Page 102 of My Dark Ever After

“Sto bene,” he said. “It was just a graze.”

There were people in the vines, their voices carrying up the hill to the house, but after the first day of the harvest, the family didn’t participate every day. On the last day, we would have another feast, but only as a family, to celebrate another successful year of grapes.

I didn’t realize I had included myself in the family so easily until I was mid-swallow around a piece of apple, and I choked.

Ludo tossed me off his back to pound a hand between my shoulders until I coughed it out.

“Grazie mille,” I rasped, waving him away as I stood up. “Well, now that I’ve almost choked to death, are you ready for our run?”

He nodded, staring at me a little harder than usual, probably because I was skipping in place. “You were just tortured and kept captive for days. Perhaps you want to take a break?”

“Pfft. I’m too energized this morning to take a break,” I told him solemnly before shooting him a wide grin.

“You fucked Raffa in the barn yesterday,” he countered.

I gasped, smacking him in the chest, and then darted off on the trail down the hill, yelling over my shoulder, “A lady never kisses and tells.”

“You have asucchiottoon your neck. It goes without saying,” he muttered as he caught up with me swiftly and fell into easy step beside me.

My hand flew up to my neck instinctively. I hadn’t realized Raffa had left a hickey because I’d put my hair into a ponytail when I was in the kitchen and not in front of a mirror.

“So much for discretion,” I bemoaned, but Ludo only bumped me with his shoulder in solidarity.

“Be careful with him,” Ludo surprised me by saying. Unlike Martina or Carm, he was not usually one to speak about emotions. “Boss was in a bad way when you went back to America, but he nearly went mad when you were taken. He doesn’t need much in life, but I think it is obvious that he needs you.”

“I need him too,” I offered simply. “When he’s finished his meeting with Renzo, I intend to tell him just how much.”

Ludo grunted, but I could see the faint curl of a smile at the end of his thin mouth.

“Softy,” I teased him, which made him knock into me again and power forward even faster.

I laughed as I chased him.

After a moment, I heard voices through the cypress trees, and we rounded a corner to come up on Renzo and Raffa, who were both in their running gear, heading down the same trail. They were already sweaty, Raffa’s tee tucked into the back of his black athletic shorts, his bare chest glistening in the new-day sun.

My mouth went impossibly dry, tongue adhered to the back of my teeth.

I deserved it, but Raffa’s reserved look when he saw me over his shoulder panged in my gut.

“Buongiorno,” I called over the crunch of gravel beneath our feet. “Isn’t it a beautiful morning?”

Renzo blinked placidly back at me, but Raffa cocked his head, studying me for a hidden motive.

“It is,” Ludo grunted, because he was a good friend and the silence was awkward.

“Your mother told me you and Zo were in a meeting,” I told Raffa.

He waved between himself and his right-hand man. “We are multitasking.”

“Do you mind if we join you?” I asked as we pulled abreast of the other two joggers. “Race to the bottom of the hill?”

“Will I have to carry you back up it?” Raffa finally said, and though his delivery was bland, there was a bend in his mouth that said he was teasing me.

Warmth blossomed in my chest. “If you want the extra workout, but I’m more than capable of running back up myself. Ludo and I do this circuit every morning.”

Raffa lifted a brow as he looked to Ludo, who only grunted back.

“He gets more eloquent after the first two or three miles,” I explained to Renzo and Raffa.