Page 70 of Burning Caine
At the buffet, while a staff worker explained the selections, a woman sidled up beside me and offered her hand in greeting.
“Hi, I’m July.” In her free hand was at least a double of rum.
“Nice to meet you, I’m—” I raised my hand to shake in greeting, but she interrupted.
“You’re August.” She shook my hand, her tone condescending. She probably wasn’t on her first glass.
“Samantha Caine, actually.”
“August is so much easier to remember.” She raised her drink in my general direction and put an arm around my shoulders. “Welcome to the Calendar Club, honey.”
“I’m sorry, I think you have me confus—”
“I saw you on the dance floor with Dr. Antonio. Sorry to break it to you, but he’s a serial womanizer. He’ll wine you and dine you, make you think you’re the most beautiful and interesting woman in the world, and then he’ll be gone. On to the next one. You’ll show up somewhere next month and meet his flavor of September.”
“What are you—”
She pointed to a couple of women at a table nearby. “That’s May and sitting next to her is October. From last year.” The two of them snickered and waved.“You wanna know the worst thing?”
I didn’t respond. She was talking to hear herself and didn’t care what I had to say. She was grabbing my attention, though.
“He’s such a fucking gentleman,” she sighed dreamily. “I never even got to see that luscious body naked.”
She quickly withdrew her arm from around me and stood back, looking over my shoulder with an evil grin. Antonio stood there, glaring at her.
“You have had too much to drink, Victoria.” He didn’t take his eyes off her, while mine rested on him. “You should go home before you embarrass yourself. I’ll call you a cab.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right, but I’m good.” She looked at her glass, downed it, and headed off to the table where May and October sat, casting me a backward glance.
“Mi scusi.” He approached, sliding a hand to the small of my back. “Let’s go outside and get some fresh air. The fountain lights will be beautiful.”
My head was swimming. I’d crashed hard from the high I’d felt from our dance, after her little revelation. I wanted to be there with him but felt cheap and on-display. Was he really no different than Vincenzo? Was it all an act? Carefully crafted words and actions?
Being around him numbed my brain. My fingers prickled, and I shivered, moving away from him. “I’m tired. I’ll call my cab early. Good luck with the auction.”
He took my hand. “Stay. Please. I’m not ready for goodbye.”
“I’d love to, but I need to go.”
“Let me drive you home.”
I pulled the hand, but he held fast. “No, you have to stay for the auction.”
“I can arrange for a proxy bid.”
My first instinct was to say no, to avoid the awkward feeling inside of me, to avoid talking about what happened, to avoid the moment when he dropped me off. Despite it all, I craved more time with him. So, I accepted.
Chapter 29
Antonio
Ishookhandswiththe woman who had taken the auction proxy for my father. Before searching for my date, I pulled out my phone and texted my sneaky sister.
Thank you
She replied,Made any friends yet ;)
Working on it