Page 49 of The Sicilian’s Deal For 'I Do'

‘Drink?’ Max strode onto the wrap-around balcony of the old timber house holding two beers, one extended further, for Luca.

He took it with a nod of thanks, cracked the lid and leaned forward, forearms against the railings.

‘What do you think?’

Luca didn’t want to tell his brother what he thought. In the days since arriving, he’d managed to avoid mentioning Mia, even though she was at the forefront of his mind constantly. Even his sleep was filled with her, his dreams flooded by Mia, so waking was always the nightmare, because she wasn’t there when he reached for her.

But she could have been.

If she’d agreed to his proposition, she could have been at his side here in Australia, seeing this strange, exotic place with its unrivalled natural beauty, the outback and the bush and then this tropical paradise on the coastal fringe, with an ocean as startlingly clear as those of the Mediterranean, and huge, prehistoric-seeming trees in all directions.

Instead, she was on the other side of the globe, likely losing sleep over her father’s financial mismanagement and her marriage into the di Angelo family.

‘Luca?’

He grunted.

‘Okay, that’s it.’ Max’s tone was sharp. Luca had generally only heard him employ this voice when chastising his daughter, Amanda—and even then, only occasionally. ‘I’ve had enough. What the hell is going on with you?’

Luca turned his gaze on his brother, heart racing.

‘At first, I cut you some slack, because I know how seeing the old man gets to you. But not like this. This is different. So? Mind telling me why you’re acting like a bear with a sore head?’ He paused. ‘Even more so than usual.’

Luca grunted again.

‘I’ve never seen you like this.’

Luca took a long draw of his beer, turned his gaze back to the ocean. He wouldn’t talk to Max about her. He couldn’t. Not only did Luca lack the emotional experience to explain what he was feeling, he had no experience with the words needed to adequately convey his despair, and an insufficient understanding of the situation to elucidate, in any event.

‘Let’s start with something small.’ Max swapped to a cajoling tone. ‘Tell me where you were last weekend.’

Out of nowhere, Luca’s mind was flooded with images. Mia. His beach. His pool. His bedroom. His kitchen. Sitting on the edge of the table eating sun-warmed strawberries. Lying on her stomach on the tiles of the pool, reading a novel. Laughing as he drove them, her tanned legs always catching his attention, and also her easy smile. Mia’s eyes—happy, shining with the force of a thousand suns, and stormy, sad, as they’d been at his home in Palermo, the last time he’d seen her. Mia, sitting beside him as he’d played the piano, listening to him talk about his family, his father, offering gentle, wise counsel. Mia, acting as though she would always be there for him.

‘Luca? Answer the damned question.’

‘I was in San Vito Lo Capo.’

‘And were you there alone?’

Luca dropped his head forward, grief finally cracking him apart, so he felt as though he’d been drawn an awful, almighty blow to the chest. ‘No.’ His gut hurt. ‘I was with someone.’ And suddenly, he was desperate to say her name, despite everything he’d been doing to avoid this conversation. He needed to say it, like an incantation. To get her out of his head, finally. ‘Mia.’

And then, despite all the reasons for his inability to explain, he found the words tumbling out of him, the whole story. Their engagement, what he’d discovered, what he’d thought a year ago when he’d gleefully avoided the wedding, how wrong he’d been, how he’d wanted her only because she was suddenly someone he couldn’t have, at least, that was what he’d thought, at first. But he’d been wrong about that, too. He’d wanted Mia all for herself, for the woman she was, the woman he’d met a year ago, who’d worked her way into his mind and stayed there. But she’d worked herself into more than his mind: she was everywhere inside him, a part of his genetic make-up now.

And finally, he relayed the offer he’d made, his suggestion that he would help her father, because he’d been so desperate to keep her in his life. So desperate not to let her go off and marry another man.

‘I see,’ was all Max said, some time later as the sun dipped lower in the sky. From inside the house, Amanda’s voice came to them.

‘Daddy? Zio?’

Luca’s heart clutched.Zio.Uncle. He’d never wanted children of his own, but his niece was an incredible person. He couldn’t imagine life without her.

‘I have to get Amanda’s dinner.’

‘Wait.’ Luca held the now-empty beer bottle in both hands. ‘You haven’t told me what you think.’

Max considered his brother for a long time. ‘Do you really want my advice?’

That was a strange question. Luca wasn’t in the business of asking anyone for their opinion. But he nodded, slowly.

---