Dramatic, Mushy, Complicated Love

by Leah Sharelle

  “Oh my god, will you listen to yourself, Meadow,” Spring shouted, jumping up from the couch. “At least Luca shafted you because his mother was taken to the hospital. I have no idea why Ace did the walk of shame, leaving me a limp satisfied one night stand.”

  “His mum was taken to hospital? Is that why he left so abruptly?” I shouted back, also jumping to my feet, shocked by the new piece of information.

  “Yeah, he called Ace when we were at my place. He was trying to get your number from Ace, but we were in the middle of making out on the kitchen bench, my pants were down around my ankles, and he was—”

  “Spring! Focus!” I growled, once again wanting to throttle my sister and her rambling off subject. “Luca asked for my number?”

  “He did, but as I said, Ace and I were … busy. I believe he said he would give it to Luca the next day, but then he left without getting it from me.”

  “Oh pigeon poo!” Stomping my foot on the hardwood floor angrily, but inside I was high fiving and dancing a jig. Call me a desperate twat or a glutton for punishment, Luca asked for my number. He wants to see me again.

  “So this changes things for you, baby girl?” Mum asked, smiling knowingly at me. So far, she had been quiet while Spring and I bickered back and forth, as was her way. We had very little we couldn’t say in front of our mother; actually, we were yet to find a subject that was off-limits.

  “Well of course, Trish. It means we might be rocking more than just a few hot as hell kisses in the future.” With my hands on my hips, I gave my mother a look as if to say ‘duh’.

  My head swirled with the truth that Luca reached out to find my number. This guy, what the hell was he doing to me. Luca wasn’t the type I usually went for physically. He overwhelmed me emotionally and was really over the top with his displays of affection. Still, for some reason, I liked all of that.

  He had to explain why he dumped and ran, and it better be a good one, but I had a feeling I was going to give him a second chance to make it up to me. Luca stirred a fire inside my belly, a feeling I wanted to explore further. It surprised me that I got more upset when Luca left me hanging at the pub compared to when my boyfriend of nearly a year broke up with me to further his career.

  He wanted to take me home with him, and I was going to let him. Luca’s inadvertently hurting me made me rethink my reaction to him. I wanted him just as badly as I did three nights ago, but maybe I should shelve that for a while and get to know him without the hot kisses, dirty talking and intense stares.

  Our instant chemistry intrigued me enough to let the humiliation slide.

  “I see you have come to a decision, Meadow,” Spring concluded, looking intently at me.

  “I have. Thank you for setting the record straight, Spring. Although you could have shared that information with me three days ago and saved me grief, heartache and the loss of my creative mojo.” My scorn did not go unnoticed by my mother, who sat giggling on the couch looking back and forth at her two daughters like we were the most entertaining humans on the planet.

  Crazy woman.

  “Lord, Meadow. Get off the dramatic train and get back to working on that piece you should have had finished by now.” Spring waved me to start walking. “And maybe you can now focus on my problem of Ace and why he banged me then left without a word.”

  “Because you gave it up on the first night, perhaps,” I mumbled, then yelped when I felt a hard tug at my hair.

  “And you wouldn’t have jumped Luca’s bones if he didn’t have to cut and run.”

  The cackling laughter of Trish cut off my retort. Getting up off the chaise, Mum walked up to us and wrapped an arm around each of us.

  “Oh, you girls, who needs soap operas when you two are the best live show. Now, let’s get to work, and we can discuss Spring being a wanton hussy and Meadow, your tendency to be a drama queen.”

  Groaning at the same time, Spring let out a huffy sigh, I allowed my mother to lead us to the workroom.

  I might lean a little to the theatrics, and Spring had a problem with jumping into bed with a guy too quickly, but Trish Tessler had unique all to herself.

  “How much longer will you be working from home, Stallion?”

  I grimaced at the use of the idiotic nickname Ace had given me back in high school and still insisted on using it. For some insane reason, Ace decided that my Italian heritage equalled being called stallion. Ace was an idiot, but none the less, also my best friend.

  Extending my middle finger at Ace on the computer screen, I growled in frustration.

  “It’s Mum’s house I’m working from, not mine, and I don’t know. The doctor is swinging by later today, so I guess I will wait for what he has to say before making a decision.” Eying the clock on the wall, I calculated how long before my mother’s doctor was due to arrive and give Mum a check over. A week ago, she collapsed in the kitchen. Luckily for her, two of my sisters had been home and called an ambulance, then calling me to meet them at the hospital.

  I admit panic and worry for my mum made me act like a total dick that night. Leaving Meadow without an explanation, getting her phone number or even her last name. All I thought of was getting to Mum. In hindsight, I didn’t handle it right. Getting to the hospital and finding Mum sitting on the edge of an examination table and not in a bed with machines hooked up to her like I’d imagined the whole drive there wasn’t what I expected. The doctors had no answers for her collapse, only that it could be exhaustion. Exhaustion from what? She had people at her beck and call, my sisters and me, we all made it, so Mum didn’t have to worry about a single thing. Don’t get me wrong, I was relieved that nothing serious was wrong, but I couldn’t help feeling frustrated and annoyed all the same.

  My mind went back to how I’d sprinted out of the Western, leaving the sexiest woman alive on the dance floor, her eyes still hooded and dazed from our kisses.

  Fuck it.

  My plan to see that same look on her face while laying in my bed, with me deep inside her—thwarted by a family emergency.

  I tried to get her contact info later that night, but Ace had been too busy with his dick and his girl to give me what I needed. Fucking arsehole.

  “I need you back in the office tomorrow, Luca. We have that new client coming in to go over the plans for bringing down their nineteen-storey building. This is a big job and I need your help and engineering expertise, mate.”

  As Ace told me the bloody obvious, again, all I could think about was the sexy blonde with killer curves, the hottest fucking ink all over her skin and eyes, so green, so expressive that looking into them just about took my breath away.

  “Are you listening to me, or are you thinking about how you fucked up last week and cut and ran from the woman of your dreams?” Ace interrupted me, pissing me off.

  “I could fix that fuck up if you would just get me her number, cocksucker,” I growled back at him, wishing that I was in the office so I could punch my friend in his smug face.

  “How the fuck can I do that when I am not talking to Spring, wanker. Things got … weird between us, and I pulled your stunt and ran out on her while she slept.”

  It was on the tip of my tongue to reply with a crass retort but seeing my long-time mate’s expression gave me pause. Ace wasn’t the kind of guy to let out his feelings, and never about a woman. If Ace shared, there was something serious going on.

  “What happened that night, mate? What spooked you?”

  I watched as Ace ran a hand over and down his face. I knew him well enough to know that there was an internal battle going on inside him.

  “Fuck Luca, I don’t know, man. We were doing our thing at the pub, flirting and shit. Then we went back to her place and got into it, and it was good mate, better than good. She is unlike any woman I have ever been with before. She is so damn sensual, really touchy-feely, you know what I mean?”

  Nodding, I knew exactly what he meant. I could still feel Meadow’s fingers on my skin, her taste still on my tongue and her m
oans still rang in my ears, affecting me a week later.

  “Yeah, mate, I do.”

  “Her touch burned into my skin, and every time she gave me her eyes ,I saw more than I could handle. She likes me, Luca, really likes me, and I fucking like her a lot too, but I don’t know if I am ready for something heavy yet. The business is taking off better than we expected to be at this point, plus all the side projects we’ve got going, I don’t know if I have the time a relationship requires, ya get me?”

  “I get you, Ace. Business is important, but it ain’t the be-all and end-all of life. We have the demolition side of things built up enough that people come to us now. The engineering side of things is going great, and you have the crews working like a well-oiled machine,” I pointed out, giving him a knowing grin.

  “There is no harm in taking some time for yourself, Ace. Spending fifteen hours at the office and job sites isn’t necessary anymore.”

  “I could give you the same advice, Luca. The sizzle between you and Meadow didn’t go unnoticed by her sister or me. In fact, Spring commented that she had never seen her sister so taken with a guy before, telling me that she usually makes the bloke chase her, not fall at his feet as she seemed to for you.”

  “Fuck, she was beautiful that night,” I ground out, her pretty face suddenly appearing in my head. The shade of blonde of her hair, and that fucking dress! Damn, how badly I wanted to peel that shimmery material off her body. Slowly. It would have been like unwrapping the ultimate present a person could ever get to reveal … what, I didn’t know because I had to leave her.

  “Did you ever think that we would be beaten up over sisters?” Ace asked, laughing ruefully.

  “Nope, never, and yet here we are. You too spooked to ring yours and me, with no idea how to get in contact with mine.” The irony of our different situations wasn’t lost on me. Both of us turned inside out but for very different reasons. Ace didn’t know what he wanted, whereas I knew exactly.

  Meadow.

  We sat there, our screens showing the other one silent and brooding when Ace all of a sudden let out a string of colourful curses. His sudden crazy outburst scaring the shit out of me, and I knocked over my coffee mug.

  “Fuck, Ace! What the hell?”

  “Damn, Luca, I forgot about the day I picked Spring up for lunch out the front of her work.”

  Bending down to pick to the mug off the floor, swearing at the muddy coloured stain on the rug my mother was going to have something to say about when she saw it, I growled at Ace when I righted myself.

  “And?” I asked, giving him my best are you nuts and have finally lost it glare.

  Ace leaned forward in his office chair, getting closer to his computer screen, and I could tell he was about to one-up me.

  “She has a secondhand store,” Ace replied smugly, and I changed my mind. Ace was definitely losing it, not upping me.

  “Again, I say and …”

  “And … she runs it with her sister, Meadow.” Ace smiled at me, his face not only smug but victorious. “Boom shacka lacka!”

  Well fuck me!

  ***

  I pulled my car into the side street beside the small shop front, engaged the handbrake, turned off the engine, and just sat there and took in the building. It was old, not rundown old, rather old-fashioned and aged. It had a protruding attached verandah, the kind that was popular in the fifties and sixties. The building itself was bluestone brick, and while old, it was in good shape, structure-wise. A large hand-painted sign hung from rusted chains from the eaves proclaiming the name of the shop.

  A Second Chance.

  If there was ever a perfect description for why I was there out the front of Meadow’s shop, that was it.

  “How ironic,” I muttered as I climbed out of the car, closing the door behind me. Since Ace remembered the important detail of this place, I had thought of nothing else but getting in my car and making my way here. My focus after finding out the address was for shit, ending my video call with Ace, I barely heard a word that the doctor said when he came to see my mother, other than declaring her good to be alone. Instead, I planned in my head what I was going to say to Meadow, how I would explain my appalling behaviour well enough to get her to forgive me and agree to see me again. I wasn’t privy to Meadow’s feelings over that night at the pub, but I had to assume she was going to be pissed at me. I know I would be annoyed if the roles were reversed and she had been the one to cut and run out on me.

  Something passed between Meadow and me that night, it might have been brief, but it was real and rare. The chemistry between us, the fire that burned when I touched her and when she touched me, deserved a second chance to spark again. Every fibre of my being demanded to experience it again, and I knew from the lust in her green eyes, Meadow had the same reaction to me. I felt that all the way down to my soul.

  Taking three large strides to the front door, I pushed the glass and wood door open, a bell rang to announce my arrival and stepped inside the main showroom. I could tell right away this place used to be a private residence at some point. The main room was substantial and I could see where walls had been removed to make the space bigger for the items for sale. A short hallway that was curtained off led me to believe that was where Meadow and Spring prepared the old furniture before putting it on display. Ace had been a little sketchy on the details, but from what he did manage to remember, Meadow and her sister took old beaten up furniture and gave it a new lease on life. It didn’t surprise me one bit that the woman I was so captivated with had a unique job. She struck me to be a constant bag of surprises, a woman to keep me on my toes. Something I was looking forward to dealing with on a daily basis.

  A sound from behind the curtain had me walking to the other side of the room, skirting around a large ornate chaise lounge, absently admiring the antique and strangely inviting piece of furniture.

  “Just a sec, I will be out in a jiffy.” The sexy voice of my woman sent tingles down my spine and around to the front of my pants. Pants that were getting tighter by the second when hearing her voice again after a seven-day wait.

  “Jiffy,” I muttered quietly, chuckling at her choice of word, falling more and more with each little morsel of insight into who Meadow was. When I first met her, I saw her sassy side, then her sensuality when she was in my arms. Now I wanted to find out everything and anything until there was nothing left to discover. And I had a good feeling that it was going to take the rest of my life. My head was moving fast, words like future and forever not ones I’d ever used before where a woman was concerned.

  Meadow was my game changer.

  Soft footsteps alerted my nerves that this was it. Let the grovelling commence.

  “I’m sorry I—” Meadow abruptly stopped when she realised it was me standing in her shop. I drank in her surprised hiss, quickly followed by a soft sigh. Her pink, pouty lips formed in the perfect O giving me a dick hardening image of what those lips would look like wrapped around my shaft.

  “Luca?”

  “Hello Meadow,” I greeted, proud of myself that I managed to not choke on her name. The beautiful, unique name flowed off my tongue like I had been saying it all my life.

  Meadow’s green eyes were wide with surprise as she stared at me; in them, I didn’t see anger or fury, rather shock and … joy? Encouraged by her reaction, I moved two steps forward, forcing my hands into my pants pockets in an effort not to reach out and touch her.

  “I need to apologise,” I started, not taking my eyes off her, “I should have gotten your number before I left the pub the other night.” Meadow’s eyes went from soft and happy to narrowed and angry, the minute the words were out.

  Shit.

  “Is that what you think you need to apologise for?” Meadow scoffed at me, with one hand lifted to her hip, which she jutted out.

  Fucking beautiful attitude. Damn, this woman could very well own me if I am not careful.

  “That is the first thing, but no, there is more,” I allowed, su
ddenly very interested in the scuff mark on the toe of my shoe. I wouldn’t blame her if she did give me a hard time for running out on her; in fact, I expected her to do so. I would happily take any amount of attitude from Meadow as long as she forgave me.

  “I know I fucked up a week ago. That phone call was from my sister. She rang to tell me that our mother had collapsed and was taken to hospital in an ambulance.”

  “I know,” Meadow announced softly, surprising me, “Spring told me. She spent the night with Ace.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Nodding, not knowing what to say next.

  “Is your mum okay?” she asked, her voice soft and caring.

  “To be honest with you, I think so. We took her home that night after they held her for a few hours for observation. Her GP came and saw her today, I was a little unfocused, but I heard him say she might be suffering from exhaustion.” As I admitted that, I felt like a shitty son and hoped like hell that Meadow didn’t think that also.

  “Oh, that isn’t good, that she had exhaustion, I mean.” Meadow shifted her hand and relaxed it against her thigh. I hoped that the more comfortable stance meant she was okay with me being here.

  “Yeah, I don’t know why it happened. She is looked after well, and she doesn’t work. Mum is what you might call … fragile. She has been … sad for a lot of years now. Since my father died.” Talking about my dad with strangers was not my thing. His death weighed heavily on me, even all these years later, it was still a burden I carried the minute I woke in the mornings. However, Meadow was not just anyone, even though I barely knew her, yet it seemed like I had known her forever. Giving her something so personal about my family was as easy as breathing.

  “She took it pretty bad, fucking broke her heart. She hasn’t been the same since; she clings to my sisters and me. They still live at home with her.”