Page 62 of Shiver

“I swear to god, if you don’t move your arm, I’m gonna chew it off.”

Luca peers up at me through one eye, keeping the other closed, as if I’d believe for a single second that he wasactuallysleeping.

“We’re in first class, Luca. There’s no reason for you to practically be in my lap right now.”

Both of his eyes are open now, and a wide grin spreads across his face. “But,” he says, leaning farther into my lap, “you’re justsocomfy.”

Just when I was almost worried that I mayactuallylike Luca De Laurentiis’s company, he goes and reminds me exactly why I don’t.

“You’re a child. Now get out of my damn lap.” I push his thick arm off me and drop it over the side of my armrest.

He chuckles, leaning back into his seat and pulling his blanket up under his chin before closing his eyes. “You’re grouchy; take a nap.” Before I can respond, he presses his index finger against his full lips and says, “Shh, I’m trying to sleep, princess.”

I want to bite that finger right off, but I do my best to suppress my annoyance and relax back into my seat. I stuff my headphones in my ears and search for a movie to watch for the next few hours.

***

Luca is still fast asleep, and unlike him, I’ve never been able to rest on planes. I don’t trust being asleep with strangers around me, and even in first class, these seats aren’tthatcomfortable. The flight attendant dropped off complimentary snacks an hour ago, and despite having eaten mine already, my stomach is still growling.

I’m a “three meals a day with snacks in between” kind of gal, and today, I was too anxious to eat before we left.

Luca shifts in his seat, but his eyes remain closed, and I swear I hear his pack of pretzels call to me from his tray.

I don’t evenlikepretzels, but if Luca thinks I’m cranky now, wait until I haven’t eaten all day.

Actually, screw Luca. I deserve those pretzels for having to put up with his antics all the time.

I blow in his face a few times, double-checking that he’s really asleep, and when he doesn’t so much as twitch, I lean across him, grabbing his pretzels and chocolate chip cookie from his tray.

Sitting back, a small smile forms on my lips as I open the little bag of goodies and pop one crunchy, salty bite into my mouth.

“Fuck you, Luca,” I whisper happily, fighting the urge to kick my feet like a child.

As I bring another pretzel up to my mouth, he strikes. Luca is suddenly in my face, his teeth biting gently into the pretzel I’m holding between my fingers. He snakes his tongue out to pull it into his mouth, chewing before sitting back in his seat with a smug smile.

My stomach drops with the realization that I’ve been caught, but also, something about that whole exchange was so hot, it has my blood singing in the most delicious way.

“You didn’t have to steal from me, Samara. I’m more than happy to share with you,” he says, wearing a grin that makes me want to slap it right off his face.Or kiss it off. Undecided.

“Flight attendants, prepare for landing,” the pilot says over the intercom, the seatbelt signs glowing and my frustrations subsiding.I can’t wait to get off this plane.

Chapter fifty-two

Luca

As much as I miss my kid, I’m finding it surprisingly easy to cope just by annoying Samara. It gives me a sense of ease I never knew possible.

And as soon as we landed in Santiago, I switched my phone out of airplane mode. It’s taken a few minutes to fully load everything, but now that it has, I’m breathing more easily. Cici sent close to thirty pictures of Gia doing absolutely nothing, but I love them all the same. Dante texted that he spoke with her on the phone to check in, and she was doing well.

“Gia doing okay?” I hear Samara’s voice trickle in through my thoughts.

Lifting my gaze from the pictures on my screen, I meet her pretty brown eyes, they’re a mixture of espresso and caramel, two of my favorite things. I smile gently at her. “Yeah, she seems to be doing really well, and judging by all the pictures I’ve gotten of her doing literally nothing, Cecily is just about as obsessed with her as I am.”

For the first time in forever, Samara actuallysmilesat something I’ve said. “Good, every little girl deserves to be loved by parents who are obsessed with her very existence. Little boys too,” she says, nodding as if to confirm her own statement.I couldn’t agree more.

The flight attendant opens the door to let us out, and immediately, everyone starts standing to rush out. Luckily, sitting in first class means we get to get out of this tin can first.

Once we’ve exited and are heading toward baggage claim, I finally ask, “Okay, so if your family lives in Philly, why didn’t we all fly together?”

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