Page 48 of The Game Changer
“I feel the same way, Luca.” Her hand lifts to cup my cheek, and I turn into it and press a kiss to her palm. “I can’t walk away from this or you. Not anymore. I’m not asking you to do that, either. But keeping it a secret would help, I think. At least for now, maybe until I find a job after this contract, or I don’t know. Until…”
“Until you can trust that I’ve got you, and that we’re in this together. That I won’t walk away and leave you to face the fallout alone.”
Her quiet sob tells me I’ve finally figured it out. What she needed to hear from me was that I won’t be like Charlie’s sperm donor. I won’t abandon her if things change and leave her to deal with everything by herself.
“I’m not him. And no matter what happens in the future for us, I swear to you, I won’t let you handle any negativity that may surface on your own. If we do this, we do it together.”
I wipe away her tears again, but she’s smiling, and it’s full of hope.
“Kiss me, Luca.”
“Always.”
22
ISLA
LUCA: See you soon, wonder woman
I stare downat his text as my ferry slowly approaches the dock. I decided to take an earlier boat home from the conference than I intended but didn’t tell my mom or Charlie. They think I’m staying in Vancouver until this afternoon.
Instead, I’m meeting my secret boyfriend for a few hours.
Which might just be the wildest thing I’ve done since having a kid at seventeen. But I want to see him. The past two days were amazing. I had a great time at the conference, but the loneliness I was feeling when I first arrived only intensified after Luca left. Talking on the phone and one spicy video call was not enough, and as the minutes count down to seeing him again, my heart starts to beat louder and louder in my chest.
The boat comes to a stop and the ramp lowers, and I thank the ferry gods that I’m one of the firstvehicles off. My impatience to get to Luca is quite ridiculous, and I have to remind myself that getting a speeding ticket would be a bad thing as I zip along the highway toward Cedar Creek.
I pull up to his apartment building and find the visitor’s parking he told me to use, right out front. That makes me nervous. What if someone recognizes my car?
“Like who, you dummy?” I mutter to myself under my breath as I gather my phone and keys into my purse. “You don’t know anyone here well enough except Juni, and she’d probably celebrate.”
Even once I’m ready to get out, I grip my steering wheel for a second and breathe. This makes it all real. If I go up to his apartment, there will be no chance of walking away from the other night and calling it a onetime thing. This is the cliff’s edge, and I have to decide whether I’m going to step off or turn around and run away.
But if my life has proven anything to me, it’s that I can do hard things. I can face down my fears and rise above. Because this connection I have with Luca is worth exploring.
Resolute in my decision, I get out of my car and walk up to the front door of the building, pressing the buzzer number he texted me earlier. The door opens, and I walk in, making my way to the elevator, where I press the PH for penthouse.
“How the heck did I end up dating a guy who lives in a penthouse,” I mutter to myself. Yet, there’s no denying the slight thrill I feel. I’ve never evenseena penthouse.
After the longest ride ever, the elevator doors opendirectly into what is clearly his home, and I see Luca standing in front of me, a welcoming smile on his handsome face, hands stuffed in his pockets.
I step out, coming to stand right in front of him as the doors slide shut behind me, and we just stare at each other, smiling like fools for several seconds. Then whatever was holding us in place snaps, and I fling myself into his arms, kissing him with every fiber of my being.
We only break apart when he stumbles backward. “Oops, sorry,” I say, but Luca shakes his head, stroking my hair.
“Don’t apologize for being as excited to see me as I am to see you. C’mon, I’ll make you a cup of tea.” He takes my hand in his and leads me through a short entryway and into a giant, cavernous space.
White marble floors…maybe it’s marble? What do I know?
White cabinets, white walls, white ceiling, white, white, white. It’s bland, stark, boring, and nothing I expected from a penthouse apartment.
The only interesting feature is the wall of windows across from me, looking out over the city. But with the grey winter weather outside, even that isn’t so appealing. There’s a hall that I assume leads to bedrooms, and an interesting spiral staircase that leads to another door. A rooftop, perhaps?
I slowly turn around, looking for any sign of Luca anywhere in the space. But aside from a navy blue couch and a glass-topped coffee table with what looks to be an engineering magazine on top, there’s nothing to indicate who lives here.
Until I reach the shelves that line one wall. There, I finally see a hint of the man I’m falling for.
It’s just a handful of photos, but it’s something, at least.
