Chapter 132
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The restaurant Luca chose wasn’t dramatic or flashy. It wasn’t the tower high, jacket–required kind of place that would attract the media outside Laying in wait to snap photos of the rich and famous. Instead, it was tucked behind a narrow street off the main drag. The tables were decorated with candles in mason jars, rough wooden booths, and soft Italian music that played gently in the background. Sutton appreciated it.
She appreciated even more that Luca didn’t try to play the part of the seducer. He didn’t touch her hand across the table, didn’t lean in too close. He just sat across from her, one hand resting beside his wineglass and the other occasionally touching his lip as he watched her.
She pushed spaghetti around her plate, not sure why she couldn’t make herself eat more. She wasn’t nauseous, She was just… anxious.
“Do you not like it?” Luca asked gently.
She looked up. “No–I mean, it’s good. I think I’m just… my mind. Call it pregnancy brain.”
He nodded but didn’t press. Just sat back a little, his expression unreadable in that maddening way only Luca could pull off. Calm on the surface, she knew better. There was always something churning underneath. He wanted to say something; he was holding back… just. She wondered if he was thinking about asking her to marry him again.
She wasn’t sure she was ready to say yes. There were three little words neither of them had said. She wasn’t even sure he loved her. Was it just the baby? She knew he was attracted to her, but that wasn’t love; that was lust. She didn’t want to marry just for the baby.
She picked up her water, fingers wrapping around the cool glass. “Thank you for coming today.”
“I’m glad you were ok with it. I didn’t make you feel uncomfortable?”
“No. Just… unsure.” Sutton looked down at her plate.
“In what way, Sutton?”
When she said nothing and kept her eyes on her plate. Luca reached across the table, putting two fingers under her chin and lifting her head until their eyes met. “This is how we move forward: we talk and we communicate. We are not always going to like what the other has to say, but we need to talk. Express how we are feeling.” His hand dropped away.
“About what this is. What you want.” She said at last.
Luca didn’t answer right away. Instead, he reached for his napkin, wiped his mouth, and then leaned forward slightly.
“I’m not here because of obligation,” he said. “I wanted dinner with you. Not as the mother of my son, or the head of cybersecurity, if you ever take the job, or the woman I hurt months ago. I wanted to sit across from you and just… see you and be with you.”
Her chest tightened.
He shrugged a little. “That’s it. It’s as simple as that for me. The baby is an added bonus.”
She wanted to believe him. God, she wanted to let herself exhale and sink into the possibility that maybe someone could want her just for being her. But old wounds cast long shadows. She was scared of risking her heart, but she was here.
“Can you blame me for being careful? I don’t want to be someone you like and are with just because of the baby. What if you finally figured out how to love but with someone else?”
“I figured out how to love the moment I realized might have lost you,” he said, voice low and even. “This baby didn’t make me love you… only reminded me how much you matter. I was an idiot for letting you go.”
Sutton’s throat went tight.
She nodded but didn’t answer. Her eyes dropped back to her half–full plate. Her appetite still hadn’t returned, but warmth was slowly crawling into her chest. Was it true? Did he love her? She so wanted to believe him. She didn’t know what he needed to do to stop the doubt. But she wasn’t ready to voice
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Chapter 132
anything back
After dinner, Luca walked beside her through the quiet street to where David waited with the car. The ride back to Sutton’s apartment was done mostly in silence. David had picked up Luca before coming to get her.
Luca reached over, just once, and placed a hand on her belly, and she let him. It wasn’t sexual at all. When the baby kicked right under his pain, his face lit up like it was still the first time.
She watched him when he wasn’t looking, his profile lit by the passing city lights, eyes closed against the moment. He had been so interested today. asking a heap of questions during her checkup. He’d even asked the doctor about sex, which had made Sutton blush. It wasn’t a question she had asked
before.
She didn’t realize she was smiling until the car stopped in front of her building. “Goodnight, Luca,” she said, voice soft but sure.
He leaned in, kissed her lightly. She knew he was holding himself back. It wasn’t like they hadn’t had sex, but she thought it had been more alone lines of not being able to control himself. Now he was trying to woo her into marrying him. “Text me when you’re settled upstairs.”
“I will.”
She stepped out as David held the door open. Thanking him. She climbed the stairs of her apartment building, Halfway up, she already knew Keira was home. The lights were on… Her sister was acting the equivalent of a hovering parent.
As soon as Sutton opened the door, Keira was standing in the hallway, arms folded.
“Well?” Keira asked.
Sutton sighed and kicked off her shoes without looking her way. “Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You’re vibrating with judgment.”
Keira walked after her into the kitchen. “Sutton, I love you, but the man has already broken your heart once. How am I not supposed to-
“I’m not asking you to like him,” Sutton said flatly, turning around to face her. “I’m asking you to respect the fact that this is my life.”
Keira blinked. Sutton could feel her own voice shaking, but she went on.
“I know you’re trying to protect me. I get it. I know what he did back then. You think I forgot? I didn’t. But I also didn’t forget how I felt when I was with him. How I feel now. And if I decide to take that risk again, it’s mine to take.”
Keira made a pained sound and dropped her gaze to the countertop.
“I’m scared,” she admitted. “Because I’m worried about you.”
“I am too,” Sutton said. “But being afraid can’t be the reason I stay stuck.”
Keira finally looked up. “You love him?”
Sutton swallowed, heart beating loud in her chest. “Yeah. I do.”
Silence stretched between them.
Then finally Keira exhaled. “Okay. Okay. I’m backing off. Doesn’t mean I can’t give him shit like Roman.”
Sutton nodded. “Thank you. I wouldn’t want you to treat him differently than Roman because that wouldn’t be you.”
“I’m still going to glare at him at family dinners.”
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Chapter 132
“That’s fair.”
A beat passed. Sutton smiled. “I didn’t eat much dinner. Want me to make us grilled cheese and talk about stupid baby names?”
Keira grinned. “Only if you cut off the crust.”
Later, Sutton lay in bed, one hand on her belly, the other curled near her cheek. Her mind drifted through Luca’s voice, his words at dinner, the look in his eyes when they had talked.
Maybe he did love her.
Maybe he had all along and hadn’t known it.
She realized it would need to be her who took that leap of faith in him.
Even if she had to take slow, careful steps to get there.
She whispered into the dim room, “One step at a time, little one. We’re figuring it out.”
AD
