Page 148 of Empire of Temptation

A lump settled in my throat. If only that were true.

You didn’t lie to the people you loved, trick them and use them. Even if that was how our relationship started, with his plans to use me to find my father, Luca had plenty of chances to come clean. Yet, he kept lying. Kept watching for my father, ready to pounce.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, my feet gliding through the cool water. “It doesn’t matter. New York is my home. Your father lives here. The end.”

“Admit it.” He swept his hand out toward the Italian countryside. “This is better than New York.”

It was pretty damn nice. But it wasn’t home. Oh, and then there was the fact that I wasn’t ready to be a mafia girlfriend. “You haven’t seen the Hudson Valley,” I said. “Especially in the fall when the leaves change color. It’s so beautiful you want to cry. And a bonus? There’s no one blackmailing or murdering there.”

“Sure there isn’t,” he said under his breath.

The door opened again. Before I could see who it was, there were voices yelling in Italian. Leo straightened and immediately lifted his feet out of the pool. “What’s happening?” I asked as he dried off his legs with one of the beach towels. “Is something wrong?”

“My father is here.”

My body jerked, rocking me back slightly. “Here? He’s out of prison?”

“Scusa, signorina. I need to change.” Leo disappeared inside the house and I frowned. He’d been wearing a t-shirt and shorts, like me. Did Luca insist that his oldest son dress up every day?

I sipped my frozen Aperol Spritz and pushed those thoughts aside. Leo’s clothing was something else I didn’t understand about Luca’s life and probably never would.

Besides, I had bigger worries.

Luca washere. I hadn’t expected to see him again, at least not so soon. What was I going to say to him? Worse, what was he going to say to me?

My chest expanded with a strange sensation that I suspected was both anticipation and dread. Was I going to hug him or kick him in the balls? I wasn’t ready. And I wanted to go home.

I wasn’t his mistress or his girlfriend. I was just the woman he’d manipulated for his own ends. Luca was everything my mother warned me about, yet I’d gone along with him willingly, too naive to question what was happening.

I swirled my legs in the water and finished the drink. Being heartbroken sucked. I needed this feeling to go away. I needed to forget about Luca and bury myself in work at the trattoria.

Maybe we should add a frozen Aperol Spritz to the menu?

“Would you like to swim?”

The sound of his deep voice sent a deluge of longing through me, a flood of memories I wished I could forget. I blinked but didn’t look over. “No.”

He lowered himself to the stone beside me and began rolling the cuffs of his trousers. I peeked at his hands, the movements sure and swift. I loved those hands. I missed those hands.

He dipped his legs into the water one at a time. “Why not? I’m sure there is an extra suit somewhere.”

“This isn’t a vacation, Luca. I want to go home.”

“Forgive me. I saw the empty cocktail glass and thought otherwise.”

My mouth flattened as I ground my back teeth together. “You’re a dick.” I started to get up, but he grabbed my arm.

“Wait, per favore. I . . . ” He heaved a heavy sigh. “Please, listen. I have much to say. I’m sorry, Valentina. For everything. I never should have used you to find your father.”

“It’s not that. It’s that you kept using me even after we started sleeping together.”

“I know, and I’m sorry, amore.”

I kicked my feet and watched the ripples in the water. “Why not tell me, then? Why go on letting me think it was real.”

“Because itwasreal.” Leaning over, he put his forehead against my temple. “My soul aches for you. I am like the dirt surrounding us, dry and lifeless, and you are the water bringing me back to life. Fiore mio, my beautiful flower. You make everything better—you makemebetter. I am nothing without you.”

Tears spilled over my lashes, tracking down my cheeks. I wiped them, but they kept coming. “God, Luca.”

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