“I’m pretty sure that’s the whole point.”
“Whatever.” He turns to face me. “Is Anderson okay?”
I nod. “Yeah, he seems fine. Bruised, but okay.”
He watches me with narrowed eyes. “When were you going to tell me that you were in love with him?”
I open my mouth and lightly swat his arm. “I am not in love with him.” As I say it, I’m not entirely sure it’s true. Yes, it’s probably too soon to say I love him, but it’s in the realm of possibility now.
“But you like him. You want to kiss him, and marry him, and have his babies.” He gasps and sits up. “Will you be my surrogate?”
I back up a step. “Hold up. One step at a time.”
“He’s a good guy, Natalia,” he says, his voice serious. “Really. I know you didn’t like him at first, and I get it. He can come off as brusque, brutish.”
I stare at Luca. “He was a total ass.”
Luca smiles. “He brings me soup when I’m sick, Natalia. We’ve spent countless hours together—for business and for pleasure. He’s my best friend, even when he pisses me the fuck off.” He pauses, looking out the window. “He’s loyal, and smart, and he cares about the planet. And I think you two make a great couple.” He looks at me sheepishly. “He confessed everything to me right before we crash landed. I never got a chance to tell him that he has my blessing.”
I smile, glad to have my brother’s blessing. The memory of earlier today—of Kelvin’s email—runs through my mind. Would Luca still say all these nice things if he knew Anderson was planning on selling Gather behind his back? Luca must sense my changed expression, because he furrows his brows as he takes a long sip of water.
“What?” he asks, his eyes flitting over my face. “I see some hesitation.”
Oh god. Do I tell him? Or do I wait? The fiery, loyal sister side of me eventually wins out, and I shrug.
“As much as I like him, I don’t think he has your best interests at heart.”
Luca looks away, nodding slowly. “Is this about Whole Foods?”
My eyes widen. “Whole Foods?” I ask, deciding to play dumb.
Luca sighs and takes another sip of water. His eyelids look heavier, and he’s fully leaning back now.
“I’m aware that he’s selling the company, Natalia.”
I stare at him. “You do?”
He smiles. “I asked him to do it.”
Relief washes through me, and I relax in my seat. “I just thought…”
“You really think he would do that?” Luca admonishes, shaking his head.
I shrug. “I don’t know. I saw the email pop up and I thought the worst.”
“Natalia, I’m the owner of Gather. Nothing happens—nothing—without me knowing.”
“But he holds fifty-one percent of the company.”
Luca barks a laugh. “That means jack shit. He has trading power, sure, but no actual power.”
The bastard. Threatening to fire me when he didn’t actually have the power to do so…
I bite my lower lip. “The email from Kelvin said to keep it between him and Anderson…”
“If you’d looked closer, you would’ve seen that I was copied into that email. But we didn’t want any of the other employees to know. It can be scary… as you saw at Roseblanc.”
I nod, guilt consuming me. I was so convinced Anderson was betraying Luca—so convinced he was too good to be true. Why was it so hard to come to terms with the fact that he was good? Maybe it was a defense mechanism—maybe I was protecting my heart, because it knew from the heated first moment that we could be something.
