Page 100 of Dear Grumpy Boss

“Hi, Luca.” My voice came out small and nervous. My heart thumped hard in my chest. This could be bad. I wished I was fully sober to face this.

Luca scrubbed at his face then marched toward us. “Hi,bella. What kind of trouble have you gotten into?”

“There’s no trouble.” Weston went taut, as if he was prepared to battle Luca if he had to. “It’s no concern of yours.”

Luca’s gaze slid back and forth between us. “What isn’t a concern? Tell me what I walked in on because, to be quite honest, this doesn’t look like a drunken make-out session.”

Shuddering, my lashes fluttered to my cheeks. “It’s not. We’re—” What the hell were we? I didn’t even know how to begin to explain us to Luca.

“We’re together,” Weston declared.

I asked, “We are?” at the same time Luca yelled, “You’re what?”

“Together,” Weston confirmed.

Luca pulled up straight, shaking off some of his alcohol-induced haziness. “I’m assuming Elliot doesn’t know about this since the city isn’t burning.”

“It’s new,” I told him.

Incredibly new. Like a minute old. And I hadn’t even agreed to anything.

So why was I holding on to Weston?

Oh, because I liked him saying we were together. I wanted that to be real. If he was just saying it for Luca’s sake, I’d take a page out of Rebecca’s book and break his dick, only he wouldn’t get a warning.

Luca crossed his arms, assessing us. “You’ll tell him. I won’t lie to him.”

“Give us a little time,” I pleaded. “We won’t sneak around, but I’m not ready to face my brother yet.”

“You won’t have to lie,” Weston said with certainty. “He won’t ask, so there won’t be a reason to. When Elise and I feel the time is right, we’ll tell Elliot.”

Luca stared at him for a long moment before scoffing. “He’s going to be so pissed.” He rubbed his jaw like he was thinking. “I’ll be pissed if you fuck her over, West.”

Weston’s hold on me tightened. “I would never do that.”

Luca shoved his fingers through his hair and cupped his head, muttering curses. He paced back and forth in front of us, battling something internally.

Finally, he stopped, nodding like he came to a decision. “I never saw this coming, but I can’t say I’m not thrilled to death about it, for both of you.” He wagged his finger between us. “There’s something right here. It fits. The two of you fit. Although, I’m second-guessing all the times you referred to Elise as a sister.”

Luca chuckled. Weston didn’t.

“Feelings evolved. I’ve never lied about how I feel, though. There was a time she was like a sister to me, but that faded and now she’s something else.”

Luca’s humor dropped away, replaced by a look of understanding. “I get it, Weston. I know you wouldn’t have gone there with Elise unless you were serious.”

I cleared my throat and wrested myself away from Weston. It was difficult to be taken seriously when I was plastered to his chest.

“I would love it if you two didn’t talk about this like I’m not here. The thing is, Weston and I haven’t really had a chance to define anything yet, so can you give us that chance, Luca? I know you’re in a tough spot, and I hate that you are, but—”

He held his hand up. “I don’t like Elliot being in the dark about something so big, but if I hadn’t walked back here when I did, I would have never guessed there was anything going on between you. So, I’ll take the blame for bad timing. You two crazy kids figure yourselves out. I’m going to go to the bathroom and pretend like I didn’t see a thing.”

He started to turn, but I called out to him. His brow winged in question.

“My birthday’s next weekend,” I said.

His grin was small but sincere. “I know it is,bella.”

“Well, Saoirse is throwing me a little party on our rooftop. You should come.”

---