Chapter 3 #3
Luca picked up his temporary gym pass at the front desk of his bed-and-breakfast, staffed by an older woman with improbably pink hair who was typing away on her laptop.
She only glanced up to give him the pass, along with a smile, and quick directions to the gym.
What was with the Valentine’s obsession in this town?
Luca didn’t understand it at all, because that holiday, more than almost any of the others, was such a commercial enterprise.
Of course, how could he complain about that, when reservations at all the Nonna’s restaurants booked up months in advance for the special night? When February was, hands down, one of their best months of the year?
Still, the commitment to the theme baffled him, all the way up to his room and then back down.
He was just about to head out the door as his phone beeped in his pocket.
He pulled it out of his gym shorts and was reviewing the text from Marco—something about a billing issue from one of his regular meat suppliers—when he ran right into a box.
Well, someone carrying a box. A big white bakery box, balanced precariously on two slim but strong arms. Arms that seemed vaguely familiar.
“What the fuck,” the man behind the box exclaimed. In a voice Luca swore he’d heard before. He reached out to steady the box so it wouldn’t spill to the ground. It was heavy and a little awkward to balance it between them, but he managed to right it.
Then the man lowered the box, and Luca realized why he’d been feeling dejá vu since the moment of the collision.
It was the same man from the car.
The man he’d not wanted to find attractive, because he’d lectured him, unbearably, on crosswalks and how to use them, but had anyway.
Out of the car, he was even more attractive. Taller than Luca had imagined, but still a few inches shorter than him. Slim and strong. The purple beanie was gone, and a messy fringe of sandy brown hair swooped over his forehead.
“You again,” the man said, clearly unhappy if his frown was anything to go by. “Do you ever watch where you’re going?”
Luca knew he was supposed to apologize. Beg for forgiveness, maybe.
But instead he was thinking about the man making him beg for something else.
“I was—”
“Probably looking at your phone again,” the man said, not letting Luca even get the rest of his sentence out.
“Uh . . .” Luca hesitated. Because he had been doing exactly that. Again. At least he’d been doing it on the way out of his bed-and-breakfast, and not while he was crossing the street. “Sorry. It was an important message.”
Those hazel eyes, glowing and intent, swept up and down him. Taking in every single inch of his T-shirt and shorts. The bare legs and the bare arms. Luca felt naked under his gaze.
Naked and aroused.
“So you do know how to apologize,” he said archly.
“Yes.”
“Well, luckily for you, you didn’t wreck the muffins. Joy would’ve had your head.”
“Joy . . .”
Luca was not used to men leaving him this tongue-tied. He could be charming. He could. But he felt like he was still catching up from the first time they’d met, and now this occurrence had set him back even further.
“She owns the Sweetheart Inn?” The guy shook his head. “You really are kind of clueless, aren’t you?”
“Not usually,” Luca managed.
“Oh?” An eyebrow went up.
Luca liked sex, though he’d always assumed he had pretty vanilla tastes. But the idea of this guy hovering just out of touch, completely naked, as Luca groveled and begged for any scrap of attention, turned him on beyond belief.
But it was so foreign. So strange. So utterly unlike anything he’d ever imagined wanting that he shut that thought right down.
“Trust me, it’s not usually an issue,” Luca said, more firmly this time.
“See that it isn’t,” the guy said. He re-arranged the box, gripping it with one hand as he shoved a hand through his hair. “I’m thinking maybe you need a proximity alert, so I can avoid all potential accidents.”
“You’re saying you don’t want to see more of me?” Luca grinned.
Luca felt the heat in the glare directed his way. “I’m sure that’s not an issue you typically have.”
Okay, so they’d each noticed the other was attractive. That wasn’t crazy. Lots of people thought Luca was attractive. If he wanted a date, he never had trouble getting one. It was the second date that typically didn’t go well.
And the guy? Luca had thought he was attractive in the car, lecturing him, but out of it, he was really attractive, so no, it wasn’t exactly a shock.
“No,” Luca agreed calmly. He wasn’t going to apologize for being good-looking. Or pretend he wasn’t. That would be stupid.
“You staying here?” the guy asked.
You wanna come up to my room and see? The question was right on Luca’s tongue, and he was debating on whether it would be insane to ask it, but after he nodded, the guy plunged ahead.
“Then I’m sure I won’t be able to avoid you,” he said. “See you around.”
While Luca was still gaping at the cool dismissal, trying to marshal his thoughts, the guy skirted around him and walked deeper into the lobby, still balancing the white bakery box in his hand.
He was half-tempted to go ask the lady at the front desk—Joy, he told himself, you know her name is Joy now—just who that was, and why it would be impossible to avoid him in the future, but there’d been a delightful chaos in their meetings so far. Maybe making them deliberate would ruin the magic.
After all, he had said he’d see Luca around. That might be true, because the town itself really wasn’t all that big.
So maybe engineering a meeting truly wouldn’t be necessary.
Maybe tonight, when he ran out to grab something for dinner, or maybe even tomorrow morning, when he came down the stairs for breakfast, his mystery man would be standing there, by the coffee station, greeting everyone with a friendly smile.
Of course, he’d have a smile. For everyone but Luca.
And goddamn it, that shouldn’t turn him on, but it did.