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through him, but this time he inhaled sharply in pain. He hunched over and pressed his fist to his chest. A drop of sweat slid from his forehead down the side of his cheek.
     
    “Are you all right?” I asked in concern. “What is it? Is there a problem?”
     
    Lorenzo forced himself upright, though I could see the effort it took him. His smile was a fixed grimace. “Nothing I can’t manage. Although, there is something you can do for me.” He held up his thumb and forefinger, so close they were almost touching. “A small something.”
     
    My heart leaped at the chance. “Of course. What can I do? How can I help?” I didn’t feel like I had much to offer. But I wanted to do whatever he asked. I wanted to be needed.
     
    Lorenzo closed the distance between us with a single step. He placed his hands on my shoulders, his thumbs brushing down along my collarbone to the heart-shaped locket resting against my throat. The leather of his gloves creaked over his hands.
     
    I held my breath at the nearness of him.
     
    “I need you to give me your heart,” he said.
     
    “Is that all?” I said with a smile. “It’s yours, you know that. It always has been.” I reached up and unfastened the silver chain. I held the locket in my hand, the chain spilling through my fingers like a string of stars. As I looked at the finely engraved lines that crisscrossed the heart, the music that had been in my head turned to a sour note of warning. I hesitated. A shadow of a feeling emerged. A brief memory that the locket was important and that—like my name—I wasn’t supposed to give it to anyone.
     
    I shook my head and closed my fingers over the locket, hiding it from sight. The music returned to its familiar sweet melody. This was Lorenzo. He wouldn’t ask me for it if it wasn’t important. If it wouldn’t help him somehow.
     
    I reached for his hand and placed the locket in his palm. A flicker of electricity zinged through me as our fingers touched, and I looked up in surprise. Lorenzo’s dark eyes seemed to be even darker and his smile even wider.
     
    “Thank you, my sweet,” he said, tucking my locket into a secret pocket of his cassock. “You have indeed given me a gift. One that means more to me than you can imagine.”
     
    “I’m glad I could make you happy,” I said.
     
    “I know.” He tilted my face toward his with the tip of his finger.
     
    I closed my eyes. A fire burned inside me and I knew only his touch could grant me relief.
     
    His kiss was like nothing I’d felt before. A wild storm passed from him to me, filled with unexpected emotions: controlled anger, a hard confidence, a darkly sweet hint of humor. His was a kiss that demanded, that took, and gave nothing in return.
     
    The block in my memories shuddered at the touch of his mouth on mine. The warning note returned, but now it had increased in volume and pitch. This was a warning. This kiss. This moment. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
     
    I opened my eyes in alarm at the same moment a voice said, “What’s going on?”
     
    Lorenzo snapped away from me, his head whipping around, his body humming with controlled tension. “Orlando. It’s good to see you again. It’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it?”
     

Chapter 6
     
    I pressed my lips together, still feeling the touch of Lorenzo’s cold fire kiss on them. My neck felt bare; I wanted my locket back. I wrapped my hand around my wrist, hoping to stop the trembling in my fingers. How could a kiss be so wrong? But it was. The sensation of being lost in a dream started to fade, my senses sharpening and alert. Something bad had just happened.
     
    But when I looked at Lorenzo, I feared that what was about to happen would be even worse.
     
    “What are you doing here?” Orlando demanded, his gaze never leaving Lorenzo’s face.
     
    “What does it look like?” Lorenzo asked, folding his hands into the sleeves of his robe. “I’m kissing a pretty girl.”
     
    I