Brooke felt Luca’s arm on her shoulder.
“Joe, it’s been an unforgettable night,” Gio said and shook his hand.
Chloe moved around the table for a hug and a goodbye.
Franny hugged him with abandon. “I’m going to call you Grandpa Joe.”
“Okay, kid. I wasn’t a great dad . . . but I’ll try and . . . and be a good grandpa.” Her father yawned.
“Let’s get you home,” Brooke said.
Twenty-five minutes later, Brooke walked her father into the assisted living home. The attendant at the front desk had to open the locked doors to greet them.
She hugged her father, told him she’d see him the following week, and walked back out to Luca in the running car.
She got in the passenger seat and slid into a lump. “God, that was painful.”
“It wasn’t that bad.”
She’d been waiting for nearly an hour to ask her next question. “Really? What did he want to talk to you about when you went to the bathroom?”
“Nothing. Dad stuff.”
“What does that mean?”
Luca turned onto the deserted street. It was after ten and the roads were empty.
“Nothing he didn’t say in front of you. It’s fine, cara.”
Luca pulled into a deserted parking lot.
“What are you doing?”
He reached for her. “Come here.”
She leaned over and he kissed her. Everything about how he touched her made her forget the stress of the day.
Brooke tried to move closer, felt his tongue swipe against her lips.
All the stress of the night pooled into this kiss, this moment.
She heard Luca turn off the engine as he attempted to pull her closer. The center console of the SUV made the moment almost impossible.
“Luca?”
His lips moved to her ear, kissed and nibbled the side. “Yes?”
“The back seat might be more comfortable.”
He drew away, and before either of them could say a word, they unbuckled their seatbelts and jumped out of the front and into the back.
Luca was on her in a breath. His hand pushed away her shirt, his lips found the soft part of her breast and sucked in a nipple.
Brooke moaned, reached for his belt.
In his car . . . are we really going to do this in his . . .
Luca’s hand slid over her jeans and cupped her sex.
Yes, apparently, they were doing this in his car.
Brooke could not get out of her clothes, or at least the important parts, fast enough.
With her panties on the floor, and his pants around his ankles, Brooke climbed on top of Luca and felt him press against the most welcoming parts of her body.
“So good.”
They started to move, and the windows in the car fogged over.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Two days later, Antonia showed up at Luca’s door shortly after he’d walked Franny to school.
“What are you doing here?”
Wearing slacks, high heels, and a blouse unbuttoned enough to show the tops of her breasts, she was only slightly dressed down from any other time he’d seen her since she’d arrived.
“Must you be so toxic, Luca? I’m here to discuss our daughter.” Antonia spoke in Italian, setting the language for the conversation.
He opened the door and let her in. “You could have called.”
“And be put off? Or asked to meet you in the restaurant where others are listening? It’s as if you’re afraid I’m going to attack you if we’re alone together. We were lovers, Luca. You can’t be afraid of being alone with me.”
“I choose not to be alone with you to avoid giving you the impression I want to be alone with you. And because I have someone I care about in my life. Her feelings are important to me.”
Antonia moved deeper into his apartment. One he had shared with her. Her hand reached out and followed the table along the back of the sofa. “That was me once.”
“You left.”
“The doctors said I had postpartum depression.”
“Franny was almost three. And your American citizenship was finalized six months before you disappeared.”
Her eyes shot up to look at him. “You don’t truly think that of me.”
Luca leaned against the wall, crossed his arms over his chest. “It doesn’t matter what I think, Antonia. It was a long time ago.”
She started toward him.
He stopped her with a stare. A gift he knew he was good at.
“I loved you, Luca. Still love you, if I’m honest with myself.”
He shook his head. “I’m not sure you’re capable of loving anyone but yourself.”
“You don’t think that.” She smiled. “Remember the night we snuck into the harbor and made love on McAllister’s boat? Our love was radiant that night.”
Luca breathed in the memory and let it fade away. “We shared some good times. In the past.”
“Try and remember them, my darling. Then perhaps you’ll accept that I am back in your life.”
Luca shook his head.
“We have a daughter. We will always have that.”
He pushed away from the wall and walked to his kitchen. “What is it you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Brooke.”
“She is not on the table for discussion.”
“How stable is it for Francesca to accept Brooke as a constant in your life, only to have that gone if you two have a fight? The woman is so insecure she’s spreading lies about the things I’ve spoken to her about.”
“What things?”
“I’m sure she’s told you.”
This entire conversation was coming out of nowhere. Instead of telling her she was crazy, he gave her the opportunity to prove it.
“Remind me.”
“We had a private chat about a week ago when I brought Francesca home from school. She cornered me in the hall. She must have told you.”
“No,” he lied.
Fake concern crossed Antonia’s face. “That’s telling, isn’t it? She told me I was a bad mother. That if I wasn’t going to stay, I should just leave now.”
Nothing about this rang true, but Luca kept his thoughts to himself and let Antonia dig herself deeper.
“Franny is excited to get to know you.”
Antonia released a long-suffering breath. “Oh, I know, my darling. And I am so sorry I haven’t been here. But to have your little girlfriend say such nasty things to me, I can only wonder what poison she’s saying to our daughter.”
“Brooke only has Franny’s best interests at heart.”
“How can you really know that?”
“Because she’s proven it with her actions ever since we met.” He let those words settle in and take hold.
“That was meant to hurt me.”
“If that’s what the truth does. Where have you been, Antonia? What kept you away from our daughter all of these years?”
“I don’t want to discuss—”
“I honestly don’t care what you want. We deserve to know. Franny is in a constant state of worry that you’ll disappear again. Maybe if we knew that something in you has changed, if I knew something has changed, I could give her some hope that you mean what you say and you’re going to be around for the rest of her life.”