Luke gives her a large smile. “I’m starting to see what you mean, signora.”
Laugh lines appear around Nanny Tate’s eyes as she smiles so widely.
“All done,” I state, finishing up my handiwork. “And it won’t even leave a scar,” I let her know while packing up my stuff. “Someone should stay with her overnight, though. Keep an eye on her because she doesn’t seem like she’s suffering from any concussion...” especially with her shrewd line of questioning, “… but we can never be too careful.”
“Thank you so much, Lilly.”
The Tate family all hug me—this is the family I wish I had. They’re warm, loving, and supportive.
“It was a pleasure to meet you, Signora Tate.” Luke bends down and kisses her on the cheek.
“Careful, boy, we don’t want Nanny to have a heart attack.” Bernard bursts out laughing after he says it.
Luke stills for a moment then realizes it’s a joke.
Margaret pulls me off to one side. “Lauren filled me in on what’s happened with Rob. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think I am. He wasn’t the one for me.”
“You deserve better, sweetheart. Just remember that.” Margaret gives me a warm, motherly hug, and I let her, sinking into her softness. My eyes well, but I shake off my emotions. “Are you okay staying in the cottage with this gorgeous stranger?” she questions me.
“Yeah, he’s a good guy.”
“Handsome, too.” Margaret eyes me suspiciously.
“Yes, he is.”
“Well, I hope you have fun.” She winks at me. How does she know?
“It’s only for a month,” I tell her.
“Sometimes when you least expect it, fate has other plans.”
Oh, good God, not her too.
“You ready?” Luke places his hand at the small of my back. Margaret hugs him farewell while her husband rolls his eyes with a grin.
“Now, call us if you need anything,” Margaret calls out to us as we make our way back to the car. Luke opens my door, then walks around to his side. Margaret gives me a thumbs up when she sees that gesture, and I simply shake my head and laugh.
“They are lovely,” Luke tells me as he puts the 4WD into gear and heads back up the snowy highway to our cottage.
“They are good people.”
“Not many people seem to like your ex?” he questions.
“I know. I always thought it was because he was English. Now I realize it’s because he was a dick.”
Luke chuckles at my statement.
“You seem to have won over the women… being all Italian.” I wave my hands around at him.
“What does that mean?”
“Oh, don’t you play coy with me. You amped up all your sexy Italian-ness for the ladies.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” He grins, keeping his eyes on the road.
“Oh my God, yes, you do.” Slapping his thigh with my hand, I then put on a fake manly Italian accent and pretend to be him.
“I don’t sound like that.” He rolls his eyes at me, but his smirk is firmly in place.
“You know exactly what you do to women. I bet you use it to your advantage in business as well by charming the pants off them.”
He shakes his head. “I never sleep with a client.”
“Doesn’t mean you don’t charm them in other ways,” I tease him.
“It worked on you.” Luke looks over at me, and there’s heat behind his chocolate eyes.
“I seem to recall that I was the one who made the first move,” I remind him.
“Seems that you, too, are equally as charming.”
His words make me smile.
14
Lilly
As soon as we walked back into the cottage and into our bubble again, we were ripping off our clothes. Honestly, I have never wanted to sleep with someone as much as want to with Luke. I mean, the man’s a sexy Roman god, and any woman would be jumping him every chance they got. When he talks dirty in Italian, I’m done for.
I’m not going to let my mind run away with me this time. I don’t want to be that girl trying to find a meaning behind every single compliment Luke gives me. I want to be the carefree, no-strings-attached kind of girl.
Most booty calls don’t live with you. That’s right, inner me.
Usually, you can separate sex and the more domestic stuff because you aren’t together all the time. But when he does things like clean up after I have cooked dinner—watching him scrub the dishes has never been so erotic—yes, that’s when I know I’m losing my mind. I must have cabin fever.
Rolling over, the space beside me is empty. Opening my eyes, it seems Luke is already up.
Stretching my super tired muscles, I slide out of bed and relieve myself before joining him.
“Buongiorno, bella, Good morning, beautiful,” he calls from the armchair beside the fire where he’s playing on his phone. “You slept in.”
My eyes widening at his comment. “Why? What time is it?” I search around with my eyes for my phone which must be still in my bedroom.
“It’s 11:36.”
“Wow! I never sleep in that late.”
Luke reaches out and pulls me into his arms, I snuggle into his chest.
“That’s because I keep you exhausted most nights.” He kisses my head.
“That you do,” I hum against his hard chest.
I’m going to miss this when it’s all over. It’s been a week. One whole week, but it feels like a lifetime. New Year’s Eve is coming up, the start of a new year with so much possibility and so much expectation. My new year is going to be looking a hell of a lot different than I thought it was going to be.
One, I’m halfway across the world.
Two, I’m single.
Maybe it’s a good thing.
I can now concentrate on what I want to do with my life without outside influences. I’ve always done what my parents wanted me to do, except going to Africa. Well, they were totally fine with it once Rob told them he thought it was an amazing idea, and that it would look good on
