Meet Me In Monaco - Flora Ferrari Page 0,5

map we’ve been working on together. It’s now ringed with various lines and annotations that I’ve made while he pointed out where we ought to go. I can barely see the actual map itself anymore. “And this map is unreliable, too. I hope we don’t get lost looking for any of these other sights.”

“I’m sure it’s easier once we’re used to it,” Dad argues. “It’s only a small city. We’ll be able to find our way around like locals by the end of the week.”

“Well, maybe not quite like locals,” Nico says, and I look up to catch a teasing smile on his face. I’m glad he’s looking at my dad because if he was looking at me like that, I don’t think I would be able to manage it.

If he was looking at me like that back at my hotel room…

I force myself to snap out of it, taking an overly large gulp of my mocha and then nearly choking to death on the hot liquid. It goes completely the wrong way down my throat, making me feel like I’m about to cough up an entire lung. I feel a reassuring pat on my back, someone pushing me to lean forward and then slapping along my spine.

The coughing ends, and I fight for breath, my eyes blurred with tears. When I finally manage to straighten up and breathe again, I look up with horror to realize that it’s Nico standing over me. His hand is still on my back, and he’s peering down at me, his face so much closer to mine than I expected.

“Are you alright, now?” he asks.

“Yes. Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” I say, feeling my cheeks flame up so hot I could literally be on fire. “How embarrassing. First I bumped into you, and now this. You must think I’m such a klutz.”

He remains where he is for a long moment, his eyes looking down deep into mine. I feel a kind of heat between us, something that almost sizzles in the air. My eyes dart down to his lips, and –

“Not at all,” he says, straightening up gracefully and moving back to his own seat. “It just makes you a real person. Mistakes, clumsiness, these things happen,” he finishes his words with a calm and elegant sip of his coffee, timed perfectly.

I fight to regain my composure, smoothing down the front of my dress and tucking my hair behind my ears. “Well, they seem to happen to me a lot,” I say, laughing nervously. Shut up, mouth, I try to tell myself. You’re making yourself sound like a dork.

He only smiles at me, a twinkle in his eyes that I can’t look away from. “Well, if you’re truly worried about getting lost again, perhaps you could do with a guide,” he says. He glances towards my dad as if it’s an afterthought. “I happen to be free for the rest of the afternoon. I have some time to kill before a business dinner. Why don’t I show you around a little?”

“Only if it doesn’t put you out at all,” Dad says, making me breathe a sigh of relief. Now that he knows they’re from the same alma mater, I guess he’s more comfortable with spending time with this stranger. Nico Manella. I’ve never heard his name before, but it sounds like music to my ears. So exotic.

“Not at all,” Nico says, draining the last of his cup with a smile. “Where do you want to go first?”

Chapter Five

Nico

Damn this. It’s getting late, and I can’t put it off any longer.

I take a moment to watch them in front of me. Liliana and Frank, or specifically Liliana. She’s walking just ahead, the two of them talking excitedly about the architectural details of one of the buildings we’re approaching.

We’ve toured just about all of Monaco’s main sights, on a whistle-stop tour. They insisted. Frank said that since we only have the one afternoon together, I should show them how to reach everything that they’re going to want to see later on. As for actually going inside places and enjoying them, they’ll do that alone.

It’s just the opposite of what I would like to do. In fact, I would love for Frank to go and sit down with a coffee or a beer somewhere and let me and Liliana do all the exploring together. I think about one particular spot, a tourist attraction where I happen to know of a secret exit onto the roof. I