Page 28 of Loving You

“Stop doing that,” I say between gritted teeth.

“Stop being weird,” she mimics me, keeping a smile on her face.

“What are you two up to?” Luca, who found his words, practically sing-songs as he strolls over. He sits right next to me and props his chin up on one hand as he leans on the bar.

“We are eating lunch, Luca. What does it look like?”

“Well, for starters, it seems like?—”

“I’m helping in the shop and renting the apartment behind it,” Quinn cuts him off.

It makes me want to smile. She doesn’t even live here full time, and she knows my brother well enough to know he was about to just let all his thoughts fall from his lips like a kid with food poisoning. Uncontrolled and way too fucking much.

“Oh,” is all Luca says.

“And he invited me to lunch after we spent the morning together.”

She gives me a wink.

I’d laugh if I weren’t so terrified at how calm she is right now and a little alarmed at the innuendo she clearly just made that leaves my brother speechless.

Instead, I just stare at her.

She takes a breath, clearing her throat and letting her gaze flicker to my hand behind her. It wasn’t exactly a natural move, but Luca is too shocked to notice, and Hudson is busy working.

I move my hand from the back of her chair to her back and give her two small strokes.

“See anything you like?”

“Oh, I’ve always loved the food here.” She smiles at me.

Okay, so it might be a little overkill right now, but I don’t care. Luca remains silent. I’m going to enjoy that for a little while longer.

"I’ll take a bacon cheeseburger with fries and mustard.”

I fake gag. “What? Did you mean to say ranch?”

“No.”

“Pretty sure you did. Or even maybe ketchup or fry sauce or even barbecue sauce, but you definitely said?—”

“Mustard. I know.”

“Are you two ready to order?” Hudson asks as he joins us. Then he looks at Luca, who is still stunned, watching Quinn and me. “What happened to him?”

“I’m not sure,” I say, quickly followed by “two of the usual but one with mustard.”

Even Hudson looks at Quinn with disgust.

He walks off to place our order while Quinn and I pretend Luca isn’t here.

“So,” she starts and pulls out her folder with the printed spreadsheets. “I looked at three different software programs and put their comparisons here.” She hands me the papers. “It’s pretty clear which one you’ll want to get based on price and what you want out of it.”

“Why didn’t you just buy one?”

“Because I wanted you to see your options. ‘Just buy one’”—she uses fake air quotes on the last three words—“isn’t a smart business move.”

I raise a brow and look her in the eyes.

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