Page 85 of Luca
Thanks to my cool nerves. And my ability to resist killing him.
Luca stepped out of the car and strode around to my side to open the door for me. I took his hand and grunted as I pushed myself up.
“Don’t worry, we’re leasing a new car for the baby,” he assured. “It will be delivered tomorrow.”
“What kind of car?” I asked curiously.
“Range Rover for you. Mercedes G-Benz for me.” He always managed to surprise me. “If you don’t like it, you can get another one. But we’ll have to check the safety ratings. I did research on this one. And on car seats. So when you go shopping with Áine, don’t worry about that.”
I knew without an ounce of doubt that he’d be a good father. Some men had it ingrained in them. My father did. And so did my husband.
“Thank you.” Emotion squeezed my chest. Not sad, but not exactly happy either. I couldn’t quite pinpoint it.
He lifted my arm and placed a firm kiss on the inside of my wrist, where my pulse thudded softly.
“You belong to me. I’ll keep you and our daughter safe. No matter what.”
My hand in his, we took two steps when someone blocked our way. Instinctively, Luca stepped forward, blocking me.
“No need for all that with me.” It was my mother’s voice. I instantly stiffened. I had purposely not gone to visit her since I returned. I didn’t want her sneer nor her criticism.
“Hello, Mother,” I greeted her coldly, taking a step to stand next to Luca. “I thought you hated the city.”
And there it was. The same sneer she always held whenever she looked at me.
“I thought you hated the King family yet here you are,” she replied with venom. “Married to one. Margaret King. It doesn’t even sound good.”
God how she irked me! She behaved like an immature bitch. I swallowed what I really wanted to say and kept it civilized.
“It’s actually DiMauro,” I replied instead. “So no need to worry about me.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but Luca cut her off.
“My apologies,” he said. He sounded anything but apologetic. “My wife and I have a date so this isn’t a good time for a social call.”
Without another word, he led me towards the entrance and we walked into the restaurant with everyone’s eyes on us.
The host rushed to us. “Wonderful to see you again, Sir.”
“Pablo,” Luca nodded. “Meet my wife.” He traded my hand for my lower back, his palm pressing on it. It was soothing. Assuring.
As we walked, following Pablo to our reserved table, Luca bent his head and brushed his lips against my earlobe.
“You look beautiful.” My insides fluttered. He didn’t say anything when I came out of the bedroom dressed. But his eyes were the darkest green I had ever seen.
Now as we walked together, the pink long sleeve maternity chiffon dress swished, brushing against his three-piece suit. The dress accented my stomach and the surplice neck décolleté highlighted my boobs. My gaze kept lowering to it to ensure it wasn’t lower than it should be.
“It’s my job to stare at your boobs,” Luca remarked amused. “Not the other way around.”
I rolled my eyes, unable to come up with a witty response.
It was another side-effect of pregnancy. My brain was slower and so was my tongue.
“Who owns this place?” I asked instead.
“We do.” His eyes traveled around the place. “We’ll keep it even after we move to Sicily. Only legitimate business runs through here.”
“Oh.”
