Page 78 of All at Once

Before my mind wanders, Luca’s voice hums, “I can’t believe how much shit you bought.”

“You know…when in Rome,” I say with a facetious grin, “when inSpain.”

He snorts. “Right.”

“No seriously,” I add, eyes lighting up, “this was unreal. I’ve never been to a soccer game quite like this in the US.”

“Yeah, they are pretty amazing,” he agrees. “But there’s a lot there that we don’t have here.”

Growing curious, I ask, “How was it like moving back?”

“It was nice,” he says. “I didn’t really remember living in Spain since I was so little when we first left, but leaving the US was a little bittersweet for me. It wasn’t easy being far away fromalmost all my friends overnight, but I was lucky to meet a lot of great people here.”

A trace of sadness stings my chest, at the thought of him being lonely like that, but it’s quickly replaced by a smile, knowing he found good company, seeing firsthand how much people enjoy being around him. How much Ialsodo. The smile turns bittersweet though, when I remember last night.

Despite the conflicting feelings, I still express to him, “I’m happy you met a good group of friends here. That’s not an easy thing to do. Although you make it look pretty easy. You have like 2,000 friends, right?” I add, cocking a brow at him.

He nods. “Yeah. Just drop the last three zeros and you guessed it perfectly.” As I laugh, he adds, “And no, it might look that way. But I actually have a small group of friends. I much prefer a few quality friends over a bunch who forget the important things…like my favorite color.” He bites back his smile.

I remind myself that I am mad at him. Though, it’s really hard to continue tostaymad. “So do I,” I say, while my grin tries to peek through.

Then Luca offers, “Need some help?”

Even though he was just speaking, his smooth voice startles my body, forgetting how my hands are still full with the generous bags of sports apparel I just bought. I look at him bemused, and say, “Why are you asking? Are you trying to take away my Real Madrid hat?” I give a knowing smirk. “Or are you after my Real Madrid jersey?”

Not a second later, I almost tumble over my foot, when Luca holds my arm as we approach a few stairs. “Or…I’d rather not have to carry you out of here with a broken ankle,” he says.

As if the picture he just painted of him carrying me isn’t fogging up my mind, the tight grip of his hand over my shoulder,for a moment, makes me almost drop every single one of the bags. Walking around aimlessly now, I notice Luca looks down at my feet. “Your shoelace,” he says. “I got it.”

Before I have a chance to process that my shoe is untied and just hand him all the bags the way he first offered, his body disappears from my line of sight, my stomach tightening when I peer down at the angle. Him kneeling in front of me, his fingers tucked between my shoelaces, working the fabric as if they’re ribbons of silk. My eyes try their best not to roll back at how of all things,thishas to be turning me on like this.

It’s just,thatwasn’t quite how I pictured a guy being down on his knees for me for the first time would look like. Feeling just as flustered with the lava about to erupt in my stomach.

“Thanks,” I murmur, the angle of him rising up looking even more sensual than the bend of his knee.

Luca nods, giving me a small smile.

Before his eyes have a chance to catch mine, Enrique’s back. And my brain reminds me I’mstillhurt by Luca’s previous words, telling myself to not get distracted by his current words.Orhis charm.

My plan doesn’t fend quite well during the flight back, my heart quite literally jumping out of my chest when I wake up on Luca’s shoulder, while he’s still asleep. Luckily, Enrique’s not awake either as he rests on my shoulder. I gently try to move my neck off Luca’s arm before looking out the window, wishing we could have stayed in Madrid longer.

On that same note, I also wish I had time to visit Barcelona among other cities here.

Sitting in between these two men, it occurs to me how I haven’t even spent one entire day here by myself.

I’ve been so caught up in Enrique, and now his best friend out of nowhere, that what happened to coming here forme?

CHAPTER 13

“Hoax” – Taylor Swift

AS I’M PLANNING MY DAY the next morning, Georgia calls me and within the first fifteen seconds asks, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I tell her. “What do you mean?”

I guess being best friends for almost ten years makes you a mind reader at this point.

“You sound a little down,” she says.

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