AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
AWEEK AFTER LEAVING MANHATTAN, and a week before he was due to return, Leandro’s phone began to ring, with Skye’s face on the screen. Driving to his parents’ house for a long overdue conversation, he punched the button for the speakerphone, his body reacting unmistakably to just the promise of her voice.
“Ciao, bella,” he practically growled. Seven days away from Skye was apparently his limit. He’d dreamt of her last night and the dreams were so vivid and real, so tantalizing, he’d woken feeling like someone had forced him into a year of celibacy.
“Leandro, hi.” Her voice was soft. He gripped the wheel, angling his face a little towards the seat beside him. He wished she were there. He could see Skye here, in Italy, in his low, powerful car. His eyes flicked to the rear vision mirror. He could get a car seat installed for Harper. She’d love Italy. They both would. The beginning of an idea formed, to bring them here as a surprise. Did Skye even own a passport? He doubted Harper would. “Are you there?”
He almost laughed. He’d been so distracted imagining Skye was with him he forgot she was on the phone.
“Si. How are you?” He could only remember one other time she’d called him—when Jay had threatened her, and she’d tried to end things with him. It sent a shiver down his spine for many reasons. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, and no.”
He frowned. “What does that mean.”
“Do you have a moment?”
I have all the time in the world for you. “Sure. What’s going on?”
Her soft sigh echoed all the way across the Atlantic, and onto the continent, flooding his car and his soul. “I can’t see you again.”
He narrowed his eyes on the road ahead. “What’s happened?”
“This isn’t about Jay,” she was quick to reassure him. “I haven’t seen him since that day. Apart from a barrage of texts, I think he’s gone from my life for now.”
He was silent, waiting for her to continue.
“This is about me, and Harper.” She cleared her throat. “And what’s best for us.”
His mind was turning too slowly, like a car engine that was decades out of date. “And that’s not seeing me again?”
“I’m sorry.”
“What does that mean?”
“That I can’t see you again.” Her tone was emphatic, angry even.
He met it with silence at first, and then: “May I ask why?”
Silence.
“I think an explanation is in order, don’t you?”
“It’s hard to explain.” Her voice quivered. Was she crying? He felt like an ass. This was obviously difficult for her to do, and he wasn’t making it any easier. But didn’t she get that it was hard for him as well? She was saying things that were the exact opposite of what he wanted to hear.
“I’m in over my head,” she admitted after a beat. “We agreed we’d keep this fun, but it’s never been just fun between us. It’s never been light-hearted and simple. Even that first night was intense, and I’d just met you. I don’t know why it’s this way with us, but it scares the hell out of me. I feel as though I’m being burned alive and I’m terrified.”
He swore silently, checked the mirror then pulled off the side of the road. This wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have whilst driving at speed.
“So we can make it work in a way that suits you. That’s my whole point. We’ll keep it light. We can do that. We have to—surely that’s better than cutting me out of your life altogether?”
A long silence. He held his breath.
“And then what?”
He frowned. It was a question that had been hovering, if he was honest, on the periphery of his own mind too.
“You said we’d end it when it suited us. Right?”
