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“I think you know,” Luca said.
“I…don’t.” The look in her eyes told him she knew as well as he did those words were a lie.
Conor shook his head, looking as if he was coming out of a trance, when he shifted away from them on the couch. Luca knew the second he heard the other man sigh heavily, he wasn’t going to like what came next.
Conor bent forward, his elbows on his knees, his posture one of defeat. “This can’t happen.”
The only thing keeping Luca from losing it was the fact it sounded as if Conor had had to fight to pull those three words out.
“It would be irresponsible,” Harper added, though her comment sounded more like a question than a statement. “We’re working together,” she added, as if that somehow solidified it.
“Exactly,” Conor said, rubbing his chest, suddenly looking very uncomfortable. Luca hated seeing him retreat, but he also knew Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Harper needed more time to get to know them, to realize that her trust in them wouldn’t be misplaced, wouldn’t be betrayed.
Her vow to say yes to things that made her happy was certainly something Luca could work with. Because he planned to make her—and Conor—very happy.
They’d hit square one.
At last.
Luca wanted to tell them that, wanted to protest their denials and reassure them that not only could this thing between them happen, it was going to—irresponsible or not.
Like Joey, he’d just planted the seed.
Now he needed to give it time, let it take root.
All he had to do was keep watering it.
Chapter Seven
Harper closed the lid on the picnic basket she’d pulled out of storage a couple of days earlier. She was struggling to believe she’d been in Philadelphia six whole weeks. They say time flies when you’re having fun, and that certainly wasn’t a lie. Summer was right around the corner and with its imminent arrival, those perfect days had appeared when the sun was shining, the sky was blue, a gentle breeze was blowing, and it wasn’t too hot or too cold.
When the weather app forecasted a lovely seventy-degree weekend filled with bright sunshine, all she could think about was getting out of the hotel and soaking up as much of the fresh outdoor air as she could.
It had been three weeks since she’d stolen those too brief, too wonderful kisses from Luca and Conor. Every part of that night felt like a dream, and sometimes she had to convince herself it had actually happened.
She’d spent many nights since then alone in her bed, rewriting the ending, taking out the part where Conor said it couldn’t happen and she’d foolishly agreed. In her new, revised version, they’d taken those amazing kisses and expanded on them in the bedroom. Harper had burned through too many batteries, giving her vibrator a workout as she fantasized about sex with Luca and Conor.
Two men.
Just the thought of that kind of complication should have her running for the hills, but Luca had been right when he’d said seeing that kind of relationship played out through others was eye-opening. She’d had the opportunity to spend more time with Luca’s family and friends. And seeing the threesomes together, and how happy they were, had her longing for something she never would have considered a possibility.
Since the afternoon of the hockey party, Harper had been invited to a couple of happy hours with Liza, Keeley, Hazel, and Penny, who’d all been at the party, plus their girlfriends, Gianna and Jess. It wasn’t until she was surrounded by the group of friendly, open women that she realized just how much she missed having her best friend Luna around.
In addition to the girl time, Conor—true to his word—had hosted three more hockey nights in the buildup to the finals. She’d finally met Elio, the hockey star, and Penny’s doctor brother, Rhys. Luca had truly been blessed with a large, loving family, and he was very generous when it came to sharing them with Harper, who’d always been very light on relatives.
Best of all, she’d spent all day last Saturday and Sunday with Luca’s nonna, the dear woman sharing the secrets to making her eggplant parmesan and homemade pasta with her. Harper had learned more in two days from the elderly woman about cooking Italian cuisine than she had in weeks on the subject in culinary school. Nonna, as she demanded Harper call her, had invited her to the family’s annual Fourth of July picnic, something she couldn’t wait to attend, as it would include the entire Moretti family. She knew it would be a blast…if only she wasn’t swimming in a sea of hormones, thanks to Luca’s continued flirting and sexual innuendoes.
Conor insisted that not only was Luca working for them, but she and Conor had signed contracts that ensured they’d be business partners for the foreseeable future. There was too much at stake, should things fall apart. And while he’d held true to his assertion that it would be utterly irresponsible for the three of them to begin an affair, Luca didn’t seem to be taking heed.
And unfortunately, her libido was proving to be every bit as powerful as her common sense. It didn’t help that she’d adopted that new “yes to happiness” motto. Because she didn’t doubt for a moment that saying yes to sex with Luca and Conor would make her very, very happy.
They now had set dinner nights, the three of them dining together a couple times a week. In addition to that, their group text thread—which she had named Two Guys and a Girl—was never silent, and they had established a standing movie night at Conor’s place every Friday as well.
All of it ridiculously, annoyingly platonic…with the exception of Luca’s flirting.
Part of her suspected she would have caved, seeking more kisses, more everything, if not for Conor. While they were spending a lot of time together, he’d retreated emotionally, once more becoming that serious guy who was less open, less willing to smile. She’d always gotten the sense he subscribed to an all-work, no-play lifestyle, and he was proving that true. Spending longer hours at his office, joining them for dinner, then making excuses to cut the evening short when the ever-growing sexual tension between them became too much.
