I knew he had to be in pain.
He was always in pain but trying to hide it.
Yet he didn’t complain once as he led me to Tim, who was taking us to a rental car agency.
I stayed in his arms, thinking that for once, everything felt like it might be okay.
“Luca,” Tim said. “I got you a rental. It’s the black truck over there. I remember you having a thing about enclosed spaces a long time ago, so I got you the biggest thing they had.”
Luca said something, but my brain was quickly losing focus as exhaustion started to overwhelm me.
I was running on fumes.
And, I just didn’t freakin’ care.
Nothing else mattered but being exactly where I was at.
***
I didn’t remember stopping to get the keys. I wasn’t aware of getting into the truck.
Hell, I didn’t even remember being carried into the beach house that would be our home for the next seven days.
I woke up when the day started giving way to the dark.
I wasn’t in a bedroom, though.
I was on a couch in the middle of a beautifully decorated living room that wasn’t familiar in the least.
I turned my head so that I could take a look around and wasn’t surprised to find nobody in the vicinity.
I sat up and looked over my shoulder, finding a wall of windows at my back and a familiar menacing form standing at the deck railing overlooking the beach beyond.
Feeling other pressing needs besides the one that urged me to go to him, I found my way to the back hallway and went to the first bathroom that I found.
After using the facilities, I turned on the faucet and was immediately drenched in freakin’ water from the sink.
I turned off the water as fast as I could, but my pants were still soaked.
I looked down at them then decided, ‘fuck it.’
Taking them off, I kicked them into the corner of the bathroom, then went in search of my suitcase.
I didn’t find it. Not anywhere in the house.
Which only had me guessing that Luca had focused on bringing me in, not anything else.
But I did find a discarded t-shirt on the back of the couch that belonged to Luca.
Thinking it would cover more than my t-shirt that was partially wet as well, I shucked mine off over my head, and immediately put Luca’s on.
Luca.
It was so easy to call him that in my head now.
Speaking of Luca, I saw him still standing exactly where he was at earlier, only now he had a beer tipped up to his lips and he was drinking it quickly down.
I smiled as I saw him, then opened the back patio door.
The first thing that assaulted me was the smell of brine.
The next thing was the sound of the waves crashing into the sand.
The third? Well, that was Luca of course.
He turned when he heard the door open, and it wasn’t the scars that I first saw.
But the muscles underneath the scars.
They were still there.
And though he may not be as pretty as he once was, that didn’t mean that he wasn’t still ripped as hell.
“Hey,” I said.
He grinned when he saw me.
“The faucet got you?” he asked, sounding amused.
I nodded.
“Me, too.” He gestured to the shirt I was wearing. “It got me in the chest. I took my shirt off about an hour ago and laid it out there. I’m guessing it’s dry?”
I only nodded.
“Looks better on you anyway,” he murmured. “Like a dress.”
I didn’t wait for the invite.
I walked straight to him and he moved, opening his arms and his body to mine.
His arms wrapped around my waist, and his hands buried into my hair.
I pressed my lips to his naked chest, feeling the puckered scars underneath my lips, and inhaled deeply.
“I think,” I said as I smelled the unique smell that was him. “That you fooled me because you didn’t know your usual brands,” I said. “You used to only use the one type of deodorant, and the one type of body wash.” I snickered. “If I’d have smelled that? I’d have known it was you.”
He tightened his arms around me. “You’ll have to go buy me all my usual shit so I can smell right from now on.”
I snickered, laughing into his chest.
“I’ll be sure to do that,” I said. “But, saying that, had I actually been this close, and smelled the unique scent that’s just you? I’d have known, too.”
He growled, making my face vibrate against his chest.
It made other things vibrate, too.
But I didn’t think he was ready to know that yet.
Maybe tomorrow…Chapter 12Keep it up and you’ll be a strange smell in the attic.
-Luca’s secret thoughts
Luca
When I woke up that next morning, Frankie was in my arms.
Her head was on my chest, and she was breathing softly, her mouth slightly open.
Her face was pillowed against my scarred chest, and for the first time in months, I woke up with a sense of peace.