Showtime. Lucy stood up, assessing herself in the full-length mirror. Vanessa would be proud of her fashion choices this evening. She’d gone for a long flowyAnthropologiedress. Casual but summery, pretty and flirty. Slipping her feet into a pair of sandals and grabbing a jean jacket, she made her way to the front door.
Seeing Joel tower in her aunt’s doorway in Portland was simultaneously bizarre and exhilarating. He stood there, talking to Ella like he did this all the time, looking positively delicious with his hands in the pockets of chambray-colored shorts that matched his iris’.
When she drew closer, he glanced her way, did a double take, then smiled. “Lucy.”
A thrill shivered up her spine as his heated appraisal scanned the length of her body. “Joel,” she replied, making her way to him.
“Well, you two have fun tonight,” Ella exclaimed in a shrill voice, then chattered on. “You should set a date. Maria and I think sooner is better. Before the weather turns. You agree, no?”
Joel hadn’t taken his eyes off Lucy’s. “I agree that making Lucy my wife can’t come soon enough.” He glanced at Ella. “Enjoy your evening. Don’t wait up.” He winked, then guided Lucy out the door.
“Can’t come soon enough?” She made sure he heard the eyeroll in her voice as she headed down the front steps.
Joel grabbed her hand and shot her a smile. “You want people to buy this or not?”
She tried to tug free, but he held fast.
“Your aunt’s looking out the window.” He squeezed her hand tighter. “And for the record, if this were real, I’d have already made you my wife. Oh, wait.” He offered her an inscrutable side-eye that made her squeeze his palm as hard as she could in protest, but he merely chuckled under his breath.
The beep of a car unlocking drew her attention to the Porsche parked on the street.
“A Taycan? Subtle,” she quipped.
“I know it’s not a cherry-red Ferrari, but this is Portland, so I went with low-key.”
Lucy halted mid-step, tilting her head up to him as an old memory began to resurface. “What?”
“A Ferrari.” He smiled down at her, a faint dimple appearing in his right cheek. “Cherry-red. One that will hug the curves of the Mediterranean roads like a man curls into his love,” he recited, his tone forlorn and over-the-top.
She jabbed him in the ribs. “I did not say it like that!” Had she? She did have a flair for dramatic expression at times.
“You said it exactly like that.” Joel laughed. “Word for word.”
“Oh please!” A cherry-red Ferrari was her dream car, and she’d once described how an item on her bucket list was to race along one of Italy’s famous winding coastline roads in one. She’d probably used those exact words,though she couldn’t remember. It had been years since she’d said it, and if she couldn’t remember, how could he? “How would you even remember that?”
“Luciana,” he rasped, his gaze serious. “I remember everything about you and our time together.” After a beat, wherein Lucy swore she heard the thundering of her own heart, Joel released her hand and continued to the passenger side of the sleek black car. “Also, win gold and wear it, Barone. Your father taught me that.”
Giving herself a mental shake, she ignored the panicked giddiness surging through her and caught up with him. He’d shaken her—best cover that with a snarky comment. “Funny, he always told me not to show off.”
“Yes, he taught me that too.” Joel opened the Porsche’s door, and she inhaled him as he stepped aside.
The best smell in the universe was his bergamot and cedar soap mixed with the warm scent of his skin. Her hormones went nuts for it. Like the combination had been designed with the sole purpose of attracting her.
“But he always reminds me to enjoy my success. Wearing your accomplishments with confidence is good for business. Wearing them with arrogance is a disaster.”
Lucy laughed. “Now that sounds more like him.”
Blunt and unsubtle. That was Luciano Barone. But she would play it to her advantage. Her marriage to Joel was an accomplishment in her father’s eyes, and she’d leverage that advantage however she could. Including using it to have him see her in a different light when it came to the business.
She slid into the seat and waited until Joel shut the door before she let out an indulgent sigh. The leather was like butter against her skin, soft and luxurious, and the new-car scent told her this must have been a recent purchase.
Seconds later, Joel was buckling into the driver’s side. “Comfortable?” he asked as he pressed a button to start the car.
The electric vehicle was so silent that she jolted when he pulled away from the curb. He looked over at her with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. This is fine.”
Now he laughed because the way the seat molded around her body wasn’t just fine. It was magical, and he knew it.
