Luc (Rossi Brothers) Read online

  “That’s delicious. I think I like that better than the cannoli.” She smiled at him. “You’re trying to make me fat, aren’t you?”

  One corner of his mouth hitched. He shrugged. “I like to cook. I also love watching your face when you taste my food. It’s like offering you a bit of myself.” He dropped his gaze, closed the container, and reached over to set it on the end table beside the door. “Alyssa helped me make these. The Zeppole are her favorite, too.”

  He stroked her hair back off her face, using his index finger to curl a lock around her right ear, brushing the sensitive lobe, something wistful crossing his features.

  She rubbed his chest. “You can tell me, you know.”

  His gaze darted over her face, this side of anxious. “I’m going to have to leave kind of early tomorrow, around nine. I’d like to see Alyssa before work.”

  She nodded, the knot in her stomach loosening. “I’m just glad you can stay at all. Who’s watching her tonight?”

  He looked down between them, his fingers idly stroking beneath the hem of her T-shirt and over the skin at her waist. “Nic. My Nonna hasn’t been feeling well. Nic will keep both girls until he has to work in the morning.”

  Her heart ached for him and yet filled with warmth. He was a good father. “You don’t like leaving her.”

  He lifted his gaze. “No.”

  She caressed her hands her around his ribcage and up his back, pressing closer. “We could do this another time, you know.”

  “No.” He cupped her face in his hands, bending to brush a soft kiss across her mouth, once, twice. “I need this. I need you.”

  He didn’t have to explain how he meant that. The tender way he spoke the words, the intensity in his gaze, said it all, echoing the same emotions fluttering inside of her. She had the same need—to hold and be held, to lie within the safety of his embrace. It might be the first real night’s sleep she’d gotten in over two years.

  He pressed another kiss to her mouth, tender, electrifying. It was all she needed to light the fire inside of her, to stoke the burning embers into a full-on flame. He surrounded her, until he was all she could see or think of or feel. She needed that tonight as much as he did.

  She wound her hands around his neck, lifting onto her toes to deepen the contact.

  Luc let out a quiet groan and tipped his head, soft lips slanting over hers. His tongue plunged in, teasing, tantalizing. He made love to her mouth, and every inch of her trembled.

  By the time they came up for air, they were both panting. He ducked his head, burying his face in the fall of her hair, and crushed her to him, for a moment, simply holding her.

  “God, the way I need you.” He murmured into her hair, his mouth already skimming her neck, leaving hot little goose bumps in his wake. “I’ve never needed anyone the way I need you.”

  To hear him echo her thoughts liquefied what was left her of insides. When his hot mouth closed over her earlobe, his teeth raking over the sensitive skin, a soft moan escaped her. Her body sagged into his as her knees wobbled. Everything south of the border throbbed. She clutched his shoulders tight, hugging him back just as hard.

  As suddenly as he’d grabbed her, Luc pulled back enough to meet her gaze, then swept her off her feet.

  “Bedroom.” He nipped at her bottom lip, a question and a demand all rolled into one hot little word.

  “Upstairs.” She jerked her head in the direction of the stairwell behind her and leaned into him, kissing and nipping at any part of him she could reach. Up his neck. Along the underside of his chin and across his strong jaw.

  At the landing at the top of the stairs, he paused and looked down at her, the silent question in his eyes. Was he waiting for a denial, or for her to change her mind?

  “This one.” She pointed to the bedroom on the left, then bent her head to his neck again, inhaling the scent of soap and man and cinnamon that clung to him.

  He strode into the bedroom and laid her on the top of the bed. Gaze locked on hers, something dark and hungry in his eyes, he crawled over her and settled between her thighs. He held his weight on his elbows, his mouth now inches from hers.

  Oh, how she’d missed this. This one simple thing. The deliciousness of a man’s weight pressing her into the mattress. Her knees bent of their own accord, cradling his hips and settling his jean-clad erection against her aching core.

  Long moments passed in silence. The sun had long since set, the light through the windows providing only enough illumination to make out his features. His eyes became dark hollows in his face, but the intensity of his stare rendered her defenseless all the same.

  “I think I spoke too hastily yesterday when I said I wasn’t ready to fall in love again.” He brushed her hair back off her face, stroking her head like someone he treasured. “Because I think I’m falling in love with you.”

  He spoke the words at a bare, tender whisper, but he might as well have shouted them. For a moment, Liz lay stunned. Slowly but surely, they settled inside of her, and tears pricked at her eyes as the painful truth closed around her like a suffocating shroud.

  When she’d agreed to this, she’d wanted … another step. She’d wanted time to simply enjoy being with him, to explore the possibilities and see where the relationship took her. But she wasn’t ready to fall in love yet. Would she ever be? She didn’t know. And it wasn’t fair to make him wait, hoping for something that may never happen. It would make her feel too much like she was using him.

  All of which meant that she was going to have to let him go. He deserved better, someone who could say those words back to him.

  Luc sifted trembling fingers through her hair. He seemed to be waiting for her reaction, her response, but she had no idea what to say to him. Maybe it was selfish, but she wanted this one last night with him.

  So she molded her mouth to his, poured everything she couldn’t tell him into the kiss, and rolled him onto his back. For now, she’d give him what she could.

  As if sensing the desperation of the moment, Luc lifted his head, kissing her back every bit as hard. His tongue thrust into her mouth, a frantic searching, and his hands moved to her waist, fumbled around for a moment before finally closing over the button on her jeans.

  “Off.” He growled the word against her mouth.

  She nodded. Hands braced against his shoulders, she sat upright, straddling his waist, and whipped her shirt over her head, tossing it over the side of the bed. He popped the button on his jeans, then reached into his back pocket and pulled out a condom, shoved his jeans to his thighs, and rolled the condom in place.

  She moved off the bed long enough to shed her pants and underwear, then climbed over him again. Shaking now with the unbearable need to connect to him in the only way she could, she didn’t bother with slow. She braced her hands on his shoulders and sank, taking him in one greedy stroke.

  The feel of him filling her set her thighs to shaking. Luc let out a low, agonized groan, gripped her hips, and surged up into her. They came together hard, bodies crashing together in a frenzied attempt to fuse. She rose and sank with abandon, desperate to hold to on to this fleeting connection, filing it all away for the long, lonely nights to come. The room filled with a cacophony of need. Flesh on flesh. The bed creaking. Her quiet moans.

  When she was lost in the glorious sensations, in him, Luc shifted beneath her. A click sounded in the silence and the room suddenly flooded with light, piercing her closed eyelids. Dazed and disoriented, she opened her eyes and blinked down at him.

  “I need to see you.” He didn’t give her time to form a response but sat up and claimed her mouth, bold and possessive. His hot hands curved around each breast, thumbs flicking across the sensitive tips. “I want to watch you come apart in my hands.”

  That was all it took. All the sensation pooled in her core, and a shudder of pleasure swept through her, her body teetering precariously on the edge of release. “Ohhh, God.”

  His teeth closed over her bottom lip and tugged,
and he began rolling her nipples between his deft fingers. “Uh-uh. Open your eyes, baby.”

  She obeyed the tenderness in his voice and the need inherent in his tone. His hands moved from her breasts to curl around her backside. His gaze locked on hers, he guided her movements, controlling their pace.

  They rocked together so damn slowly it drove her insane. Every thrust built the pleasure on top of itself, pushing her toward the edge of oblivion. She panted, thrusting against him in time with his movements. Lost in those beautiful eyes, she climbed the delicious waves until with one last, luscious stroke, the dam burst. Pleasure erupted through her, fiery and hot, as wave after wave tore her apart at the seams.

  Luc swore softly. His body shook against her, his fingers curling almost painfully into her backside, pulling her impossibly tighter to him as he found his own release deep inside of her.

  He collapsed back onto the bed moments later, taking her with him, and wrapped his arms tightly around her. She laid her head on his chest, and indulged her senses, listening to the erratic hammering of his heart. She inhaled, filling her lungs with that luscious mix of spices and vanilla.

  Pain squeezed the air from her lungs as the emotion quickly overwhelmed her. Regret at war with need. This was the right thing to do. On some level, she knew that. But tears filled her eyes all the same, leaving hot trails down her cheek and onto his chest before she could pull herself together. She was going to miss him. His playful smiles. The way he always managed to make her laugh. And the burning, all-consuming passion.

  Luc’s body tensed beneath her, and his hands slowly caressed her back. “Want to talk about it?”

  Despite her best effort, she couldn’t stop the damn tears from leaking out.

  “No.” She pressed her face into his neck, whispering against his skin. “Just hold me.”

  Come morning, she’d do what was right, but she didn’t have the strength to do it now. She’d let herself have this one last night with him.

  • • •

  Luc slid his hand beneath his pillow and stared at the other side of the bed. The sun was beginning to rise above the horizon, chasing the shadows from the room and streaking the ceiling and walls with the first rays of light. The house around him lay silent, save for Bruce’s soft snoring emanating from the end of the bed.

  A glance at the digital alarm clock on the nightstand told him it was just after six thirty. Liz tossed and turned restlessly beside him. Occasionally, her brow scrunched and she moaned, the sound one of a tortured heart. Since he’d been awake, she’d called a man’s name twice, and it hadn’t been his.

  Did she dream about her husband every night? She’d told him once she didn’t sleep well. Was this why? Or had Luc’s presence beside her disturbed her? The truth was likely somewhere in between.

  Either way, her dreaming about her husband shouldn’t surprise him. She’d spent twenty years with a man she’d intended to spend her life with. She’d told him flat out she couldn’t handle him being in her bedroom the first time they made love.

  He shouldn’t allow it to get to him. She had no control over her sleeping mind, her dreams. Watching her made his chest ache all the same. Her momentary panic last night when he’d done exactly what he shouldn’t have and told her he was falling for her had been palpable. She’d clearly tried to mask it, but he’d seen the look in her eyes. He wasn’t sorry he’d said the words, but her lack of response told him more than if she’d actually said anything in return.

  Which was exactly why he lay awake at six thirty in the morning watching her sleep. She’d held back last night. For the first time since he’d known her, Liz hadn’t been open with him. And the tension created by the silence had erected a wall between them.

  She shifted again, this time rolling toward him, and reached out, as if searching for something. Or rather, someone. Instinct said that someone wasn’t him.

  Unable to bear watching her struggle with herself any longer, he captured her fingers in his and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, hoping to ease what must surely be a nightmare. “Wake up, baby.”

  She smiled in her sleep and, eyes still closed, scooted toward him. “Mmm. I missed you, Danny. When did you get home?”

  He ignored the twinge to his heart and rolled her onto her back, settling himself carefully over her. Hoping to rouse her, he stroked her hair back off her face, raining soft kisses over her lips and across her jaw to her ear. “It’s Luc, baby, wake up.”

  She released a soft, contented little purr in her throat, and finally opened her eyes. For a moment, she blinked at him, as if trying to reconcile the image before her with the ones from her dream. After a moment, recognition settled over her. Her lips curled into a smile, pleased but tense and confused.

  “Hi.”

  “Morning.” He brushed a kiss across her mouth, relishing the fact that, despite everything, she lifted up to kiss him in return.

  She slid her hands up his back, anxious eyes searching his face. “Do you have to go?”

  “Not for another hour or so.” He didn’t want to know what expression would cross her features when he told her why he’d woken her. “You were dreaming.”

  Her eyes searched his face for a moment before widening in panic. “Oh God. I wasn’t … did I …?”

  He stroked a hand over her head, trying to soothe the worry screaming from her gaze. “Calling his name. Yeah.”

  Tears flooded her eyes, and she closed them, shutting him out. He didn’t have to ask. Once again her reaction told him better than words could. She knew as well as he did the moment they’d arrived at.

  Several aching seconds passed before she opened her eyes again. Worry mixed with pain in the violet eyes he loved so much. “I’m so sorry. I knew letting you stay was a risk. I don’t sleep at night. The dreams are never-ending, and I’ve never … ”

  He kissed her again, silencing the words, unable to bear hearing them or her pain. He picked up the strands of hair that had fallen over her shoulder, letting them slip between his fingers, and allowed himself the moment, to commit the sensation to memory. “It’s okay.”

  “Is it?”

  He sighed, relenting. “We’ve always been honest with each other. I won’t lie to you. It’s never easy to hear your girl call another man’s name.”

  Something shifted in her gaze, and regret shined like beacons from her eyes. “Luc—”

  He caressed a thumb across her lips, silencing her again. “You can’t control your dreams. I knew you’d have trouble with this.”

  He wanted to hate her. In that respect, Maria had done him a favor. The moment he realized her betrayal had been a moment of clarity. He’d been nothing but a pawn to her. Right or wrong, he couldn’t see Liz using someone like that. She didn’t have it in her. He wished like hell he didn’t know that. Anger would be so much easier.

  Not that it mattered. The end result was still the same. He still had to walk away from her. It was one thing to know she needed to take things slow. That he’d been prepared for. But he couldn’t give his heart to another someone who, deep down, was still very much married.

  Her body began to tremble for all the wrong reasons, and tears rolled from the corners of her eyes. He didn’t have to ask to know she was telling him goodbye in probably the only way she could.

  He caressed her back. He could handle watching tears from others, but not her. “God, baby, please don’t cry.”

  “I’m sorry.” She hesitated, gaze roving his face in anxiousness. “I can’t do this.”

  He stroked her hair, whether to soothe her or himself he couldn’t be sure. “I know.”

  “It’s what I realized last night. Then waking up beside you this morning and seeing the hurt in your eyes … I’m not ready to say those words back to you, and I don’t know when or if I ever will be. I can’t do that to you. It’s not fair to you or Alyssa.” Another fat tear rolled back into her hairline. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”

  “It’s okay. It was beau
tiful, and I have no regrets.” That was the sad truth. The irony was, though, he was in the same position as when he’d met her—heartbroken and head over heels in love with a woman he could never have. He brushed a tender, lingering kiss to her lips. “I think I should go, though.”

  She opened her mouth as if to say something, only to close it again and nod.

  He moved by instinct as he forced himself to leave the bed. He focused on getting dressed and the day ahead and not the voice in his head screaming how wrong it was to leave her. The aching silence that had ruled the night filled the room around them, unbearable and empty.

  He stroked Bruce’s head where he still lay, curled up, at the end of the bed. He’d miss this dog. Alyssa would, too. He’d have to explain why they couldn’t see Izzy and Bruce anymore.

  Fully dressed, he turned and left the room. Liz followed quietly behind him down the long hallway to the front door. When he turned to say one last goodbye, the tears in her eyes cut him to the quick.

  He cradled her face in his hands, took a moment to memorize every detail, and kissed her cheek. “Don’t be sorry it’s ending. Be glad it happened.”

  He turned and forced himself to leave the house, to not look back. The door closed behind him with a quiet snap.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Three weeks later…

  This wasn’t happening. This was not happening.

  Standing in the quiet bathroom, Liz’s pulse throbbed in her ears. She stared at the two blue lines blinking at her, and shook the plastic stick, praying the motion would somehow change the result.

  It has to be wrong. It has to be.

  Seconds turned into a full minute, and the results didn’t budge. A vice squeezed the air from her lungs as reality slammed into her.

  She was pregnant.

  When the fatigue and breast tenderness set in a week ago, she’d figured it had to be PMS. Until she realized her period was late. She’d made love to Luc on the kitchen counter because she’d needed him too badly.