to me, by the way.” His eyes lock with mine for a long moment, and I don’t know what the hell to say.
Someone who is very special to him?
Is he talking about me?
My heart skips a beat inside my chest.
Thankfully, Luca turns his attention back to the coffeepot. He pours my coffee into one of the to-go mugs—topping me off with fresh brew in the process—and prepares one for himself. “Ready?” he asks, and I have to blink out of my confusion.
“Uh-huh.”
We head to the door, but then he pauses. “Wait…did you eat something?”
I shake my head. “Didn’t have time.”
In an instant, he turns on his heel, jogs into the kitchen, and a moment later comes back with a banana and a granola bar.
“I’ll drive. You eat,” he says as we head out the front door.
I shrug and start to hand him the keys, but he smirks.
“I got my car fixed. So, we can take the Porsche.”
I quirk a brow. “You got your car fixed? In the middle of the freaking night? By who?”
“I guess you could say I know a guy.”
“Bullshit,” I retort. “And there’s no way in hell I’m going to let you drive us in your fancy sports car and leave my car here to pick up later.”
He grins. “Don’t worry,” he says with a smirk. “I’ll have Charles the ass-kisser deal with getting your car to set later today.”
I stand there, completely unsure of what to do. I mean, having Errand Boy Chuck run an errand for me is a bit too tempting to resist…
“Get in, Billie,” Luca urges. “Or else we’re going to be late.”
Somehow, the bastard tricked me into coming to his house this morning for no actual reason. And now, I’m going to be stuck in the car with him for a forty-five-minute commute.
God, it’s like he won’t go away.
Yeah, but do you really want him to go away? It’s not like you’re putting up too much of a fight whenever he requests something from you…
Stupid brain. I ignore it and get in the car.
I mean, I don’t really have a choice at this point, do I?
At least he fed you breakfast and provided your morning caffeine fix…
Luca
I wish I’d known eight years ago how good it feels to be high on hope. One day, Billie will be mine. I have no choice but to believe it.
Fifteen minutes into the drive and Billie hasn’t done anything but eat her granola bar and banana and take sips from the to-go cup I brought for her.
And she’s kept her responses to any of my questions short and to the point.
“You excited to head to Austin tomorrow morning?”
“Yeah.”
“How is your sister’s tour going?”
“Good.”
“Do you want to listen to some music?”
“Sure.”
“What do you want to listen to?”
“I don’t care.”
She’s as stubborn as a mule, I’ll give her that.
But I refuse to let this rare moment of being alone with her go to waste.
And I refuse to be anything else but open and honest with her.
Old Luca would’ve given up a long fucking time ago. Hell, old Luca wouldn’t even be in this situation. He was a noncommittal bastard with a chip on his fucking shoulder.
Thank god old Luca is a thing of the past.
But me, the man I am today, knows Billie is worth my patience, worth all of my goddamn time. She is worth every-fucking-thing.
As I merge onto the highway, heading toward the studio, I glance at Billie out of the corner of my eye and find her just sitting there, looking cute as a fucking button in her all-too-familiar style of cowgirl boots and jeans. Obviously, she found the time to get a new pair at some point.
Her hair is tossed up into a messy bun, and besides some kind of shiny gloss on her lips, her face is bare of makeup.
Other than seeing her in my clothes all those weeks ago when she woke up at my cabin, this is one of my favorite Billie looks.
Natural. Beautiful. Perfect.
If only she could see herself through my eyes. Maybe then, she’d understand how I really feel about her. How much I care about her. That she is the only woman on the planet I have eyes for. Maybe then, she’d forgive me for being such a prick on that awful day she walked away from me in Alaska.
Maybe then, she’d be mine.
Because that’s all I really want.
I want her to be mine.
God, I wish my baby sister could see the lengths I’m willing to go to