He walked away without looking back.
Rafael watched him go. “He wants to live long enough to be bored.”
“He might get his wish,” Emilia said.
They stood there as the water finished deciding to turn from slate to black. Rafael’s hand brushed hers. She took it openly, the kind of touch that reads like nothing until someone tries to take it away.
“Say it,” he said.
“Say what?”
“That you’re not tired of wanting me and the work at the same time,” he said.
She faced him. “I’m not. I never was.”
He smiled, quick and quiet, then leaned in and kissed her. No performance. Just heat and breath and the certainty that the next move was theirs.
~ ~ ~
Nora had the maps up when they came in. “Two things. One, the examiner issued a preservation order on all Fondazione accounts. No one is moving
