Page 37 of Can't Always Get What You Want

“Ghost you?” I narrow my eyes. “Have you been eavesdropping on my conversations?”

“I wish.”

Luca sets our Rainforest cup on the tabletop and it winks at us both, a happy, fun, funny souvenir from out last outing. It’s absurd. And kind of perfect. And I hate how it makes my chest do a weird, fluttering thing.

“Your turn with our love child.” He pats it on the top, where the giraffe’s neck creates the handle.

I roll my eyes, but the corners of my mouth betray me. I am smiling.Against my will. Stupid charming face. Stupid smirky jawline.

I cradle the cup with mock sincerity. “Don’t worry, buddy. Mommy loves you more.”

Luca places a dramatic hand over his heart. “Wow. Already turning him against me. I’m texting my therapist.”

“You don’t have a therapist.”

He leans back and smiles at me knowingly. “You don’t know that.”

I blink at Luca. “Do you?”

His nod is slow. “Sure. Doesn’t everyone?”

“No,” I say automatically. “But it’s…”

It’s good.

Surprising.

It’s also an attractive trait and I hate that.

I glance at him again, squinting as if I can detect a lie. “You’re serious?”

Luca leans back, one arm slung casually over the back of his chair.

“Yeah. Been going since my second season. Started as damage control after I almost punched a guy on my own team in the locker room. Kept going because as it turns out, bottling things up and pretending you’re made of steel is not cool.”

That shuts me up. I stare at him slack-jawed despite myself and confess: “That might be the hottest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

“Seriously?” He’s still settled in, leaning back against his chair. “What about you?”

“Yes. I’ve been in therapy since our parents died.” I bite down on my bottom lip. “Sometimes with Gio, sometimes without.”

Luca doesn’t flinch or fill the silence with a joke like most guys would. He just…nods. Like he gets it. Like he knows how heavy that sentence is and isn’t afraid to hold it.

“That makes sense. I would do the same.” His voice is low and intimate. “You two are close. Gio loves hard.”

“I mean—I’m the only family he has. We only have one aunt, and she lives in France, so…” My lips twitch. “Telling me my brother loves hard is the nicest description of him. Usually it’s more like ‘aggressively protective.’”

Luca laughs, but not in a way that breaks the moment. “He did try to check me into the boards during practice the first time I asked about you, so there is that.”

My eyes widen. This is news to me. “Hewhat?”

“Don’t worry, I bounced.” He grins, watching as the server approaches, laying the white linen napkin on his lap. “It was a subtle jab. Like, if you weren’t watching us closely, you’d thinkhe accidentally skated into me at full speed with murder in his eyes.”

Oh.

My.

Gawd.

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