Page 67 of Trouble in Love
After receiving a nudge from his human pillow, Luca’s blue eyes slowly blinked open. Unsteady on his feet and deliciously rumpled from sleep, he rose to greet me.
God, he was gorgeous.
“There’s my girl,” he smiled, softly pressing a kiss to my forehead. “Not going to lie, Princess, I was a little scared you wouldn’t come back.”
“It’s rare for me to admit weakness like this, Luca, but I was scared I wouldn’t, too. I’m kind of terrified and may have freaked out. Not only because I’m a bad flyer, but …” Movement behind Luca caught my eye. Undoubtedly seeking better acoustics, Teddy had slid down the bench, tucking himself in behind Luca’s ass and smiling up at me, innocently batting his lashes. Grunting, I grabbed Luca by the elbow and dragged him out of earshot before continuing. “What if things don’t work out with us? What if we get to Vegas and you realize I’m a cold-hearted snake … a loud eater … a disgusting pig who gets toothpaste all over her mouth when she brushes her teeth. Or what if—”
Cupping my cheeks in his hands, Luca cut me off with a bruising kiss that left me giddy, calm, and reassured. He pulled away, carding his fingers through the errant strands of hair his kissed dislodged. “What if things work out? What If I think yourtoothpaste face is adorable and your sleep-farting lets me know you feel secure?”
“I never said anything about farting.”
“Who farted?” Teddy was back, slicing his hands between us like the jaws of life prying open a crumpled car wreck. “You can’t fart in first class. In fact, you can’t even say fart. Its space is reserved for classy shit only.”
“Thanks for the heads up, Ted.” Luca laughed. “I suppose we’ll be plane buddies again?”
Waving a dismissive hand, Teddy wedged himself in tighter. “Clingy doesn’t suit you, desperado. You’re old news,” he scoffed, sliding his arm into mine and leading me away. “I’ve got a new toy to play with. Come on, Pol. Let’s go chill in the first-class lounge.”
In all honesty, after that kiss I’d hoped Luca and I could have a little under the blanket playtime, but like the conversation I still had to have with my sister, my parents and Luca’s family, I guessed that, too, would have to wait.
First class was not as good as I expected. It was better. Our seats were not seats. They were suites. Each was a little pod with an armchair that massaged and became our bed, a little TV screen and a little spot for a companion to enjoy a meal together. I spent the first half of the flight sneaking into Lucas’s space the second the stewards’ backs were turned. Torturing him with sexy touches that could lead nowhere was beyond entertaining. But once the killjoys shooed me back to my own pod, Luca fell asleep with a boner that could pierce the seat before and my nerves returned. Luckly Teddy, a suspicious looking sleeping pillhe provided and three complementary champagnes later, I was feeling funky.
Learning being tipsy around Teddy was not good. Not if I had secrets to keep, anyway.
It was me who initiated the trouble. “So, you and Asher are having a baby with his sister?”
“That’s right, and no, before you ask, I didn’t plant the bean in the belly. It’s all IVF. All above board.”
I laughed and sipped more sparkly. “It’s really good of Rachel to do that for you. IVF isn’t an easy process. The hormone injections alone wreak havoc on your body—”Oops.
“How do you know?” Ted asked, his eyes narrowing. “Was your little niece an IVF baby?”
“Umm. No. No, I just have… a friend who went through initial stages of vitrification. She never followed through with it, though.”
“A friend?” Wink. “Or afriend?” Wink, wink.
“Afriend,” I winked back. A gentle, reassuring hand was placed on my knee beneath the little dining table sitting between us.
“And may I ask why yourfriendwas looking into it?”
“She.” I paused, allowing our steward named Stewart to place out meals before us, and for Teddy compliment Stewarts on the size of his spicy Moroccan meat balls. “She an accident a few years ago and can’t …you know. My mum …” shit. “I mean, her mum was really putting on the pressure for her to settle down and pop out a million babies. IVF was the only way it would happen.”
“But you … I meanshe, didn’t go through with it?”
“No,” I answered around a mouthful of the Chicken and Almond Tagine. “She decided she didn’t want that. Not yet anyway, and maybe not ever.”
“That’s very brave of her. Societal pressure on women to have kids is intense enough, without a family member adding you into it.”
“Well, it wasn’t my whole family. Just my mum… Shit, this coriander yogurt is fucking awesome. I’m drooling.”
Teddy chuckled and passed me napkin. “Polly. If you want to keep any of your secrets from that hunk-o-man of yours, don’t mix alcohol and sleeping pills.”
“Noted.”
We continued to eat, the gentle hum of chatter, chewing and occasional thud of turbulence filling the space between us until Teddy asked, “Polly, does Luca know?”
Keeping my eye on the final scoop of green beans and couscous, I shook my head. “This flight will be the longest stretch of time we’ve spent together. We were too busy fucking around. Kids never really came up.”
“Not that I’m judging but, since Luca wants to run you off the plane and straight into a chapel, don’t you think it should?”
