myself, having a conversation. No one else was around but me (lo scorpione had been sent to help Uncle Tito do something medical with an animal), and if I could not work this out, who could?
I felt like a puppet on a string, some unknown force the master of my emotions.
How could I want a man who was so was bad for me? A man who probably had his mind set on taking me back to New York and delivering me to hell?
At the same time—all of the feelings that rushed through me at the thought of him were heavenly. Sometimes when I caught him staring, I felt like I could float.
“Don’t move!” The order came at me in Sicilian.
My hand stilled midway toward a branch. A lazy breeze moved through the air, touching the sweat on my skin, making me feel feverish when I registered the tone of the voice, who it belonged to, and the hiss of a serpent from below.
I wondered how close to my legs it was, but I did not want to even look. It had probably wedged itself within the crack in the rock, looking for shade. I should have checked, but I had been preoccupied.
My shears were balanced against the rock a ways away, and from my peripheral, I saw him move forward, snatching them.
The vipera hissed.
“Get off the rock, Alcina,” he said. “Adesso.”
My legs were trembling. I couldn’t move.
“Adesso!” he snapped.
I closed my eyes and jumped from the rock onto another, barely making it. I held on to another pistachio tree, trying to steady myself.
The vipera had been next to my ankle the entire time, while I picked the pistachios. I probably would not have known what had hit me until it was too late. It was camouflaged against the rock, trying to hide from the sun.
It coiled itself into a tight S, its tongue scenting the air, ready to strike.
Lo scorpione watched it with hard eyes, the shears open and ready. He had a long-sleeve shirt slung over his shoulder, and he waved it away from him. The vipera struck out at the fabric, and lo scorpione snapped the blades. The snake’s head fell to the side.
I made the sign of the cross. “I did not even see it.”
He nodded and came toward me, opening his arms.
“I can get down,” I said.
I had walked these groves many times, certain of my footing and how it worked with the terrain, but when I went to step down, my knees gave out.
He caught me and started carrying me toward a more populated area with ease.
I stared at his face, admiring how chiseled it was. Then my eyes drifted and stuck on his lips.
He smiled, and I had to force myself to stop blinking.
“Wait!” I said, trying to wiggle out of his arms. “I have to go back!”
“The head won’t stop moving until the sun goes down,” he said. “Whatever you forgot, I’ll go back later and get it.”
“My shears!” I said, wiggling even harder.
He stopped moving. “You don’t need them.”
“Why not? I do! I need—”
“You don’t,” he said, moving again. “I’m here.”
“You are,” I said. “But that is not helping me.”
He glanced at me and then looked ahead. “I’m more dangerous than shears.”
“Which is why I need them. I need something to protect me from you. Or to help.”
“Nothing stops me when I want something,” he said. “Least of all a pair of rusty old shears.” He stopped moving again, looking down at me. The only way I could describe his face in that moment was someone who had started to connect the dots.
“You will get tetanus if I snip you with them,” I whispered.
His eyes gazed into mine, and then they roamed over my face. His explorations stilled on my lips.
I was suddenly so hot that it was hard to take in a breath. I went to speak again, but only my lips parted. No sound came out.
Another breeze blew, rustling my dress. He situated me so that it was tight underneath his arms, but his fingers had touched my bare skin. They were rough from working every day, but the touch was the opposite.
I shivered in his arms, like I was cold.
“You’re not in shock.” He said it like he already knew the answer but wanted to check anyway.
“No.” I shook my head.
A slow grin came to his face.
“What?” I said.
“I knew you’d end up here, but not this way.”
“I do not even know your name,” I said.
“You will.”
“Is it a