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I tuck my lips between my teeth. The thing is, he’s not wrong. I’ve been splitting time between my condo and the office at a seventy-percent remote rate.
Luca climbs the steps to the front door of the ranch house. The funny thing is, the ranch house looks nothing like the place we left a few days ago. That’s probably me, but it seems so much more welcoming now. Homey.
But this isn’t my home. It’s Wyatt’s, Emma’s, and Luca’s. My home is a modern condo overlooking the bay in San Francisco. I’m going back tomorrow, and that’s all there is to it. I follow Luca up the few wooden steps to the landing and lean back onto the wooden post at the top.
“Luca,” I say.
He turns around, half-smiling, and I hate myself for what I have to say. I despise myself so much at the moment that I don’t think Icansay it.
He places one hand above my head on the post and wraps his arm around my waist. The contact feels so good I lean into it, into him.
Luca lowers his head until our noses touch. “Yes?”
With him this close, enveloping all my senses, all thoughts leave me. The only thing that comes out of my mouth is a whispered, “Thank you” before he crashes his lips to mine.
It’s a demanding kiss at first and then it softens. His hand moves into the back of my hair as he deepens the kiss, and I let out a small moan. There are so many unsaid things... an ocean of the unknown, the unexplored, and the possible in the dance of our lips and tongues. My hands find his face, and the rough stubble scrapes on my palms. The hand at my back pulls my body flush with his, and I give him everything I have in that kiss. Before long, my eyes start to prickle and burn. I pull away before my tears betray me.
Luca
No one who has evermet me would call me a romantic, not even my ex, Sonja. Pragmatic? Sure, I get that one a lot. But my entire body tingles where her lips were just touching mine. I walk to the office, where all the keys are lined back up. Theentire house is put back in order after LivFit left. Well, after most of the LivFit employees left.
I tuck my hands in my pockets and look at all the keys, nicely hanging in their places, each one with a unique keychain. I don’t want to be presumptuous, so I grab every key and walk out to where Jack still stands on the front porch. She’s running her fingers over her lips, and I wonder if our kisses affect her the same way they do me. I won’t ask, though, because I have to let her go tomorrow.
“Looks like you have your pick for a room tonight,” I say, holding out my hands full of keys.
She looks at me and then studies the assortment. I hold my breath when she starts digging through them. Her teeth sink into her bottom lip, and she tilts her head back and forth as she takes an eternity to read each single digit. It’s making me insane, but I hold utterly still. That is, until she holds up the keychain for room number five. My room.
“My pick,” she says, dangling the keys in front of me. Her lips are forced into a straight, serious line, but her eyes smile up at me.
Relief washes over me. I wanted her to choose my room, to stay with me, but I worried she wouldn’t want to. She is so much younger than me, after all, and so focused on that career of hers. Although, I am not going to be one to argue.
“Good choice,” I say, setting the rest of the keys down on the porch railing, something Emma can have a fit at me over tomorrow. I take Jack’s hand in mine and lead her upstairs to my room.
When I walk in, I’m surprised at how much my room smells like her from when she slept in here the day before we went on the cattle drive. It looks the same, but the vibe feels different.
“Now that I know you a little better,” Jack says, staring at the framed pictures on the far mall, “This entire room makes so much more sense.”
Both were taken by me. The one on the left is a photo I took standing atop twin peaks in San Francisco, and it’s a view of the city with the water in the background. The photo next to it is of the open field on day one of my very first cattle drive here at Thoroughgood Ranch. The same field, in fact, where Jasper almost gave Jack a heart attack. Both pictures are such opposites, but both also represent a huge part of my life.
“I wanted to show the contrast.” I stand next to Jack and study the pictures together.
Chapter Thirteen
Jack
Moments before the sun crestsover the mountains, I stand in the kitchen, sipping my coffee and waiting for Luca to come downstairs to take me to the airport. The rooster starts in again like it did the first morning I woke up in this bed here at Thoroughgood Ranch—in Luca’s room. At that time, my mind and heart weren’t at odds with one another like they are this morning.
I close my eyes and recall images of him on the trail, the way he saved me when Jasper bolted and how he constantly read into my hopes and the fronts I put on for LivFit. I only imagine the feel of his skin against my palm and the way his stubble would scratch the tips of my fingers. The first time I met him, when he fumbled his way into this room while I was changing, he was clean-shaven. I couldn’t deny how appealing his sharp features were then. But when I saw him last, he had a ruggedly handsome, movie-star look after a week of not shaving. I never thought that was possible in real life. I only imagined it was the work of talented makeup artists.
He kissed me lightly last night before we parted, and how sweet it was, but it was also a goodbye. I’m more convinced of that this morning. I’ve only known this man for a week, so I can’t sacrifice myself and everything I’ve worked toward for a title of Mrs. Or even CEO of House Luca.
I need to go home. While I’m here, I keep having these flashes of Luca and me, scenes we’ve already experienced together as well as imagined scenes of us in his finished home. I can clearly see a future of Luca chasing me around the kitchen island and sweeping me into his arms or us sitting together on the front porch in cute little rocking chairs while the sun sets over the mountains. Or us taking a long trek with Jasper down one of the dusty trails. It’s not fair that I had to travel more than a thousand miles to wake these feelings inside myself.
Last Tuesday morning seems like another lifetime, and the memories of my arrival seem like something I watched in a movie. But that person was me.Isme. I have to slide back into that Jack’s skin and resume my life. It shouldn’t be too hard once I’m back in California, especially since I’m at peace with going home.
The kitchen door swooshes open, and Luca walks inside with a wide smile. “Top of the morning, Jack.”
I swallow the last of my coffee, smile, and go to the coffee pot for a refill. As I’m passing between him and the island, Luca touches my forearm. I turn, with my eyes downcast and fighting the prickling sensation happening in my sinuses.
