Page 53 of Luca
The image of a playboy and the man who reminded me of his father slowly dimmed. It wasn’t gone, but the comparison wasn’t as sharp.
Straightening my shoulders, I met his gaze head on.
“There will be no sex,” I said. My voice was firm, but something inside me shook. “If you so much as put your hand on me, you’ll be dead by the morning.” His lips curved into a beautiful smile, making my heart go all wild. “No cheating either.” I paused, giving him time to comment. Anything. I realized the last term was ridiculous. Especially since I just stated no sex.
I cocked an eyebrow, waiting. He didn’t fail me. “No cheating,” he agreed. “But we’ll have to work on our relationship. I’m not a saint.”
“Okay, but we’ll have to take it super slow. It might take years.” Gosh, it was as if I was trying to convince himnotto marry me. “If those terms are agreeable to you, then I accept your offer.”
It took him a moment too long to answer. “Deal.” Then he flashed me his brilliant grin. “I won’t fuck you until you beg me.”
My cheeks grew warm, but I refused to show the way his words impacted me. Luca certainly had a way with words.
So I scoffed. “That will never happen.”
I should have known he’d make me eat those words.
* * *
We gotto the spot that I usually visited, then both of us took a seat on the nearby stone wall that separated the road and the beach.
“Been stalking me?” I asked half-jokingly. There was no way that he’d bring me here accidentally.
“Nonno said it’s your favorite spot,” he noted, although he didn’t deny that he’d been stalking me.
“But he didn’t have to tell you that because you’ve been stalking me,” I declared. His expression remained unmoved. “How long have you been on this island exactly?”
“A few weeks give or take,” he answered vaguely.
That should have alarmed me, but I was long past that by now. I just wanted some peace. I sighed “Whatever. Have it your way,” I muttered, rubbing my belly,
He side-eyed me, his stare filling with a trace of dry amusement. “You’re a lot more relaxed than before.”
Taking a deep breath in, I slowly exhaled it. “I guess it’s the pregnancy. I’m hormonal, emotional but less tense. It’s not good for the baby to get worked up all the time.”
“I like this side of you,” he said.
Shock and warmth erupted in my chest. The hormonal and emotional side of me was winning. I didn’t really mind it.
“Or maybe I’m just happy I get to talk to someone without a language barrier,” I retorted dryly. “Maybe I was home sick and you’re the closest thing to home right now.”
He didn’t seem deterred. “I’ll take what I can get.”
“That doesn’t seem like a healthy mindset,” I remarked. “And you’ve never been the one to settle for crumbs, Luca King.”
A half-smile pulled on his lips. “I hadn’t realized you’ve been thinking about me so much, Margaret Callahan. It turns out you know me well.”
I rolled my eyes. “It was easy to figure you out when I kept bumping into you.”
“So it was you stalking me,” he teased, turning it all around.
“You wish,” I scoffed, rolling my eyes again. Despite his arrogance, my lips curved into a smile and all the while I rubbed my belly.
Luca’s eyes lowered to my stomach, his expression filling with something volatile and conflicted before he looked away. Uncertainty ran through me. What if he despised the baby when she was born because she wasn’t his?
My paranoid thoughts evaporated with his next words.
“Can I touch your stomach?” Confusion filled me as I searched his face, but his eyes were zeroed in on my stomach. Something dark as sin filled his expression, confusing me. “Can I feel her move?”
