Page 26 of Sunshine

I held Luca’s gaze, his hazel eyes boring a hole into me. Logan wasn’t big on eye contact, which was fine, but Luca seemed to do nothing but look directly at me like he could see right into my soul.

“She wants her dreams to come true…” I said, thoughtfully, pausing again while still staring into Luca’s eyes, until I realized he was waiting for me to continue.

My cheeks heated. “It’s like…” I gestured with my hands. “Sorry. Thinking out loud.”

“Continue.” Logan was still focused on his cutting board. “I like hearing you think while I’m cooking.”

“If I could figure out what each attendee’s secret longing was and somehow fulfill it…”

“You would be a rich woman,” Luca finished. “But maybe you can simulate that during the gala.”

“But how…” Images began to appear in my mind. The room would be decorated in dark blues and purples, with turquoise and gold laid over. It will feel mysterious, magical.

I looked over at Luca again, who was staring intently at me.

“Everyone has things they long for,” Luca said softly.

The conversation was turning too intimate, too personal. Like he knew my secret desires, as if he’d climbed inside my heart to see what forbidden things lay there.

“How would I even begin to get each person’s secret desires…” I shook my head, still caught by his eyes, images of a gala swirling in my mind, but now with me in the center of Luca, Julian, and Logan. “It’s so personal.”

“It is.” Luca brushed his hand over my wrist. “But surely you can evoke those emotions?”

“Make it feel like a dream.” Images of me with them swirled in my mind, so clear it felt like a premonition.

The door to the kitchen opened with a snap, and I looked away, the moment lost.

I could want them with all my heart. It would change nothing.

But maybe that yearning could help me. Everyone wanted something bigger and better. Grasping for things just out of our reach was human nature.

“Maybe make it interactive.” Logan adding, squirting lime juice into the marinade. “People wish they could fly, swim in the ocean with dolphins, that sort of thing.”

I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t think my budget will let me import dolphins.”

“It won’t have to. Just work your event planning magic. You don’t have to do the thing to feel joy and wonder from it.”

“True.” I bit my lip again, fiddling with my fork. I was finally full, but I didn’t want to declare the meal done, because that would mean my time here was over. “I’m gonna look into spaces in the area. It will help me put it together.”

Logan grunted. “Let me know when you want to start going over the menu.”

“Why not be creative?” I pushed some more food around my plate, savoring the last few bites. “You know Mrs. Cullen, and you know the event. I’ll tell you when I have more ideas, but feel free to brainstorm.”

Luca grinned. “Music to our ears.”

“That’s a good plan.” Logan said, with the faraway look on his face that said he was already plotting the menu.

“You two have the same expression.” Luca laughed, stealing some of the corn salsa. “No wonder you work so well together.”

Warmth flared inside me. I ignored it as best as I could and spent the rest of the night at the restaurant, clowning around with the two of them.

Luca talked about one of the heavy cases he was working on. It was corporate law, so nothing dramatic like cheating spouses and custody battles, but it was a lot of tedious paperwork and hunting for clauses in contracts.

We went home after the restaurant staff finished cleaning the kitchen. By the time I crawled into bed, I was wired. Exhausted, sure, but super pepped-up about planning menus, the upcoming festival, and how to make Mrs. Cullen see reason.

It was becoming too easy to picture more evenings like this. I knew better. They weren’t my pack. Logan had said as much at the restaurant, and so had Julian when he’d asked for platonic snuggles.

It did nothing to stop my epic crush. But that’s what it would do—crush me—if I let it get out of hand. Better to keep thingsfriendly and stop letting myself picture their mouths on my skin, their arms around my body.

---