Page 18 of The Italian's Pregnant Enemy (A Diamond in the Rough)

“Hi. How is Italy?”

“Snowy,” she said. “Actually, I’m snowed in at the chalet with Dario.”

“Oh,” he said, sounding... She couldn’t quite pinpoint it. Was he regretful because he wasn’t here? Because if he had come, then they would be snowed in together.

“I know, right? So insane.”

“Was it even in the forecast?”

“No,” she said, getting down a jar of peanut butter. She began to make a sandwich, standing above her phone. “Dario says that the generator should work? But it’s honestly a bit unnerving. There’s snow all the way up the windows.”

“You’re completely trapped with...”

He didn’t say Dario’s name, he only made a face.

“Don’t worry,” said Lyssia. “I think he only eats children and small animals. I should be safe.”

“Perhaps.” She jumped, then turned around sharply and saw Dario standing in the doorway.

“I’m on the phone,” she said.

His eyes flicked down to where her phone rested on the counter.

“Is that... Being on the phone?”

“Yes,” she and Carter said at the same time.

Dario walked over and peered down into her screen. “Who wishes to speak to someone by talking up their nostrils?”

“It’s... It’s called making face-to-face connections and being authentic,” she said.

Then she picked the phone up and grabbed her newly assembled peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Then she hopped out of the room past Dario.

“I wish you were here,” she said.

Because she did decide to go ahead and put herself out there, even though Carter hadn’t said anything to the effect of being sorry he wasn’t there.

She had thought that she would be losing her virginity this week. Not that virginity mattered. It was a social construct. But a person was allowed to think it was a little bit momentous that if they had never driven a car before they were going to drive a car for the first time. It wasn’t like it fundamentally changed you or anything, but still. It was okay to have nerves and excitement and anticipation about something like that.

So too, with the virginity.

“I’m sorry that you’re stuck there with Dario.”

She realized that he didn’t say that he was wishing he was there.

And she wouldn’t have worried about that, she wouldn’t have worried about that at all if it wasn’t for what Dario had said last night. The way that he had made a big deal out of whether or not a man was indicating he wanted her as much as she wanted him.

But that didn’t matter. It was a fundamentally uninteresting thing.

Because the way that she felt about Carter was about her. About what she wanted. It didn’t need to be twisted up in a competition for who felt the most deeply. If she wanted him, then that was what mattered, right?

She wasn’t needy.

“Well, it’s a good thing you have power,” said Carter.

“I know, right? The phone lines are down, and if we didn’t have power then we wouldn’t have internet of any kind. Well, I suppose we would be able to hook up cell towers for a few hours, but then the phone would die.”

“A definite problem.”

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