Page 61 of One Second After Another

“Look at you,” he could see his sister say to Penny, her hands pressed against either side of the younger woman’s face. “I thought you were dead.”

He couldn’t see Penny’s reply, only the shake of her head. And that was enough for him, anyway. He didn’t need to see more; he didn’t feel the same urge to make sure everything was going to be okay if he closed the front door and let Penny out of his sight. That monster was a hard one to shake, but he was doing well about hiding it.

Mostly.

Naz told him differently when Luca finally closed the door only to turn around and come face to face with his best friend. Gone was his nephew—probably already raced ahead of his father when Naz decided to tell the boy where the pool was. Whether he swam or not was another story. Now, it was only him and Naz left in the front foyer of the lodge, and he knew just by the way his best friend stared at him that his distraction was not missed.

Stoned-faced, Naz’s gaze drifted over Luca’s shoulder to the closed door and then back to him without pause. Then, he asked, “You’re close.”

Luca blinked. “What?”

He didn’t even know where to begin with that statement. Or how to take it, for that matter.

Naz didn’t intend to make him wait to find out because he followed it up with, “You and Penny—the two of you are close. I saw it. How you stare; when you touch ... I saw it, Luca.”

Shit.

Yeah.

Something else he hadn’t gotten to.

“Is there anything else you want to tell me?” Naz asked, his fiery stare never wavering from Luca even though his tone kept calm.

Luca was fucking tired.

Of a lot of damn things.

Serving everyone else’s hand but his own was high on that list—even if that meant betraying people who meant the world and more to him. Like his own godfather.

“It’s more than just Penny,” Luca told his friend, “but I can start there.”

“Start,” Naz deadpanned.

“Well—”

“No, I mean ... start, Luca.” Naz shrugged, adding, “And try to make it quick—we really aren’t staying long. I just promised my wife I wouldn’t lie anymore and when you texted Connecticut, I knew where you were, and I couldn’t not tell Roz. And guess how that worked out.”

Luca didn’t bother to hide his grin. “Seems obvious.”

“Start.”

“Relax—I just ...” Luca let out a hard breath and shoved his fists into the pockets of his jeans so that he had them under control. His nerves always showed in his hands first. Naz had told him that more than once. “I could love that girl—I think I already do.”

Naz blinked, muttering a soft, “Huh.”

That was it.

Just huh.

“That’s what you say to—”

Naz tipped his head to the side, his stare lowering from Luca’s like he was thinking about something when he replied, “There’s really nothing else that I need to—or should—say when you lay it out to me like that. If that’s what it is, that’s what it is.”

“You don’t feel any kind of way about her or before when she was living with you guys—”

“I know you. I know who you are. I don’t need to ask that. I already know the answer to that, Luca.”

He breathed easier ... because despite being who he was, he never wanted to be a monster, either. It was a lot harder to be the man he was—who came from the people and place he did—while also maintaining compassion. All of their moral compasses were a bit broken. That didn’t mean they always had to act like it.