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It wasn’t about drapes and fixtures and figures anymore

She already felt the loss of hione And she had no confidence at all in her ability to convince him to stay

Sos over with the plurounded her and filled her with emptiness Never, in the seven years since she’d been attacked, had she let down her guard so cos that she didn’t kno to take control and act And while he thought that giving her control of the Cascade hat she wanted, nothing was further froladly But now…it , not without Luca

But it wasn’t what they agreed, and she had spent the better part of theto find a tied

Luca wound up theand shook hands with the contractor Mari s that fro out Luca’s vision She was pleased he trusted her enough to leave her with it No one had ever shown her that much faith before But at what cost? She wanted theed her life The last thing she wanted was to go back to her old life It was drab and colorless now

The door to the conference roo and not knohat For a few long seconds their eyes clashed and she wished she kne to put into words what she was feeling

Mari straightened her blouse Should she ask hi else? Her stomach twisted

“That covers it, then” His voice ca if she could take the sound of it and commit it to memory

“Piece of cake,” she replied, trying to inject soor into her words They fell flat

“Mari, I…”

“Luca, would…”

They both halted as they interrupted each other He held out his hand, offering to let her go first

Always the gentleman

“I ondering if you’d like to have some lunch before you leave for the airport”

“Do you think that’s wise?”

Mari shook her head Would she feel better or worse for it? “Probably not But I’ wise”

The air crackled between them She didn’t look away, couldn’t She wanted to remember how he looked in his Italian suits, rene s about hiht they had tilass was slipping away much too quickly