14. Dominic
FOURTEEN
DOMINIC
Luca spent the next few days avoiding me.
He drank lots of coffee and did one-armed push-ups until he collapsed. I threatened to duct-tape him to a chair to make him stop. The moron almost tore open his stitches because of a hand job .
Why do you care?
It wasn’t because he was reckless or so goddamn beautiful when he got that defiant look in his eyes. I cared because he made me feel something I hadn’t in years .
I should’ve written him off after that meltdown, but I liked him. The guy had crows as pets. Like some fucked-up Disney prince. Every morning, he went out to the yard with a handful of scraps, and they swooped down. Sometimes he whispered to them. It was cute.
I liked that he was nice to his neighbor. He hauled Mrs. Peretti’s mail up the stairs and gave it to her every single day. She talked his ear off about her garden, but he never cut her off. He did the right thing, quietly, when no one was watching. Not to feel good about himself. He just did it.
I liked that.
People like Luca didn’t take. They gave, even when it cost them. I’d spent so long hiding anything soft that I craved that quality in someone else. Barbed wire wrapped around glass. That’s what he was. He cut everyone who got too close, but underneath was something worth protecting. I wanted to be the one to keep him safe.
Luca paced in the living room, talking to Maria on the phone. His sweatpants hung low on his hips. He was a walking temptation, and I couldn’t do anything about it.
“Miss you, too,” he deadpanned, ending the call.
My guts churned. It made no fucking sense. Fucking Maria. She wasn’t the problem. I knew what Luca was doing. He clung to her because she was safe. He could pretend with her.
I hated it.
He didn’t pretend with me.
I crossed my arms. “You’re limping again.”
Luca scowled at me. “I’m alright.”
“You say that every time I catch you wincing.”
I grabbed his arm and nudged him toward the couch. He sank down, cursing. It’d only been three weeks since the stabbing. He needed to slow down. I grabbed the first aid kit off the table and sat next to him.
“So, does Maria know you cheated on her?”
Luca stiffened. “I didn’t cheat.”
“Is that how you’re playing it now?” I peeled back his bandage, catching the flicker of pain in his expression. Good. He could feel a fraction of the ache I carried around every time he shut me out.
He sighed roughly. “Maria and I aren’t exclusive.”
“That’s convenient.” I peeled back the bandage on his abdomen. It looked okay. Still pink and healing.
He winced. “You’re the one who?—”
“Who what , Luca? Gave you exactly what you wanted?”
Luca glared at me, but we both knew the truth. He asked for it. The more Luca kept up this shit, the more it bothered me.
“You know what?” I leaned back, crossing my arms. “Maybe I’ll give Maria a call. See what all the fuss is about.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“If she’s good enough for you to keep crawling back to, maybe I should see for myself what’s so damn special.”
Luca’s face darkened. “You don’t like women.”
“I don’t need to like her to fuck her throat.”
“Don’t joke about that,” he snarled. “Maria’s got nothing to do with this.”
“She’s the one you keep calling, isn’t she? She’s the one you’re so desperate to pretend with. So what are you running from, Luca?”
His breathing quickened. I spread my hand over his thigh. The muscle twitched under my palm. The heat of him seeped into my skin.
“Who are you really lying to?”
His pupils blew wide. I watched him, waiting for him to crack, but when he didn’t break, I yanked my hand away and stood.
The couch groaned as Luca staggered to his feet, his face stormy. His hand wrapped around my wrist. He yanked me back, spinning me to face him.
“I don’t even touch her, okay?” he said, his voice shaking. “I had sex with her once, and I hated it.”
I stared at him, my heart pounding. “Only once?”
“She’s nice, but…I can’t.”
“Then why keep calling her?”
He exhaled hard. “Because it’s easier than dealing with this.”
“ This ?”
He swallowed hard. “The way you make me feel.”
“The way I make you feel?”
“Yeah.” He looked like he wanted to tear himself apart. “You drive me fucking insane. You make me hate myself, and then—then you make me want things I shouldn’t want.”
My chest tightened like I couldn’t get enough air. He had no idea what he did to me. He didn’t know how it felt to see him every day and fight the urge to pull him closer. I wanted to take his pain and crush it in my fists.
I stepped closer. “You think I’d still be here if I didn’t care?”
Luca blinked.
My hand cupped his jaw. “I don’t waste my time on guys I don’t want.”
He didn’t pull away.
I closed the distance, my lips brushing his. He let me kiss him. His body tensed, then he softened.
I kissed him deeper, pouring everything I couldn’t say into that kiss. The frustration. The endless fucking need eating at me.
His hand came up, gripping my arm, not pushing me away, but holding on like he didn’t want to let go. His mouth opened beneath mine, his tongue brushing mine with hesitant strokes. I groaned, sliding my other hand to the back of his head, threading my fingers through his hair.
His lips were soft, and his breath hitched when I sucked on his bottom lip. I nipped it gently, drawing out the sound I wanted—the broken whimper he tried to swallow. Jesus. The noise made heat coil low in my gut.
I pulled him closer, my palm sliding down his chest. I brushed the waistband of his sweats. His whole body jolted like I’d burned him, but his hips shifted toward me. Luca made another sexy noise. My palm brushed over his hard cock. I felt down the shaft.
I broke apart from him. “Say it, Luca. Tell me you want me.”
Luca stared at me, his pupils blown wide. He looked confused and so fucking beautiful, and it hurt.
“I…want you,” he choked out.
That broke me. I kissed him again, my tongue plunging into his mouth. He melted into me, his fingers digging into my arms. I caught his tongue between my teeth, sucking lightly. He whimpered into my mouth, the sound sending a sharp jolt through me. My hand moved back down, stroking him through his sweats. Jesus, he was so hard. I pulled back just enough to look at him again. I drank in his dazed, almost drunken expression, his swollen lips, the way he leaned into me.
“You’re so sexy when you’re desperate for me.”
“Shut up,” he growled.
“Make me.”
Luca crashed into me, shoving me back on the couch. His mouth was on mine—rough, no finesse. His teeth caught on my lip. His tongue shoved into my mouth. I groaned into it, grabbing his hips and dragging him closer until he was grinding me.
A key scraped the front door lock.
Luca sprang away from me. He shoved himself off me and sat upright. Then he grabbed a pillow and stuffed it over his lap.
The front door swung open, and a voice called out.
“Hey, it’s Sonny.”
Santino walked in with a bag of groceries. Shit. I’d forgotten that he had a key to Luca’s apartment. He set the bag on the kitchen table and strolled into the living room.
“What’s going on?” Santino asked.
I plastered on a smirk. “Just patching up the idiot. He’s been pushing himself too hard, as usual.”
Santino glanced at the first aid shit on the coffee table. His gaze shifted to Luca’s flushed face. “You good?”
Luca nodded. “Yeah.”
Santino eyed us for a moment, then shrugged. He walked away, disappearing into the kitchen. We sat in silence as the fridge door opened and Santino began stocking its contents.
Luca’s hands trembled in his lap.
I touched his shoulder. “It’s okay. He didn’t see anything.”
He looked up at me, the need he tried so hard to hide naked in his eyes. I wanted to pull him into my arms and make him forget whatever had made him so scared, but I couldn’t. Not when his hands shook at the idea of being caught. So I let my hand fall away from his shoulder.
“You guys hungry?” Santino shouted from the kitchen.
Luca straightened. “No, we’re good.”
Santino had terrible timing. I wanted to march into the kitchen and tell him to leave so I could fuck his cousin, but I doubted that’d go down well.
Luca sat next to me, already composed into that mask he wore everywhere. His lips were still flushed. Judging by how he hugged that pillow like it was a life preserver, he still had an erection. He was probably beating himself up about it.
I leaned in close. “You can run, but you’ll always end up right back here.”
Luca’s gaze snapped back to mine, a warning swimming in lust. I didn’t give a fuck. He had nothing to hold over my head. I should’ve walked away by now. Let him keep running and save myself the trouble. But every time I got close enough to see past the anger, I couldn’t help myself.
He was stubborn, reckless, and so goddamn alive it made my chest hurt. Luca Costa was a mess, but he was my mess. And I wasn’t letting him go.
He wanted this as much as I did.
And I’d be damned if I let him forget it.