Some risks are worth taking.
McKenzie caught my eye, her head tilted in a question. She’d clearly caught me battling my own thoughts on the front lines of my brain. But I just shook my head. I wasn’t ready to throw down my weapons just yet.
SEVENTEEN
McKenzie
“On a scalefrom one to irate, how mad is Jo gonna be when she finds out you turned Emilia into the bouquet?” Luca asked as I wove artificial orange roses into the elderly pup’s collar. I’d already glued some of the blossoms to her diaper, and I’d found a small froufrou dress at the pet store and glued dozens of flowers to it. Once she had it on, she’d be the cutest, fluffiest bouquet on the planet. Luca was already watching her for Dallas and Katie since they’d be busy preparing for their trip, so he brought her to my place, allowing me to work my magic without being under the watchful and mildly terrifying eye of Jo.
“She told me to get creative,” I said with a shrug. “So that’s on her.”
Jo had put me in charge of the flowers and cake. Luca had offered up the garden of the hobbit house as the location, which was especially generous since that meant Jo had commandeered his space since around noon. He’d been all too happy to bring Emilia over that evening so I could enact my plan. I’d gathered all my supplies, and together we sat on the floor with Emilia tucked between us, while my cats gave us the stink eye from a safe distance.
Luca smirked. “And by the time she realizes what we did, it’ll be too late for her to do anything about it.”
“Whatwedid?” I asked.
He stroked the top of Emilia’s head as she sat before me, soaking up the attention with her cloudy eyes half closed.
“Well, yeah,” Luca said. “You don’t think I’m gonna let you take the fall by yourself, do you?”
I couldn’t hide my grin as my eyes snagged on his mischievous baby blues.
“You know, you told me you weren’t much of an animal person,” I said as I continued to work. “But I beg to differ. You like my cats, and you clearly like her.” I scratched Emilia behind the ears and booped her freckled nose.
He chuckled. “Emilia doesn’t count. She’s like a sweet old lady. You can’t hate an old woman.”
I pretended to cover her ears, my mouth wide with feigned shock. “You never discuss a lady’s age, especially not if you’re going to call her old.”
“I don’t think she can hear me, anyway,” he said with a laugh. “I’m pretty sure those ears are just for show now.”
“You hear that, Emilia? Uncle Luca doesn’t want to admit he’s a big ole softie.” I picked up the tiny dog, holding her in front of my nose, which she kissed, giving me a faint wag of her tail.
“Am not,” he protested, his lips quirking at the corners.
“Don’t you listen to him,” I cooed at the pup before carefully putting the small outfit I’d crafted on her and turning her to face Luca. “Whatcha think?”
He gave me a hearty laugh as he took her from my hands. “I think she might be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”
The corners of his eyes crinkled with his smile as Emilia licked his chin, causing my heart to flutter like a hummingbird’s wings. He seemed so much softer than I’d given him credit for before I’d gotten to know him.
“So, Dallas and Katie…getting married,” I said, sitting back, resting my weight on my hands. “Should you object so we can save them from themselves or should I?” I teased.
“Afraid it’s too late for that,” he said with a laugh that slowed to a contented smile. “And I’m pretty sure they know what they’re getting into. They seem happy.”
“Yeah, they do,” I agreed with a sigh. “It just seems like such a life-altering decision.”
“Getting married?”
“Well, yes. But even just committing to someone without the formality of a piece of paper—that’s a big deal.”
“So you think they’re crazy?” he asked, stretching his long legs out in front of him and crossing them at the ankle.
I sighed and pressed my lips together as I considered his question. If someone had asked me a few weeks before, I would’ve said yes. Outside of my affinity for Meg Ryan movies, I wasn’t one for romance or the idea that one person could come along and change your heart on a cellular level.
But then Luca came into my life. Even if this crush of mine would never become anything more, it had shown me, despite my numerous protests to the contrary, that maybe Ididwant somebody to love.
“I don’t, actually,” I finally admitted. “I might even go so far as to say it’s sweet.”
