“We pay for it at the gym. That’s why I try to stay away from Aurora’s bakery. She likes to feed us, and our trainer, Jonesy, gets pretty pissed when he finds out that we’ve spent our mornings eating pure sugar and carbs.
“Well, I can be ready in ten,” she said, rolling out of bed. He swatted her ass, making her yelp, on her way to the bathroom, and she couldn’t help but smile. Yeah, she could get used to waking up with Luca every morning.
An hour later, Sophia found herself standing inside Aurora’s bakery, breathing in warm sugar and butter and something sweet that felt dangerously close to comfort. The place was bright and cozy, all pastel tiles and glass cases filled with pastries that looked almost too pretty to eat—almost.
Aurora smiled and waved to them as they sat in the corner of the bakery. She disappeared into the back to grab something for a customer. When she reappeared with her pad of paper and a pencil, Sophia couldn’t help her excitement. Maybe it was silly that she was looking forward to donuts, but it had been some time since she had allowed herself to eat anything like that. She usually avoided sugar to keep from having to go to the gym. Plus, money was usually tight, so luxuries like pastries weren’t high on her list of things to purchase at the grocery store.
Luca walked over to the display case and leaned over it, scanning the options like he was choosing a fight strategy. “Boston cream,” he said decisively. “Always my favorite.”
Sophia smiled. “Of course you’d be loyal to a pastry.”
“Consistency is important,” he replied, deadpan.
Aurora giggled and winked at Sophia. “You need to be careful with him. He’s serious about his desserts. I guess it’s because the guys don’t get many of them, so when they do, they go hog wild. Jonesy’s pretty strict about what they can and cannot eat.”
They returned to their little booth in the corner of the room, and Sophia ordered coffee while Luca stuck with water. Sitting there together felt both normal and foreign at the same time. It had been so long since she had seen him that she never imagined that they’d be sitting in a bakery, holding hands, getting ready to eat donuts together.
Aurora brought them their order and apologized for being so busy, promising to check on them as soon as possible. Luca smiled and told her to take her time as he grabbed the Boston cream donut from the plate that she set in front of him. He took a bite of the pastry as cream oozed out onto his thumb. He liftedhis hand to his mouth and licked it clean, and Sophia felt as though she might swallow her damn tongue. How could he even make eating a donut seem sexy?
He smiled over at her, and she knew that he was putting on a show for her, but she didn’t care. He raised the donut to his lips again, and this time, instead of taking a bite, he dipped his tongue into the hole full of cream and moaned. Sophia’s breath caught, and she knew that she shouldn’t watch, but she couldn’t help herself.
It was ridiculous. Completely ridiculous. It was just a donut. A stupid, perfect donut. But the way his tongue moved, the way his jaw flexed, and the quiet satisfaction in his expression, sent heat curling low in her stomach. The only thing Sophia could think about was what she wanted Luca to do to her with that tongue, and from the dirty glint in his eye, he knew exactly what she was thinking.
She shifted in her seat, suddenly very aware of how close he was sitting to her. His knee brushed hers under the table, and she let out a low moan. His forearms flexed when he reached for another bite, and she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
“You okay?” Luca asked, glancing at her. He knew what he was doing to her, and he also knew that she wasn’t okay.
“I’m fine,” she squeaked, a little too quickly. She took a sip of her coffee to give her hands something to do. “I was just thinking,” she lied.
“Dangerous pastime,” he teased. She laughed, but her gaze betrayed her, drifting back to his mouth when he took another bite. This time, a bit of cream caught at the corner of his lips. He wiped it away with the back of his thumb. Sophia swallowedhard. God help her, if he kept this game up, her girl parts just might explode.
Aurora came back over, standing at their table. “You two look cozy.”
Sophia felt her cheeks heat. “We’re just having breakfast.”
“Sure you are,” Aurora said, grinning from ear to ear.
Luca choked on a laugh, shaking his head at Aurora. “Ignore her. She lives to stir the pot.”
Aurora straightened. “I observe the truth. And the truth is,” she said, glancing between them, “you two have enough sexual tension to power the ovens for a week.” Sophia nearly dropped her coffee. She wanted to crawl under the table and hide, but there was no use in that. Aurora was right. Finally giving in to what she was feeling for Luca amped up her sexual desires for him.
Luca just smirked, slow and dangerous, his eyes flicking back to Sophia. “Is that so?”
She held his gaze, heart pounding. “Yep,” Aurora said. She walked away laughing, leaving them alone again. The air between them felt thicker now—charged, alive, and impossible to ignore.
Sophia leaned back in her chair, studying him. “You know,” she said softly, “watching you eat Boston cream donuts might be more distracting than I expected.”
His eyebrow lifted. “Yeah? How so?” he asked. He knew exactly what he was doing, but he wasn’t about to admit that to her.
“Yeah,” Sophia breathed. “And you know exactly what you’re doing.”
He smiled then—not teasing, not playful—but warm and intent. “Good to know that I can get under your skin, the way that you do mine.” She wanted to ask him how she got under his skin, but he picked up his donut and finished it, making her forget her question. Sitting there in the glow of the bakery, surrounded by sugar and heat and the promise of something more, Sophia realized one thing very clearly. What was happening between the two of them wasn’t just attraction anymore. Sure, they had sexual chemistry. They had proved that a few times last night, and even this morning. What they had between them was bigger than sexual attraction, though. They were building something—just the two of them, and that was all that mattered right now.
They left the bakery and picked up a few groceries from the store so that she could prepare a nice dinner for them. Luca insisted that they needed to keep their guard up, but he also wanted her to feel free to live her life. That was a fine line to walk since she couldn’t fully do so. She had given up her home to move in with Luca and was even banished from work until her stalker could be caught.
As soon as they got back to his place, she made up the excuse of having a headache and went up to Luca’s bedroom. Honestly, she was feeling overwhelmed. From meeting Luca’s friends, who he considered family, to going out on a breakfast date with him this morning. Spending the night naked in his bed felt right to her, but she worried that they were rushing things by introducing her to his friends. What would happen when Lucagot tired of her damsel-in-distress life and left her on the next street corner? She already liked Aurora, but having to give up her new friend would be easy compared to having to give up Luca. She was in love with him, whether she wanted to be or not.
Sophia felt Luca before she saw him. The room shifted the moment he stepped inside, the air thickening with everything they hadn’t said and everything they’d been holding back. She looked up from where she sat on the edge of the bed, her heart stumbling when their eyes met. There was no teasing in his gaze tonight. No careful distance—only certainty.
