Love Arranged (Lakefront Billionaires, #3)(62)

I pause in the middle of taking my shirt off. “Why are you asking?”

“I didn’t think much about it before.”

There’s no way it’s this easy to make Lorenzo see reason, right? There has to be some kind of catch, or maybe Rafa is an outlier in this situation.

“Why wouldn’t I move on? It’s not like this is real.”

He doesn’t speak for a few beats. “Shouldn’t you wait at least a year for optics purposes?”

Make him realize what life would be like without you in it.

“And waste more time? No. People will understand after you broke my heart and called off the engagement.” Thank goodness he can’t see my face right now or else he’d know something was up when he saw my smile.

“I think you should reconsider.”

“Why?”

He pauses, the brief moment feeling like a minute. “It doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

I’m sure it doesn’t.

I almost feel bad for Lorenzo, because he won’t know what hit him until it’s too late.

Like Eros, I’ve set sight on my target, and I won’t stop taking shots at Lorenzo’s heart until he has no choice but to face the truth about his feelings.





CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX


Lily


Dahlia, Julian, Lorenzo, and I head to a restaurant near our hotel and spend most of our meal chatting about Lopez Luxury clients, Dahlia’s TV show, and Lorenzo’s campaign. Thankfully everyone steers clear of talking about Rose & Thorn, but my luck runs out when Dahlia faces Lorenzo with a suspicious smile on her face.

“So, Lorenzo…when did you realize you loved my sister?”

I groan. “Dahlia.”

“What? I have a year of your love life to catch up on!”

“You couldn’t ask an easier question?”

“Okay. Fine.” My sister rolls her eyes. “What’s stopping you from buying Lily a property so she can finally get started on the Pressed Petal?”

“The same reason I gave you,” I reply, my throat working hard to dislodge the ball of emotion stuck in it because oh, shit. I’ve avoided talking to Lorenzo about my dream, instead diverting every conversation back to Lavender Lane, and this is my penance.

Lorenzo wraps his arm around my chair, as if to say I’ve got this. “I’ve offered to help Lily in whatever way she needs,” he replies, coolly. “But if she would rather do things her way, then I respect that. If she ever wants my help, I’m there to offer it.”

That is…wildly accurate, and I’m genuinely surprised.

Dahlia sips her wine. “Good answer. Okay, now can you tell me when you realized you loved my sister? Please.”

I don’t even bother hiding my annoyance this time. “Come on.”

“What? That should be the easiest question in the world.” She takes a sip of her wine and waits.

I glance over at Lorenzo, and his face is a blank mask.

“You don’t need to answer her,” I say before shooting her a scathing look. “She should know better than to ask that.”

He clasps my chin and turns my head until I’m looking into his eyes instead. “No need to be embarrassed, amore mio.”

My heart repeats the same short pause from earlier, missing a beat at the nickname.

Dahlia perks up. “He has a nickname for you? Cute.”

“Nothing is better than sweetheart,” Julian grumbles.

“It’s not a competition.” She shoves his shoulder, and the corners of my lips curl, my annoyance from her overbearingness gone within a blink of an eye.

Lorenzo’s warm gaze flickers over my face for a few drawn-out beats before he releases my chin and faces my sister. “I don’t think there was an exact moment in time where I realized I loved Lily, but it was more a collection of small, impactful ones. Moments where I fell in love with her genuine heart or her quick wit or the adorable tell she has where her nose wrinkles whenever she wants to be honest but worries it might hurt someone’s feelings. Not to mention she’s confident, incredibly loyal, and so out of my league, I’m still surprised she gave me a chance.”

I don’t care what Lorenzo says.

I don’t care what lies he tells himself.

He might not love me, but his words give me hope that there is a chance he could one day. Hope I haven’t felt since I took the last gold coin my dad gave me and used my wish on him.

I hope Lorenzo is the one I’ve been searching for, I said before tossing the coin into my dad’s fountain and watching it join the other ones at the bottom.

Maybe the wish wasn’t a waste after all.

Or maybe Lorenzo’s words right now were nothing but a lie.




My nerves are on high alert when Lorenzo and I return to our hotel room. Earlier the space seemed bright and open, but now the walls feel as if they are closing in around me.

Lorenzo asks me if I want to take a shower first, but the thought only makes my heart rate spike, so I let him go ahead of me. The soft click of the door shutting sends goose bumps across my skin, only to remain there when the shower turns on.

Don’t be ridiculous, I tell myself before trying to distract myself with my phone. I scroll through social media until the bathroom door opens and a cloud of steam is let into our room.