Page 69 of When She Tempts (The Fallen)
I’m about to say no, but then I realize I’m not even sure what I was planning on doing when I came in here. My heart bounces in my chest, lost and aimless.
Might as well do something useful.
“I can help with the lamination.”
Tommaso’s eyes widen with surprise. “You’ve made them before?”
“I used to bake and cook quite a bit,” I tell him. “At one point, I was actually thinking of going to culinary school.”
Tommaso grins and hands me an apron. “Music to my ears.”
We get to work, making envelopes of the dough around the cold butter and then rolling it out to triple the size. It doesn’t take long for my arms to ache, but I don’t mind it.
Tommaso hums in approval. “You’re good. So what happened with the culinary school?”
“Um.” I brush my hair out of my face with the back of my hand. “It just didn’t work out.”
“You don’t sound upset about it.”
The truth is, I’m not anymore. In the grand scheme of things I could be torn up about, my failed culinary ambition is a minor blip.
I shrug. “I guess I’m not sure what I want to do with my life anymore.”
“I didn’t either when I was your age,” Tommaso says easily. “Changed my mind a half-dozen times before I got serious about cooking.”
There was a time when I could see my future. Before New York, my life as a college student was something I’d visualize constantly. I saw myself experimenting in the kitchen of my small apartment, having friends over in the evenings for wine and cheese nights, going for long walks down tree-lined streets with music blasting in my ears.
One gunshot cleared away all of those images.
Ever since, there’s only been darkness. One day at a time has become my mantra.
It dawns on me I haven’t said it much since I arrived here.
I finish arranging the cornetti on a tray and lean against the counter. My gaze lands on the floor right where Giorgio kissed me, and for a moment, the darkness parts.
I see a small glimpse of the future I want.
And it involves him and me tangled on that floor again.
The realization softens my knees.
“I’m going to go for a walk,” I tell Tommaso and make my way to the front door.
As soon as I step outside, the chilly morning air makes goosebumps appear across my arms. Instead of going back in for a sweater, I move my feet quicker and quicker until I break out into a full-on jog. I pass by the garden and keep going east, toward where the sun is suspended above the hills. With each step, my thoughts become a little more focused, my feelings clearer.
I like Giorgio.
Yes, I find him wildly attractive, but it’s not just that anymore. There’s a connection a between us. A thread that’s been pulling me to him from the moment we met, and no matter how he denies it, my gut tells me he feels it too.
My skin flushes with heat as I think back to the moment he pinned my wrist above my head and ground himself into me. Beneath the thick veil of my arousal, there was something even more tantalizing, and that’s what calls to me now.
For a split second, I didn’t feel like a broken, empty shell. To be wanted like that… It made me feel powerful.
And God, I haven’t felt powerful in a long time.
My power was taken from me the night Imogen died. My confidence, my self-esteem, my self-worth—Lazaro took all of those things and left behind a crumbling husk.
Giorgio kissed me and made it right again.
