Catnip [romance]

Havana Brown

Freya hadn't responded to Nathan's message in hours. Well, that was weird— at least to Nathan.

"Dude, are you okay?" Constantine asked him as they sat at their usual bar with their drinks just served. They had their ties loosened and Nathan constantly swirled his glass of bourbon as he scrolled through his conversations with Freya.

His head snapped up. "Yeah, man, I'm fine."

Constantine cocked an eyebrow. "Freya?"

"I'm fine," Nathan repeated, mumbling.

The older guy chuckled, shaking his head. "You're whipped. I mean, I always thought that you'd probably go through every twenty-something woman without STDs in New York before actually wanting to stop. Who knew that close to three years later would be when Nathan Coleman, the co-owner and next CEO of Coleman Oil would be head-over-heels, let alone for the Princess of the Upper East Side? But then again, everyone who knows her adores her so it's not that hard to fall for her."

"It isn't hard for guys to fall for her, but I think it's quite the opposite in her point of view," Nathan sipped his bourbon. "How many boyfriends has she had?"

Constantine pondered. "There was that kindergarten boyfriend she had and used to tell my mother about, then there was the middle school one that only lasted two weeks. Then there was Hugo. Three, if I'm not mistaken?"

"Well, that's very little for a woman her age. Like I said, I think it's hard for her to fall." Nathan sighed.

"Are you kidding?" Constantine scoffed in disbelief. "She's a hopeless romantic, but she never asks the guy of her choice. He does. The reason why she's only had three boyfriends in her lifetime is because she's intimidating with her social status and how everyone views her. It takes a guy with balls to ask her out."

"But I asked. She declined."

"She needs time. With her asshole of an ex-fiancée running rampant with the media around New York, of course she wants to take things slow. She's the type who wants to savour the moment most of the time. Again, my mom treats her like a daughter. I know things." Constantine advised. "She needs time to think, so maybe after her trip, you should ask her again clearly."

Nathan paused. "Trip?"

"Yeah, she's on a trip, last I heard which was today."

"But she's back. She went on her trip to Boston with me and we got back last night." He told Constantine.

Constantine shook his head. "She's on a trip to Italy. Max texted me at noon to inform hosts of parties this weekend about his and Freya's absence. It's a siblings trip." He glanced at Nathan from his whiskey glass. "And it's obvious that she didn't tell you, did she?"

[ c a t n i p ]

"Benvenuti a Firenze," the cabin crew supervisor of the jet smiled at the three passengers as soon as the plane had landed at the airport.

After more than ten hours since departing from Teterboro Airport, the Beauregard siblings had landed in Florence, Italy. It'd been more than eight years since either of them stepped on Italian soil. Maximilian and Freya had just woken up from their sleep while Augustine was finishing up his video game.

"We're here?" Max yawned, stretching slightly as he looked around.

"She just said 'welcome to Florence', Max. Is your Italian getting rusty?" Augustine snickered.

"Shut up, brat." Max shoved his brother's head lightly with his hand and sat up. "Alright, it's time to go. Y'all go first, I have to thank the pilots."