Page 6 of Luca (Big Hot Alphas 3)

“Excellent choice, sir,” the waiter says, nodding at Luca. “May I see an ID?”

As Luca pulls out his wallet, the waiter glances over at me. “And, uh—you, too, ma’am.”

I pull out my driver’s license, too, despite the glaring obviousness that I’m well over twenty-one. After checking both IDs, the waiter nods and hands them back.

Is it terrible that I wish I could get a peek at Luca’s and find out how old he is?

“So,” I say. “You said you’re in grad school?”

He nods. “Yep. Getting my MBA.”

“That’s fantastic. Do you know what you want to do after you graduate?”

“Still figuring that out,” he says. “I know I want to start a company that’s focused on having a positive social impact. But there are a lot of ways to do that, as I’m sure you can imagine.”

I nod. “I’m sure.”

As Luca starts to tell me about some of his ideas, I can’t help but become even more captivated by him. Not only is he the most attractive man I’ve ever met, not only is he funny and sweet and romantic, but he’s also damn smart—andgood-hearted.

He really would make an incredible boyfriend, wouldn’t he?

Stop daydreaming, another voice says in the back of my head.He’s not going to be your boyfriend. He’s too young for you. This is just a date. That’s all it is.

As much as I don’t want to accept it, the voice is right.

So, for the rest of our date, I forbid myself to daydream about what could be. Instead, I focus on enjoying the moment we’re in. I laugh at Luca’s jokes; I ask him more about grad school; we talk about family and he tells me about his older brother, Titus, and his young nephew.

And when my mind starts to wander, I remind myself that, like his modeling stint, this date is a one-time thing.

After dinner, though, when we’re walking out to his truck and Luca asks if he can see me again on Saturday…I just can’t say no. Ican’tend it like this. He’s too good. We have too much of a connection.

“I’d love to see you again,” I say, looking up into those gorgeous eyes of his. “Saturday’s perfect.”

Chapter Three

Luca

“Pink or blue?”

“Blue,” says Quinn without hesitation. “Definitely blue.”

“Shoulda known,” I say, grinning as I hand cash over to the vendor, who hands back a cloud of blue cotton candy on a stick.

“What?” says Quinn, smirking at me. “You think you know me that well already?”

I shrug. “You just seem like a blue raspberry kind of girl.”

Quinn lets out one of her pretty laughs and bites off a little puff of the spun sugar, keeping her eyes on me as she does.

Nobody has ever made eating cotton candy look so damn sexy.

We’ve been at the fair for a few hours now. I thought our first date was fantastic, but this second one has outdone it. Even with all the commotion going on around us—the crowds, the flashing lights, the relentless noise from the carnival games—it’s also somehow felt intimate.

Like all of this was constructed for us.

We walk away from the food stalls and find a place to sit on a small grassy hill nearby. After we get settled, Quinn offers me the cotton candy and I crane my neck to take a bite. At the last second, though, she yanks it away and grins at me.

“Oh, you’re gonna get it,” I murmur, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her toward me. She laughs as I hold her in place and take the bite of cotton candy she deprived me of.

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