Free Fall of Darkness (The Chronicles of Darkness) by Elle Bright Page A

could see through
the layers of her clothing.
                “What
about the eight languages?”
                “I’m
afraid that one is true,” he admitted gravely, as though confessing a great
sin.
                “Really?
Which ones do you speak?”
    Kate was green with envy. She’d always
wanted to learn a foreign language. Though she’d taken the requisite amount of
French in school, she retained practically none of her relatively useless
language skills. Were she in France, she might be able to ask for permission to
use the restroom or ramble on in broken French about her nonexistent black cat,
but that would be about it. That one was number nine on her list, ‘learn a
foreign language.’
                “Hmm,
let’s see. Italian is my first language, then there’s English, Spanish, Greek,
French, German, Dutch, Portuguese, and Latin. I also speak small amounts of
Russian and Mandarin, but am far from fluent,” he added, counting off the
languages on his fingers. “I guess that’s more than eight, so not completely
true,” he shrugged with a haphazard grin. “Most Europeans are multilingual.”
                “What
about the other thing… about Gabriela Dalberg?”     
    “That I am afraid would be between me
and Ms. Dalberg. A gentleman does not kiss and tell.”
                “Did
you, did you really?” She wasn’t sure why it mattered, but she needed to know.
She couldn’t possibly be jealous of the lingerie model turned Hollywood
starlet. Could she? Maybe . She waited patiently for an answer, her arms
crossed over her chest. With a reluctant sigh, he acceded to her demand.
                “Only
in my dreams when I was younger, cara . I did meet her once though.”
                “And?”
    He traced her jaw line with his knuckles
in a gentle caress. The tenderness of his touch sent an electric shiver of pure
longing clear to her toes.
                “She
doesn’t hold a candle to your beauty. I’m afraid a new woman haunts my dreams
now.” His voice was soft as a velvet whisper as the sweetness of his words made
Kate’s heart sing.
    Dominic brought the car to a smooth stop
in front of Kate’s favorite park. A handful of pedestrians were scattered
throughout the park- a group of teenagers playing Frisbee, another young couple
lounging on a blanket in the grass, a small family strolling the paths that
weaved around the large pond. The setting sun cast the park in fading shades of
pink, orange and lavender as it bid the world goodnight, the imminence of
nightfall lending a comforting quiet to the park.
    “Is this the right place?”
    Kate nodded. “This was my favorite place
to come as a kid. My mom brought me here all of the time to feed breadcrumbs to
the ducks and geese,” she said as they climbed out of the car.
    The park hadn’t changed a bit, as though
frozen in time like a photograph. With a rich display of colorful leaves from
the abundant mature trees, the duck pond full of wild life, the carefully
maintained flower beds, and the immaculately manicured lawn, it was exactly as Kate
remembered it.
    “It’s very nice.” Dominic smiled,
draping Kate’s bags over his shoulder. Kate led Dominic to a secluded thatch of
plush green grass. Tucked amid a heavily wooded copse of trees, it was the
perfect spot for an intimate picnic. Spreading a blanket on the grass, they set
up their make-shift picnic.
    Laying out one thick foam box after
another, Kate realized she’d ordered way too much food. Hopefully Dominic was
hungry. Oh well. If he wasn’t, she’d take the leftovers to work. Her coworkers
would eat anything that didn’t eat them first.
    Fishing two chunky candles from her bag,
Kate stood each one on a small plate near the blanket. With the spark of a
lighter, she lit them. Fire marshal be damned, she was going to have a candlelit
picnic in the park. That was number 24.
     “I hope