by Deana Birch
After a pause and with a gleam in his grandmother’s eyes that Luca swore mended his soul, she tapped the cheek she still caressed and said, “Good boy. Now go make me lunch.”
There was no need to guess where knives, cutting boards and condiments resided. Luca had modeled his own kitchen after the one in which he stood. His nonna sat opposite him at the bar and studied his work, no doubt ready to correct any minor mishap.
She stole a cherry tomato and popped it into her mouth with a grin. “So… What’s the other thing?”
Luca set down the knife and wiped his hands on the starched dishtowel. There was no point in lying or skirting around it. Nonna knew all. He and Gianna had long contemplated the real chances of her being a witch—a very well organized, shorter than most, witch who’d painted pictures of her backyard every day since he could remember.
“I lost a trusted friend.” He wiped a small drop of water from the counter. “And when I came back, I’d lost her too.”
“And you’re hiding here because everything happens in threes?”
Luca rubbed his facial hair and let his chin rest in his hands. Yes. Everything happened in threes. Good, bad, indifferent. And if he could tally up the good and indifferent, maybe one day they would outweigh the bad.
He went back to cooking as Nonna set the table in the glass-paned winter garden off the kitchen. They spoke of mindless topics during the meal, but when the coffee was served, they boomeranged back to where they’d begun.
“You’re not like Gianna, Luca. Don’t confuse her idea of happiness with your own.”
Luca stirred the sugar into his small cup. He tapped the spoon three times out of habit and Nonna cleared her throat.
“You know,” she said and sat back deeper into her wrought-iron chair, “I didn’t want children.”
Luca stopped mid-sip and blinked.
“I wanted to be a painter, to live a life of freedom. Don’t look at me like that.” She shot him playful eyes. “It’s true.”
The last drips of coffee popped back up his throat when Luca coughed to cover his laugh.
“And being the warped artist that I am, I fell madly in love with a winemaker…who wanted children. I had to make a sacrifice—keep him for me or share him with someone else.”
“Well, thank you, Nonna. Without your selflessness, none of us would exist and that makes me feel better. I’ve known for a long time that I don’t want children.”
“That’s a relief.”
Luca turned to his nonna and his face dropped. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She waved off his objection. “You would be a hopeless father. You spoil Ilaria rotten. You lack the backbone for discipline.”
Before he could object, or even ask if she was joking, Nonna stood and cleared their cups.
“Grab your coat. Let’s take your walk of shame through the village. There’s a stray dog I want to feed.”
When they returned with wind-whipped faces, Luca went to light a fire in the living room. Nonna joined him, her latest mystery book in hand.
“You know,” she said as she settled into her worn leather chair, the same one where Luca had spent so many days cuddled on her lap as she read to him as a child. “According to this book, not having kids is a good thing. The earth is over-populated. Think of it as environmental protection.”
His phone dinged from the hall and he shook his head on his way to fetch it. Only his Nonna would be the one to encourage him not to have children.
I need to see you.
Chapter Thirty
Claire
Claire’s gaze darted to the clock for the third time and she knotted her fingers together as she paced the area between the kitchen and living room in Luca’s apartment. Stupid Luca and his stupid training that now made her habitually early.
The mechanism of the front door opening made her hands fall to her side. Luca strode in confidently, stopping a few feet in front of her. His jaw flexed beneath his beard and Claire fought the urge to reach out and stroke the length of it. Stupid Luca, indeed. Had it really only been a little over two weeks since he had spun her in his arms around the dance floor?
“Claire.” His voice was strong but measured. His gaze washed over her, his mouth thinning as he zeroed in on her undeniably leaner waistline before returning to look into her eyes.
She held up a hand, certain he would begin lecturing her on eating properly. “Later. We have a lot to talk about, but later.” And that would certainly include a discussion about the dark circles rimming his eyes. “There is something much more important I need to show you.”
Claire turned to the long dining table where she’d already spread out all the documents, certain he would follow her. “I was reviewing all the papers on Arik Hauser’s proposal and it never sat right with me. I knew something was off.” She shook her head and picked up the first stack, handing them to Luca. “And then I discovered why… It isn’t his. He is running a dummy corporation as a front for someone else.”
Her breathing shallowed as the same anger that had consumed her when she’d connected the dots washed over her afresh. The anger that had turned into seething rage with the revelation that so much more than the good name of her bank was at stake. She recognized the moment Luca zeroed in on a familiar name and he looked from the paper to her face.
“This is incredibly unethical, and I not only understand your irritation but also share it. However, what does this have to do with me?” He turned toward her, taking two steps to stand right in front of her, nearly touching. “Why did you reach out to me, cara?”
She swallowed, wanting nothing more at that moment than to beg for the fulfillment of all the clandestine promises hiding in the deep brown pools that held her gaze—and so many other parts of her—hostage. She moistened her suddenly parched lips and reached blindly beside her for the second, far more damning stack.
“I’m not irritated, Luca. I am fucking pissed and you will be too.” She couldn’t help but smirk at the arch of his eyebrow she’d known would follow her epithet. Later, she reminded her easily distracted libido. “You have a target on your back. This snake is trying to use a cover and my fucking bank to ruin you. And the asshole almost succeeded, thanks to my apparently gullible partner.” She rolled her eyes for good measure. She couldn’t resist.
His entire energy shifted the more he read. With each paper he flipped through, another part of his body stiffened. His movements precise and wooden, he laid the stack on the table softly and gripped the back of one of the chairs, his knuckles whitening under the pressure.
“I trusted him.”
Her heart ached at the quiet declaration she knew meant so much and she itched to touch him. Luca didn’t trust easily. “I know.”
A long stream of Italian burst from his lips. She didn’t have to ask for a translation. Claire knew they were extremely colorful expletives.
Then he barked out a mirthless laugh. “She’s involved too. She’s in charge of all the dues. I would never have suspected anything was amiss if she hadn’t inadvertently alerted me. She has been faithful and honest for so long—or so it seemed.”
Claire was at a loss for what to say to comfort the man who had no idea he cradled her heart in his palms.
His tan face paled and turned to her. “How far in the red am I, Claire? I can transfer funds from another account first thing in the morning, but I need to know how bad it is first.”
“Not in the red at all. I caught the problem before any negative charges were incurred and transferred enough into the account to more than keep things functional until we straighten this out.”
He nodded. “Si. Yes. Very good idea. The investments were brilliant, but you will reinvest once this is stable and—”
“I didn’t cash out your investments, Luca. They are too new and gaining far too much return to make a decision like that with long-term repercussions for a short-term problem.”
His chest heaved as he pushed off the chair and spun on his heel to face her.
“You are brilliant and astoundingly clever. You exceeded every expectation I have ever had for you in every area…but even you aren’t magic. How did you do this?”
Claire fisted her hands at her sides to stop her disobedient fingers from making trails all over Luca’s body. “There is no magic involved. I merely transferred the necessary funds and a little extra for a cushion to cover the bills for Sopra for the next two months to give us time to iron out any wrinkles they created.”
He took a single step toward her then another. If he moved a millimeter closer, barely more than a breath, their bodies would be touching. And she cursed him silently for stopping short. “You do not have access to any of my accounts at any other bank. How, cara? How did you move my money into this account?”
She held her breath for a moment, hoping he would understand what she was about to say. “It was quite simple. I didn’t transfer your money, Luca. I used mine.”
His mahogany eyes darkened. One hand gripped the back of her neck and the other landed on her left hip before his mouth descended on hers, greedily devouring her lips. With a groan, she gave in to the pleas of her body and reached up to his shoulders, needing to anchor herself.
Unbidden, silent tears tracked down her cheeks. She was home. For the first time in over a year, she had found her sanctuary…in Luca’s arms. Her brain managed to overpower her heart and she broke their kiss, pushing gently against him.
He leaned his forehead against hers and they stayed locked in that position until both their breathing had finally regulated. Claire pulled her head back, an ache in her soul at the confusion spreading across his gorgeous face. “We have to take care of this first, Luca. I need you to get this shit locked down.”
He drew his thick eyebrows together, a deep V settling between them. “None of that matters if you are not by my side, cara.”
She rocked her hips forward, pressing against his. “It does if I need my Dom to have a clear head and handle punishment accordingly when he learns I’ve broken his rule.”
He held her at arm’s length. “Are you asking me to be your Dom again, cara?”
Fighting the urge to bite her lip, she summoned the extra measure of confidence Luca had awakened in her. She dropped her hands from his shoulders and pulled his from her body, cradling them in her grasp. Silently, she led him to the couch, sitting close enough that their knees bumped. With a deep breath, she launched into the speech she had spent the previous evening preparing—one that was far more difficult to utter than telling him his business was in jeopardy.
“Friday nights were date nights for Liam and me. It was something I clung to after losing him.” His fingers tightened around hers. “Every week I would watch a rerun of a BBC show he loved, eat nauseating amounts of Chinese takeout and go to the cemetery to visit him.”
“I saw you.” The words were little more than a whisper, but they were enough to bring her head up from its previously downcast position. “I wasn’t trying to intrude, cara. After Bruno died, I was looking for a measure of comfort, and when I couldn’t find you at your house, I parked beside the church, hoping for a miracle.”
The need to touch him overwhelmed her. She climbed into his lap, running her fingers through the short hairs at the back of his neck. “Bruno died? I had no idea that he…” A lightbulb flickered in her mind. “When?”
He frowned. “Wednesday. I texted you as soon as I had a signal outside the hospital that night.”
Claire winced, heat creeping up her neck. “When you didn’t show up at the club, I… I wrote you the note and”—she sighed and squeezed her eyes shut—“I blocked your number.”
When she finally found the courage to open her lids, the hurt reflected back at her stole every molecule of oxygen from her lungs.
“I thought you trusted me,” he whispered.
She held his face between her hands. “I did. I do. I… I was hurt and stupid. The gala… Well, your cousin… Sh-she didn’t know, and obviously, you didn’t know—”
He hooked a finger beneath her chin, forcing her to meet his intense stare. “Confidence, Claire. Remember your confidence.”
In spite of the admission she was about to make, she smiled. The absence of his quiet reassurances and reminders had left a hole in her world. “Gianna spent much of the evening talking about how amazing you are with her daughter and how you will make a wonderful father. And I think she’s absolutely right. But that revelation came at the same time as another contradictory one.” She straightened her shoulders. “Luca, I want more from you than just having you as a trainer, but I had an accident as a child and I can’t have children. I can’t be what you need.”
A myriad of expressions danced across his face, beginning with shock and ending with warmth. “One thing I expect you to remember from this point on, with the understanding it is a wholly punishable offense to disobey this, is that you are never, ever, under any circumstances allowed to listen to Gianna again.” He brushed his lips against hers and smiled. “Cara, I want more than to be your trainer. So much more. And, yes, I will bow to every whim of Ilaria’s perfect little heart, but simply because I adore my goddaughter does not mean I want a brood of my own. In fact, that is completely the opposite of my true desires.”
She buried her face in his neck. “I’m sorry, Luca. I promise I will never keep another secret from you. If I had just been honest—”
“No. Non.” He shifted her on his lap. “You keep any secrets you want, as long as they don’t hurt you, as long as you are not suffering.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled. “You are mine, but you are not a robot.”
Claire swiped a tear from her eye before it had the chance to fall. “There is one more thing you need to know. Luca, I violated your only hard no.” Despite the overwhelming desire to look out of the window or at the kitchen or, really, anywhere other than facing the sexy Italian holding her in his arms, she forced her gaze to meet his. “I’m in love with you.”
Before she’d finished speaking the words, Luca flipped her onto her back and settled himself between her legs, nuzzling his face into the column of her neck, his beard tickling the sensitive flesh. “Grazie, Dio.” He worked his mouth up to her ear, nipping the lobe. “I adore seeing your pert little ass red, but not for this, cara, because I have somehow fallen in love with you too.”
She whimpered beneath his touch, wondering how she had lasted so long without it. Completely consumed with Luca and all the delicious sensations from his mouth and hands, the sharp rap on his front door made her jump against him.
He lifted his head long enough to bark out, “Go away.” But the rapping continued, heedless of his warning. With a snarl he lifted himself off a giggling Claire. He barely had the door open before Adrian and the pushy asshole who had hit on her repeatedly at the club came charging into the room. Claire stood, adjusting her clothes.
Adrian’s knowing gaze swept over her before returning to Luca. “I promise we won’t keep you, Luca, but Noah has something you really need to hear.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Luca
A snide grin slid across the novice’s smug face as he passed by Luca. From the moment Luca had met Noah Paulick, something had been off. After hearing that he’d put a sub’s health in danger, Luca had gone back and watched the security footage. Many times.
Too many times. Luca shook his head as he escorted Adrian and Noah into his living room. But from what Luca had be able to see of Noah and the sub’s scene, apart from the blatant inexperience of the Dom, there had been no infraction. The sub had never used a safeword and the camera hadn’t caught any removal of a condom.
That had left Luca with the option to do nothing, as he’d had no proof. But it didn’t translate to Luca wanting the young blond man on his couch, checking out his girlfriend.
Girlfriend. Luca blinked. What the hell had just happened? Had he and Claire ‘made up’? Was that what people did? And the realization that he loved Claire back hit him in the chest like a t
ruck.
He smiled over to her and she pointed to herself, wondering if this conversation should include her. One glance at Adrian’s face and the fact that he was even in the building he’d vowed never to return to told Luca she should. Bad news— which Luca was sure always came in threes — seemed to be on its way.
Luca sat next to Adrian and tapped his knee. “How are you?” he asked with a tilt of his head.
“Miserable.” Adrian rolled his eyes and Bruno frowned from the afterlife. Adrian let out a huge sigh and continued, “But that doesn’t matter. Not right now.” He shook his head and shivered.
Luca glanced to Claire then back to Adrian.
“So, I have a confession to make before I give you some really bad news.” Adrian interlaced his fingers in his lap, pointed his palms to the ceiling and sat up straighter against the leather sofa. “Before the sale of the club was complete, I heard some…rumblings. We subs can be chatty bitches in our little circles.” He winced.
Luca worked his jaw in silence, still wondering why Noah was sitting to his left and what had been so important that Adrian had come back to Zurich.
“Well, I was busy with Bruno but I was worried. And, selfishly, I didn’t want to come back here and get to the bottom of it. I thought it might jeopardize the sale, and well, I was torn.”
It was wrong for Luca to mentally scream for him to get to the point. Fortunately, he had years of practicing patience.
Adrian’s light eyes darted to Noah, who cleared his throat. He looked back to Luca and said, “So I didn’t want to be here, and honestly couldn’t. But I also couldn’t let Bruno’s club go to shit. So I arranged for Noah, who used to date my sister and I knew had some tendencies, to become a member—and my internal eyes.”
Bruno’s former sub shrugged. “I knew I had to place him as someone you wouldn’t like so he could find a way to endear himself to the other side.”
“The other side?” Luca asked. Every word Adrian spoke worried Luca and yet made him happy for Bruno. He’d taught his lover well. Making Noah a pain in his ass was a stroke of Adrian’s genius, if he’d truly been a spy. And based on his discussion with Claire, he’d never been more sure he’d needed one.
