‘Pays the bills.’ He shrugged, his shoulders filling the width of the doorway as he leaned against the architrave. ‘Besides, there’s a lot you don’t know about me.’
I snorted. ‘I highly doubt that.’
‘It might be hard to believe, but there’s a lot more to me than just my good looks and obvious charm.’ He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, his mouth curving into a frustratingly symmetrical smile as he clocked my discomfort.
‘God, this guy’s positively dreamy.’ Joe fake swooned to my right. Momentarily forgetting where I was, my head snapped to face him.
‘You are not helping!’ I hissed angrily.
I turned back to see Luca frowning at me. This in itself was not unusual. It was his facial expression for 99% of our interactions. It was the apprehensive flitting of his eyes to my right, where Joe was stood, that was a cause for concern. I gulped.
‘That’s not helping,’ I repeated, this time staring unwaveringly at Luca as though he’d been the intended recipient of said statement all along. His brow smoothed; any previous doubt washed away with a smug smile of satisfaction. He took a step closer. He smelt of coffee – earthy and strong – and shower gel, that musky sandalwood scent you just know comes in a blue bottle.
‘Am I making you uncomfortable, Thompson?’
‘Nauseous is the word I’d use,’ I said indignantly, but my cheeks burned. I couldfeelhis smile. The way it made my insides squirm. It annoyed me that he thoughthewas the source of my discomfort. Not my dead fiancé stood four inches to my right. ‘Look, I’ve come to talk to you about something.’
‘So you keep saying,’ Luca drawled. He was humouring me, which just riled me up even more. I took a deep breath, counting to ten before I trusted myself to respond.
‘My boss wants me to do a bigger feature on the community centre – keep the public updated on your fundraising efforts, interview some of the parents, maybe even the staff?’
Luca’s eyes narrowed, that one strand of hair that corkscrewed at the end falling just so across his left eyebrow. He was clearly as conflicted as I was. Desperate to do anything he could to protect the future of the community centre, to make a difference to those children’s lives, but equally would rather walk across hot coals than spend a single second in my company.Well, the feeling was mutual, matey.
‘So, I’ll need to come by the community centre again?’ I added, looking impatiently at my watch rather than his face, as if I had someplace else to be.
His cupid’s bow quirked. ‘How .?.?. convenient.’
That flicker of amusement dancing behind his eyes made my teeth grind. It annoyed me that he thought he knew what was happening here, when he didn’t have a fucking clue. But it bothered me even more that I cared. That he got under my skin so easily, leaving it prickling.
‘Trust me, it wasnotmy idea.’
He leaned closer, shielding one side of his mouth with his hand as he whispered, ‘I’ll pretend I believe you.’
God, he was incorrigible. I rolled my eyes, throwing Joe a warning look as he snorted with laughter beside me. When I turned back, Luca’s expression was fixed, his lips slightly parted.
‘What?’ I frowned, my arms crossed defensively.
‘Why are you doing this?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Helping me. You hate me.’
‘True,’ I admitted, with a level of sarcasm that hid more complex emotions. Emotions like fear of what might happen if I lost my job. Whether I’d finally crumble into a million pieces like a game of Jenga, the one remaining constant in my life beingpulled out from under me enough to send the already swaying tower crashing down. Game over.
The fingers of my right hand found my engagement ring, twisting the cool, platinum band round and round, forcing myself not to look in Joe’s direction. ‘I know this is probably a foreign concept, but this isn’t actually aboutyou.’ I smiled with mock sweetness.
‘1-0 to Miss Thompson,’ Joe intoned, licking his finger and drawing a 1 on an imaginary scoreboard.
‘You’re right,’ Luca said stiffly. I blinked, taken aback by him agreeing with me. ‘It’s aboutyoutragically looking for any excuse to spend time withme. It’s not your fault, really. I’m told I’m next to impossible to resist.’ He winked at me, eyes sparkling with amusement.
‘And the underdog comes from behind to even the scoreboard at 1-1.’ Joe tittered, his voice rising and falling like an overexcited sports commentator.
‘Forget it, I knew this was a waste of time. I’ll tell my boss he made a mistake—’ I turned on my heel, purposefully whacking Luca with my handbag as I hoisted it onto my shoulder. I was four steps down the worn carpeted staircase when he caved.
‘Fine!’
I paused, my back to him. ‘Fine, what?’
