Page 31 of Trouble in Love
“How you doing, Princess?”
Six-plus feet of pure, beefy, blue-eyed man candy that could pick me up, toss me onto the bar, and defile me had little to no effect on my body. My pulse did not thrum, my breath did not catch, nor did my mouth ... or anywhere else in my body struggle to cope with a sudden surge of moisture.
Not. At. All.
“You should not be here,” I snapped, my voice trembling with emotion I had no desire to explore as my eyes darted from said man candy to Luna. “And you, come with me. Back in a sec, Henry.” Skiting around the bar I wrapped my hand around Luna’s wrist and dragged her back to Dad’s office. Slamming the door behind me, I stalked toward her, my fingers clenching around the scratchy cloth of my apron, itching to do the same to her throat. “What the fuck did you do?”
Luna polished her nails against her cable knit sweater, inspected the sheen, and blew off the non-existent dust. “What does it look like I did? I drove to Byron, picked up Luca, and brought him here. And before you interrupt or slap me or both, hear me out. Obviously, he’s hot as fuck, but he’s also freaking delightful. Not only was he waiting for me at the mailbox, but he was also pacing, Polly. Pacing like an expectant 1950’s father. And he didn’t shut up about you the whole way here. When I tried to get him to reveal his plans for future sexy times, he blushed like a nun in a brothel and said he would prefer to keep your private intimacies private. I mean, c’mon. This is insane. You should have him pinned to a wall, not me.”
She was right. The wet, flustered part of me, knew what the dry, sensible zones refused to admit. “Luna, I told you not to contact him.”
“No, you told me not to give him your name and number, which I didn’t. You said nothing about hand-delivering him here.”
I slapped my forehead with an open palm and growled like the koala that lived in the park opposite the pub. “I would have thought it was implied.”
“Sorry. I didn’t pick up that vibe at all.” She leaned forward, kissed me on the nose, and ducked under my arms.
“I don’t like being pushed into things, Luna.” I followed her to Dad’s desk, where she made herself comfy on a pile of overdue invoices. I stood before her, my arms crossed over my chest and my nostrils flaring. “Making my own choices over who I see, when I see them, and what I do is important to me. You know that.”
“Yes, I do. But I also know you are terrified of being hurt and play the part of the bad party girl everyone decided you were so that you won’t be.” Taking a handful of my apron, Luna pulled me down to sit beside her and held my wiggling body in place. “Vulnerability is not weakness. You are allowed to be happy, and your smile the day I helped you get ready for your date told me thatLucahas the potential to bring you that happiness. Even if it’s only temporary, don’t you think you deserve it? Don’t you think you’ve had enough pain? Paid a big enough price for your mistakes?”
Luke Bailey’s slimy face appeared before me. “No,” I replied, breathing shallow.
“Well, I do.” Luna nudged me with her shoulder, my body stiffening when she wrapped her arm around me.
“Luna, even if I wanted to see him, which I don’t, you couldn’t have picked a worse time. Mum’s set me up with a good Greek boy, and I googled this infection she has. It can be serious. Fatal. I couldn’t live with myself if she died still being so fucking disappointed in me.”
The excitement in Luna’s eyes turned to pity that soured my stomach. “So, you’ll just live a fake life to win her approval just in case she dies, which …” she paused and pointed her finger in my face for dramatic effect, “She will because we all will.”Damn it. Why do I keep surrounding myself with people who make valid points?
“I do know that. But … but … she’s been nice to me, Luna. And I know this stands in direct violation of me claiming to have no heart, but I’ve spent hours with her over the last week and there hasn’t been one snippy fat girl, mono brow, or hairy lip jibe. She didn’t bring up Evie. She even wrote out her galaktoboureko recipe. It’s my dad’s favourite. I’ve wanted to make that for him my whole life, and she finally entrusted me with it. If I was to see Luca and she found out—.”
“She won’t find out. I promise. And the timing is perfect. You can slip in a few shady hooks-up with your cowboy before Greek-boy arrives, then leave it as that. A fun, discrete holiday romance that puts the sin back in your bin.”
My brows furrowed. “Sin in my what? I don’t get it.”
“Haha. Trust me. You will soon enough.” The Mr. Burns-likemuahahahawas interrupted by atap, tap, tapon the door, perfectly matching the pounding of my heart.
Luna bit her lip, in a shit effort to stifle her snickering. “Can I let him in?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Great. Let me fix you first.” With that, she licked her thumb and rubbed off whatever foodstuff was on my face. My hair was next, the bun unceremoniously yanked from my head, allowing my thick locks to cascade around my face. Finally, a tube of red lipstick was pulled from her pocket and liberally applied. “Damn, you are freaking gorgeous, Pol.” She slipped away and opened the door before I could argue.
Luca
Snow White spat out that rotten apple and came back to life.
Wearing an apron, a short black skirt, and a faded tee that showed off every curve she had been blessed with, this most beautiful raven-haired creature was even more stunning than I remembered.
And I still didn’t know her name.
I’d returned from Sydney a broken man—but things began to look up when we landed at Ballina. In what was a credit to my host nation, one I doubted would happen in New York, someone within the airport found and handed in my phone. Not only that, but it had also been kept charged, and waiting for me was a series of messages that brought joyous hope back to my soul.
Unknown: I hope the fuck you get your phone back, or this is a massive waste of time.
Unknown: She is going to fucking kill me for this but Luca …. Call me when you’re back in Byron. I have a surprise for you.
Unknown: Shit, I can’t wait. Jasmine is from Byron!!!! She’s there right now, practically salivating at the thought of your massive quads.
