“It’s been a long time since I was last out here,” Bruno says, looking around through the windshield, his hands gripping the steering wheel. There’s a hint of nostalgia in his voice, a smile tugging at his lips. He reaches over the console to take my hand, giving it a squeeze. “Not since our one night here.”

He glances over at me with a wink, which immediately makes me smile.

“I suppose the mafia isn’t usually so concerned with suburbia. That makes sense. I definitely remember thinking Riverdale was a kind of step-down for my family, even though my dad was convinced it was the right choice. I just thought it would be so boring living so far away from the action in the middle of the city. I mean, after living in Manhattan I think any place would feel pretty dull by comparison. I remember being so scared that I would fall out of touch with my best friends who all still lived in the city.”

“Did you?” Bruno asks.

I chuckle, rolling my eyes.

“Yep. I mean, it’s not like they cut me out intentionally or anything, but we definitely drifted apart. Turns out, nobody was particularly excited about the idea of driving all the way out here to hang out. And besides, after what happened with my dad and… you know… I kind of shut down for a while. My mom and I had lost everything — my dad, our money, our reputation — it was just a lot to deal with all at once. I found out really quickly that most of my so-called best friends were more like fair-weather friends. They didn’t want to come all the way to Riverdale just to pat me on the back while I cried. And, you know, they were all rich kids. They couldn’t relate to me anymore after my family lost our fortune.”

“I don’t know how you did it,” Bruno says, shaking his head.

“Well, at first I didn’t do anything except cry. We both did. My mom is a tough lady, and the only time I have ever seen her cry was during those first few weeks after Dad died. It was scary, seeing her like that. Dad and I had always joked that she was like a fortress or something, that nothing could get to her. Tear-jerker movies, sad songs; nothing could break her. But during that time, she was broken. We both were. Broken and broke.”

“I wish I had been around to help you,” Bruno tells me sadly. I lift his hand to my lips and kiss it gently.

“You did help. You saved me from... from having to repay my father’s debt. You paid it for me,” I assure him. “After I laid in bed crying and feeling hopeless for a while, I managed to scrape myself out of bed and get back to work. Thankfully, my dad had paid all my private school tuition ahead of time, so I didn’t have to worry about being kicked out of school. So I jumped back into the flow of going to class and doing homework, preparing for college applications. All that normal stuff. Because of you, Bruno. Everything I have, after my dad died... it’s because you cared. Because you sacrificed everything to make sure I could keep... so I could keep living.”

My fingers run over the back of his hand and I smile at him gently. He was the reason I was able to pull myself out of my self-pitying slump. I knew he didn’t save me because he wanted me to be lost in grief. I lost my dad and him in the span of a week, and it broke my heart in pieces. But neither of them would have wanted me to throw away my future.

“And my mom finally got out of the house and went back to work. I use the word ‘work’ loosely because, truth be told, she didn’t really know what she was doing. Bathing Beauty was more like a hobby for her back in the day. We employed real workers to keep the place running, and my mom would occasionally drop in to micromanage or just check to make sure things were still going okay. After Dad died, we didn’t have the money to pay them anymore, so we had to let them go. That was hard. Hell, one of the ladies who worked there was an old babysitter of mine from when I was little. But they all understood the situation, you know. So my mom took over all the business of running Bathing Beauty. My mom, who was a mafia princess, who had never had to hold down a real job in her life.”

“Sounds like a recipe for disaster,” Bruno comments.

“Oh, it was,” I agree. “She really struggled to even manage the store front properly, much less balance the accounts or deal with shipments. Back then, the shop was just stocking artisanal soaps and stuff from other people who actually made them. The kitchen was just kind of sitting there, unused. My mom didn’t know how to cook a meal at home, much less cook up all-natural bath oils and stuff. It was definitely disastrous, because we didn’t have the funds to keep stocking other people’s work, but we didn’t know how to make that stuff on our own. The summer after junior year, I started working at Bathing Beauty with my mom to help out, because things were getting pretty desperate between trying to keep the business afloat and keep paying for the house.”

“What a nightmare,” he says, squeezing my hand. I love how he looks at me. How he listens to me. I feel like I’m talking so much, but he’s just engrossed, fascinated by what he missed, all those years ago. All the things we never got to talk about when we got our second chance together.

“It felt like one, for sure. Trying to work with my mother, who was both an uptight micromanager and totally incompetent at the same time. It drove a wedge between us for a bit, because tensions were just so high at the shop and at home. We spent way too much time together, especially considering the fact that before all that, we were never super close. I was always more of a daddy’s girl. Finally, though, she started letting me take more control over the shop. As it turned out, I kind of had a knack for business. I was a good salesperson, more approachable than my ice-queen mother. When she no longer had to focus on the storefront, she was actually fairly good at the bookkeeping aspect of the job. When I asked her about it, guess what she said?”

“What?”

“That she was actually a mathlete in high school,” I answer, laughing. “Which was so weird to picture. My mom as a student in the eighties, rich and popular but secretly on the mathletes team. I never would’ve guessed.”

“Well, the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Seems like every woman in your family probably has some secret strengths nobody knows about,” Bruno says pointedly, smiling.

“I discovered one of my own when I started working at the shop. One day, my mom got in a really nasty phone argument with one of our suppliers and he pulled out, refusing to work with her again. On a whim, and a little bit out of desperation, I decided to try my hand at making soaps and oils myself. We tricked out the kitchen with some extra tools and appliances and I got to work, reading dumb how-to articles on the internet to teach myself as I went. The first batch wasn’t pretty, but it did smell nice. The second batch, though... it was pretty much perfect. So we started selling our own stuff that I made myself in the kitchen. That was a great feeling,” I reminisce.

“And you were so young then, too,” Bruno remarks.

“Yeah, I was seventeen at that point. And I fell in love with the business. My mom and I, we were still hurting from what happened, both of us trying to recover. And Bathing Beauty was there for us, something we had to pour our hearts and souls into. Something to distract us from how scary the world had gotten. For a while we were a pretty good business partnership, and there were even times when we got along, laughing and joking around in the shop in between sales. I remember one weekend, I decided to take on making a huge batch of products, so my mom brought an old TV we had in my dad’s study into the shop kitchen. We put on a classic movie marathon; you know, Arsenic and Old Lace, Bringing Up Baby, all that stuff. We worked side by side to get it all done.”

“Never underestimate the power of two women in a desperate situation,” Bruno says, his words filled with pride. The car turns a corner and we start our way down my street.

“It was great. I mean, we were still struggling to get by, but we were finally treading water instead of just drowning. Things were really turning around,” I explain. “Senior year started back up and I had to go to class during the day, but I worked at the shop after school and on weekends. My mom was starting to get a better handle on running the shop while I wasn’t there, so after graduation I started college, thankfully on several scholarships.”

“Smart cookie,” Bruno comments, grinning.

“College was awesome. I finally had a little more freedom, and for a while I even moved out of the house and got a roommate in the city.”

“Rafaela.”

“Yep,” I answer. “Rafaela. Finally, I had a friend who was in the same boat as me. She wasn’t a rich kid or even a former rich kid; she was working her ass off to get by the same as I was. It was refreshing to not have to hide how hard my life was. She was so understanding. She still is. I’m really glad I met her.”

“She and Nico are good people. Certainly the kind of people you want on your side,” Bruno agrees. He pulls the car into the long driveway of my house, headed toward the garage.

“When my mom got hurt on the job — she burned her arm pretty badly mixing chemicals in the kitchen — I moved home to help look after her and the shop. I have no idea how I managed to run the shop and still graduate from college with my degree. Rafaela wanted me to stay, but I just knew in my heart I had to go home. It was probably an overreaction on my part, but I had already lost one parent, and I was terrified of losing my mom, too. I kept imagining her falling down in the shop one evening after closing and nobody being there to help her. I know it sounds crazy, but her little injury scared me to hell,” I admit.

“It doesn’t sound crazy at all,” Bruno says. “She’s family.”

“Wow, I’m sorry for talking your ear off,” I laugh, a little embarrassed.

Bruno parks the car and turns to look at me, an earnest look on his handsome face as his hand cups my jaw, staring into my eyes.

“Don’t ever apologize for talking about yourself. For sharing your excitement with me. I love hearing about your history. Just proves to me again how tough and determined and capable you are.”

He leans in, his mouth gently pressing into mine, and I feel my shoulders soften into the tender kiss. I’ve never met someone like him before. When we were young, he was so hot and cold. Of course, now I know what he was involved in to make him so distant.

I’m determined to make sure we never have that distance between us again. My dad and Bruno protecting me from the Mafia has never saved me from heartache for long.

“I know it seems ridiculous to keep paying for this house even when my dad died. It would have been easier to try and sell it, just keep living in that apartment in Manhattan. But I just couldn’t do it. This house, huge and unnecessary though it is, meant so much to Dad. He poured his heart and soul into this place, and I just can’t bear to part with it. Not yet anyway.”

“I understand,” Bruno says, getting out of the driver’s seat and coming around to open the passenger side door for me. He gives me a hand, helping me out of the car. “People do crazy things for family. For the ones they love.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” I agree, smiling at him. “Wow, it’s crazy to be back here. With you.”

Bruno nods, looking around with a look of mild surprise on his face.

“Yeah, I never expected that I would get a chance to see the house in its finished state. It was still kind of a mess when I was last here.”

“Can I ask you something?” I start suddenly, biting my lip.

“Of course. Anything.”

“Why didn’t you come back? I mean, after the first day we met when you were working on the construction crew, I never saw you here again. We had to sneak around to other places, remember?” I ask, cocking my head to one side.

Bruno smirks.

“Well, the contractor gave me some other assignments, other houses to work on at the time instead of your house. He claimed that my particular carpentry skill set would be better suited for other projects. But the short answer he never outright admitted to was that he saw you and me together and didn’t want to run the risk of getting in trouble with your father.”

My face flushes hot.

“Oh no. I’m so sorry. You mean I cost you a job?”

“No, no, it was fine. I had plenty of assignments on hand to keep me busy,” Bruno assures me, taking me by the hand as we walk up to the garage entrance to the house. “That was one thing my uncle was always adamant about: keeping me busy. I think he was worried that if I had too much free time, I’d end up going down the wrong path like so many other guys my age in the same position. He wanted to protect me, I guess.”

“Okay. Good. I’ll take your word for it. I could never forgive myself if that was all my fault,” I tell him honestly.

He waves his hand dismissively as I fish out my keys and open the door to let us into the house.

“It’s not like you forced yourself on me. I was pretty assertive with you, if I recall correctly.”

I can’t help but grin, remembering how suave and flirtatious Bruno was then as a cocky teenager who knew exactly how good-looking he was, how impossible it would be for even a straight-laced good girl like me to resist his charms.

“You certainly weren’t lacking in confidence, that’s for sure,” I laugh.

“I was a little arrogant back then,” he agrees, smiling.

“You had every reason to be. You still do,” I tease, strolling into the kitchen. “Do you want something to drink? My mom thinks beer is gross so we don’t have any of that but we do have wine.”

“Sounds just like the Luisa Gaspari I remember hearing about from the guys back in the day. Classy woman.”

“It’s okay. You can say ‘uptight.’ I live with her, I know what she’s like,” I joke, taking out a pair of wine glasses and a bottle of Shiraz. I pour us each a glass as Bruno chuckles.

“Your words, not mine. So, where is Mama De Laurentis today?” he asks. “I hope she wasn’t too worried about your sudden disappearance.”

I shrug, turning to hand him his wine. “She was definitely concerned. I had a bunch of missed calls and voicemails, of course, but she believed my story about going into the shop to do late-night paperwork. At least, I think she did. I mean, I’m an adult, so she can’t exactly call the police just because I’m gone a little longer than expected. Either way, she’s out of town today, visiting one of her cousins down in Newport.”

“So we’ve got this giant house all to ourselves, then?” Bruno inquires, raising an eyebrow. I nod, taking a sip of my wine to hide my smile.

“Yep. I don’t think she’s coming back until tomorrow.”

“Well, I’m sorry to miss out on meeting your mother but… I’m not that sorry,” he says.

“I guess now we just have to figure out what to do with all this free time and space we have to fill today,” I tell him innocently, sipping my wine as I bat my eyelashes at him. He grins.

“Yes, whatever will we do to pass the time? I can’t think of a single thing I want to do with you right now,” he says, his voice low and deep. “Any ideas?”

“We could… play chess. Or watch daytime soap operas. Oh! I know: we could dig that Monopoly box out of the attic. So many fun options,” I remark. Bruno downs his wine in one long draught and sets the glass down behind him on the counter, sauntering over to me. I can feel my heartbeat quickening instantly, my body warming in anticipation of his touch.

He backs me against the kitchen island, putting both hands on the counter on either side of me. He takes the wine glass out of my hands and places it on the counter behind me, leaning in close to my face. I can see the deep ivy green of his eyes, the tiny flecks of gold scattered around his irises. I can see now that there are a few tiny freckles across the bridge of his nose, and that his lips are so full and soft-looking. I can’t help but lick my own lips.

“Huh. I just thought of something we could do together today,” Bruno growls softly.

“Oh?” I murmur, my breath catching in my throat. “And what is that?”

“What are your feelings on getting bound, blindfolded, bent over, and fucked from behind?” Bruno suggests, his lips mere centimeters from mine.

I can scarcely remember to breathe. “Positive. I-I have positive feelings about that.”

“Good,” he murmurs, and captures my mouth in a deep kiss. His hands come up to cup my face, sliding back through my hair as he presses into me. I can feel his cock hard against my hip and it’s all I can do to keep from reaching down to touch it. The space between my thighs feels so warm, tingling with desire already.

His tongue pushes into my mouth and I let out a groan, feeling my body go limp in his arms. He has the magic touch— the ability to make all my tension melt away, turn me into a lovesick ragdoll. He can do whatever he wants to me. Anything.

I instinctively reach up to touch his face, but he quickly moves my hands behind my back, holding my wrists there with one huge hand. For a split second a thrill of true fear shocks through me, as though my body is remembering the times I’ve had my hands behind my back before... the bad times.

But I quickly remember that this isn’t a bad time. I’m safe. I’m with Bruno. And even if things get a little rough — and god, I hope they do — he will never actually hurt me or push too far. The trust between us, the knowledge that he will always listen to and respect my wants instantly calms us.

And I know that if I ever say our safe word — Crimson — that he would instantly stop. Knowing that allows me to relax and feel the thrill of arousal run through me.

He wedges his leg between my thighs, rubbing against the tingling heat of my crotch. I shiver at the rolling wave of pleasure even this small movement gives me. Bruno chuckles, a low, guttural sound. Almost sinister, but not.

“You’re so hot for me, dolcezza,” he murmurs, gently biting my bottom lip. “Maybe I should help you cool down.”

With that, he spins me around, pinning my arms behind my back again as he deftly slips off his leather belt. I hold my breath, glancing over my shoulder to watch as he binds the belt around my wrists. The sight of my hands tied with his own belt, still warm from his body heat, turns me on more than I could have ever predicted.

He spanks my ass with a resounding slap, then moves my hair over one shoulder and bends to kiss my neck. The combination of delicious stinging and ticklish kisses makes me tremble, and I back into him slightly, rubbing my ass against the hard cock straining in his pants.

“What a dirty girl,” he hisses in my ear.

It occurs to me suddenly that I might actually be literally dirty at the moment. After all, I did go straight from jogging in my neighborhood to being rowed across a body of water, through the woods, and down into a dusty basement. And we fucked there. It’s been a very hectic 24 hours.

“Well, maybe I should clean up a little bit, then,” I remark suggestively, trying to make my plea for a shower sound somewhat sexy. Bruno chuckles, kissing the side of my face as he frees my wrists from his leather belt. I’m a little disappointed at this, but I hope to god it’s just a rain check and not a cancellation.

“That’s not a bad idea, as long as I can come, too,” he replies. My heart flutters.

“Oh, I hope you will,” I answer mischievously. My plan is working!

He breaks away for a second and goes over to the refrigerator. He opens up the freezer drawer for some reason, looking for something.

“What are you looking for?” I ask.

He takes out an ice tray. “A-ha. You know, I’m a little surprised. I thought a fancy kitchen like this would certainly have an icemaker built into the fridge.”

“Yeah, after Dad died and I took over the finishing touches on construction I decided to cut corners with some cheaper appliances. But why do we need ice?” I press on, totally lost.

Bruno grins as he walks over and sets down the ice tray for a moment, then scoops me up in his arms easily, holding me with my legs around his waist while he picks the ice tray back up. I’m amazed again at his strength and control, although by this point I shouldn’t be shocked by anything he does anymore. And besides, I’m sure two years with nothing better to do than lift weights and work out has definitely increased his physical abilities.

“Just wait and see,” he answers simply. And with that, he carries me out of the kitchen and, more impressively, all the way up the staircase, and down the hallway. He carries me to my room, crossing my bedroom and setting me down in the bathroom.

“You know I can walk, right?” I joke.

“You work too hard already,” he replies, shrugging. “The least I can do is get you off your feet every now and then.” He turns on the shower, eyeing the detachable shower head as he adjusts the heat and closes the bathroom door. I start peeling off my clothes, thankful to be out of them since I’ve been wearing them for way longer than I would like to. Bruno follows suit, revealing his powerful chest and arms, the rippling muscles of his stomach, his strong legs. Even though we’ve already fucked twice in the past 24 hours, I can’t help but feel that same overwhelming wave of desire for him again. I wonder if it will ever wear off. I hope not. I doubt it.

“After you,” he says, gesturing to the shower. There’s a rather naughty glint in his eye, but I don’t question it. I climb into the shower, sighing with relief as the hot water cascades over me, warming me up and washing away the grime and stress of the past day and night. Bruno comes in after me and squeezes body wash into his palm to start washing first himself, then me. I inhale sharply as his huge hands slide up and down my body, sudsy and slippery. His fingers toy with my nipples, slipping over them and cupping my breasts as I close my eyes and lean into him. My hair falls in soaked tendrils down my back as I tilt my head back slightly, giving in to the combined sensations of soothing hot water and Bruno’s hands caressing me.

Suddenly, a new sensation explodes into my attention: icy-cold burning across my nipples. I open my eyes and look down to see Bruno sliding a quickly-melting ice cube around the stiffened peaks of my breasts. The sensation is confusing at first: both slightly painful and uncomfortable as well as strangely arousing. My body responds with a warm dampening between my thighs, my heartbeat quickening. Just as my nipples start to go a little numb, Bruno dives in and captures them in his hot mouth. I let out a little whimper at how amazing it feels. I never considered ice-play before; it just never seemed to make any sense to me.

But it certainly makes sense to me now.

“How’s that feel, mia passerotta?” Bruno asks as he moves from one nipple to the other.

“Fantastic,” I sigh, closing my eyes again.

Bruno lowers down to kneel in front of me, sliding another ice cube down the length of my body as he goes, making me shiver. He gently pushes my legs open further before slowly circling the ice cube around my pussy, getting close but never actually touching my clit. I tremble, my mouth falling open as I look down at him. Bruno locks eyes with me, watching my face as he moves the ice over my clit. I cry out, almost recoiling from the strange burning on my most sensitive part. But he leaves it there only for a second before grabbing my leg and holding me steady as he hoists my thigh onto his shoulder and leans in to run his tongue along the length of my slick vulva, circling around my clit and finally closing his mouth over it.

“Oh fuck,” I breathe, my arm reaching out to balance myself against the shower wall. Bruno licks and sucks at my pussy ravenously, his tongue plunging in and out of my hole while his hands slide up my thighs and around to grab my ass. Without even turning away from my pussy to look, he reaches back suddenly and grabs another ice cube, then rubs it against my opening while he gently nibbles and sucks my clit. By now my legs are trembling, struggling to hold myself up in the throes of pleasure.

“Bruno, oh my god, I-I’m gonna fall,” I whisper, afraid of my legs giving out but not wanting the amazing sensations to end.

“I won’t let you fall,” he says gruffly, releasing me so he can put my leg back down and prod me to turn around so I’m facing away from him, into the spray of water. There’s a metal safety bar in front of me that I bend and reach down for. Quick as a flash, Bruno opens the shower curtain and steps out dripping wet to grab his belt, then walks over to fasten it around my wrists and the safety bar, binding me there.

He gets back into the shower behind me, grabbing my ass and sliding an ice cube down to my slit. “You look so beautiful tied up here for me,” he growls, giving my ass a hard smack.

My pussy tingles and aches from the cold and wanting.

“Fuck me, please,” I moan.

“Is that what you want, baby? My cock inside your tight little pussy?” he teases.

“Oh god yes, please,” I beg, shaking my ass against him. I look back over my shoulder and he smiles widely, a devilish look on his impossibly handsome face. He slides his cock against my ass, rubbing into me as I feel my pussy aching for him. I need it.

Finally, he shoves his cock deep inside me and I cry out with pleasure as the head of his thick shaft bumps into that sensitive little spot. He holds still for a moment, just letting my pussy clench around him. I can’t stand it... I need him to move. I need him to fuck me.

“Can’t believe I never tied you up like this before,” he comments, his voice thick and low.

I rock my hips, sliding back against him, my body begging for him to thrust.

“Greedy little girl, aren’t you?” Bruno groans, and I can tell it’s taking all his willpower not to just give in and fuck me.

“I need you so bad,” I manage to mumble.

At last, he rears back, his cock nearly sliding all the way out of me before slamming back into my pussy hard, again and again. I have to bite my lip to keep from screaming out, my wrists aching from being bound while my body trembles at the overwhelming pleasure of his cock spearing into me.

“You feel so fucking good, dolcezza,” Bruno moans, slapping my ass. His hands fall to my hips, gripping me tight as he thrusts into me faster and harder, animalistic needs overcoming his willpower as he loses himself to how good it feels. I’m already gone, my thoughts totally scattered to the wind and replaced with nothing but blinding hot pleasure.

“Harder,” I murmur, and Bruno obliges eagerly, picking up the rhythm and striking deeper inside me. My orgasm appears out of nowhere, and I can feel my cunt pulsating around him, shuddering with wave after wave of bliss as I whimper incoherently.

“You just love being bent over and fucked, don’t you, Serena?” he grunts through gritted teeth. “Dirty little angel.”

“God, I love your cock,” I pant, my words slurring as I close my eyes, riding the waves of pleasure. “Feels so… fucking… good.”

“I’ve missed this so much, your filthy mouth, your perfect body, your tight little cunt,” Bruno groans, his fingers digging into my hips as he fucks me. His tempo is getting erratic and wild and I can tell he’s getting close to the edge, so I start moving my hips a little bit to bounce against him, adding a little more tension to each powerful thrust.

“Show me how much you missed me,” I demand between thrusts.

Bruno fucks me faster, leaning over slightly and reaching around underneath me to toy with my clit, rolling that sensitive little bud between his fingertips as I let out a shriek.

“Fuck! Just like that, Bruno, yes!” I whine, feeling my second climax fast approaching.

He doesn’t slow down for even a second, even when I cry out, coming again as my pussy shudders around his thickening cock. I can feel him tightening up behind me, his fingers rubbing at my clit almost too hard.

“Yes! Yes!” he grunts, and with a few more quick snaps of his hips I feel him explode his hot seed inside my pussy. He thrusts several more times, pumping me full of every last drop before withdrawing. I feel my legs trembling, my knees threatening to give out, but then Bruno reaches around to undo the belt and free my hands. He tosses the belt back out of the shower and helps me stand up and turn around to kiss him passionately under the hot spray of the water. He takes the detachable shower head and sprays me down thoroughly, then to my surprise, he turns me back around and begins washing my hair with gentle hands. I can’t help but sigh appreciatively at the soothing gesture.

“Ever since I was a little girl I loved having my hair played with,” I mumble as he massages green apple-scented shampoo into my scalp.

“I love you,” he says suddenly. “I dreamed of doing this the whole time I was in prison.”

“What? Washing my hair?” I ask, half-joking.

Bruno laughs. “No. Fucking you. Holding you. Just being with you.”

“I never want to be without you again,” I tell him earnestly as he uses the shower head to start rinsing my hair. After that, he rubs conditioner into my hair, paying close attention to every strand. Hell, he’s doing a better job of it than I do.

“I don’t plan on being apart from you ever again, Serena,” he says seriously.

He rinses the conditioner out of my hair, combing his fingers gently through the tangles and snarls before setting the shower head back in its dock. I turn around to face him again, planting a kiss on his soft, perfect lips. “What are we gonna do?” I ask him quietly. “We can’t stay here.”

“I know,” he agrees.

“My mom isn’t here now, but she’ll be back tomorrow, and Bruno… you’re still a fugitive. If she sees you, I don’t know what will happen. I mean, she’ll ask questions. She’s never met you, but I know her. She’s been waiting for me to find a guy and settle down for years now,” I explain.

“I know,” Bruno repeats. “I will have to find somewhere to hide out, at least for now.”

My heart sinks. “You mean ‘we’ will have to find somewhere to hide out.”

Bruno kisses my forehead. “You have a life here, Serena. I won’t disappear on you, but I also can’t let you just throw away everything you have for me. I refuse to derail your life yet again. It wouldn’t be fair.”

“Fair? How about I let you know when something isn’t fair to me, huh?” I reply adamantly.

Bruno smiles fondly. “You’re a spitfire, you know that?”

I shrug. “Takes one to know one. Besides, if you think I could possibly live my life the way it was without you in it… well, you don’t know me half as well as you think you do. Wherever you’re going, I’m going with you.”

“But what about Bathing Beauty?” he asks.

Sighing, I shake my head. “Well, it’s shut down for now anyway, right? Not a whole lot I can do about that. Luckily, things were going really well for a year or so there and I’ve got money saved up. Enough to last me a good while. To last us a good while.”

“I can’t let you do that,” Bruno protests, gazing into my eyes meaningfully.

“Bruno,” I begin, raising an eyebrow, “no offense, but I’m a grown adult. I make my own decisions. I’ll spend my money and my time however I see fit. And I want to be with you. Whatever that might mean.”

A smile splits his face, pride shining in his green eyes.

“You never stop amazing me, Serena De Laurentis. But I don’t know where I’m going to be. My contacts are still distant at the moment, and I don’t have a blueprint for the next stage of my plan yet. Things will probably get a little hairy before they get better. Who knows where I’ll end up until then.”

Suddenly, an idea slides into the forefront of my mind. “Wait. Let me think for a second.”

“What is it?” he asks, his thick brows furrowed.

I can’t help but grin as a plan hatches in my head. “I know a place. Upstate, there’s this cabin my parents rented for us a couple summers when I was a kid. We went up there for some ‘peace and quiet’ so my dad could fish and sit in a hot tub while my mom mostly just complained about the lack of restaurants and shopping. I used to play in the woods and go swimming in the pond. Build bonfires with my dad. Grill hotdogs and hamburgers. You know, all that stereotypical family time summer stuff.”

“Wow. Talk about the American dream,” Bruno remarks. “But I don’t know if that’s a great idea, Serena. Any place your parents rented must be high-profile. Fancy. The opposite of a good hiding place.”

I shake my head, turning off the shower faucet and reaching for a couple of dry towels from a shelf, handing one off to Bruno. “No, no. It’s perfect. I’m serious. It’s out in the middle of nowhere. I mean, it’s probably about an hour from Ithaca, but I promise it’s remote and private as hell. We didn’t even have cell service the whole time we were there. Nothing. It’s a dead zone.”

Bruno’s expression changes from skeptical to considerate. “Well, I suppose we could look into it. But what about your mother? Won’t she worry?”

“Pfft,” I snort. “I’ll just tell her I’m taking a little sabbatical. And the dead zone is a great excuse to not be in touch. It’s perfect.”

“And what about paying for the cabin? Don’t those kinds of places usually require ID for checking in? I can’t exactly show my face in public places at the moment,” Bruno says.

“Nah. From what I recall, the guy who runs the property isn’t even there most of the time. I think he lives in a town far out of the woods. And he seems like a very laissez-faire type of guy. I don’t think my dad even paid with a card. I remember him just handing over a wad of cash and getting a set of keys in exchange. Easy-peasy,” I say, shrugging.

Bruno nods, tying the towel around his waist. He’s silent for a moment, clearly deliberating on my suggestion. Then he says, “Okay. We can try it. But I can’t leave town yet. Not without taking a parting gift.”