Page 78 of Claimed At First Sight

That answer alone makes me smile into my tea. She reaches for her phone resting beside the camera on the sofa.

“Give me your number.”

I hesitate for a second. Growing up, every girl I knew came with a family name and all the baggage attached to it.

Rory doesn’t. She seems… normal.

I take the phone from her and enter my number.

“There,” I say, handing it back. “Now you can corrupt me with your scandalous photography and dazzle me with your Chicago tour guide skills.”

Rory slides her phone into her jeans pocket. “Excellent. I need another rebellious person in my life.”

I’m still smiling when familiar heat prickles along the back of my neck. I don’t have to turn around to know who just walked in.

Rory notices too.

The casual ease slips from her expression as she rises to her feet, her attention shifting somewhere behind me.

Slowly, I turn.

Maximo stands near the entrance to the conservatory, dark coat dusted with snow from outside, broad shoulders filling the doorway. My pulse immediately loses all dignity.

His gaze lands on me.

He looks devastatingly handsome standing there among the flowers and golden light, all hard angles against the softness of the conservatory.

His eyes drag over me where I’m curled beneath the cream blankets beside the fireplace.

My cheeks flush.

Rory clears her throat, visibly uncomfortable now. Maximo barely glances her way before giving a small nod toward the door.

Leave.

How rude.

I send her a pleading look not to go, but, honestly, what can she do other than obey?

Then she disappears through the conservatory doors, leaving me alone with Maximo.

He says nothing at first, but simply watches me.

My heart is beating so hard I’m half convinced he can hear it from across the room.

I search his face for some indication of what he’s thinking, but he gives nothing away.

I can’t tell if he’s pleased, irritated, or dangerously determined.

Which probably means I should be concerned.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Mialina

My poor heart doesn’t get a break tonight. It’s beating so hard I can feel it everywhere.

Maximo walks toward me. God, he’s so damn handsome, it should be illegal.