“What is up with you? You’ve either been a bitch to anyone who talks to you or you have been completely silent all week,” Eden says when she walks into the living room where I’m curled up on the couch.

“From that description, seems like I’m my usual self.”

Eden grabs the quilt off my body.

I growl, “Give it back! It’s freezing, and I’m taking a nap.”

“You are not napping on our first of only three free weekends that we have here.”

I close my eyes. “I’m taking a nap.”

I don’t want to walk around the town. Everything will just remind me of Arlo again. All I can think about is his damn kiss anyway. He’s the most confusing, infuriating man I’ve ever met. I’m frustrated that I have already let a week pass without trying to come up with a plan for revenge. I’m way out of my league. So, my new plan is to sulk and stay away from him until I leave. It’s a good plan that will get me into less trouble anyway.

Eden storms off.

I smile slightly. I’ve won. She’ll leave me alone and let me nap while she goes and makes the best of this trip by exploring all that Italy has to offer.

“Here,” Eden says, throwing a lump of something soft on me.

I glance down and find a small pile of clothes. I look back up at Eden, baffled as to why she threw me one of her shirts and pants.

“This shirt makes your boobs look great, and those pants make your ass look even better. Put them on, and let’s go.”

“I already told you, I’m not going.”

Eden grins with her hands on her hips. “You are going. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

I slowly sit up to see what she thinks I should wear. “Oh my God! This is your Versace shirt. This thing is over a thousand dollars. You never let me wear it.”

She smirks. “Easy way, it is. It’s yours if you leave with me now.”

Damn it! This woman knows the way to my heart. Expensive designer clothes and shoes.

I pick up the clothes. “What about shoes?”

“You can have my Gucci black heels.”

I grin and run to my bedroom to get changed. I poke my head back out. “What was the hard way going to be?” I ask.

Eden walks to her bedroom and then reappears in the hallway with her black heels. She holds them out to me, and I take them.

“I’m not telling. I might need to use the hard way later.”

I quickly get ready and then reappear.

“You look smoking hot. Damn it, you should be happy that I like you; otherwise, I would never let you leave, looking better than me.”

I roll my eyes as I look at Eden’s dark jeans and low V-neck top. “You look amazing. I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Eden throws me a leather jacket. “Put this on. Your current look is a little too revealing for daylight hours.”

I put the jacket on. She’s probably right even though I have no idea what we are doing. But I hate to cover up the gorgeous gray lace shirt I’m wearing.

I loop my arm through Eden’s arm. “Let’s go, friend, to wherever you are taking me.”

Eden’s grin brightens. “We are going to a lecture.”

My excitement drains. Leave it to my studious friend who has a body of a model and the brains of a rocket scientist to get us all dressed up and then take us to a lecture.

* * *

We walk into the large auditorium already filled with fifty or so people. The one nice thing about auditoriums here versus the US is that, here, they have beautiful balconies, chandeliers, sculptures, and paintings around the room. It’s full of history even if the lecture that she brought me to is going to be boring as hell.

I look at the words on the screen as we take a seat in the front row.

“Why are we at a lecture for entrepreneurs of the future? We don’t want to start a business. We want to teach or work in a library or museum or gallery. Our future is the exact opposite of starting a business or something new. Our jobs are very old.”

Eden rolls her eyes. “There is nothing wrong with keeping our options open. What if we want to start our own business someday?”

“We won’t.”

“Well, that’s not keeping an open mind.”

“I don’t care about the future. I care about the past. About the beauty in the world. About how to keep it alive. Not how to start some tech company that just cares about making money. Neither of us needs money. How long is this thing anyway?”

“Three hours.”

“Three hours!”

A group of college students sitting next to us stares at us.

I glare at them, and they turn away. If only it were that easy to make everyone stop looking at me.

“Three hours? Are you serious?” I ask a little quieter.

“Yes.”

“And what are you going to do for me after we get out of this three-hour torture?”

She turns her attention to the front as someone with a mic starts talking.

“You are going to find a way to thank me for bringing you.”

“Why in the world would I thank you?” I hiss.

Eden nods her head toward the stage.

I face forward. She’s right; I’m going to have to find a way to thank her after this.

“I would like to introduce you to our speaker for today. He’s an Oxford grad, he runs a multibillion-dollar company, and the ladies tell me he’s one good-looking man.”

Women start screaming like they are at a rock concert.

“Let me introduce you to Mr. Carini.”

Everyone applauds as Arlo walks onto the stage. He’s dressed in a three-piece gray suit, his hair is tousled artfully on his head, and he has a nice five o’clock shadow going.

“Thank you. I know you are all here to listen to me talk about what it takes to be a young entrepreneur. You want to know the secret to making billions of dollars. Or as my friend Vito Abele said, you are here to swoon over my body. But I’m not going to talk to you about any of those things today.”

Arlo’s eyes dart to mine.

I hold my breath. I don’t know how he found me so quickly in a room full of people. The last time I saw him, he kissed me. I look for something to show me that he wants me as badly as I want him. That he has been a complete mess of need and lust since our kiss, just like I have. That he is desperate for me, just like I am to have his lips on me again.

I see no sign of any sort of desperation. He does what he always does. Pretends I don’t exist while making me his entire focus.

“I’m here to talk to you about why you should never be in anyone’s debt.”

I swallow. I glance down at the program that Eden is holding. It says he’s here to talk about how to start a company. The keys to success. Not about not being in debt. This lecture is entirely for me.

“Asking someone for help shows them your weaknesses. It shows them how reckless you are. Be very careful who you show your weaknesses to. If you pick the wrong person or company, it could lead to your death,” he says.

The only problem is, I can’t pay attention to any of his words when he is staring at me so intently. He has to know that, if he is trying to get me to listen and leave him alone, this is the absolute worst way to do it. Because all I can see are his eyes. Occasionally, my eyes are able to break from his spell long enough to drift down to his lips. I imagine his lips on me. Kissing me again, but harder, more passionately. The kind of kiss that makes me forget about everything but him.

“Owing anyone anything will take away what little freedom you have. You should never be willing to give up your freedom in exchange for some help. Be stronger than that. Figure things out yourself. Giving up your freedom is never worth it,” he continues.

Focus. Just listen to his words. They are important.

“Never be in debt to anyone who already has more power than you do. It will be the end of you,” he says.

But his lips are so good-looking when he talks, it’s distracting.

“You won’t just owe the person who helped you. You’ll owe everyone who had anything to do with the debt you incurred. And paying them back will never end. You will be trapped forever.”

Trapped forever—got it.

But then he looks at me with his beautiful, dark eyes, and I forget.

“And, most importantly, if you do become indebted, run and hide. It’s the only thing you can do. Fighting won’t ever work. You will lose. So, run and hope that what you owe isn’t worth going after. And maybe it will keep you safe.”

After an hour and a half, he gives us a break and disappears from the stage. I exhale probably for the first time since he started talking.

“He couldn’t stop staring at you. What did you do to him? That must have been some freaking amazing sex.”

“We haven’t had sex.”

Eden scrunches her nose. “What? I thought you said…”

“You assumed.”

“Well, I don’t think it would be hard for you to convince him to sleep with you. And, if you aren’t interested, I am. Maybe he has a brother or something for me?”

“He has an annoying, sweet younger sister.”

She sighs. “Too bad. So, what’s your plan?”

“I don’t have a plan.”

Eden laughs. “You always have a plan. That’s part of your obsessive tendencies. You plan because you enjoy the planning almost as much as you enjoy the chase.”

I shrug. “All my plans so far have failed miserably. I’m going to try going with the flow this time.”