Chapter Twenty One

“I’m fine.”

“Jealous about the flowers?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I didn’t forget you, zolotse,” Enzo murmured as Alexei and Lora talked animatedly. He had a single red rose, held back from the bouquets, and he dusted it down her overexposed back, neck to hip, before letting Lilith hold it. She inhaled its sweet fragrance on reflex, feeling the velvet petal against her lips.

“You know, you never told me what zlotse meant,” Lilith said softly, now that Lora and Alexei were distracted with each other.

Enzo hesitated in the same way he had in the back of his car. “My gold.”

“What?”

“Zolotse means ‘my gold,’” he said, looking away from her briefly. Like he was embarrassed that he’d been caught.

“Gold, like—”

“You all should come to Spin,” Lora said, interrupting the charged moment Enzo and Lilith had shared. “A few of us members of the orchestra agreed to meet up there after the performance.”

“I don’t know, Lora,” Lilith said immediately. “Spin is kind of …”

“Exclusive?” Alexei asked, perk