Page 53 of Love or Leave

Antonio didn't, but maybe she was using it as an excuse to hang out with him. Hehopedshe was.

"I can get…"

Antonio broke eye contact from Cara and looked at Adam, waiting for him to finish his sentence, but he blacked out mid-thought.

Antonio turned to the van and waved them on. Natalie nodded, said something to the driver, and off they went, leaving Antonio and Cara alone for the first time that night.

Well, besides Adam.

Cara pulled her coat tighter and gave a small shiver against the frosty night air. Antonio started feeling guilty about wanting her to stay with him.

"Are you cold?" he asked. "You should have gone with them."

Cara smiled and shook her head. "I think Adam's going to be harder to handle than I was."

Antonio's memory flashed back to when he'd pulled her from the bushes, and he laughed. "I bet he won't scream like I'm trying to take advantage of him the second I touch him."

Cara laughed and stood from the bench, then moved in close. "I promise I won't scream if you do it again."

He couldn't keep the smile off his face at the suggestiveness of her comment. He also couldn't stop the flood of lascivious thoughts from short circuiting his brain, or stop the tingling in his palms as they ached to touch her. "You want me to touch you again?"

Cara pressed in closer, then smiled with a nod.

"What are you two…"

Both their heads snapped toward Adam, who'd come to for a split second before re-passing out.

Cara winced and took a cautionary step back. "Do you think he can actually understand us?"

Antonio shrugged. "Maybe, but his short-term memory will never retain it," he said, then glanced back at her.

Cara side eyed Adam before moving back in close to him. She zipped her coat up so that it was fully closed around her neck, then gave him a devilish little smile. "It's kinda fun, isn't it? Sneaking around like this?"

Antonio smiled and nodded. That was impossible to disagree with. The Scrabble game on the bus had been the most fun he had since… well, since the euchre tournament. He knew it wasn't just fun because they were sneaking around. It was fun because she was her.

He'd never felt this sort of thrill with Fran. Not even at the beginning of their relationship.

He could feel himself tipping too far over the edge. His feelings for her were stronger than he was comfortable with. In a last-ditch effort to maintain a platonic relationship, or maybe to giveher an easy out if she wanted to take it, he broke eye contact and looked up at the cold, clear sky.

"Hey, look, Orion."

Her eyes burned into the side of his head for a second before she twisted up and snorted. "That's not Orion."

He let out a laugh.

"Do you know anything about astronomy?"

"I know I'm a Virgo."

"Oh my God," she said. Her smiled dropped. "That's not…" she took a deep breath before shaking her head and continuing.

"You're probably looking at Cassiopeia," she said, turning her back to Antonio and pointing up. "You can tell because it’s shaped like a W and it's close to Polaris, above Perseus and Andromeda."

Antonio looked down at the back of her head, wanting so badly to pull her into his chest. He didn't really know which constellations she was talking about, but he knew he wanted her to keep talking. "I've never heard of it."

She continued looking up. "The story goes that Cassiopeia insulted Poseidon by declaring she was more beautiful than his sea nymphs, so he sent a monster after her to steal her daughter. See that bright cluster to the right?"

He followed her finger up. "Yeah."

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