ARYA'S POINT OF VIEW

I stood motionless in the kitchen, my hand pressed against the burning cheek where his thumb had been just seconds before.

My heart was beating so hard I could feel it in my throat and at my fingertips.

I had almost kissed Giovanni De Santis.

No… worse than that.

I had wanted to kiss him.

"It's the pasta," I told myself, pacing in small circles around the kitchen island. "You're just hungry. Low blood sugar makes people do stupid, irrational things."

But even as I said it,