Chapter 12
Luca
After Mikey changed from jeans to track pants, made a last minute bathroom visit, said goodbye to his hermit crab, and put the papier mâché ball in a plastic bag we were on our way… or so I thought. Then Mikey ran back into the apartment to grab his favorite hat, and we were finally on our way.
Sabrina and I walked down the stairs with Mikey between us, chattering away about the gross lunch his friend Jared brought to school yesterday.
“Egg salad. Yuck. It stunk up the whole classroom. Eggs are so gross. Do you like eggs, Luca?”
“I do.”
“Hmm. Maybe I should try them again one day. Grandma made me scrambled eggs once, and they weren’t too yucky.” I peered at his mother over his head, smiling as she rolled her eyes. My hand itched to hold hers, but now wasn’t the time or place.
When we got to the lobby, Sabrina lifted the hood of Mikey’s raincoat. “Aw, Mom, it’s hardly raining out.” He pushed the kelly green nylon off his head and pointed to the Yankee cap. “That’s what this is for.” Again Sabrina rolled her eyes, but chose to pick her battles.
“Why don’t you guys wait here while I get the car?”
Sabrina met my eye, and raised her brows in question. “Maybe we’re better off taking my car?”
“No need. Wait here. I’ll be a few.”
“We can walk with you,” Mikey volunteered. He pointed toward the glass door. “See, it’s stopping.” He looked to his mom, clapping his little hands together and begging, “Puh-leeeze?”
Sabrina flipped the hood up on her jacket with a sigh. “Okay.”
Mikey ran out the door with Sabrina and I close behind. “Where are we going, Luca?” he asked, bouncing on his sneakered feet. We started walking toward the corner as a light drizzle fell.
“Well, first we’re going to practice your soccer skills. There’s an indoor field I reserved for us.”
“Awesome! I need to stay on top of my game since we aren’t playing today.” He stopped walking long enough to kick an imaginary ball through the air. I couldn’t help but laugh at the determination on his face.
“Stay on top of your game? Where did you learn that?” Sabrina asked, trying to hide her smile but failing.
“Scottie,” he said with an obvious raise of one hand. Turning his attention to me, he further explained, “Scottie’s dad is our coach.”
“Ah, gotcha.” The man sucked at coaching. “Well, today I’ll help you learn some moves that you can impress Scottie’s dad with. How’s that, buddy?”
“I can’t wait! I’m the only one on the team who has a best friend that actually played soccer in Italy.” He went on to explain his conversation with his friends about the best countries in the world who play the best soccer. “Jared said Brazil people are the best, but I said, no way. Italy people are. Right, Luca?”
“I don’t think so, buddy. But I believe we’re tied for second in most World Cup wins.”
“Well, that’s just as good as first. Right? There’s like a million countries they beat.” I nodded a lot, listening intently, but my true focus was on Sabrina. She seemed very quiet, and I wondered what was on her mind.
After a few minutes, I led them to a blue rented SUV parked halfway down the block. When I raised the key fob to unlock the doors with a beep, Sabrina twisted her head with a look of shock on her face.
“Is this your car? Cool!”
“No buddy, I’m renting it.” I opened the back door for him. He jumped inside, sat on the booster seat, and pulled the webbed belt down to buckle himself in.
“It’s so clean,” he added, his eyes taking in the pristine interior. “Mom, our car is messy.”
“And whose fault is that?” she countered with a raised brow.
I shut the back door and waited a pause before opening the front door for Sabrina. “Are you okay?”
Her gorgeous hazel eyes widened as her bottom lip trembled with emotion. “Luca, I can’t believe you did this.”
One of my shoulders raised in a casual way. “It’s no big deal.”
She shook her head, contradicting my words. “It is a big deal.”
We stood staring at each other. The need to reach out, dig my fingers into her hair, and draw her mouth to mine was strong. But the need to keep it platonic for Mikey’s sake won out.
A solid knock on the window broke our moment. “Are we going?” We heard a muffled impatient voice ask with hands raised palms up.
“Sorry, buddy.” I opened the door for his mother, and whispered, “To be continued.”
After practice, we started to head to the water park. Of course, Mikey was asking a thousand questions when he heard we weren’t going home yet. The excitement on his face was reminiscent of seeing Santa Claus.
“That was the coolest place, Luca. I’ve never played on fake grass before. You’re really good, too.” I looked into my rearview mirror when he got quiet. His brows furrowed as I caught his reflection.
“What’s wrong, buddy?”
Sabrina twisted in her seat, craning her head to see her son. “Are you okay?”
Mikey started and stopped his question a couple of times and then blurted it out. “I’m just wondering, well, I mean, Luca taught me how to head the ball today, which was really awesome, but I’m wondering why he didn’t when he was at my game?”
I let out a chuckle and Sabrina covered her mouth. Apparently, she knew laughing just encouraged children, whereas I’d rather laugh with them. “Well, usually during a game, a header is strategic… and planned. Your kick surprised me. But, believe me, that won’t happen again.” Mikey rewarded me with a smile.
“Oh, next time I’ll tell you it’s coming.” He paused for a second. “But, I won’t tell the other players because then they’ll know what my strat… my strat…”
I filled in the blank. “Strategy?”
“Yeah, that. I won’t yell my strat… gee out loud.”
“Good plan.” I turned into the parking lot of our next destination.
As soon as the car slowed, Mikey started to squirm in his booster seat to get a glimpse of where we were. When the sign for Splash Wave Water Park came into view, a shriek that could almost shatter crystal came from the back seat.
“Michael Dillon, use your inside voice, please.” Sabrina’s voice was calm, meanwhile my ears were still ringing.
“Sorry, Mommy.” He paused for a second. “And Luca.”
“That’s okay, but you need to follow rules today. I know you’re excited,” Sabrina said, “but it’s a very busy place, and you can’t horse around in there. Got it?”
“Got it.”
I grabbed my duffle along with Sabrina’s and we all headed in. Mikey’s eyes widened to the size of inner tubes when he caught sight of the slides, wave pool, and lazy river. I bought our tickets, and once we had our wristbands fastened we were off to have some fun.
The scent of chlorine filled the humid air. Kids and adults raced down slides laughing and having a great time. Yeah, this was a fantastic idea. If I could have reached around and patted my own back, I would have.
Sabrina took her bag from me, “We’ll go change in the locker room and meet you back here, is that okay?”
Even she seemed excited to take a trip down one of the slides. Whereas I was excited to see her in a bathing suit. I motioned toward a seating area with tables. “I’ll be over there.”
She nodded. “Sounds great.”
“Mom, can’t I go to the men’s locker room with Luca? I don’t want to be with the girls.” He let go of his mom’s hands and crossed his little arms in front of his chest. Sabrina let out an exasperated breath. I had a feeling she’d dealt with this more times than not, so I kept my mouth closed.
“Honey, it’s a family locker room. There will be boys in there too.”
“Then can’t Luca come with us?”
Our eyes met, and as much as I wanted to go with them, I took the burden off of Sabrina. “Buddy…” I squatted to get to his eye level. “It’ll go faster if I go to the men’s locker room. We don’t want to waste time, do we?” He shook his head. “I didn’t think so.” I kissed the top of his head and smiled at his mother who was staring at me with the same look she had earlier.
“Okay, then it’s settled.” Sabrina took Mikey’s hand. “See you soon, Luca.”
I changed into my swim trunks, tossed on a tank top and my sport slides, stuffed my bag into a locker, and headed out to the deck area to find us a table.
When they started walking toward me, my breath hitched in my throat. The one-piece black suit she wore was not sexy or revealing in any way, but holy hell you could still tell her body was spectacular—and I knew for a fact it was. However, some of the other men there couldn’t keep their eyes off of her either.
It was going to be a long day.
Mikey caught sight of me and ran right to where I was waiting. “I’ve never been to a water park before. This is gonna be so awesome!”
“That’s the plan, buddy.”
Sabrina approached with a wide smile. “Mikey, stay here with Luca. I’m going to grab a few more towels.” Like a magnet for my eyes, I pinned my line of sight to the seductive sway of her butt as she walked away.
“Luca.”
I looked back at her son, and he waited for me to pay attention. Based on his mannerism, he must have had called my name more than once. “Yeah?”
“Can we do that?” He pointed to the giant spiral slide at the far end of the park.
Not wanting to promise him in case he wasn’t allowed, I said, “That might be for grown-ups only. We’ll see.” For some reason, the words reminded me of my mother. I had to swallow a chuckle at how “parenty” I sounded.
Two weeks ago, family outings weren’t on my radar. How quickly things could change. Being with Mikey and Sabrina felt natural. It didn’t hurt that he was a great kid and that his mom was quickly becoming someone special to me.
Speaking of, the way Sabrina’s hips swayed as she made her way back to us made me thankful I decided to wear board shorts rather than my usual European cut suit. She set the towels down and smiled at her son who was ready to pop out of his water shoes.
“What do you say, Mikey? Are you ready?” He nodded enthusiastically. “Then what are we waiting for?” Sabrina said as she smiled brightly at her son. “Do I need to remind you of the rules?”
“No, Mom. I know. No running and stay where you can see me. If we get separated, I need to go to a lifeguard. You told me all of this in the locker room. I’m not a baby.” He pouted. “Right, Luca?”
“Oh no way, buddy, you’re not involving me in this. Your mom has good rules. You should listen to her no matter how old you are.”
Mikey shrugged. “Okay, if you say so. Can we go now?”
The three of us started out on the more tame water slides where Mikey could ride alone. After climbing up and down the stairs and ladders numerous times, we decided to float in the lazy river.
We climbed into the inner tube, and Sabrina and I sat side by side.. Mikey took the flat surface between us. I was close enough to stretch my arm out behind her. The tip of Sabrina’s ponytail tickled my skin. Her face was makeup free, the freckles across the bridge of her nose making her appear younger than her age.
The way the wet nylon clung to every curve, dip and crevice of her body, made me wish we were done floating and somewhere alone.
“This was a wonderful idea.”
I shot my eyes down to Mikey beside me. He was busy kicking his legs trying to get his toes to touch the water. While he was occupied, I lifted my hand and started playing with her ponytail. A small smile tugged on the corners of her full lips. “I’m glad you’re both having fun.”
When my fingers drifted to trace lazy patterns on the back of her neck, her smile changed to something else. I’d been dying to touch her all day, and as long as we were in this tube floating aimlessly, I would continue to.
But Mikey had other plans. As we approached the debarking area, he twisted toward his mother. “Can we see if I’m big enough for the big slide now?”
Sabrina’s gaze cut to the monstrosity he referred to. “Um…that one is way too big for your mom.”
“Please? Luca can take me.” He turned toward me. “Right, Luca? You’re not afraid of it.”
“Hey, I’m not afraid either. It’s just…” Sabrina stopped and turned to me with a pleading look on her face.
“If you’re big enough, I’ll go with you.”
She mouthed a silent thank you before telling her son that would be his last slide for the day. And based on his not arguing, must have meant he was exhausted.
A romp down the jumbo slide turned into two. The sheer joy spread on her son’s face once we emerged from the pool had Sabrina agreeing to “one more time.” It was close enough to the dinner hour that we decided to have something to eat at the park. Sabrina felt once Mikey hit his booster seat he would be out for the count.
I ordered us a pizza to share, and ice cream for dessert. By the time we changed out of our swimsuits, walked out to the car, and hit the parkway, Mikey was out cold. Sabrina turned in her seat to stare back at her son. “You wiped him out,” she said with humor in her voice.
“I could say the same. He sure has stamina.” I looked over at her with a smile. “I know he had fun. Did you?”
A nod began before I finished asking my question. “I did. Thank you, Luca. For the soccer lesson, the water park… for everything.”
“It was my pleasure.” I took her hand in mine and rested them on the center console. Her fingers clenched in an affectionate squeeze. But the way she stared out the window in a distracted silence meant she had something on her mind. I didn’t want to press her, so I waited to see if she’d open up.
She never did.
Conversation between us revolved around things we saw at the park that struck us as funny. The subject of Mikey’s dad came up briefly when Sabrina mentioned how much he had missed of her son’s childhood because of his deployments.
About an hour later, we were back on her street in the city. Throughout, Mikey never stirred. I found a parking space one block over. “If I carry him in will he wake up?”
“He may, but that’s fine. If he goes to sleep now, I’m facing a six a.m. wake-up call,” she said on a laugh.
As I removed him from his booster seat, he lifted his head, mumbled, “Don’t forget my hermit crab.”
“What?” I whispered once he had settled on my shoulder.
She shook her head with a grin spread over her face. “No clue.”
The way his arms tightened around my neck as I carried him toward their apartment had my heart squeezing in my chest. This kid managed to get to me in a way no one ever had. Not having nieces or nephews of my own, I never really connected to a child before. Yet with Mikey, I already knew I was hooked.
Of course, being insanely attracted to his mother hooked me even more.
Once we were in their apartment, Sabrina removed his shoes, jacket, and hat and I laid him down on his bed. Again, he mumbled, turned over, and fell back to sleep.
She shut the door to his room with a small smile. “Would you like coffee?”
“No, I’m good.” I walked closer to her and caressed her face. Wanting her to open up and talk to me on her own took a backseat to wanting to be sure she was okay. “You’re quiet.”
“I’m overwhelmed.”
I tucked her hair behind her ear. “Because of me?”
“Yes.” She turned away for a moment, and when her eyes drifted back up to mine, they shimmered with emotion. “I’ve never met a man as considerate, giving, kind-hearted, and…” A huff of air escaped while she searched for the right word. “Perfect as you,” she ended her thoughts in a whisper. “It overwhelms me.”
Her admission caused a surge of confusion. Part of me wanted to strip her down and replace the emotions that consumed her by taking her body and infiltrating her thoughts. But the bigger part of me knew she needed time to process this. Fuck, I needed time to process this.
Whatever this was.
I knew I battled my own mass of confusion over how quickly Sabrina and Mikey captured my heart. How the hell that happened had been all I’d been thinking about since meeting them. So, I got it, her confusion I could relate to. Add in losing her husband, finding out what he had done before he died, and having a son to care for, combined must have wreaked havoc on her thoughts.
Cupping her face, I tilted her head back to stare into her eyes. “It overwhelms me, too. I think, if we take things slow, maybe we can both figure this out together.” My eyes cut to the way her lips parted. Before she could speak, I lowered my head and kissed her softly. I broke away, leaning my forehead against hers. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”
She nodded and smiled. “Definitely.”