Lahat ng Kabanata ng End the Stupid Bet, Win My Stage: Kabanata 171 - Kabanata 180

Danica blinked the sleep from her eyes and peered through the windshield. All she saw was a piercing light above a large steel door and a smaller wooden door to the side. The rest of the view was shrouded in darkness, though in the distance she heard a faint rumble. With the heater off, the frigid winter air infiltrated the car.Danica shivered.She was here. Alone with him.She shot him an anxious glance. Now that she was sitting in the dark, with this man she hardly knew, she wondered at the wisdom of her decision. The only people who saw her leave with him were Magda and the security guard.“Come on,” Lorenzo said, and, climbing out of the car, he went to the trunk to retrieve her bags, his shoes crunching on the gravel.Dismissing her unease, she opened the car door and stepped onto the gravel.Outside, it was cold. She huddled into her jacket as the icy wind whistled in her ears.The rumble in the distance was louder.

*LORENZO*I pressed a soft kiss in her hair and shifted her onto the bed, then covered her with the duvet. Her plait snakes across the pillow, and for a moment I considered untying it and freeing her hair, but she mumbled something unintelligible, and I don’t want to wake her. I wondered once more if I haunted her dreams like she haunted mine.“Sleep, beautiful,” I whispered, and switched off the light before I stepped onto the landing. I closed her door, anxious that the glare shouldn’t wake her, then turn out the hall light and strode into my bedroom, leaving my door ajar.Just in case she needed me...I pressed the electronic closer for the blinds, which descend over the French windows facing the sea. In the walk-in wardrobe, I stripped off my clothes and found a pair of pajamas that Dante had brought over from the main house and slipped on the bottoms.At my apartment, I rarely wore pajamas, but here, with all the staff present, I had no choice. Leaving my clothes in a heap on the

*LORENZO*Shit!Reaching forward, I brushed my thumb against her pouty bottom lip. She inhaled sharply. “I want you, Danica. Very much. But I want you to want me, too. I think we need to get to know each other before we take whatever this is any further.”There. That was the grown-up response. Yes?“Okay,” she whispered, but she looked uncertain, and possibly a little disappointed.What did she expect of me?And I knew I needed to put some distance between us to think about this. Here in my bed she was a distraction, a pouting, soft-lipped, and beautiful distraction.I sat up and cupped her face in my hands.“Let’s just enjoy this holiday,” I murmured, kissed her, and clambered out of bed.Now was not the time. It was not fair to her. And it was not fair to me.“Are you leaving?” Danica asked as she sat up in bed. Her hair tumbled down around her small frame li

The hair dryer was high-pitched wheeze rings in her ears as Danica brushed and brushed her hair beneath its heat. With each stroke her heartbeat settled to a more even pace.He had sounded so strict.But then she felt he didn’t mean to be. Lorenzo didn’t seem to be a bad man.Danica finished her hair and knew that the only way to restore her equilibrium and forget about her troubles for a while was to play the piano. Music was her escape. It had been her only escape.When she came back downstairs, Lorenzo had disappeared. She wondered where, but her fingers were itching to play. She sat down at the little white upright, lifted the lid, and with no preamble launched into her angry Bach Prelude in C Minor. The music blazed through the room in hues of brilliant orange and red, burning away any bad thoughts and setting her free.When she opened her eyes, Lorenzo was watching her. “That was incredible,” he whispered.&ldqu

*LORENZO*The shops in this village are owned by my family’s estate and leased to the locals. They do good business from Easter right through to the New Year. The only one that’s actually useful is the general store. We’re miles from the nearest big town, and it carries a huge range of items. A dulcet bell rings as we enter.“If there’s anything you need, let me know,” I tell Danica, who is looking at the magazine display, swaying slightly. I head to the counter.“Can I help you?” asks the sales assistant, a tall young woman I don’t recognize.“Do you stock night-lights? For kids?”She leaves the counter and searches the shelves in a nearby aisle. “These are the only night-lights we have.” She holds up a box with a small plastic dragon inside.“I’ll take one.”“It’ll need batteries,” the assistant informs me.&ldquo