Chapter 9
Coco
I stare at the man across from me and realize that, gradually, my walls have been crumbling.
Despite his intensity and his innate ability to terrify men larger than him, Lucca has also revealed himself to me in the past week since the accident.
There’s violence inside him that doesn’t extend to me.
It’s irrelevant that one minute he’s threatening to rip someone limb from limb and the next he’s speaking kindly to me.
I am always at the receiving end of his softer side.
When I found out that he’d gone to see Janet—a tale she let slip when I last spoke to her—and told her he’d pay my wages and buy in on her café, I cried.
Not only with happiness but with immense relief because there were a few times since the hospital when I’d debated taking my own life.
My depression was so deep that I couldn’t see a way out of the hole I was sinking into.
My attitude and feelings towards him shifted after that.
He had no idea and yet knew everything all at once.
Watching him now, the veins in his arms throb with rage. I have no idea what’s going on because when he conducts meetings, I wear noise-cancelling headphones. But from the way the man standing on the opposite side of his desk looks at me, I can tell Lucca is holding back.
Clearing my throat, I remove the headphones once I have Lucca’s attention. “I’m going to grab a drink and see if I can help Jason with dinner. Do you want anything?”
Before I can move, he’s out of his chair and helping me to my feet. Thankfully, my knee is healing well, and I start PT next week.
“Jason can bring you a drink.” He can’t quite shake the fury in his tone this time. I almost feel bad for the other guy.
“No, I need to stretch, and I’m feeling snacky.”
Before he can protest, my hands brush up his chest to clasp his shoulders, and for the first time, I initiate a kiss as he lowers to me.
His lips are soft and thick as they meet mine.
Lucca’s surprise quickly dissipates, and he takes over, hauling me against his body while sweeping his tongue into my mouth and sucking on mine.
Moaning, I hold onto him tighter, showing him, for once, that while I’ve been a brat, I’m also insanely attracted to him.
We’re breathless as we pull apart, and I take a minute before opening my eyes to sweep my tongue across my lips, enjoying the minty taste of him. “I really liked that,” I whisper. Because even though we have an audience, this moment is ours.
“Expect a hell of a lot more,” he growls, leaning forward to bury his nose in my throat and biting down hard while squeezing my ass in both hands to the point of pain. “God, you are a magnificent woman.”
Reluctantly, he releases me, then walks me to his office door, ensuring I make it to the kitchen without trouble. The sound of the lock clicking after the door closes tells me all I need to know. He wants to cause pain.
“He’s some kind of kingpin, right?”
Jason startles at my question before he can mask the answer he’ll never give me.
“I’m not sure what you mean.” Turning around, he gathers some vegetables from the fridge before grabbing a cutting board and knife.
“I’m sure you don’t.” I smile when he starts laughing. I’m not usually so sassy. Accepting Lucca as he is seems to have given me a bit more confidence. “But let’s say he is…” Because honestly, from the things I’ve seen and heard, there’s no way that he’s not. “Am I going to be a problem for him?”
Jason meets my gaze now. His brown eyes appear calculating, caught between sussing out if I’m fishing for information and wanting to protect the man he knows so well.
“Because I don’t want that.” My eyes lower as I slide the cutting board and knife over to me and start chopping the zucchini into perfect discs.
“I’ve been a burden before; I don’t want that with Lucca.
” My throat begins to close, nearly choking on the haunting emotions, but I get myself under control… barely.
“You won’t be a problem for him,” Jason responds casually.
“But for someone.” I chance a look up to find him peeling carrots
“Someone who is looking to have problems, yes.”
I grow dizzy from this conversation.
“Enemies.” I receive a hum as an affirmative answer. “So, I could be in danger, then?” That isn’t appealing either.
“I seriously doubt that.” A weird look follows his scoff. “More like people will fear him more.”
“Why?”
“You really should talk to Lucca.” Jason glances out to the hall, obviously hoping the man makes an appearance.
“He treats me like glass.”
“Because he watched you sail into the air and crash to the ground, surrounded by blood. It changes a man when he witnesses his woman nearly die.”
Grumbling, the knife drops from my hand. “I didn’t almost die. I’m very obviously fine.” My arm aches from the outburst of cutting so awkwardly.
“Obviously.” His eyes roll as he hands me a bowl for the vegetables.
“Don’t mock me.” Sitting back in the chair, my eyes glare at him until he breaks and laughs at my mutiny.
“Fine, you did not nearly die with a head wound that could have killed you.”
“More like crushing medical debt,” I mutter, still unsure how the hell I’ll pay it all off.
“You don’t have debt to worry about,” he says off-handedly and freezes as soon as the words leave his mouth.
“What does that mean?” Sitting forward, I drop my hand over his to halt any movement. “Jason, what the hell does that mean?”
“Uhm, nothing. Just…nothing.” His bumbling words are my unexpected answer.
“Lucca!” I shout his name loudly as I awkwardly storm my way to his office. The door is locked when I try the handle, so I pound on it. “Lucca, open this damn door, now!” My fist hurts as I hurl insults at the man under my breath, waiting for it to open.
It’s only as it swings inward that I realize I might have been too impulsive in giving Lucca a piece of my mind right now. Especially when he’s already in a mood and in the middle of a meeting with a man he very obviously dislikes.
“Coco,” Preston snarls as he lets me into the room. The other man looks worse for wear as I get a glimpse at him cowering in the chair he had refused earlier. Blood, bruises, a ripped shirt; nothing good has happened in here.
“Amore.” Lucca’s growl sends a shiver up my spine as my eyes land on him. Shirt sleeves rolled up, knuckles bloody and bruised, red smeared on his shirt. Yet, holy crap…I’m turned on. Never saw this coming.
Although I should have. It’s this intensity that lives inside him that caught my eye to begin with.
“Uhm….” It’s difficult to concentrate. “Did you pay my hospital bill?”
His arms cross over his chest as he holds my stare. The ice in his irises hypnotizes me. “I did. That a problem?”
“Shall we leave?” Preston asks as he reaches for their guest.
“No,” I snap out. I left his office before because I knew Lucca needed to work off some steam, and this man had done something to greatly aggravate him. “No. I’m leaving…” Why was I so worked up again?
“Is that so?” Lucca’s dark eyebrow lifts in question.
“Why did you pay it?”
It was nearly a hundred thousand dollars.
That doesn’t make sense to me. I’m nobody to him.
We’d never formally met until after I was admitted to the hospital.
Sure, we’ve known of each other for months, but only because I make a mean triple espresso, and I don’t chatter his head off while doing it.
He softens, only slightly, as his arms release, and he cups one hand on my hip and one around the back of my neck, stepping closer to me so that we touch. I stare up, up, up, at his massive height, and he shakes his head, then kisses me on the forehead.
I close my eyes. The moment is so soft and intimate that I forget we’re not alone.
“Please don’t break my heart, Lucca.” All the pain I’ve felt about being unloved is infused in every word, and I can only pray he’ll heed my plea because there’s no survival for me if I’m just a good time or charity case to him.