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I frowned at her. “What do you mean?”
Ash took a slow, steady breath, choosing her next words carefully. “Listen, guys like Luca Moretti have a reputation for a reason. That shit doesn’t come up overnight.”
I nodded. “I know. He’s a player. He can’t be trusted.”
“I don’t think you do know,” she said. “You’re saying the words, but I can see in your eyes that you’re still hot for daddy.”
“Well, of course, I am, but that’s all it is,” I lied. “It’s just sex. Fun.”
“Then it won’t be hard to break it off,” Ash replied. “Because like you said, there’s your brother. And Luca’s kid. You don’t want to be catching feels for someone who’ll replace you with someone younger and hotter within a week.”
I sighed heavily and went back to my smoothie. I didn’t trust any other words to come out of my mouth. Ash was observant, and if I laid it on too thick, she might catch on to the fact that I was lying to her. And myself.
Because with each passing day, I was more and more aware of the fact that things with Luca wasn’t just sex anymore. What I felt for him went much deeper than that.
Chapter 15
Luca
Myheadwasswimmingwith thoughts of Scarlett when I got home. We’d been good about our promise to keep things platonic for the sake of Christopher. I hadn’t so much as made eyes at her since our encounter on my yacht, as hard as that was. But instead of dialing down the pull I felt toward her, the distance only amplified it.
I froze in the hallway, my coat slung over my arm. The usually quiet mansion felt different. Bubbling laughter floated out to me from down the hall. The dining room. Without thinking, I started in that direction.
“Papa!” Leo slid off his chair and came running to me.
I scooped him up into my arms and gave him a tight hug, making eye contact with Scarlett over his shoulder. I tried to ignore the fact that I wanted to wrap my arms around her too. She looked beautiful in the rays of the setting sun filtering through the French doors, glinting off her red locks that she’d taken down since leaving the office.
“I hope you don’t mind,” she said shyly, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I’ve been promising Leo another German lesson, and since I finished early today—”
“I don’t mind.” I set my son down, unable to drag my eyes from his accidental tutor.
Leo tugged on my shirt and said proudly, “Ich bin eine Maus!” and then descended into laughter again. “Do you know what I just said?”
His laughter was contagious, and I found myself chuckling at his amusement by the whole thing. “No, what did you say? Tell me.”
“I am a mouse,” he replied between laughter. “I’m saying I am a mouse in German.”
“It’s teaching sentence structure and grammar,” Scarlett quickly added off the frown on my face. “It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t make sense.”
I walked Leo back to his seat and took a chair beside him. “The best things often don’t,” I said, locking my gaze with hers.
Because that was the truth, and I knew she understood what I meant. I knew that she missed it as much as I did. That even though there was no logic behind it, our connection was much bigger than us. It felt amazing.
“I’m about to begin dinner, Signore,” Maria said, poking her head into the dining room.
“Oh, I didn’t realize the time.” Scarlett gathered her notebook and pencils from the table and started packing up.
“No.”
The word was out of my mouth before I knew I was thinking it. She looked up at me in alarm, Maria paused in the doorway, and Leo’s gaze moved between us all in turn.
“Uh, I mean, why don’t you stay?” I asked, hating the fluster creeping up the back of my neck.
Leo jumped out of his chair with excitement. “Yes! Me and Papa can make you our special sauce, right, Papa?” And without waiting for me to answer, he rushed to Scarlett and grabbed her hands. “Come on, I’ll show you. I do the tomatoes all by myself.”
Scarlett allowed herself to be led away by Leo, glancing over her shoulder once to give me a helpless shrug. She pretended as though she were caught up in something outside of her control, but the delighted grin on her face told me she didn’t mind it at all.
“I guess Leo and I will be taking care of dinner tonight,” I told Maria, working hard to keep my smile from getting too big.
