Whyhadn’t I realized that before?
I lifted my head and met his gaze.I offered him a tremulous smile.“I owe you an apology.”
“For?”
I inhaled a shaky breath and exhaled on a shudder.“For believing what I read about you instead of focusing on how you treated me.I’m so sorry, Luka.”
He cupped my face in his hands, and I leaned into him.Though I wanted to close my eyes and soak up the contentment, I kept my gaze locked on his.I needed him to see that I was sorry, that I understood and took responsibility for my actions.
“From now on, I think it would be best if you and I talked to each other rather than making assumptions,” he said calmly, his eyes warm.“Okay?”
I hesitated.Whatever was on my face caused his expression to soften.
“I won’t ask you to spill your every secret tonight, but we’re connected, Millie.For life.I want to talk to you.To know you.”He hesitated, and I desperately wanted to know what he’d chosen not to say.
He waited.I did, too.But how could I push him for his secrets when I wasn’t ready to share mine?
“Okay.”
“Good,” he said.“Great.So…would you like to eat in tonight?”
I smiled.“I’dloveto eat the meal you made.”
A relieved grin blossomed across his face, and I caught my breath as his dimples peeked from his cheeks.He was just so beautiful.I touched his cheekbone, once again begging the universe to give Bree his incredible facial structure.I hadn’t been able to discern much from the sonogram except that she had all her features and they wereperfect.
Luka dipped his head closer, and his breath bathed my lips and cheek.With a faint shiver, I inched closer, pressing my belly into his.We both paused, my breath baited, as the enormity of deciding what came next hit me.I teetered on a tiny pivot; the direction I chose would impact Luka, Bree, and me.
If I pulled back, he’d let me.If I pushed forward, we’d both accept that I was acknowledging the chemistry between us and giving Luka at least a tacit agreement to pick up our sexual relationship.
He murmured in my ear, “Be sure.”
“Are you?”I breathed.
“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”
That sealed my choice—if it even was one.I lifted on my tiptoes as he bent closer, and his lips touched mine.
He felt better than I remembered.Gentle but firm—both his lips and his grip on the base of my skull, my hip.He made me feel safe, sexy…wanted.Never had I been so immersed in the moment; I always needed to catalog the world and its threats and verify potential escape options.Not right now.Not with Luka.
He held me as if I were precious.His fly rubbed against my belly, and I felt the growing bulge behind it.
His kiss, though chaste and achingly sweet, echoed that sentiment.I was surrounded by his desire.
The oven timer went off, and I startled, pulling away with a laugh.I’d forgotten where I was.Maybe that should have scared me, but it didn’t.In fact, the ability to let go was exhilarating—something I’d need to study more, soon.
Luka brushed his lips over mine once more, gently, before he pulled away.“Do whatever it is you do when you get home.I’m going to finish up dinner.We’ll eat in twenty.”
I touched my fingertips to my lips.Already, I was right back under Luka Stol’s spell.
Chapter7
Luka
Stay.In.Control.
I repeated that mantra over and over as I took the meatballs out of the oven and checked on the sauce.It was Alyssa’s recipe, one of my favorite comfort meals that I’d learned to cook once I moved to college.After I’d tasted what homemade foodcouldbe—not the frozen shit my parents left me—I’d asked her to teach me how to make her Sunday sauce, as she called it.While I’d never be a Michelin-starred chef, I could hold my own with simpler cuisine, especially Italian, which was Alyssa’s staple.
But finding the ingredients here, in Colombo, had proven tricky.I’d needed the help of the doorman, a driver, and a chatty clerk at the supermarket to gather everything required to make this dinner.
