-forth was making me bold. “What about sunrises?”

He blinked.

“All you mentioned were sunsets,” I whispered, and my stomach fluttered. “Are sunrises part of the deal?”

“That’s…up to you.”

Again I felt his hand on mine, and only now did how close we actually were become clear to me. And how wonderful that felt.

“Okay,” I heard myself say.

“Okay, you’ll…think about it?” His voice sounded hopeful.

“I already have,” I replied with a smile that was anything but ambiguous.

Chapter 33

“I think you definitely got off better than me,” he said, and put another log on the fire, causing flames to spring up and shoot a few sparks into the night sky.

“And I think you should be thankful for the fact that your mom decided to call you Vince and not Vincenzo.”

“What’s going on here?”

Her hands full of various shopping bags, suddenly Laurie was standing on the terrace. Her light-colored dress shone in the darkness.

“Oh, we just figured out that we were both named after our grandparents,” I explained with a laugh.

“Laurie too,” Vince said.

“Yeah,” she said a bit distantly, furrowing her brow.

“How’d it go with Pili?” he asked.