Luca's Bad Girl - By Amy Andrews Page 0,41

her hot-pink polar fleece dressing gown closer.

‘Luca?’

‘Who is it?’ Evie called from the couch, where she’d been watching old sitcom reruns all day.

‘It’s just Luca,’ Mia threw over her shoulder as casually as she could. Because it could never be just Luca. The man was dressed in a suit and looked like a matinee idol, even with his face set grimly.

She really, really shouldn’t want to drag him to her bedroom. But, heaven help her, she did.

Evie, her face fixed on the screen, laughed. ‘Does he want to borrow a cup of milk?’ And she laughed again.

Luca frowned. ‘Huh?’

Mia shook her head. ‘Long story.’ She noticed a suitcase standing nearby in the hall. She raised an eyebrow. ‘Going somewhere?’

He nodded. ‘I decided to follow your advice.’

‘You’re going back to Italy?’

‘Yes.’ He gave her a ghost of a smile. ‘To hell with them, right?’

Mia searched his face for a moment, pleased that he was doing the right thing but puzzled as to why he’d bothered to stop by and tell her.

The man was about to fly halfway around the world to go to his beloved grandmother’s funeral against the wishes of a family he wasn’t on good terms with and hadn’t seen in over two decades—he probably didn’t need her questions.

‘Right,’ she said awkwardly.

‘I’ll be back in five days,’ he said.

‘Five days? Hell, Luca, you’re going to be next to useless when you return.’ She saw something flit through his eyes and quickly added, ‘Professionally,’ in case he thought she’d meant it any other way.

She had no doubt that his other functions would be in fine working order.

Not that she cared or would be thinking about his other functions at all.

‘I’ve arranged cover at work for seven days and business class helps.’

Mia nodded. ‘I’ll bet.’

‘John said his housekeeper, Gladys someone …’

‘Henderson,’ Mia supplied. The spritely sixty-year-old cleaned their apartment too.

‘Yes, that’s her. She’s going to keep an eye on the apartment for me.’

‘Okay.’ Mia waited for him to say more. Or to pick up his bags and leave. He didn’t. She frowned. ‘Why are you here, Luca?’ she asked wearily.

Luca put his hand in his pocket. ‘To thank you.’ He looked at her intently, her fluffy pink dressing gown somehow just as sexy as the winter coat from last night. ‘You were right. I needed to do this.’

Mia shrugged. ‘No worries.’

He chose his next words carefully. Normally he didn’t have to give ‘the speech’ but Mia was different. Somehow she’d got past the barriers that he’d erected since Marissa and she deserved him to be straight with her.

He wanted her to know that it wasn’t her—it was him.

He just didn’t do emotional connections and he especially didn’t need that baggage now, heading off to face some pretty big demons.

He was surprised, though, at how hard the words were to say. At his reticence.

‘I know I wasn’t good company this morning and—’

‘It’s okay, Luca,’ Mia interrupted, knowing from his eyes what he was going to say and suddenly not wanting to hear the words come from his mouth. ‘I get it. You and I were always just a one-time thing that went on for longer than it should have. Neither of us do this sort of thing. I think we can just walk away and chalk it up to experience.’

Luca pursed his lips. It was an easy out for him but, still, her even easier acceptance rankled. It shouldn’t have. It should have been a relief.

But it wasn’t.

‘I think it’s best,’ he murmured.

It was. It had to be.

‘Of course,’ she assured him. So why didn’t it feel like it? Why did she feel worse than she had all day?

They stood in the doorway, looking at each other for a moment, not speaking. It was for the best. It was.

‘I’m sorry.’ Luca grimaced, checking his watch. ‘I have to go, I have a taxi waiting.’

Mia nodded, her heart hammering in her chest. ‘Sure. I’ll see you when you get back,’ she said. ‘At work.’

‘Yes,’ he agreed, fighting the urge to seize her in his arms and kiss her and the even more bizarre urge to ask her to go with him.

To complicate it much more than it already was.

‘At work,’ he repeated. Then he turned away, picked up his bag and strode down the corridor to the lift, not daring to look back.

Mia stared after him, watching until he disappeared.

It—whatever it was—was over. She should be over the moon.

She wasn’t.

‘That seemed pretty intense. What was it about?’ Evie asked.

Mia swivelled her head to