59. Lucia
fifty-nine
Lucia
“Does this look okay?” I ask, flattening my palms over the flared skirt of my red dress. My girls are all helping me get ready for a date again, but this time, it’s one I want to go on.
“You’re literally stunning, Lucia,” Liv smiles, and I feel the warmth even through the phone screen.
“Ari isn’t going to be able to keep his hands to himself,” Rory snickers.
I smirk at her. “It’s cute that you think he ever could.”
“Luc will definitely get to ride the jewelry later,” Ella teases.
I sigh. “Do we always need to talk about my boyfriend having a pierced dick?”
Rory shrugs. “Ella always talks about dicks.”
I roll my eyes while Ella agrees with Rory.
Harlow chimes in now. “You’re so much happier about this date.”
“Of course I am,” I chuckle. “I’m in love with Ari. The last thing I wanted to do the other day was go on a date with fucking John.”
“Did Ari tell you his plans for tonight?” Liv asks.
“No,” I reply, puckering my lips and applying my favorite scarlet red lipstick, the same shade as my dress. “All I know is that he’s planning a date for us here.”
“What is it with these guys always wanting to have dates at home?” Lo questions. “I know Knox and Cole do that almost exclusively.”
Ella says, “Because our men are all very well-known in this city, and yours is well-known across the country, Lo. They always get recognized.”
“I can confirm that,” Liv laughs. “Lane likes to plan our date nights out since we have Sage at home. We can’t get through one without at least one fan coming up to him.”
“So you have no idea what Ari is planning?” Rory looks at me curiously.
“Well, I don’t know exactly what he has planned, but I can tell you that whatever he’s cooking in the kitchen smells fucking delicious.”
“He’s cooking for you!” Lo shrieks. “How cute is that?”
I smile and shake my head, backing away from my phone so the girls can all see me. “So what do we think?” I bend my leg at the knee and bring it up behind me so they can see the black pumps I have paired with the dress.
“Fucking gorgeous,” Ella chimes, hands resting on her bump.
“Are you wearing your necklace?” Liv asks.
“I’m pretty much always wearing the necklace,” I laugh, grabbing the jade pendant to show them.
“Then I think you’re ready, babe,” Rory smiles. “We’re so happy you get to go on the date you really wanted, Luc.”
I can’t help but grin. “So am I.”
There’s a knock on my bedroom door now, and Ari speaks up from the other side. “Can I come in?”
“Gotta go, ladies.” We quickly say our goodbyes, and I hang up the call before replying to him. “Come on in.”
Ari slowly opens the bedroom door and steps into view. I practically salivate at the sight.
It’s a rare occasion to see him dressed up, so seeing him right now in a crisp, white dress shirt, black slacks, and black dress shoes stirs up something in me.
Part of it is horniness, of course, but another part is just gratefulness that I finally get to call him mine.
“Wow.” His tone is full of disbelief and gratitude. “You’re beautiful, Lucia.”
I smile as I walk over to him and drape my arms around his neck. “You clean up well, Casanova.”
“It’s our first date,” he grins. “I wanted to make sure it was special.”
“It’s going to be special,” I say, pressing my hand to his jaw, “because it’s with you.”
He turns to kiss my palm. “Come on. I have everything set up out here.”
“I would hope so,” I tease, letting him take my hand and guide me out of the room. “I’ve been in here for hours.”
“Don’t be a brat, Lucia,” he huffs, though he’s still smiling.
“But it’s so fun.”
Ari spins around and holds me against him. “Save the sass for when you’re riding me tonight, sweetheart.”
“Be a good boy, and I promise I will.”
He kisses me gently before leading me out of the hallway. We turn the corner, and I see a white tablecloth laid across the dining room table and a centerpiece of sunflowers and battery-operated candles. On either side of that are glasses of wine and dishes already plated with the dinner he made.
“Welcome to your date night, Lucia,” he smiles, and I lay my head on his shoulder.
“This is lovely, Ari.” He walks me over to the table and pulls a chair out for me to sit. I slide down and settle myself before taking a look at the food in front of me. “Oh my God. Is this—”
“Arròs al forn,” Ari answers happily.
My heart thumps in my chest. “You made a Spanish dish?”
He nods. “I followed the recipe to a T. I hope it turned out alright.”
“It looks and smells amazing,” I smile before reaching across the table and taking his hand. “Thank you, Jae-Hyun.”
“Anything for you, love.”
I take my fork and gather some of the rice and pork before I bite it off. “Mmm…” I moan, savoring the flavor. “This is incredible, Ari.”
“Yeah?” His smile is full of pride, lighting up the room.
“Yeah,” I grin. “It reminds me a lot of what my mom would cook when I was growing up.”
His gaze is soft and full of love, and I just want to wrap myself up in it.
I can see how much effort Ari put into tonight. He’s cooked Korean meals for us before, but he went out of his way tonight to make something for me.
And it’s not even just Spanish food—it’s Valencian.
We’ve only been together for a few days, but if this is what a lifetime with him will be like, I can’t wait.
Once we finish our dinner, Ari pulls some of my favorite Korean mochi out. An entire box of just the ganache ones. He feeds them to me just like he did that night in Koreatown.
Now, he takes my hand and leads me out onto the balcony. I’ve not actually come out here yet since the weather wasn’t great until recently. But right now, the sun has set and the stars dance overhead.
The ones we can see through all the lights of NYC, at least.
He has the balcony decorated with string lights and more sunflowers.
“Oh, this is lovely,” I say, stepping outside and walking over to the railing. “And the view is spectacular.”
Ari walks over to join me, resting his hand on my lower back as he slips in beside me. “The view was one of my favorite parts of this place when I bought it.”
“Get some comfier furniture, and I might just spend the entire summer out here reading.”
“Done,” he smiles. “Pick out what you want, and we’ll get it.”
I rest my head over his heart. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He kisses me softly before leading me away from the railing. “As nice as the view is, that’s not why we’re out here.”
“It’s not?”
He shakes his head and pulls out his phone, connecting it to a speaker I didn’t realize was there.
What starts playing is a song I know he picked for me— Hero by Enrique Iglesias.
My favorite artist.
“Dance with me, love.”
I rest one of my hands on his shoulder and intertwine our fingers with the other. His free hand rests on my hip.
Together, we start to slowly sway to the music.
“I love this song,” I breathe, enjoying everything about this moment.
“I had a feeling you would,” he smiles. “This would make a great first dance song, don’t you think?”
I look at him in surprise. “Thinking about marriage already, Casanova?”
His responding smile is so soft and sweet. “Of course I am. We’ve already talked about having kids, Lucia. What makes you think I wouldn’t want to marry you, too?”
“You never really seemed like the marrying type,” I admit.
“I also wasn’t the type to have a girlfriend and settle down, but look at me now. You’ve changed everything, sweetheart.”
I grin at him. “So you really want to marry me one day?”
Ari pulls me closer, pressing our bodies flush together. “Absolutely. I told you this is forever. Forever means I want marriage and kids with you and only you.”
I rest my forehead against his. “That sounds perfect, Ari.”
We spend the rest of the song in silence, just swaying to the beat of the music.
But silence doesn’t have to mean quiet.
My mind is alive right now with thoughts of our future, and every single glimpse makes me fall even more in love with Ari Morgan.