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In no ain, especially when his patience was already dangerously low, Stefan waited Minutes piled on top of each other With a graceful tilt of her head, Clio excused herself froroup

Ignoring the uncharacteristically frantic thru of his heart, Stefan cornered her in the next moment “Ciao, Clio”

He wrapped his fingers over her arh her Saw the bracing breath she took before she turned around A flash of fear, feral and bright, danced in her green eyes

Until she blinked, those long lashes hiding her expression

When she looked up again, a flicker of warreen depths “Stefanwhat a surpriseI had no idea you were in New York”

That accent of hers—it had always done strange things to his insides, swept over him with a mix of warmth and heated awareness But her tone was reserved and artificial; it rattled him

Granted, they hadn’t seen each other in a while, but for four years, Clio had been a part of his life—an integral one and one he remembered without bitterness

Placing his ar her from the rest of the crowd

“You would have known if you’d kept in touch, wouldn’t you, bella?”

Tension thruht set of her shoulders “You barely ever set foot in New York whereas this is my home”

“True But you didn’t think it i Does your newlife not allow room for old friends, Clio?”

She didn’t flinch as she had done with Jackson, but there was an infinitesiain

Dio, as her association with Jackson?

“I’ve always been here, Stefan” A remnant of the old Clio—full of adventure and plans for a new kind of life—flashed in her gaze “I’ related to our life in New York from memory”

“Maybe I realized there wasn’t anything of value left for me here in New York It’s not like Rocco, Christian or Zayed live here”