Page 18 of Tinsel in Telluride

After double checking the buckles one more time, I shut the door behind me and turn to climb in the front seat but instead I'm greeted with Luca’s chest against my cheek.

Air knocked from my lungs, I stumble back. Luca’s hand darts out and wraps around my waist, stopping me from hitting the ground.

“Thanks,” I rasp.

When he doesn’t respond, I make the mistake of glancing up. Any hope of seeing the man who impressed my best friends and helped save the Renegades disappears. Gone is the glittering smile and twinkling eyes reserved for my son, replaced by darkness as cold as the wind whipping through the trees.

This is the Luca Donati I remember. Cold. Calculating. And overall a grade A dick.

“You should have told me,” he snaps, his voice devoid of any joy.

Yanking my arm from his grip, I step back and narrow my gaze and channel diplomacy despite my heart being in my throat. “This isn’t how I wanted you to find out.”

His lip curls into a sneer.“No, you didn’t want me to find out at all.”

“Luca, that’s not?—”

“We’ll talk about this later,” he bites, his eyes darting to the dark glass that separates my son from us. “We don’t need Zach hearing us argue.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to inform him I’m perfectly capable of outlining all the reasons he’s being a jackass without my son knowing a damn thing—since he’s a toddler and doesn’tunderstand half of what we say—but instead, I bite my lower lip and stop myself.

If he wants to wait to talk, I’m not going to twist his arm. Especially when he’s right. I didn’t want him to know about Zach.

Luca turns on his heel and rounds the front of the SUV, leaving me standing there cold, angry, and confused as I try my best to recover from the emotional whiplash of my first ten minutes in Colorado.

My tired reflection greets me in the mirrored glass of the window as I turn to open the door. “Buck up, buttercup,” I whisper to myself as if it’s somehow going to help. “It’s going to be a long ass few days.”

CHAPTER FIVE

WILLOW: When were you going to tell us you are going on a mountain holiday with Luca?

INDIE: She’s doing what now?

WILLOW: LEIGHTON RENEE BENNETT.

INDIE: oh shit. She full full named you.

WILLOW: Why is Luca asking me what Zach’s favorite foods are and if he’s in a forward or rear facing car seat?

INDIE: What is happening?

WILLOW: Apparently our sweet little Leigh let the cat out of the bag and now her baby daddy is whisking her and Zach off to Telluride for the weekend.

INDIE: I want a baby daddy to whisk me off somewhere romantic.

WILLOW: We both know you don’t want to be tied down to just one dick, and you hate kids.

INDIE: I don’t hate Zach. And I love Bishop’s goddaughter. What’s her name?

WILLOW: Phoebe

INDIE: Yeah. I love Zach and Phoebe.

WILLOW: And both of them love you. But still, no baby daddies. We can only deal with one at a time.

INDIE: Agreed. Plus, kids are sticky.

WILLOW: That’s your objection?

---