“Then why not tell me?” I asked, hurt clear in my voice.
Luca loosened his tie, yanking it from his neck as he undid the top button of his shirt. “What part of it was business isn’t clear.”
I rushed around the couch to get in his face. “What part of I’m your fiancée, and she’s the bitch you were going to marry, don’t you understand?” My chest rapidly rose and fell. As much as I tried to beat back the jealousy and trust in Luca, a part of me demanded Luca be only mine.
“So, we’re doing this.” He balled up his tie. “I planned to marry Zoe, but I never fucked her.” Luca raised his voice, inching close enough that I could feel the anger radiating off him. “I haven’t fucked anyone but you since we met!”
Shocked.
I was shocked.
Too bad it wasn’t enough to calm the storm already brewing inside of me. Jealousy and anger twisted together, making me want to lash out and release the fear and tension weighing on me. “It doesn’t change the fact you’re risking our future together for another woman. Another woman who told me all about the tattoo on your chest.” I was wrong, abso-fucking-lutely bonkers, but the words tumbled from my mouth. “How does a woman you’ve never fucked see that?”
Luca’s chest heaved as his hands fisted in the air inches from my elbows, just short of grabbing me. “You have some fucking nerve.” His anger wrapped around me, choking out my will to fight. “I havenevermentioned the people you fucked while we were apart. I wouldn’t do that.” His voice was deep and full of menace. “But you—” He chuckled, cupping my cheek, running his thumb over my bottom lip. “You have the audacity to be jealous over—”
“I’m not jealous,” I mumbled.
“You’re as green as your eyes, and it’s bullshit.”
“I—”
“I don’t need to hear it.” He scowled. “I already know.”
Guilt left me scrambling for something to say, but what could I say? Sorry I fucked around because I was hurt and lonely? Sorry, I'm raking you over the coals about dating someone else while I self-destructed?
Luca’s face softened, and he caught one of my hands in his. “I know.” He sounded resigned and sympathetic all at the same time.
Feeling absolutely miserable, I poked at the fears that had surfaced as soon as I saw Zoe. “You would’ve fucked her once you got married.”
He shrugged. “Probably.” I reared back, my hands landing on his chest to create space that he immediately closed by pulling my hips to him. “It doesn’t matter. It never happened and never will.”
“But it almost did. You almost married someone else.” The tears I’d blinked back rolled down my cheeks, and Luca brushed them away.
“And you almost died.”
I sighed and looked up into his beautiful brown eyes. “Are you sure nothing happened?”
He eyed me, his head tilting as if seeing me in a new light. “This is the last time we’re discussing my blip of a relationship with Zoe. Nothing ever happened. She got to my place early one night and caught me before I was dressed.”
I raised an eyebrow. “So, she saw you in a towel?”
“Sweatpants.”
“That might be worse.”
He smiled. “Shut up.” Pushing my hair back, his smile dimmed. “We were friendly, and when her family tried to kill her, Tootsie took her to the cabin, and I approved it. I didn’t think too far past that. With everything going on with my dad’s funeral and us, she kind of fell off my radar.”
“I’m sorry.” I kissed his chin.
“Why?”
“For doubting you.”
“I get it. It must’ve been pretty shocking to see her.”
I pushed him down on the couch and climbed on his lap. “It was.”
“I’m still trying to strike a balance between what I should and shouldn’t tell you.” He slid his hands to my ass, smacking both sides hard. “From here on out, you'll know any business that has to do with an ex.”