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I’ve come to depend on him. Toneedthe security that he brings me. He’s a calm, reassuring presence that I’ve never allowed myself to need before him.
With that thought, I shower quickly, making sure that everything is scrubbed and shaved before pinning my wet hair in a way that will allow my platinum locks to dry with a bounce and curl to them. It will work perfectly with the neckline of the gown that he picked out for me.
I opt for subtle makeup, nothing that would detract from my natural beauty. It’s how Luca prefers me to look anyway. With a bit of mascara. I think that it’s only because he likes seeing the way he can make my mascara run at the end of the evening.
I have to choose to hope that’s how tonight will end. Just like it’s supposed to. Not… the other bad things.
I give myself a final once over in the mirror and a slight twirl to see the skirt of the dress move around my toned legs before I head downstairs where Luca is waiting.
Fuckhe wears a suit so damned well.
Luca kisses my cheek and gives me a warm smile before he opens the car door for me. It’s not the sweeping confession of appreciation that I was expecting, but I guess it will do.
He’s quiet when he gets in the car too. I’m almost afraid to ask him what’s wrong. I don’t know if I can take it. Even if it’s something terrible, we can at least have this last night together - can’t we?
Nerves form a tight knot in my chest as we arrive at the restaurant. This time, Zia is outside smoking from a pipe.
“Just her medicinal herbs,” Luca assures me as he puts the car into park.
“I’m the last person to judge.” I smile tightly as Luca holds up a hand to stop me from exiting the car on my own so that he can do it himself.
“Trying to embarrass me in front of Zia?” He laughs. It’s the first time in days that I’ve heard him make that sound. The knot in my chest loosens slightly. “She would have my head if she thought I wasn’t being a gentleman.”
“And how do you think she would react to your being a total scoundrel behind closed doors?” I tease him right back.
This is what it’s supposed to be. The back and forth between us. Maybe I was just overreacting and he really is just stressed.
The restaurant is even fancier than last time. Somehow the lighting has shifted - twinkle lights have been incorporated into the ceiling so that the whole place somehow looks like I’m sitting on an outdoor veranda in Italy somewhere. I hope that one day Luca will take me there. I certainly want to show him my home country. Well, if the pain of losing my mother ever lessens. Perhaps Italy will just have to be the new home for both of us someday in the future.
Maybe after we have children and they take over the clan and Luca can safely retire. I hope he won’t be like Enzo, holding onto the crown forever.
The thought is so sudden and effortless that it surprises me. I never really gave much thought to whether I wanted to have kids or when I wanted to have them. It wasn’t really a life path that I put stock into. Maybe it is being around Marci so much and knowing that life is going to change for her… or maybe it’s just Luca.
“Did you manage to make it over to Marci’s this afternoon?” Luca asks me as he pulls out my chair. “How is she feeling?”
Like he read my damn mind.
“Swollen, mostly.” I answer as he pushes me closer to the table. “She said that moving into her second trimester was supposed to be easier on her but that it’s not been the case so far.”
“Oh? I know that Dario hasn’t been sleeping as much lately.”
I nod. “Yeah, I think they are moving forward with plans for the baby. She’s really smitten with him.”
Luca laughs and nods. “She doesn’t have it half as bad as he does, I promise you that.”
“Marci still says that she can’t believe that she got so lucky to have a man like Dario come around and actually want to be apart of her and her child’s life - that he wants to step in where Derek the deadbeat refused to.”
“I forgot to ask Dario if they found out the gender.”
I grin from ear to ear. “They found out yesterday, actually. It’s a boy, and Marci is over the moon. She was ranting all day long about how she’s going to raise him right and that as long as he turns out like Dario, things will be okay…” I pause as the rest of the conversation comes to the forefront of my mind. “I do think that she’s getting nervous about quitting the club.”
Luca puts his napkin on his lap and pauses. “She’s quitting?”
I shrug. “What choice does she really have? She’s starting to show too much. While that’s a fetish for some, it is certainly not something the masses are going to pay for at the rate that they were before. She’s really nervous about talking to Alexei about it. I offered to do it for her but-”
“But she is stubborn and wants to do it all herself, right?” Luca interjects as the wine is poured for the pair of us. I wonder where Zia is. I haven’t seen her since we came inside. She didn’t say anything to either of us when we arrived either.
“Something like that.” I sigh as I sip my wine, which is excellent of course. “Though, the biological father of her child has also come back into the picture.”
