Luca walks back holding a pair of pink soft fuzzy slippers, and he kneels in front of me. “I bought these for you. Wear them at home, Valentina. Don’t just walk around barefoot,” he tells me as he lifts my foot carefully and places the slipper on it. “The floor is cold, after all.”
I stare down at him in disbelief, unable to keep my heart from being unaffected. Why does he treat me this way, when our marriage was meant to be pure business? “I thought you hated pink?”
He laughs and looks away as he runs a hand through his hair, the gesture oddly…shy. “I do, but you love it.”
Luca turns back to the stove and switches it back on. “So you do know how to cook,” I murmur, a soft chuckle escaping my lips.
He looks over his shoulder and smiles at me sheepishly. I never thought Luca could becute, yet that’s exactly what he is. “The chef had a day off, and I didn’t feel like ordering something. I can only make this one stew, to be honest. It’s extremely hard to mess it up, so don’t worry about me blowing up our kitchen.”
Ourkitchen. He keeps saying and doing things that make my heart race. When we first got married, I was so certain I’d neverfall in love again, that this marriage would be all business. If Luca had continued to treat me the way he used to, everything would’ve been fine, but he seems insistent on breaking down my walls, and I don’t know how to stop him. With each passing day, he’s winning over more parts of me that never should have been his for the taking.
“Have you heard from your mother?” he asks.
“No. I’ve called her a few times, but she’s refusing to take my calls. Usually, I’d go stay at home once a month or so. Do you… would you come with me? I wonder if seeing us together would put her mind at ease. My mother isn’t the easiest person to deal with, but I don’t want her to worry about me.”
Luca glances over his shoulder and nods. “Sure,” he says, before looking back at the pan in front of him. “Whatever you want, baby.”
I stare at him, unable to figure him out. Three years seemed like such a long time, but I’m starting to worry it won’t be nearly enough for me.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Valentina
“How could you do this to me?” Sierra asks, her gaze filled with torment. “To both of us,” she adds, before elbowing Raven, who is seated next to her.
They showed up the moment Luca left for poker night, and I have a feeling I’m not leaving this living room until they’ve interrogated me to their satisfaction. Somehow, I was more ready for Grandma Anne than I was for this.
We’ve spoken in our group chat in the days since Raven’s fashion show, but other than congratulating me, they didn’t say much else. I thought they were letting it slide because they know how awkward I get when asked to speak about my private life, but it looks like I underestimated them. They were just waiting until they could corner me in person.
“I… I’m sorry for not telling you,” I murmur, my cheeks flushed. The idea of letting them down breaks my heart. I know it’s difficult for them to accept that I have a hard time letting people in, and throughout the years, they’ve always forgiven me when I went through periods of involuntarily pushing them away, but even I can admit that keeping something this big fromthem is too much. I must have made them feel like we aren’t real friends, and I don’t know how to fix it.
“Luca and I agreed to keep it quiet until we officially told your grandmother, but I should’ve just told you in secret. I’m really sorry.”
Sierra narrows her eyes at me. “That’s not what I’m worried about. How could you have deprived me of an opportunity to throw you a bachelorette party? Isn’t it enough that Raven got married in a rush and I was deprived of my maid of honor duties? How could you do the same thing to me?”
Raven bites back a smile and shakes her head. “Stop messing with her,” she tells Sierra, before turning to me. “Besides, we both know it’s me you would have chosen as your maid of honor, right?”
I stare at them doe-eyed and breathe a sigh of relief when I realize they aren’t mad at me at all. “You two… you had me so worried. I thought for sure you wouldn’t forgive me for being so secretive this time. Do you have any idea how many times I replayed this conversation in my mind?”
Sierra and Raven glance at each other, and then they smile. “Luca was a mess when you quit your job,” Raven says. “It was obvious that there was no way he was letting you go. This doesn’t surprise me in the least.”
Luca, a mess? I can’t even imagine that. I bet he was simply pissed that I deviated from his carefully laid out plans. He doesn’t like change, and I definitely caught him by surprise.
Sierra looks into my eyes and crosses her legs over each other as she leans in. “So, is it real? Your marriage?”
I look down in an attempt to hide my shock, my heart racing. What do I say to that? It’s one thing to keep our marriage from them, but it’s something else entirely to lie outright. I can’t breach our contract, though. What do I do?
“I see,” Raven says, a smile on her face. “You think it isn’t, huh? That’s cute.” I look up at her in confusion, and she grins at me. “Did you two decide to stick it out for three years, until Luca gets his inheritance?”
I take a deep breath and look away. “I can’t answer that,” I tell her honestly, my words conveying the truth I can’t articulate.
“When you sleep with him, does it feel like more than sex?” she asks, her eyes twinkling.
Sierra groans in disgust and wraps her hands over her ears for a moment, before clearly deciding she wants to know after all, because she drops one of her hands while keeping one ear covered.
“Um, yes,” I admit, my cheeks no doubt bright red.
“Does he get jealous and possessive of you?”