Page 61 of Alessio

Not to move him back, no.

To keep him right there.

The russet stare of hers locked on his as his tongue snaked out to strike against the seam of her lips, testing and promising. Give me a little more, he wanted to say, and let’s see what might happen here, Ginevra.

Instead of talking, he let the kiss say what he needed to, and what she wanted to. God knew he found more than what he expected in the way she stood there on the sidewalk, tight to him, her tongue slashing against his as their lips worked a familiar beat together.

Somehow, the kiss seemed familiar. Like it should be, as though it had always been.

Ginevra pulled back from the kiss first, her ragged exhale whispering across his lips when she breathed, “You should do that more often.”

“I will.”

“And you know …”

“What?”

“Those feelings, Les,” she whispered, “It’s not just about me, but Corrado, too. If being here has taught me anything … well, loving someone is not a vulnerability—it’s courageous.”

“What makes you say so?”

“What else would you call handing over a part of yourself to someone else when it means also accepting that being alone is a possibility? And yet, you’re still willing to take the risk. Loving may make you vulnerable to being hurt, but it’s courageous to love all the same.”

“And you think that’s what I should do here?”

Ginevra smiled, her fingertips drifting over his jaw with a soft touch. “Not with me … no one but you knows what you want with me. I meant with him—it hurts you more when you’re not doing what you want to do with Corrado, when you’re not with him.”

“How can you possibly—”

“All someone has to do is watch. I have had a lot of time to do that, haven’t I?”

Why should he argue?

Right was right.

“You realize me being with Corrado means we would be—”

“Loving again?”

Alessio wet his lower lip. “You think that man and I have love in the mess we made together?”

“You two might not love the way everyone else does, but it’s yours. That’s what matters, isn’t it?”

“I still haven’t decided if that makes it right, though.”

Or healthy.

“I think it’s where you’re meant to be,” she said, shrugging one shoulder, “together, Les. When you’re apart, even when you’re standing in the same room, everyone else senses the distance, too.”

“Or only you do.”

“Doesn’t change that it’s true.” Ginevra sighed, dropping his gaze. “I haven’t figured out yet where I fit in here.”

“I know exactly where you fit in.”

Her head snapped up, and those wide eyes of hers, always so expressive and deep, found his with a million and one questions reflecting back. “Do you?”

“Yes.”