Page 65 of Alpha-Ex Wedding Ruse
One second, we were debating the latest LEGO expansion pack, and now this?
My eyes widened. “Who said I don’t like him, baby?”
“You do that thing with your face when you see him,” Ollie replied, casually licking his spoon.
I narrowed my eyes. “What thing?”
“The thing where you pretend to be angry, but you’re not really angry,” he said, looking up at me with those sharp little brows pulled together.
There it was. The curse of raising a perceptive child—they noticed everything. Even the feelings you thought you’d buried behind a smile.
I gave a soft chuckle, then smiled down at him. “It’s not that I don’t like Luca, I just…”
My words faltered. What could I say? That I was keeping Luca at a safe distance because being close to him meant risking everything I’d finally managed to patch back together? That I didn’t trust him not to break me all over again?
I shrugged. “Why are we suddenly talking about Luca?”
“Because I saw him. He waved at me, but you didn’t wave back.”
I blinked. “You saw Luca?”
He nodded. And suddenly, the ground felt a little less steady beneath my feet. My eyes darted across the crowded park.
“Where?”
Ollie pointed to his left, and my gaze followed, straight to Luca.
My breath hitched.
He was leaning against an ice cream vendor’s cart, looking maddeningly at ease. His eyes were locked on us, steady and intense, as he scooped a spoonful of ice cream and licked it slowly. And God…that one simple act sent fireworks racing down my spine and a whole circus of butterflies somersaulting in my belly.
He wore a plain white T-shirt and black cargo jeans—a striking contrast to his usual lineup of immaculate, custom-tailored suits. And I could admit it, just this once: he looked so damn good. His hair fell forward slightly, hanging just above those piercing steel gray eyes—eyes that stormed with a familiar emotion. Need.
I blinked out of the trance just in time to see him drop the empty cup into a bin, push off the cart, and start walking. Toward us.
Shit.
I took Ollie’s hand quickly. “We’ve got to go.”
“Are you not going to say hi to Uncle Luca?”
“I will. Some other time. Preferably when I see him at work. I just remembered I, uh…forgot to turn off the oven.”
Ollie’s eyes narrowed. “You never forget to turn off any electrical appliances. You always say saving power cuts the electricity bill.”
Damn. He was right. I did say that. Often. Too often.
Before I could come up with a decent lie to cover the first one, I noticed it: Luca’s scent. Clean, sharp, expensive. It wrapped around me, invading all of my senses.
When I looked up, he was standing just a few feet away, that signature smile tugging at his lips. A smile I wanted to slap clean off his sinfully handsome face.
“Luca,” I greeted him, lifting my chin and pasting on the tightest smile I could manage. One that made it clear I was not even remotelypleased to see him. “I could never imagine you in a thrift market…or any market, for that matter.”
He grinned. “Me neither. But I’m trying to learn the habit of prudence.”
I almost choked on my own laugh. Luca and prudence? The man once bought an entire restaurant because they refused him a last-minute reservation. Prudence, my ass.
Then he turned to Ollie, bending slightly to ruffle his hair. Ollie giggled.
