Cristiano shrugged. “I was right, was I not?”

He offered his arm to her and, laughing, Keira took it. With the air cleared, the easy comfort they’d so far shared with one another returned.

They made it back to the restaurant and, after sitting back at the same table, the waiter arrived with plates of food and glasses of wine. Only Keira blushed. Cristiano seemed to let the awkward circumstances surrounding their momentary disappearance roll off his shoulders.

They tucked into an amazing meal of white-wine linguine, seafood risotto, and copious amounts of wine. They finished everything off with three scoops of gelato.

As their plates were cleared away, Keira found herself wishing the evening did not have to end. She had gone full circle, from being guarded and suspicious of Cristiano to never wanting to be apart from him. Spending time with Cristiano was wonderful. It was fun and that was all that either of them wanted.

Except, Keira couldn’t help thinking about the mix-up at the inn. Had it not taken place, they’d both be returning there instead of parting ways. How differently might the night have ended if they’d carried on their evening over a glass of wine on the small terrace? If he hadn’t have leapt so quickly to arrange new accommodations, would she have made a move on him?

Outside the restaurant, Cristiano kissed her cheeks goodbye.

“Until tomorrow,” he said, smiling.

Keira watched his disappear into the moonlight. The second he was gone, she found herself yearning for him.

She headed back to the inn. Inside her cozy, romantic room, she couldn’t help but feel like it was the perfect place for two. It seemed so unfair that her heart was being tugged between two men, and yet she was sleeping alone.

She checked her phone and found messages from her mom asking her to get in touch so she knew she hadn’t been abducted by a kidnapper, another from Bryn asking whether she’d hooked up with the “Italian Stallion” yet, and finally, a message from Nina asking for Keira to send her a draft ASAP.

With a twinge of disappointment, Keira saw that there was still nothing from Shane. Despite vowing that they would remain friends, he had clearly put her entirely out of his mind. Did that mean she had the right to do the same? She was already looking at another guy, hoping to heal her heart with a rebound. But maybe she should be more open than that and stop viewing Cristiano as being somehow related to Shane—a potential rebound fling. Her pull toward Cristiano was strong, and she was certain it would be irrespective of whether she had a broken heart right now or not.

As she dressed for bed, Keira mulled it all over in her mind. Rebounds, as she understood them, were about finding a new lover who was just like the old one. A sort of carbon copy to fill the void the lost partner had created. But Shane and Cristiano were hardly comparable. Though both great, they were so different it was impossible to compare them. They brought entirely different qualities to Keira’s life, had completely different things to offer her, different life lessons to teach her. So maybe she should accept that her feelings for Cristiano were more than calculated revenge. They were real, unique, and entirely permissible.