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"I’m Dani, his cousin. I’d love a coffee," she says, turning to Sam. "Can you make us some?" Sam’s mouth guppy-fishes, and she looks at me for help as the new woman sits down, a briefcase landing on the couch cushion beside her.
"I’ll make it," I say instantly, getting up to preserve Sam’s dignity. She doesn’t even know how to work the simple coffee machine in her apartment, let alone the fancy one up here that Luca practically purrs over in the morning.
Dani, Luca’s cousin.
Of course he has family.
She doesn’t say anything as I busy myself making three coffees. The silence is awkward, and I wonder if she’s going to try and tell me to leave, that her cousin is too good for me, or any of those things. Instead as I turn, tray in my hands with coffees, and some cookies too, because I wasn’t born in a barn.
"I need to talk to you about Luca’s will."
My steps falter.
"What?"
"His will. His estate. Things that could happen in the future." She crosses her legs and folds her hands on top of her knee, the perfect image of a cool, calm, respectable woman. "I’m not talking about his business interests, I’m talking about his personal life."
"I—" my throat feels tight, and I have to set the tray down, because my hands are trembling. I glance at Sam, who doesn’t seem to understand this either. I set the tray down on the coffee table, a smooth white marble oval that sinks right into the thick rug beneath it.
"Thank you," Dani murmurs, and she looks at me with sparkling eyes. "He did talk to you, about how things are organized, did he not?" She asks, even though she has to know I have no idea what she’s talking about. Her lips part in another smile that reminds me of a viper ready to strike. "Well let’s get started then."
The apartment is dark hours later when Luca gets home, and I’m still on the couch, surrounded in paperwork, a single candle burning on the coffee table. Sam, and Dani, have long ago left, the only other evidence of them being here beside the mountain of paperwork I’m drowning in, are the coffees by the kitchen sink.
The door in the foyer opens, and I know it’s him by the sound of his footsteps. I pull the purloined knitted blanket I’d found tucked in a side table, around me tighter.
"Why are you in the dark?" Luca’s voice is amused, but as he turns on the light and comes around the couch to see me, his smile dies on his lips at the look on my face. We say nothing, and he takes in the papers around me. "My Nonna knitted that," he adds quietly, coming to sit next to me, shifting paperwork out of the way. For a moment, I want to stiffen and pull away.
Dani’s information download into my brain of everything to do with Luca’s business, the far reaches of it, how many people depended on him, that him getting distracted by me and what troubles I was bringing?
I feel hollow.
I’ve brought danger to him. To him and his business, and I’m putting everyone in his orbit at risk.
But I don’t move, because that’s not how he’s acting toward me. Dani hasn’t called him, but as he picks up one sheaf of paper, he lets out a soft sigh.
"My cousin was here."
"It was a pleasure making her acquaintance," I growl, and he gives me a startled smile.
"Calm down, murder-kitten," he teases, and then wraps an arm around my shoulder, pulling me into him. I resist for a second, and then melt into him, his warmth, the gentleness in his touch. Dani explained all the ways I could hurt him. My existence, apparently, is a curse on the Greco family name.
I never meant to do any of those things. It’s not so much that I’m not good enough for him, as far as Dani’s concerned, it’s that any woman is not what he needs right now. It’s not personal. It’s just business.
"Dani is... a gift, in my life, the stable anchor holding everything together. My friend. A good one, and she knows me well," Luca explains. "What was all this?"
"Her reminding me that you don’t need extra complications. Like buying property that can’t be used for business— Luca, why didn’t you tell me you were putting an offer in on my old building?" I’m not even angry about it, I just wish he’d told me. I turn to him, looking up at him, his arm still wrapped around me. His face is so serious, a shadow falling over his face.
"Because I knew you’d argue with me," he replies. "And because you’re mine, Ash. I’m not letting you go, no matter what. Anything that troubles you? I’ll deal with it."
"I’m bringing in baggage, the guy following me?—"
"Whom you won’t even tell me the name of," he reminds me but I make an annoyed noise in the back of my throat and he holds up his hand in contrition. "Alright, finish, my apologies."
"He’s a big problem, he had enough cash to offer me to solve our housing problem, for everyone in my building, just to spy on you."
"And that’s a bad thing for me? You exposed an enemy of mine. I know he exists because of you." He leans down to kiss me, and the press of his warm lips on mine, the scent of his rich cologne on his skin, it threatens to chase away all of my problems.
But they’ll be waiting.
