Page 24 of Cryptic Curse

But I do.I do it for her sake.I don’t ever want her to feel uncomfortable.She was supposedly engaged to an old man back in Colombia.

Not that I’m an old man at twenty-nine, but the eleven years between eighteen and twenty-nine are pretty damned vast.

We take the elevator down to the first floor and walk to the cafeteria in silence.Belinda, though she’s eleven, takes Daniela’s hand.

Daniela seems to be her security blanket, and she seems okay with that.

We reach the cafeteria, and Belinda heads straight toward the soft-serve ice cream machine.

Daniela looks up at me.“She loves ice cream.I think she could live on it.”

I frown.“I wish this place had something better to offer than soft serve from a machine.”

“Vinnie’s taking us to this place tonight for dinner.”She rubs her belly.“They have the most wonderful homemade ice cream with really bizarre flavors.”

“Bizarre flavors?”

“Yeah, the last time we were there they had lemon pepper flavored ice cream”

I chuckle.“That doesn’t sound too appetizing.”

“It didn’t to Belinda either.She sticks with everybody’s favorites—vanilla, chocolate, strawberry.But what she likes best are the toppings.”

Daniela is clearly right.Belinda serves herself a generous bowl of ice cream and adds a little bit of every topping they offer.Hot fudge, caramel, cherry pie filling, rainbow sprinkles, and chopped peanuts.

I smile at her when she’s done.“Sure you can’t fit anything else on there?”

Her pale cheeks pink up.“My dad never let me have ice cream.But Vinnie and Raven let me have it all the time.They say a child should never be deprived of things that she enjoys.”

I grin.“I think my sister and Vinnie are right.Go ahead and take a seat at that table there.”I gesture.“Daniela and I will get some ice cream for ourselves.”

Daniela takes only a small dollop of ice cream and doesn’t add anything.

“No sprinkles?Chopped nuts?Oreo crumbles?”

“It’s funny,” she says.“I grew up wanting for nothing, and that includes good food.I love food.I love cooking, which is why I’m going to culinary school.But I’ve always preferred my ice cream plain.I mean, why mess up a good thing?”

I tilt my head, try to read her gorgeous dark eyes.

I get the feeling she’s not telling me the complete truth.But I won’t push it.

“Whatever you prefer,” I say.I grab a waffle cone for my ice cream, fill it up, and then add crumbled Oreos.Cookies and cream is my favorite, and this will be close enough.

I join Belinda and Daniela at the table.

And even though Belinda is with us, I let myself think that Daniela and I are on a date.

I’m not sure why.

I have an actual date later with Grace for coffee.

Grace is warm and bubbly and very pretty.

Daniela is quiet, but very warm with Belinda.But pretty doesn’t do her justice.

Neither does beautiful.

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