Free I Want You to Want Me by Kathy Love Page B

the glassed-in porch.
    The courtyard was beautiful this morning, vibrant and green. Now that the sleepy haze was clearing from her head, she actually felt good. She should take her sculpting supplies outside and work. But instead of doing that, she wandered back to the living room.
    Was Vittorio sleeping? She imagined he was. He’d said he kept strange hours, and she’d also kept him up late. Still, she was tempted to go upstairs and check.
    Just to thank him, of course. She glanced down at the half-eaten Rice Krispie treat. Or just to see him.
    She rolled her eyes at herself. God, why was she making so much of his reaction last night? And of a few bites of Rice Krispie treat.
    “I need to just act cool about it,” she stated to herself. Or maybe Boris. Or both.
    She picked up the remaining treats, tossing the unfinished one on top, and carried them to the kitchen.
    Only she could make a couple bites of Rice Krispie treat into a budding romance. She needed to get the notion that he was her predicted prince, out of her head.
    “And you need to work,” she commanded herself adamantly. But again, she didn’t move to gather her supplies. She walked back to her front door, cracked it open and angled her head to look at the staircase to the upstairs.
    Without debating it any further, she put her hand on the doorknob and twisted. But the door didn’t budge. She frowned down. The old-style dead bolt was latched.
    She stared at it for a moment, confused. She remembered locking the bolt last night after going to see Vittorio.
    So how did Vittorio get in? And how did he leave and flip the lock back into place? The old bolt either needed a key to lock it or had to be latched from the inside. A chill snaked over her skin.
    “Ah!” she let out a startled cry as her cell phone on the table beside the door picked that moment to ring. She clapped a hand over her skittering heart, trying to calm herself, then she picked up the phone.
    “Hello?”
    “Hey there.”
    Erika recognized the voice on the other end as her friend Jo’s.
    “I just bought my plane ticket,” Jo said, although Erika was still having a hard time concentrating since her heart was doing circles in her chest like an overexcited dog. Her eyes remained locked on that bolt.
    “I’ll be coming in for a week. The twenty-eighth to the fifth. I got a great price. Thanks for suggesting that one site. The deals are good.”
    How had he gotten in here? Had he even really been here?
    “Erika?”
    Erika blinked. “I’m here.”
    “Are you okay?”
    She debated whether to mention anything to her friend. Jo would definitely think she was crazy. She tended to be very practical—not prone to share Erika’s mystical beliefs.
    “Yes. It’s just that—well, remember Vittorio?”
    “Ren’s brother, of course.”
    “Well, he’s staying in the apartment above me.”
    “That’s cool,” Jo said, clearly not understanding how she was supposed to respond to this information.
    “Yeah,” Erika said.
    “You don’t sound too sure.”
    Erika sighed. “You’re right about that. It’s just—well, I guess I should start from the beginning.”
    “Okay,” Jo said, then waited.
    Erika took a deep breath, realizing this was going to probably make little or no sense to her friend.
    “Well, you know since I moved down here that I’ve been going to see Philippe regularly.”
    “No. Who’s Philippe?”
    “He’s that psychic I’ve told you about. The really accurate one.”
    There was a brief silence on Jo’s end of the phone. “Okay.”
    Erika sensed Jo’s censure, but she continued. “Well, he keeps predicting that I’m going to meet a fair-haired, dark-eyed prince. Remember he predicted that way back on our first trip here.”
    “Okay,” Jo said again, clearly not recalling.
    “Well, Vittorio fits that description perfectly.”
    “I know blond hair and brown eyes isn’t as common as some color combinations, but it’s hardly rare. Vittorio isn’t the only