I thought it might be some kind of deal-breaker for Luca.
It’s not. As soon as I looked into his eyes after I packed up Hannah, my favorite sniper rifle, I could tell. I saw pride and respect. And it made me feel all warm and mushy.
He and Lil take turns bringing me coffee, pills, chocolate, and carbs for the three days I spend on the couch. Luca doesn’t even give me shit about what I eat or drink the entire time. He comments on how pale I am a few times but mostly just asks if I need anything. As sweet as it is, I miss the banter that I don’t have the energy for, so when he and Lil start arguing about stuff like what show to put on, which sport is the best to watch (spoiler: none of them), and what exactly counts as a turn when playing a video game, I just smile as I listen.
By Thursday morning, I’m relatively back to normal, so I hand the locket back over to Lil before we head down to the gym to start our workouts with Luca. I walk through the door and freeze at the sight of him, causing Lil to slam into me from behind.
Fuck. I mean… Fuck. I’ve been drooling over him for almost a solid month. He’s gorgeous and smells amazing and makes me feel things I’ve never felt before.
Somehow, I’ve only seen him without a shirt once before now, and I couldn’t pay attention that night. I was kinda busy throwing up on him.
I’m paying attention now. His muscular back is to us as he lifts some weights, and it’s covered in ink. Bare tree branches span across his shoulders and roots disappear beneath his waistband from the trunk down his spine. I moan under my breath, and Lil snorts. Luca gives me a great view of his ass when he places the weights on the floor before turning toward us. Those abs and biceps he’s been hiding are even better than I imagined. My panties are wet, and my face feels flushed. This is going to suck in the best fucking way.
For the next two hours, it does, in fact, suck in the best fucking way. Luca has us lift some small weights, use the treadmills and ellipticals, and show him what we remember from our self-defense lessons, which isn’t much. Really, as long as I’m able to get to my gun, how much of this stuff do I need to know? But I get to look at a shirtless Luca the whole time, so it’s not all bad.
Not bad at all.
“Is it time for lunchnow?” Lil asks for the seventh time. We’re panting after running laps around the gym. I don’t know how she’s able to speak. I’ve got nothing left in the tank. Totally depleted. I lie facedown on the mat. Maybe I’ll take a nap right here.
Luca laughs at us. Jerk. It is nice to hear him laugh, though. I raise my head just enough to glare at him, which makes him laugh more, so I flip him off.
“Alright, go. Eat some lunch, find some protein.”
“Lil, just bring me a bowl of soup with a straw. Put it right here next to me. Wake me when you get back.”
She falls down next to me instead. “We don’t like you anymore, Luca.”
“Liar. Come on, food.” He nudges my leg with a foot, and a memory shakes loose in my head. I hook my legs around his, trapping him between them, then roll. His knees hit the mat with a thud but he reacts fast enough to keep himself from face-planting. “Holy shit, where’d that come from?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I taunt him with a grin before hopping up, suddenly rejuvenated. “Food.” I head for the door and dodge his arms with a laugh when he tries to grab me by the waist.
After lunch, Luca swims laps while Lil and I soak in the hot tub, and I pretend I’m not watching Luca swim laps.
“Did we tell Becca what we wanted for dinner after dance?” Lil asks. My legs are going to fall off by the end of the night.
“I told her we’ll grab something ourselves tonight. She’s got to deal with us all day now. I figure she could use a real night off. We can go somewhere after class.”
“Luca, what should we do for dinner?” Lil shouts at him. He swims over to the side closest to us. “I know us. Ari won’t be able to pick unless something sounds exactly perfect, and we’ll debate all fucking night long until either I finally pick something at random or we eat a bunch of junk food.”
“Hey, there’s also the possibility that you say something like ‘mozzarella sticks,’ and suddenly that’s all I want to eat for like every meal.”
“Until halfway through eating one two weeks from now, it gives you the ick, and you don’t want them at all for months.”
I grin at her. “ADHD is fun, right?”
She wraps an arm around me. “So what sounds good to you, oh annoying cousin of mine?”
He tilts his head and thinks for a minute. “Any really great pizza places around here?”
“Yeah, but if we do that without Dad, he might cry.” I laugh when Luca looks unconvinced. “Hey, the pizza is that good!”
“Okay, so we need to set a night for that because pizza good enough to cry over is something I need in my life, like yesterday. How about Mexican? With good chips, salsa, and guac?”
“Oh, that does sound good. We have a place for that. They have really good everything,” Lil tells him.
“They have spicy queso, too! Damn it, now I have to figure out if I want chicken fajitas or cheese enchiladas.”
As soon as we sit down at the restaurant, we order chips with all the dipping options. I’ve been thinking about dinner for hours, wavering between my two favorite menu items all damn day. When the waiter comes back for the third time to ask if we’re ready, I feel bad for making everyone wait and panic-order the cheese enchiladas.
