“You remembered.”
He wanted to tell her once again that he’d forgotten nothing about her, but it hadn’t gone so well last night.
They kept walking through the fascinating streets and over canals and came upon the busier Grand Canal, which progressed to the Rialto Bridge. It was crowded but impressive. Minutes later, they approached Piazza San Marco or what he would call the city square, a huge area circled with fancy and ancient buildings except on the ocean side. He moved closer to Alice and checked for dangers. Price and Merrick were within his line of sight, and each nodded, reassuring him that all was well.
“I can’t wait to tour Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Basilica.” Alice shaded her eyes with her hand as she gazed up at the iconic church with its gold domes and too many statues to count. He liked the massive bronze horses and imagined they had military significance. “The basilica is an architecture marvel,” she told him. “Often called the church of gold.”
“We do both of those tours tomorrow.”
She clapped her hands together, looking delighted.
Robbie rubbed at the sudden stitch in his chest. She used to clap her hands together like that all the time.
They wandered the square for a while. He watched children playing in the fountain and adults staring up at the wonder of the church and the palace. They walked out to the ocean and the docks and watched the busy water traffic heading in every direction on the ocean, around the island, or into the Grand Canal.
Turning, they walked back through the plaza and then wandered down a wide side street. The women’s clothing inside the shop windows looked nice, classy, and probably high dollar. The men’s clothing looked far too preppy for him.
“There’s plenty of time to shop if you’d like,” he said.
“I thought you remembered everything about me,” she shot at him, but there was a smile on her lips.
He laughed, and she joined him. It was nice to laugh instead of worry she was going to cuss him again.
“That’s right. Your mom buys you more clothing and jewelry than you’d ever wear and you hate to waste time shopping.”
The laughter disappeared at him mentioning her mom, the thorn that had become a wedge and then a brick wall. She rubbed at a diamond necklace around her throat, the expensive-looking ruby on her finger glinting in the sunlight.
“We both know that you don’t want to shop,” she said, thankfully still keeping up the tease.
He gestured to a store window. “Can you even imagine me wearing that?” It was a pale yellow suit with tight pants, a fitted jacket, a blue dress shirt, and a pink and yellow swirled tie. “I’d look like the Beast when he tries to dress up to impress Belle.”
She started laughing again. They’d watched the cartoonBeauty and the Beasttogether. He’d tried to claim he was the Beast, but she’d said he was too sweet to be beastly.
Robbie was the furthest thing from ‘sweet’. Except with her. That had made them laugh years ago. He was laughing now, but he wished they could somehow get back to the comfort and love they once knew. But that was a pipe dream. He had to focus on her safety. He looked around. Nothing was amiss, and Price and Merrick weren’t far off in the crowd.
“Lunch?” she asked. “I’m starving from all this walking.”
Robbie smiled at that. It wasn’t nearly enough activity for him, but he could always eat. “Sounds great.”
They found an open table at one of the dozens of quaint Italian cafés right on the Grand Canal with views of the famed Rialto Bridge.Their outdoor table was shaded by a trellis with flowers growing out of it.
“Oh, this is delightful,” she exclaimed, clapping her hands together and gifting him with her beautiful and genuine smile.
Robbie missed her. It hit him in that moment how much he’d been missing out on. For fifteen years. He had six close friends from middle school on up, the Squadron 7, and he had his Army Ranger unit buddies. Chase Tenley was the common denominator from both groups and his closest friend.
He and Chase had been forced into early retirement from the Rangers because of an op gone very wrong. As in a U.S. Senator dying because they made the choice to save three Syrian mothers and their seven children kind of wrong. He and Chase were bonded in a lot of ways, but nobody could make him smile or touch his heart like Alice did. He hadn’t wanted to leave the Rangers. Even though he’d been busy and fulfilled in his work with Aiden Porter’s teams and his family was loving and welcoming any time he went home, he still felt displaced at times.
At this moment, he felt at home, comfortable and excited about the future like he hadn’t been in years. From Alice smiling genuinely at him and saying the restaurant was ‘delightful’.
He shook his head, trying to clear it. He couldn’t be letting down his guard that easily. Too much pain would be in store when he had to leave her again. If only he could step up to the ‘challenge’ of winning Alice’s heart, but it was a pipe dream to think he and Alice had a chance.
It wasn’t just the smile, the ‘delightful’ restaurant comment, and the sparkle in her dark eyes. It was being near Alice again. It was listening to her share about architecture and design all morning. It was touching her shoulders last night, smelling berries and cream, and seeing her vulnerable and scared, knowing deep inside he was the man built to protect her, to make her laugh, to hold her close. It was Alice’s tender nature that peeked through the walls she’d put up to shelter her heart from him.
It was all things Alice.
Robbie escorted her to a table with his hand on her lower back. Athrill went through him at the simple touch of his palm and fingers covering the curve of her lower back and her hip. Alice was what some would call ‘curvy’. He called it mesmerizing and mind-clouding.
She smiled up at him as he helped her settle into her chair. Her dark eyes were warm, her lips soft.
