Page 105 of All at Once

Except my brows continue to furrow with frustration. “Why didn’t you say any of this to me right when you realized this?”

“You were so excited to be with Enrique that I didn’t really see the point in bringing it up.”

“So what’s the point in bringing it up now?” I challenge. All that time I was worried what Enrique was thinking and if us meeting again was fate and now he has to tell methis.

Luca defends, “I don’t know. I’m tired. I didn’t even mean to bring it up.”

He didn’t mean to?For a second I thought this could mean he might actually have some feelings for me, but his response contradictsthis.

“When you brought up college just now, it reminded me of everything,” he adds.

I must look more upset than I want to let on when his Adam’s apple flexes, before he looks at me with a seriousness in his eyes. One that’s so intense, I almost gasp. Maintaining his gaze on me, his lips part and he says, “Did youwant meto tell you?”

I don’t answer.

Instead I barely move in closer. But enough to where he notices. As he swallows again, a satisfying warmth fills my entire body. I don’t really know what I’m doing. Actually, I haveno ideawhat I’m doing. In my mind, if he likes me, he’ll also lean in.

And he does.

I move in even closer, my heartbeat about to burst by the second. He slowly matches my distance, before a strand of my hair falls to my face.

Luca lifts it so gently that I don’t feel his skin until he tucks the strand behind my ear as goosebumps dance all over my neck and collarbone.

My longing eyes reveal how badly I want to feel his lips on mine. And there’s no way he doesn’t sense it.

He glances down at my lips. “If I try to kiss you…,” he whispers, before looking into my eyes. “Will you stop me?”

I barely shake my head, too consumed by the moment. A wave of pleasure rushes between my legs the closer his lips move near mine, until they’re only a few inches away.

As I’m about to close my eyes, Luca sighs strong enough for me to feel the vibration off my lips. “What am I doing?” he says.

He immediately moves away as I look up at him with eyes wide in shock.

I’m speechless. At the moment. At how close we were. That hestoppedit.

Yet I still can’t say anything.

“I’m sorry,” he confesses with so much pain in his voice as he walks away.

But not as much as it pains me to watch himgo.

CHAPTER 17

“Question...?” – Taylor Swift

THE SENSATION OF LUCA’S BREATHthat close to mine was so impactful that I still feel it despite themanydeep breaths I took on my way back to my suite.

I’m about to combust. Already warming up again at the reminder of the depth of his voice, his weight leaning in like that, and seeing his smooth lips just inches away from mine.

Which is why I immediately call Georgia and as soon as she picks up, confess, “Enrique tried to set me and Luca up back in college but forgot.” Somehow, I’m even more pissed than when Luca revealed this to me an hour ago.

“What?!” Her voice definitely matches the shock I felt.

I continue on restlessly, “And he told me that he was single at the time and even said he wasinterested.” I press my hands to my forehead, feeling a headache forming already. “Can you believe that he could have been my first boyfriend?!”

“This is so fucking hilarious.” I hear her laugh. “What were you saying aboutfateagain?”

“Very funny Georgia.”

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