Chapter 5 #2
Oliver had tolerated a two-hour dinner with Enzo once, and he’d wanted to strangle him heading into hour one, and he didn’t have a temper.
He had a feeling Luca had one. Tightly leashed, yes, but it existed.
He could see it flare in those intense dark eyes now.
“I asked him because he is capable of doing what needs to be done,” Luca said. And Oliver could hear it too, in the tight control of his voice. He turned toward Oliver, and something in his face softened. “As you can see, we’re still . . .debating the best course forward for Nonna’s.”
Oliver hadn’t been afraid of him before—Luca was too controlled for even the leash on his temper to loosen without him choosing to let it go—and he certainly wasn’t now.
Also, he had a feeling Luca’s bark was worse than his bite .
. .though he wouldn’t mind a little bit of Luca’s biting, if he was being totally honest.
“I can see,” Oliver said.
“Luca, be reasonable.” Giana inserted herself. She looked desperate. “Let us make some of the changes and see what happens. I don’t want . . .” She trailed off.
“You want a successful business,” Luca said inexorably.
“You asked me to come here and help you turn things around. This is how you do it. Not by half measures. Not by limping along for another few months, which is all you’d be buying yourself.
Another few painful months before the inevitable occurs. ”
He stood and gestured to Oliver. “I need some fresh air,” he said, and as Oliver followed him out the front door, he felt the confused bewilderment of Giana’s gaze on his back and the venom of Enzo’s.
Luca leaned against the brick wall of the building and let out of a gust of a sigh.
His eyes fluttered shut, and unobserved like this, Oliver could really look at him.
He looked tired. Worn down by an afternoon of fighting for what he believed in. A day’s worth of dark scruff shadowed his jaw and with it and without his jacket, the pristine white shirt rumpled and its sleeves rolled up, he looked more human than ever before.
“That sounded . . .rough,” Oliver said hesitantly.
Luca’s eyes fluttered open, and there was that dip at the bottom of Oliver’s stomach as their gazes met.
“I’ve spent better afternoons,” Luca said. “Cleaning out the deep fryer at the restaurant. Getting a root canal. Untangling the mess my father made of the books with a forensic accountant.”
“Ouch.”
Luca sighed. “The biggest problem is Giana wants something that won’t ever happen.”
Oliver didn’t need him to tell him what it was. “For Enzo to give a shit about the business.”
“She wants it for him,” he said, and there was an agonizing pain in Luca’s voice.
Oliver could feel it, the pride in his family’s name, in the success they’d created from nothing.
The difficulty of facing someone who had not only rejected it but didn’t understand it.
“And he doesn’t want it at all. But she won’t see it.
Or acknowledge it. Until that happens, she’s not going to want to change anything or fix it, because she’s hoping that he will. ”
“He won’t.”
Luca didn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d flinch away from difficult truths, so Oliver didn’t bother to sugarcoat it.
“Is that why there was only one date?” Luca asked after a long silence.
Heat rippled along Oliver’s spine. Even the word date felt loaded between them. It was clear what they both wanted; the only question was whether they’d reach out and take it.
Oliver could practically taste the frustration on his lips, even now, even though they hadn’t kissed yet.
But we will. You know it’s inevitable. Even if it’s just for one night. Even if he leaves tomorrow morning, he’s not going to leave without kissing you.
“That was one of the reasons, yes,” Oliver admitted. “But there were many. Starting with we had no chemistry whatsoever.” Nothing like us. We’ve got enough to start a fire, right here, crackling right between us.
“I can see that,” Luca said, his voice deep and rumbling. “But you still went out with him.”
Oliver shrugged. “I’m a nice guy, what can I say? He asked, and it seemed like worth . . .trying.”
“Is it that easy?” Luca asked, sounding amused now.
“Sometimes,” Oliver said, swallowing around a suddenly dry throat. He felt like they were edging to the point of no return. He was both desperate for them to get there and throw caution to the wind and terrified of what might happen when they did get there.
You’re not going to fall in love with him. You’re going to enjoy him and then send him on his way.
It was an important reminder. Because every time he was with Luca, he felt like falling headfirst into the mystery of him, the deep, hidden parts of him that Oliver could only catch glimpses of before they disappeared.
But he couldn’t.
“What is this festival Giana keeps going on and on about?” Luca said, abruptly switching subjects, like he too needed the reminder not to fall too deeply in.
“The Sweethearts Festival? It’s uh . . .well, it’s our town’s one claim to fame,” Oliver explained. “Half an excuse to buy a bunch of clearance Valentine’s Day items and actually use them, and half a tribute to the town’s history.”
Luca raised a questioning eyebrow.
“It’s kind of a long story,” Oliver added.
Luca waved around them. “Giana and Enzo are going to be arguing for hours. I’ve got time.”
“You really think so?” Oliver was surprised.
“Deep down, Giana realizes she has only one choice. I designed it so she’d only have one choice. But she’s a Moretti, thus she doesn’t like being directed down a certain path, and so she’ll fight it every inch of the way.” Luca sounded darkly amused by this.
“Is that how you are, too?”
“I’d fight it tooth and nail,” Luca admitted. “Unless it was the right thing to do for my family, and then I’d swallow my pride and do whatever it took.”
There was another one of those dark places, illuminated, just for a second.
“You think she’ll accept your offer of changes.”
“I told her that for the duration she won’t have to pay back the loan the family made her, so yes, she’s desperate enough, I think she won’t have a choice.”
“That’s . . .” Oliver hesitated. He didn’t want to say callous or cruel or calculating, though he could see why someone might think Luca’s plan was all those things.
But it was generous too. Especially if he knew how Giana was and what might persuade her to take help she really needed. “That’s really brilliant, actually.”
It was, Oliver realized. It was perfectly executed to direct her exactly where not just Luca but she needed to go, if only Giana could get out of her own way.
Did Luca flush at the compliment? He had deep olive-toned skin, and it was hard to tell, but he seemed like he did.
“You think so? You don’t think it’s . . .” Oliver knew Luca was thinking of all the words he’d considered. Callous. Cruel. Calculating.
“No,” Oliver said with certainty.
“Ah.” Luca looked surprised. Like he’d been expecting to be condemned for the plan and couldn’t quite believe he hadn’t been.
“I mean, she’s not going to be happy with you in the interim, but once it starts to pay off, once the business begins to improve, she’ll thank you. She’ll be everlastingly grateful.”
“Maybe not that grateful,” Luca said with a little bit of a smirk. “She’s a Moretti, and we tend to hold grudges.”
“Stubborn, huh?” Oliver didn’t find that unattractive, surprisingly.
“Excessively,” Luca admitted.
“Well, clearly, cause you still haven’t asked me to dinner,” Oliver said. “Even though I know you want to.”
Luca’s eyebrows shot up. “I can see I’m not the only one sure of myself.”
“Not even remotely,” Oliver said. “Go to dinner with me, and I’ll tell you the history. I said it was a long story. Seems right we fortify ourselves during it.”
“Seems like a reasonable offer.”
Oliver raised his eyebrow. “Do you not want to?” The last thing he’d expected was for Luca to quibble about this. He knew he wanted. Marjorie was right; he knew what those looks Luca had been shooting him from under his lashes meant.
“Oh, I want to,” Luca said. “I just . . .you do know I’m not sticking around?”
“I know,” Oliver said steadily.
“I may not even be here tomorrow,” Luca warned. “I don’t predict Giana telling me to fuck off, but it could happen.”
“I bet not many people tell you to fuck off,” Oliver said, grinning.
“Not too many dare,” Luca agreed, and he was smiling too, and God, Oliver could feel himself drifting closer into Luca’s orbit. Like he was a planet, and Oliver couldn’t help but feel pulled in.
“How about this? I don’t mind if you do fly off tomorrow. As long as we get tonight.” Oliver felt desire, the exquisite ache of it, settling deep into his stomach.
“And what if I stick around?”
Oliver shrugged. “Trust me, I’m particular about a second date. We’ll see.”
To his surprise, Luca’s hand, big and strong and capable, settled around his waist and squeezed, just a little. Just enough for him to feel it, the warmth sinking through his T-shirt and so much deeper. “Trust me,” he said softly, “you’re going to want that second date.”
Oliver swallowed hard. “I will?”
“I know, because I’m going to want one,” Luca said seriously. “But we’ll see.”
Oliver knew it was a lot, but he couldn’t hold back the words that spilled out. “Even if Giana does tell you to fuck off . . .your family couldn’t do without you for a week? Just . . .because?”
Luca grinned, baring all his perfect straight white teeth. He was so dizzyingly gorgeous, Oliver could barely believe this was happening.
He’d been nearly sure, after almost hitting him with his car, that he wasn’t real, but a fantasy conjured to life.
But now Luca was touching him, and he felt real. The most real Oliver had ever felt.
“If you knew them, you’d know the usual answer to that question but . . .we’ll see.”
“Alright.” Oliver didn’t like it, but he’d take it.
The front door to Nonna’s swung open. Luca’s hand dropped from his waist.
“What?” he barked, not even bothering to look at who’d interrupted them.
“I need you,” Giana said. “We have another counter-proposal.”
Luca’s eyes fluttered shut and Oliver could nearly hear his internal groan of frustration.
“One moment,” he said.
Then his eyes were open again, and they were focused intently on Oliver.
“Please tell me where and when so at least I have that to look forward to,” Luca said softly.
“I go to bed early, cause I’m up early,” Oliver said. Felt the rush of heat through him at the way Luca blinked when he said bed. “So dinner will have to be early. Five? At Rudy’s, down the way? He makes a good steak.”
“Sounds perfect.”
Then Luca was pressing a hot, hard kiss to his forehead and was gone, sweeping inside Nonna’s again, leaving Oliver dizzy with the possibilities.
Even possibilities for just tonight.