Page 106 of Alpha-Ex Wedding Ruse
I raised a brow. “That’s what you two were talking about?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that was the only thing that caught my interest.”
Satisfaction settled inside of me.
Her face glowed with the kind of joy I hadn’t seen in her since we reunited. She was thrilled.
“This is surreal, Luca,” she whispered.
“We actually did it.”
“You did it.”
“We did it. We make a pretty good team.”
I smiled and nodded. “We still do.”
“I’ll get the wine glasses.”
Leila disappeared into the kitchen and returned seconds later with a glass of wine. I took the bottle from her, filled her glass, then mine, and set it down on the table.
She raised her glass slightly, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “To shoving Gabe’s tongue back in his mouth.”
I chuckled. “To shoving Gabe’s tongue back in his mouth.”
Our glasses clinked, and we both took a generous swig. Watching her like this—smiling, relaxed, letting herself feel—filled me with a rare kind of contentment.
My wolf stirred again, restless beneath my skin, urging me to close the space between us. To touch her. Hold her.
Her gaze locked on mine, and the smile on her lips faded, replaced by something heavier. Want. The kind that made the air feel too thick to breathe. We held each other’s eyes in silence, a long stretch of it. I watched the shift in hers—the darkening, the heat building. My gaze dropped, and I saw the way her nipples strained against the thin fabric of her nightdress. My cock hardened instantly.
She followed my gaze, then swallowed hard.
“I should, um…I should get back to packing,” she said, already turning. But I caught her wrist. Gently. But firmly.
“Leila, wait.” I pulled her toward me until barely an inch remained between us.
“Luca…” she exhaled, like my name knocked the breath out of her.
“Can you feel it?” I guided her hand firmly to my chest, placing it right over my heart. “Can you feel my wolf? This is what you do to it—every damn time you’re near me. Hell, even when I just think about you.” My voice dropped, rough with emotion. “And fuck, Leila…I think about you so much, it could be considered unhealthy.”
Her hand trembled against my chest as she looked up at me, wide-eyed. I stepped closer, closing what little space remained between us, until her body brushed against mine—until she could feel the hard bulge pressing through my pants.
“That,” I rasped, “is what you’ve been doing to me. All fucking week. Working with you has been torture. I thought if I kept reminding myself of the past, it’d kill this feeling. That I’d stop wanting you like this. Needing you.”
I blew out a breath. “But it hasn’t. Not even close. And it wrecks me, Leila. Every time you keep me at arm’s length. Every time I see you across the room and can’t touch you. Can’t hold you.”
Her expression softened. The hardness she’d worn for so long cracked open, and I saw it—the woman from five years ago. The one who used to look at me like I was her entire world.
God, I missed this. I missed her.
“It’s complicated, Luca,” she whispered. “You know it is.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” I said, my voice low and urgent. “We both want the same thing.”
“But I can’t just forget. I can’t pretend the past didn’t happen…” Her voice faltered, and she sighed. “This is killing me, too, Luca.”
“Then stop.” The words came out in a whisper. I leaned in until our foreheads touched, her breath hot against my skin. “Stop building walls between us.”
