Lust for Life

Sometime in the minutes after the door had closed behind Duke, after Caitlyn had sunk weakly into the chair at the desk, her pulse slowed enough for her to think—really think—about where she was and what she was doing with this man.

She was supposed to have been in Italy on her second honeymoon. Only her husband, and actually, her only true friend—the person who knew her best in the world— was dead. Yet even when they’d both known he wasn’t going to make it, he’d made her promise that she would go on the trip.

In the long, depressed days after Alex’s passing, she’d wondered why he’d asked such a thing of her. What she had understood was that he’d never know whether or not she went. She harbored no delusions that he’d never again care whether she kept her promise or not. And as such, she hadn’t felt honor-bound to abide his dying wish.

So why had she bothered to come?

If she was honest with herself, she’d come because she wanted to. Because her own curiosity had demanded it and her hea