Chapter 30 #2
“Well, well, and my, my.” Catarina leans back in her chair, taking her margarita with her, her food all but forgotten as she fans her face. “Hot. That’s all I have to say. The looks he gives you, kitten, could start a forest fire in the middle of a rainstorm. I like it.”
“So, you’re the flowers guy?” Quill sputters. “All these years?”
I get another quick glance. I’m guessing Luca doesn’t quite know what to make of these two. “That was me.”
“The rumors were true then.” Quill practically gasps. “A billionaire prince who broke your heart was sending them. Oh my God! I cannot believe it was Luca Abbot-Fritz, Raven. Do you know who he is? I know you recently moved back here, but…” She claps her hand over her mouth.
“Well, it’s been a pleasure meeting you both. I’ll let you get back to your night.”
“No,” Catarina pipes up. “Don’t go on account of Quill’s crazy. She’s English and royals and gossip are their national sport. You have to understand how her mind works. You’re like the Prince William of Boston to her right now.”
Quill nods, still all starry-eyed.
“I’d say that’s more Kaplan. You know. Eldest and all that. I guess I’m more Harry since I got the crazy raven-haired American.”
I shake my head, shoving him off me. “Time for you to go, playboy.”
“Yes, actually. Now that we know who Raven has been keeping a secret, we can talk about you once you leave. Drill her with questions.”
I roll my eyes at Catarina and force Luca toward the door.
“Have a wonderful evening,” he calls out to them as I shove him out into the hall, shutting the door behind us so we have some privacy. “Lovely friends. A bit interesting, but fun.”
“Kiss me and shut up.”
His lips crash down on mine once more, his hands up in my hair, holding me to him. We kiss like teenagers, a lot of tongue and lips and soft moans with a hint of grinding for a minute or two before I pull away with one last soft kiss.
“You okay?”
“A lot better now. My head is just full of a lot of things.”
“Don’t worry. She’ll be okay.”
His face casts down with a grim frown. “I hope so.”
“Rebellions are built on hope.”
A smile lights up his face, eclipsing any heartache previously there. “Did you just quote Star Wars to me? I fucking love you, Raven Fairchild. Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For all of this. For always showing me there is sun behind the clouds, even when I can’t feel it or see it.” His lips meet mine once more, soft and sweet, and then he’s walking down the hall. “Will you come up after your friends go?”
“Yes.”
He blows me a kiss and then he’s gone and I’m back inside, staring warily at my two friends.
“Luca bloody Fritz?!” Quill cries out the second I shut the door.
I shrug at her, grabbing my mostly empty margarita from the table and making myself another. Clearly, I’m going to need it.
“But. He’s—”
I hold up my hand, stopping her. “I’ve known him my entire life. His whole family actually. My father is their house manager and chief of security.”
“So. He’s not some bloke you randomly met four years ago and are having another fling with?”
I shake my head, taking a sip, the tart of the lime and the heat of the tequila hitting me just right. “No. But now you understand why I don’t like to talk about it either.”
“I’d be broadcasting that, so not really.” Catarina laughs, running her hand over her short, spiky hair before holding it out to me. “But we won’t say anything to anyone. Will we, Quill?” She glares meaningfully at our English friend.
“No,” Quill agrees quickly. “We won’t. I promise. I’m just… wow. I’m in total shock. This is Boston and those chaps are practically everywhere. And gorgeous. I mean, so gorgeous. But, and I don’t mean this the way it’s going to sound, but Luca is known—”
“As a playboy? I know.”
She bobs her head, glancing at Catarina and then back at me.
“Yes. Right. That. But the two of you obviously looked—” Her phone chimes with some sort of notification.
She picks it up and her mouth falls agape for the second time tonight before she quickly schools her features and flips it back over, face down on the table.
That doesn’t stop her cheeks from turning fifty shades of red room.
“What was that?” Catarina questions.
“Nothing. It was nothing.”
“No. It was clearly something. What?”
“Luca,” she practically whisper-hisses, visibly growing more uncomfortable.
“Huh?” I’m not following.
Catarina’s hand shoots out and grabs Quill’s phone. “You have Google alerts on the Fritz family?”
Now I understand why she was turning red. “I just like following them, is all. They’re not the only ones I have that with,” she presses sheepishly. “You said it. I’m English. We love our gossip.”
“You just got an alert on Luca?” I surmise.
She sags a bit before rushing out, “It’s a picture of him tonight with a woman on his arm.”
“Let me see,” I demand, snatching the phone from Catarina.
And sure enough, there is a picture splashed across some celebrity entertainment website of Luca with freaking Priscilla Barnes looped around him so tightly she’s practically growing on him.
The caption reads, ‘Is Boston’s billionaire playboy finally off the market?
Luca Fritz at the Healthcare for the Homeless charity event looking very cozy with Pricilla Barnes.
I snort out a laugh and hand it back to Quill.
Shockingly, seeing that image… nope. Not an ounce of jealousy.
He came here tonight right after that event.
He came to see me because he’s had a long day and needed me.
He’s told me over and over that these pictures are a lie.
That he’s not going home with these women.
That he’s not the playboy they portray him as.
That he loves me.
And I believe him. I trust him.
Something shifts inside me. Something deep and soul-quenching as it rises from within me like a geyser. All these years, he really has been waiting on me to fly back home to him.
“It’s bullshit,” I tell them adamantly, never more sure about anything in my life than I am about him.
“Absolutely,” Catarina agrees, slamming her hand down on the table, causing our plates and glasses to clatter.
“Most definitely,” Quill chimes in now, her smile returning as she sits up a bit straighter. “He looked at you the way Harry looks at Megan.”
“And that’s a good thing?” I confirm.
“Absolutely a good thing. But I will say, he was still wearing his tux just now.”
“So?” I shift in my chair.
Quill taps her phone’s now dark screen. “This picture couldn’t have been taken more than an hour or so ago and it’s already online.
You clearly prefer to keep your relationship with him on the quiet side and I’m afraid that might be rather difficult with a man like Luca Fritz.
Just be careful, is all. It’s only a matter of time until they catch on to you and it’s out there. ”