Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 112069 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112069 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
I was looking at Violet, so when Luca dropped my hand, I wanted to die, to slink away and lick my wounds.
But then his fingers were tipping my chin up so I had no choice but to look at him. His thumb slid up my cheek. God, the man was beautiful.
He stroked my skin for a moment, then shook his head. “No. No, I don’t want you to go.”
A wave of heat went through me, but I wasn’t sure if it was his touch or his response. I nodded and said, “Can I use your phone to call Aleks?” I really wanted Luca and his brother to talk, to patch things up, but I figured they probably both needed some down time to process the things they’d said to each other.
Luca handed me his unlocked phone, then took Violet. The move was so natural, like we’d been sharing responsibility for the toddler our whole lives. “How about some pancakes for breakfast, princess?” Luca asked.
Violet babbled some incoherent response, then showed the keychain to Luca. As he carried her from the room, I heard him admiring the little trinket like he’d never seen it before. I swore I also heard him say something about how she’d probably be a great soccer player someday, but I wasn’t sure. The mere fact that Luca talked to her the way he did, like she was a regular little girl and not one who had endless obstacles to overcome, possibly for the rest of her life, made my throat feel thick with emotion. I took a couple minutes to collect myself before calling Aleks. I kept my explanation that I would be staying with Luca simple, and my friend seemed unsurprised. There was a lot I needed to talk to Aleks about, starting with the admission I owed him that I’d lied to him a week earlier about Joe, but it wasn’t something I could do with a brief phone call.
After hanging up with Aleks, I went to find Luca and Violet and discovered them having breakfast. Only, Violet was on Luca’s lap as he fed her tiny pieces of pancake he’d cut up. I knew Violet didn’t understand the concept of using any kind of utensils, even when someone was feeding her, so Luca was handing her the sticky food with his fingers. Both man and child were covered in syrup but neither seemed to notice.
And Violet was clearly in love.
With both the man and the pancakes.
I went to sit across from the pair at the small table. Luca glanced up at me and I felt my heart start slamming even harder in my chest when he smiled at me.
“I’ll clean her up, I promise,” he said.
I had no doubt that he would. As rough as the man’s edges were, he clearly knew what he was doing when it came to Violet. I looked around the kitchen to confirm what I’d already suspected—he’d cooked the pancakes himself instead of ordering them from room service.
“You’re a natural at this,” I said as I watched Violet start reaching for the food on the plate on her own. Her moves were awkward and clumsy as she grabbed the next piece of pancake but when she got it to her mouth on her own, Luca praised her like she’d just painted the Sistine Chapel.
“I wasn’t always,” Luca responded after a moment. “Did you ever see that Three Men and a Baby movie?”
I laughed because I had seen it once. I nodded.
“Well, add another man to the mix, and that was us. I’m pretty sure there were times V wasn’t convinced she’d get our son back in one piece.”
“V?” I asked.
Luca stiffened just a little, like he hadn’t really even realized what he’d said. “Gio’s mom. Genevieve. I started calling her V about five seconds after she introduced herself to me in freshman economics.”
“How long were you guys together before you had your son?” I asked. I told myself I wasn’t fishing for confirmation that Luca was, at the least, bisexual, but my mind didn’t hesitate to call me a liar.
“We weren’t together… not really,” Luca said. “I… I never had those kinds of feelings for her. I loved her, but just as a best friend. We, um…”
I actually felt myself smiling when Luca began struggling to find his next words. The man was blushing… actually blushing.
“You…” I prodded.
Luca chuckled and shook his head. The sound went straight to my groin.
“Let’s just say midterms were particularly stressful, and V and I celebrated passing our econ exam with some really bad scotch I’d stolen from my dad’s liquor cabinet one weekend. She and I pretty much pretended the whole thing hadn’t happened until two months later when two little lines instead of one on the first of many pregnancy tests proved it had.”