CHAPTER FIVE
Katherine
I DIDN’T TRUST that smile. Luca had something up his sleeve. I didn’t expect him to cough up his master plan, though. All I could do was remain vigilant and deflect any attempts at seduction that he might try.
Oh, yes. I knew he was going to pull out all the stops. Probably try to woo me with fancy dinners and sickeningly trite flattery, because that was all he knew of me from our past, but I was long past that girl.
He’d broken me two years ago. And even before then, I could feel myself changing as my perspective of the world shifted. I guessed higher learning did that to you. He could waste his time plying me with useless trinkets and hollow conversation, but I was immune. I would endure this week and then finally walk away from the Donato family forever. Starting fresh was scary, but there was something exhilarating about the prospect, too. I couldn’t wait.
A moment of disquiet intruded on my budding elation. I’d known the Donato boys as long as I could remember. Nico, Luca’s youngest brother, and I were friends. I didn’t care for Dante much—he was too much like Giovanni—but the point was, they’d always been part of my life. I didn’t know what life would be like without their influence casting a shadow, both good and bad.
I guessed I would find out.
“I’m hungry,” he announced, checking his watch. “Let’s get some dinner.”
Ah, here it comes. “Let me guess...a candlelit dinner for two atop the highest building in the city? A glorious view of the bay, stars twinkling, the mood just right...so cozy, so romantic,” I mocked. Like I’m going to fall for that. I folded my arms across my chest, smug. “But it’s my day to pick.”
He frowned. “A simple ‘no, thanks’ would’ve been fine.”
“Like you weren’t angling for some romantic night out,” I said, calling his bluff.
“Not unless you consider a burger down at the corner pub romantic,” he said, his expression clearly saying, Calm your tits, crazy lady, but I wasn’t buying it. He grabbed his coat. “You coming or not?”
“Not.”
“Suit yourself.”
My certainty faltered as Luca headed for the door. Was he actually going to leave me behind? My stomach growled in protest. “Are you really going for a burger?” I called after him, grabbing my coat to join him. He shook his head with open annoyance at my suspicion, then he kept walking. He exited the hostel and stepped onto the sidewalk, his stride so damn confident that even passersby took notice. I couldn’t help staring just a little. Everywhere Luca went, he attracted attention. If it wasn’t for his looks, it was his demeanor. He had a way of walking into a room and instantly taking control. It was as if the universe engineered every circumstance to his advantage, and that drove me nuts.
Even if it was a little bit sexy. Okay, maybe a lot sexy, but I wasn’t going to feed his massive ego by admitting it. If anything, I would deny it until I died, just to prick a few holes in that giant head of his.
The pub wasn’t far, true to his word, and I could smell the aroma of something delicious the minute we were within a few feet. My stomach clenched with hunger, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten since that morning at Alana’s, and I was privately glad I’d decided to tag along. I’d let Luca spend his money so I could keep what I had in reserve.
An Irish pub, the interior dark paneling punctuated by import-beer signs and raucous laughter, the place had a fun vibe that was hard to dislike. We slid into a cozy booth, and a terminally cute and bubbly waitress named Erin bounced over to our table.
“Welcome to Harrigans. What can I get you to start off with?”
“Murphy’s Irish stout,” Luca answered, earning a smile from Little Miss Easily Impressed.
Her gaze lingered for a second longer than necessary before she gestured to me. “And your lady?” she asked, clearly on a fishing expedition.
Might as well help the girl out. Do her a solid.
“I’m not his lady,” I corrected her, shooting Luca a pointed look, daring him to say anything different, but the man simply sat there, waiting for me to give Erin my drink order, which only made me look like a bitchy shrew. “We are...uh...business associates,” I clarified with a smile. “And I’ll have a Guinness.”
“Oh, my mistake. You two look so sweet together I just kinda assumed. I’m so sorry. Be right back.” She beamed and bounced away like the human equivalent of a bunny rabbit with giant boobs.
“I think she likes you,” I said, hoping to goad him into saying or doing something that would cement my disdain for him, but he didn’t even nibble at the bait. I tried harder. “Supercute, too. Those boobs, right? Pretty big. If you like that sort of thing. I mean, of course you do. All guys lose their minds over big tits. I think it’s etched in your DNA.”
“You seem pretty obsessed with our waitress’s breasts,” he observed, amused.
Heat climbed my throat to heat my cheeks. “That’s not what I meant... Oh, forget it. Never mind,” I said, letting it go. He wasn’t going to do something so overtly offensive as coming on to the waitress on the first day of our deal. What an amateur move. If I wanted to win, I had to stop thinking so small.
Erin returned with our drinks, and after we both ordered the house burgers, I fidgeted a little, unsure of what to do with my hands. Finally, I settled with my hands in my lap, but I was intensely aware of how an entirely too-small table was the only obstacle between us. Our knees were practically kissing beneath the table.
Was I supposed to make small talk? I had two settings around Luca—head over heels in love and despise with the force of an EMP blast—I didn’t know how to be neutral.
And his seemingly relaxed, taking-in-the-ambience attitude wasn’t helping things. Why wasn’t he acting like he normally did—arrogant or patronizing—so I could find my bearings?
I didn’t know how to reconcile that Luca with this chill dude.
“How’d you know about this place?” I asked, breaking the awkward silence. “Have you been here before?”
“Nope. Dinner locale courtesy of Google Maps. It was the closest to the hostel and had a good Yelp review. I figure we had nothing to lose, seeing as we were already taking our lives for granted by staying in the murder motel for the night, but, hey, life is for the living, right?” He lifted his bottle in salute and tipped it back. “Plus, it reminds me of a few pubs me and my buddies frequented in Scotland. Good times, except for the time I was persuaded to eat haggis on a drunken dare.”
I dragged my gaze away from the spectacle of those sensual lips wrapping around the bottle top and focused on my own drink. I didn’t care for Guinness, but it seemed sacrilegious to order anything less in an Irish pub. Besides, the beer helped loosen the tension cording my shoulders, so I continued to slug it down. “How’d that end?” I asked.
“With my head stuck in a dirty toilet and a bunch of locals laughing their asses off,” he answered wryly. “Never touched haggis again.”
I bit back a laugh, but I rather liked the image of a young Luca puking his guts out in a foreign country.
“You like that, huh?” His slow grin did terrible things to my stomach. “Then you’ll love the story of how I woke up after a wild night in London to find my face a different color than when I passed out. The fuckers sprayed me with the darkest sunless tanner they could find. I went to bed white and woke up a mottled dark brown, and that shit did not scrub off easily. I spent the rest of the week looking like I’d caught a skin disease until it wore off.”
At that I really did laugh. “Was this during your European pub crawl after high school?”
“The very same. How’d you know? You were pretty young then.”
“I always knew what was going on. My circumstances weren’t exactly normal.”
He conceded my point with a silent nod, but before either of us could say much more, our food arrived and we both let it go, choosing dinner over uncomfortable topics.
And I was grateful. I didn’t want to have a deep, soulful conversation with Luca about anything, much less my unorthodox childhood, thanks to his family, and he’d seemed on the verge of saying something distressingly nice or even apologetic.
I couldn’t risk buying into anything he had to say, even if a part of me craved it more than I wanted to admit.
I’d long since stopped wondering how things might’ve been different if Luca had apologized in the slightest for breaking my heart... I wondered if I would’ve granted my forgiveness. I knew the answer—of course I would’ve. I’d been helplessly in love with the jackass. I was pretty sure stars had twinkled in my eyes like a cartoon character whenever he’d been around.
Hard to imagine being that way with anyone now—nor did I want to. I liked who I was, and I had no interest in returning to that caricature I’d been before.
Food was a great buffer, and by the time we were finished eating in silence, not needing to speak as we shoveled burgers into our mouths, I’d lost some of my prickles.
I felt more secure about making it through the week without succumbing to Luca’s charm. I just needed to keep at the forefront of my mind the reasons not to marry him. Good sex did not a relationship make. I mean, it was important, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t want to raise my kids the way the Donato boys were raised.
For one, Giovanni was an old-school misogynist, and even though Luca wasn’t that way, his brother Dante certainly leaned that direction. I didn’t want my kids around that kind of influence and keeping any Donato grandchildren away from the family would be near to impossible.
“Thank you for the dinner company,” Luca said, patting his belly in the most comically unrefined way. “That burger hit the spot. Can I tell you a secret?”
My smile faded into quizzical curiosity. “I guess.”
“I’m not into fancy food. Never have been. Most times I’d rather just have a burger, fries and a milk shake, but it seems I’m in the minority.”
“No, you’re not. I hate fancy food,” I admitted. “You remember that time your mom had the chef prepare duck in blood sauce? I thought Dante was going to throw up all over your mother’s fine china.”
“God, yes. Who knows what possessed Mother to have the cook serve that disgusting dish. Thankfully, she never did it again.”
As much as I wanted to forget everything I’d experienced with the Donato family, there had been good times. My family was small, just me and my father after my mom died, and our home had always felt quiet. The Donato family home wasn’t exactly cozy, but it felt fuller than mine. Nico and I had perpetrated some world-class pranks, but after getting caught one too many times, we’d realized we had to stop if we wanted to get into any worthwhile university. He was a good friend, but I was prepared to walk away from all of them.
The breath hitched in my chest when I realized the magnitude of what I was doing—walking away from everything I’d ever known—but I couldn’t let myself travel too far down that road.
I had to do this.
But there was no sense in ruining a decent dinner, right?
We shared some light and totally safe memories, laughed a little, and by the time we walked back to the hostel, I was actually smiling.
Until we entered our room and my gaze fell unerringly on that tiny bed.
Could Luca actually lie beside me without making a move?
Would I be able to sleep with him smashed up against me?
I guessed there was only one way to find out.