The thrumming in my chest resumed. Louder. Bigger. Overcoming me with an emotion so powerful I found it hard to breathe.
Lucas smiled, and it was one of those rare bashful smiles. “What do you think? Is it… Is it grand enough?”
This selfless, considerate, good man, openly anxious over something like this. Over me liking his grand gesture. Me considering it grand enough.
I wanted to scream. At the world for being so unfair. At him, for going after my heart like this. For making it his in such a short amount of time.
Because he’d made it his, hadn’t he? He’d made me his without even trying. Not really. Without my knowing when exactly it had happened.
God, I loved him. I had fallen in love with Lucas Martín.
And I knew it with a certainty that made my chest tight.
I had never stood a chance, not really.
I stood there, breathless, motionless, the realization rocking my body, as I watched Lucas’s hands come to the front of his slacks and running his palms along the fabric covering his thighs.
He cleared his throat before speaking. “I know this is not even close to a garden with a view of the Bay of Biscay, so… I also have this.”
He knelt and fumbled with something below the bench. A beam of light appeared, illuminating the wall behind us. Photos of Lina and Aaron’s wedding flashed on the smooth surface. The venue, the ceremony, Aaron’s and Lina’s happy faces, Abuela, Lina’s parents, little snippets of that day played across that wall.
And I… I just… couldn’t do this.
With him. With the knowledge that his presence in my life had an expiration date.
A blanket was thrown over my shoulders, and it was only then that I noticed I was shivering. “Say something, Ro.”
Ro.
He’d never called me that on a date. That was his name for every other night.
“I—” I breathed. There was nothing I could say to make him understand what this meant to me. How wonderful this was. How deeply I had fallen in love with him. “I can’t believe you did this. That you thought of this. For me. You’re just…”
Perfect.
Amazing.
The best man I could ever ask for.
Lucas angled his body so he was all I could see, and then, he brushed the back of his fingers against my cheek.
“Rosie.” He said my name tenderly, so tenderly, that I wanted to beg him to take it back. “Had I been at the wedding,” he continued, and my heart stopped beating all over again when he met my gaze, “had I spotted you across that hall, I would have thought wow.” He paused, his face lighting up. “That girl takes my breath away, she’s so beautiful. And she sure looks like she loves cake.”
An airy chuckle escaped my lips, dazed by his words.
He reached for the box that sat on the bench and threw the lid open. Inside, a single slice of strawberry and cream cake sat on a little plate. And I recognized it immediately. It was the same kind that had been served at Lina and Aaron’s wedding. But—how?
Lucas extracted the plate and held it in his hand, placing the box by his feet. Then he said, “I would have crossed the busy hall, cake in hand, and I would have approached you with a dashing smile.”
God.
All those women that had had him at some point in the past and let him go had been so stupid. Crazy.
“And I…” I trailed off, my voice thick with emotion, needing a few more seconds to collect myself. “I would have looked at you up and down with a frown,” I told him, doing exactly that. “And I would have thought, hmm, he’s a total weirdo, but at least he brought something sweet.” I took the plate from him and when he laughed, I added, “And he has a good laugh, and a handsome smile, so I guess… I guess I’ll stay. Accept the cake.”
His gaze warmed as it roamed over my face. “Because I am a weirdo, I would have asked if you were going to share. That’d be the least you could do, after I made it all the way to you with the cake, dodging drunk uncles and inquisitive aunties that wanted to know if I was going to stay single forever.”
Not caring about not having a fork, or a napkin, I bit into it. It was sweeter, softer, far better than the one served at the wedding. And I knew without a doubt that he had baked it. Lucas had baked this cake.
My next words barely made it out. “And I… would have probably told you that maybe, you were single because you went around offering cake to women you knew nothing about.” With shaky hands, I held the plate in front of his face. “But that maybe, just this one time, this girl who might or might not be available, and who might or might not like you, would share some.”