Page 12 of A Treasure To Keep

Chapter 10

El

“Well?” Marco’s words settle with me while I process what he said, the two of them staring at me, waiting for me to respond. Next thing I know, I’m laughing harder than I have in years.

“You can’t be serious.” My laugh halts when I realize they are. “Oh my god, you are serious. Marco, you’ve had a lot of dumbass ideas, but this takes the cake. Do you honestly expect that the three of us fucking again is going to solve all our problems? And you. You agree with this?” Andrea cautiously walks over to me, sitting down as he grabs my hands. His milk chocolate eyes meet mine while he kisses both my knuckles. I’ve missed those lips. Even though it’s been less than forty-eight agonizing hours. More than four hours is way too long. This has been torture.

“I know this idea is crazy, however, I think it may work. It’s obvious you and Marco have something to work out of your system, and if that’s going to happen, I want to be there. We need to follow as many of our rules as possible. If this is goingto help us work through what happened, I’m willing to try anything.”

“What if it backfires?” Normally, I have no issues expressing any worries or weaknesses around Andrea. With Marco here, I can’t. Instead, I hide the genuine worry with a neutral tone in my response.

Marco cuts in between us, interrupting whatever Andrea could have said. “I’ll leave and find a new stylist. I’ll stay out of your lives because, out of everyone I know, you two deserve each other. No way in fucking hell I’ll be the reason things get destroyed between you two.”

“So? What do you think, mon trésor?” That’s a damn good question.

This is dumb. Such a dumb fucking idea. A brilliantly dumb fucking idea. “Fine. We have to do this with precise rules. I mean, more than Andrea and I have. One, no one is allowed to kiss, other than Andrea and me. Everything else that happened New Year’s Eve is on the table.”

I don’t miss how Andrea’s body stiffens or how Marco’s eyes widen, but I continue speaking anyway. “At the end of it, we part ways and pretend none of it happened. No cuddling, no sweet words, nothing. Deal?”

Andrea is the first person to respond, kissing my knuckles again and nodding his head. We both turn to Marco, waiting for a response from the man whose idea this was in the first place.

“Marco, this was your idea. Say something.” Andrea’s a lot nicer than I would have been.

Marco inhales to answer when my phone rings. I glance at it and see it’s Luci. “Oh, one second, it’s Luci. I need to answer this.”

I walk out of the living room, waving him off, speaking the second I answer Luci’s call. “What’s up, babe?”

He yells at me the second I answer the phone, speaking to me when I greet Luci. “I was about to say something!”

I should have gone into the second bedroom. “Fuck off, Marco!”

“Hi, El. It’s Luci. Are you busy helping Andrea with something for Marco? I need some help accessorizing. If you’re at work, I’ll figure it out myself.” Ding, ding, ding! The perfect excuse to run off.

“No, I’m not busy, Andrea and I have today off. Let me step away and we can chat.” I push off the wall, speeding my way down the hall into the second bedroom. Luci speaks the second I shut the door, thankful it has a lock.

“If it’s your day off, what are you and Andrea doing with Marco?” There's no way I’m telling her about this. Even though I’ve decided she’s my new best friend, I have no gauge if she would judge me on this.

“Don’t worry about it. So what’s going on?” I fix my hair as Luci and I video chat. I guess I missed the memo about what happened to my hair when Marco tossed me over his shoulder.

Luci and I spend the next half hour talking about what she’s wearing to dinner with Alessandro. She sure is putting effort into a dinner with a man she doesn’t want to marry. My default mode since I was a toddler has always been to be nosy. When Mamma would have friends over, I’d stand barely out of sight, listening to them gossip about whatever friend wasn’t there that day. In this case, it takes everything in my soul not to dig further into this.

When I can’t delay it any longer, I walk back into Andrea’s living room, the two of them awkwardly standing before Marco makes eye contact with me.

“Can I talk now, Your Highness?” God, he’s infuriating.

“Only if it’s you agreeing to my rules. That’s the only way this is happening.” I can’t believe him. He stands there, chewing on his lip while we wait for him to respond.

Andrea gently speaks to him, the sweet man I’ve always known him to be. The perfect yin to my yang. “Marco, this was your idea. Are you having second thoughts, or is this happening?”

He audibly exhales, surprisingly hesitating before he answers. “Fine. I agree.”

Chapter 11

Andrea

“Fine? What the fuck do you mean ‘fine’? This was your dumbass idea until I mentioned the rules. Now that I’ve agreed, you’re practically shutting down. Are you scared about something?” What is El trying to do? Can she sense the tension between Marco and me?

“No! I agree to your fucking rules.” Marco barges out of the apartment, leaving El and me alone. Even though he was her ride.