He says it in Italian, I melt into him. It’s the first time since the dinner we shared he’s said a word to me in Italian. I love how it feels more intimate, he is speaking just to me, only for me.

When I reply in Italian Felix stops playing with his ball and comes to investigate me. “One of the Medici daughters is trying to get out of an arranged marriage. She’s tired of being a pawn. She gets involved in some bad business that could buy her freedom from her family.”

“Hmm...sounds interesting. Why are you having problems?”

I sigh. “I took the job, and I was so stressed. I know it’s verboten to speak of, but damn Leo, you don’t know how much I hated lying to you.” I feel Leo tense beneath me. “It was everything I never thought I would do. Every day I was sure you would find out. Every other day I was sure I would screw up and say something. Then Natalie stopped talking to me, it felt like I was just stuck in misery.

“The words wouldn’t come. With everything perfect it’s hard to get the words out. To find the right words, to feel for the characters so much I can write well enough to get the reader to as well. Then I barely have time now between work and you. On the weekends, I’ve been trying but it stopped, it won’t come. I’ve written and deleted almost twenty thousand words.”

Leo’s hand starts moving again, slow, and gentle. “Do you think you will set it aside to work on something else or keep trying?”

Felix is bored with me and goes back to his catnip toy. I sigh. “I don’t know. I do have another story I want to write. It’s set in Venice, though. Before I sit down to write it I want to go to Venice to get a feel for the city.”

“You really never thought about being a writer? It was really just the plaque that compelled you to write?”

“So, you were listening to the interview?”

“Yes, and I read the one in the Guardian. I have also read all your books. They are written so well and are engrossing it does not seem like the kind of thing written by someone on a whim.”