“That wasn’t up to you.” I follow him but he’s not paying attention to me. He’s opening a cabinet, taking out the coffee. “Sergio, I mean it.” He’s busy opening drawers, closing them, looking for a spoon, I assume. “Hey.” I pull on his arm, make him stop. He does, turns to me, walks me backward until he’s got me backed up against the refrigerator.

“Natalie.”

I’m looking up at him, at his dark eyes. I smell aftershave and sex.

“I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. This bastard isn’t important. We’re wasting words. Wasting time.”

I push against him. “This is too much. Too fast.”

He studies me but doesn’t reply. Doesn’t budge.

“You have a key to my house. You beat up my professor. For what? An internship I wouldn’t even take.”

“What do you mean you wouldn’t take?”

“I told you I didn’t want it. You didn’t think I’d work for him knowing what he’d expect, did you?”

“You withdrew willingly?”

“What would you do if I said no? That he disqualified me.”

“That fucking—” he’s suddenly so angry, that the shift in his mood is startling.

“See. This is what I mean! No, I withdrew. He wasn’t even there when I got to the office. But see what I mean? You can’t just beat up every guy who’s an idiot.”

“Why not?”

“I can handle myself.”

“Nat—”

I put my hands on his face, wanting to make him hear me. “I can handle myself.”

It takes him a moment, but he nods once.

“We’re moving too fast.” I say it because I feel like I have to. Not because I want to stop.

“No, we’re not.”

I blink, open my mouth, close it again. I’m not expecting that answer.

“I know what I want, Natalie. Do you?”

When he looks at me, his eyes are alive, searching and wanting more. More than I think I can give.

“I’ve never thought,” he starts, speaking slowly, like he’s choosing each word carefully. Purposefully. Darkness casts its shadow over him and he looks away, shakes his head, exhales before meeting my gaze again. “I’ve lost a lot of friends. Cousins. Uncles. Many of them too early. Most of them too early.” He steps backward, releases me. “Time is a luxury, Natalie. One I don’t think will be afforded me.”

There’s a sadness in his words. In his eyes. And that shadow, it seems to swell behind him. Always there. Ever present.

Ready to swallow him up and carry him away.

I shudder. “Sergio—”