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By the time I have them all loaded outside, Aria jumps down the steps to meet me. “I bet we will have the best cupcakes. Tina made cookies. Blah, who is going to want cookies when there are cupcakes?”

“I’m sure some people will want to buy the cookies.”

“Are we going to stay for the whole bake sale today?”

“We’ll see how tired you are.” After practice, all the local sports teams are hosting a small carnival with games, food, and rides. But I can already tell after her two-hour practice she will be whiny and tired.

We walk the four blocks to the park and see the carnival already in full swing across from the practice field.

“I wish we could go to the carnival now!”

“Hey, no whining. You have practice and then you can have fun.”

“No fair,” she pouts.

“Don’t even start with me, Aria. You know football is your priority.” I tell her as I wave at some of the parents. “Besides, all your friends on the team will be here anyway. Then you all get to go over together and have fun. It wouldn’t be any fun if you were there without them.”

She kicks her foot around in the grass. “I guess.”

I kneel down in front of her. “What’s wrong? You are always so excited to play.”

She shakes her head. “It’s nothing.”

“Really? Well, you better tell me later or no cupcakes tonight.”

“Okay, Mom.”

I run my finger through her ponytail and then stand. “Go get ’em, tiger.”

She smiles at me then runs off to join her team. I drop the cupcakes off with the team mom and then head out to the market.

It’s the beginning of April and the outdoor weekend market is just starting. It’s my favorite thing to do on the weekends. I walk the one block over to where the market starts and buy some fresh vegetables and fruits. I am looking through the beautiful floral bouquets when a man bumps into my shoulder.

“Excuse you!” I yell as he continues walking briskly down the street.

I turn back around and a hard chest is right in front of me. “Excuse me,” I say as I try to move around the man. I go to move out of his way until his cologne hits me. The smell of cedarwood and spice. I look up to see Kilian smiling down at me. A pair of aviator sunglasses over his eyes and a baseball cap on his head.

“What are you doing here?” I ask as I pull him farther into the tent behind a huge display of flowers.

“I can’t get that weekend out of my head.”

“You can’t be here,” I say as I look around to see if any of Giancarlo’s men are around.

His hand comes to my cheek and pulls me to look at him. “It’s fine. I made sure of it.”

“You know we can’t do this,” I plead, dropping my gaze to his T-shirt-clad chest. I didn’t even know my hand was gripping his shirt.

“We can find a way, Bella. You know we can.”

I look back up at him. “You’re delusional. We’ll both end up with bullets in our heads.”

“Meet me later.”

“I can’t.” I try to pull away but he grips my arm.

He pulls his sunglasses off and looks at me with intense eyes. “Please, Bella, I need you right now.”

I see the sorrow in his face, the pain haunting his eyes. And I can’t tell him no. Especially because my heart is beating so fast. Being around him does something to me and I, too, remember our nights in Malta like they were yesterday, not nearly a month ago. “Tomorrow,” I concede.