LITMIR.BIZ

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had seen that for herself when she had caught the tail end of that news clip out of Azerbaijan.

      To allow herself to love Connor Benson would be to open herself up to pain such as she had never felt, not even when she was a little girl and had seen her father in a café with a woman who was not her mother.

      From the second she had spotted him, Isabella had begun working on an elaborate story: it was someone from work. It was a friend. It was a cousin. And then her father had leaned forward and kissed that woman on the mouth with unmistakable passion.

      Then there had been the different pain: watching Giorgio die, every day a series of losses for him, and for them, until she was feeding the man she married baby food from a spoon.

      And so, this week Isabella had tackled one of her fears. She had learned to swim. And she had deliberately fanned the fire she had seen in Connor’s eyes.

      But without considering the consequences. In a way, she had won. He had given in. He had asked her out again after canceling the first time. But was she really ready to open herself to more pain?

      Isabella realized, sadly, she had used up all her bravery. She did not have any left. She certainly did not have the kind left that you would need to go on the wild ride that was love.

      Not with a man like Connor Benson.

      The next morning, she caught up with him on the edge of town. She had known he would be there, heading out for his early morning swim.

      “Connor.”

      He swung around and looked at her. His smile held as much promise as the sun that was just beginning to touch the rooftops of Monte Calanetti.

      “I’m sorry. About tonight?”

      His smile faded.

      “I can’t. I realized I have a previous obligation.”

      He cocked his head at her.

      She should have thought of the previous obligation before now! She blurted out the first thing that came to her head. “My students are putting on a skit for the spring fete. I’m not ready. The costumes aren’t finished. I haven’t started the props.”

      He was looking at her quietly.

      “So, clearly a date is out of the question. For right now.”

      And in a while, he would be gone, anyway. If she could just hold off for a few more days, she would be what she most liked to be. Safe. She would leave that woman she had been introduced to in Nico’s swimming pool behind, a memory that would fade more with each passing day, and then week, and then year.

      Besides, neither of them had addressed where a date would be leading—down that dark road to heartbreak? There were so many different routes to get to that destination.

      So, if she should be so pleased with herself that she was taking control of a situation that had the potential to get seriously out of control if she let it, why did she feel so annoyed that instead of looking dismayed that she had canceled their date, he looked downright relieved.

      “Is it the swimming lessons that put you behind the eight ball?” he asked.

      She frowned at him. “What is this? Behind the eight ball?”

      “Have you ever played pool?”

      “Isn’t that what we just did all week?”

      He threw back his head and laughed. Oh, of all the things he could have done, that was the worst. It filled her with an ache to live in a state of playful days of hearing him laugh. But of course, given what he did for a living, that was unrealistic.

      There would be far more days of waiting for him, of anxiety sitting in her stomach like a pool of acid, of uncertainty and fear.

      “In America, we play a variation of billiards called pool. Guys like me who spend ninety-nine percent of our lives bored out of our skulls become very good at it. There’s a game in pool called eight ball,” he said. “The eight ball is black. You can only touch it when it’s the last ball on the table, otherwise you lose. So, if it gets between you and the ball you are aiming at, you are in a very difficult predicament. That’s what ‘behind the eight ball’ means.”

      “What about the one percent?” she asked. She didn’t care about the eight ball.

      “Huh?”

      “You spend ninety-nine percent of your life bored out of your skull—what about the one percent?”

      “Oh, that.”

      She waited.

      He grinned at her, devil-may-care. “It’s one percent of all hell breaking loose.” He held that smile, but she saw something else in his eyes, as if he held within him shadows of every terrible thing he had ever seen.

      “And that’s the part you love, and also the part you pay a price for.”

      He did not like it when the powers of observation that he had encouraged her to hone were turned on him.

      “Weren’t we talking about you?”

      “Yes, we were,” she said. “I think that would be an accurate description of how I feel right now, behind this eight ball. I have much to do, and not enough time to do it.”

      “My fault. Because of the swimming. I’ll help you get ready for your skit. I’m winding down on the recon for the wedding anyway. I’ll be wrapped up in a couple of days.”

      And then he would be gone.

       CHAPTER EIGHT

      “YOU WON’T LIKE IT,” Isabella said with all the firmness she could muster. “You won’t like helping me. I’m making paper sunshine cutouts.”

      Connor laughed again, but she could hear a faint edge to it. “Lady, my life has been so full of things I didn’t like it would make your head spin.”

      Again, that hint of the dark places he had been that he carried within him. “What is this, make your head spin?”

      “I’ll explain it to you over paper sunshines.”

      Isabella was ashamed of her weakness. She could not give up what he was offering. She could not give up an opportunity to spend time with him. It seemed to her that she had caught a glimpse of his world when they went swimming. Now she had an overwhelming desire to see how he would react to hers.

      No doubt with utter boredom. But at least it was not a date, that event that was so loaded with romantic expectation and foolish hopes.

      “All right,” she said stiffly. “Come after school. Class gets out at one.”

      “Okay,” he said. He sauntered away, into the magic of Monte Calanetti’s dawn, whistling. Whistling! It confirmed that he was not the least distressed that she had canceled the date. The exact opposite, in fact.

      He was very punctual, and Connor Benson showed up just as her students were swarming out the door of her classroom. He looked like a ship plowing through the sea of bright blue uniforms. Luigi Caravetti, who always had too much energy, was walking backward, catcalling at one of the girls.

      Connor sidestepped him easily, but at that very moment, Luigi swung around and smashed into him.

      Connor barely moved, but Luigi fell down. With absolute ease, Connor went down on his haunches, helped the little boy up, picked up the homework Luigi wouldn’t do anyway and handed it back to him. Luigi said something to him and then wound up and kicked Connor in the shin and ran off before Isabella could reprimand him.

      Rubbing his shin, he turned to her and grinned ruefully.

      “I’m sorry,” she said, “Luigi is a bit of a handful. What did he say to you?”

      “I don’t know. He said it in Italian. I’m

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