Page 6 of Mine Again
My father might not do much for his daughters, but for Luca Caruso, the boy he’s always treated like the son he never had, he’d doalmost anything.
My favorite seafood feast, the candlelit table overlooking the sea, the hovering waiter tending to us like we’re royalty… all of it arranged and paid for by my father.
But the real reason we’re here? This was Luca.
His little glances when no one’s watching, the brush of his knee against mine, the curve of his mouth when Mari and Mia bicker over dessert, they give him away to me.
Father only insisted we weren’t out alone.
Engaged or not, that isn’t allowed until we’re married. And we can’t get married until I’m eighteen. Which is exactly why Mari and Mia are here.
My little sisters, fifteen and thirteen, are assigned to chaperone us, as if that will actually stop anything.
It won’t.
Not when they’d never tell on me because they adore Luca almost as much as I do.
And not when disappearing with him for a little while is all I can think about.
God, I hope he’s planned for that too.
I ache to touch him. To kiss him. To slip away and be with him. Without eyes on us, without rules, without pretending we’re patient.
“Blow out the candles,” Mari grins, nudging my shoulder like I’m taking too long, while Mia taps her wrist like she’s wearing a watch.
But it’s Luca’s voice that slides beneath my skin and takes hold.
“Make a wish,farfalla,” he murmurs, low and dark, like a secret meant only for me.
Farfalla. Butterfly.
He’s called me that since I was three. Back then, my favorite dress had wings stitched to the back, and I’d twirl until I got dizzy. He used to mock me for it, all boyish and smug.
The nickname stuck, always meant as a tease… until I turned fourteen.
Something in the way he said it changed then. And the way helooked at me? It got more intense.
He was sixteen then. Old enough to notice. Old enough to want.
His voice is a rough caress against my skin, and my body responds before my mind does, heat pooling low in my belly, making me lose track of what he’s saying.
My gaze snags on his and I forget how to breathe. Forget where I am. Forget everything except him.
“Don’t take forever,” Mia complains, snapping me back to glance at the candles in front of me.
Seventeen flames flicker in the dark, their glow heating my skin as I lean in.
I could wish for freedom, escape, or even rebellion. Any of them would make sense, growing up in the golden cage built for Accardi girls, where obedience is expected, and defiance not tolerated.
But I only want one thing… one person.
Luca.
One stolen hour tonight with the boy I’ve loved my entire life is all I want.
I close my eyes, make my wish, and blow out the candles.
When I open them again, Luca is already watching me like he knows.
