Page 35 of Family Bonds- Gabriela & Luca

His gaze drifted over her long brown hair, loose down her back, the ends falling into soft waves. Her hazel eyes were darker today. He’d noticed they shifted with what she wore. They were indoors, and she had on a black fleece, so it made sense.

Her lips were bare of color and stretched wide in a grin. One she seemed to wear often around him. Or maybe that was just who she was and he shouldn’t read too much into it. He wasn’t special. Not really. Or not as much as he hoped.

The fleece hid most of her shape now. The same body he’d paid far too much attention to at the gym two days ago.

Toned legs in fitted black bike shorts that stopped mid-thigh. A teal stretchy workout top that clung like a second skin, proof that nothing in her life was done halfway.

Play hard. Work hard. Laugh hard.

And yet, the thing that stayed with him most was howeasilyshe made him laugh, when so few people could.

The strange part was, he didn’t think she was even trying.

“What was it if not a bunny?” he asked.

“I didn’t say it wasn’t a bunny,” she said, laughing. “I said not a Playboy Bunny.”

“Did you have ears on your head?”

“I always have ears on my head,” she said, rolling her eyes, then tucking her hair back for him to see. “How did you become a doctor and not know that?”

“Big pink ones that stand up,” he clarified. “And a fluffy tail pinned to the back of your lab coat. A pink circle on your nose, whiskers and red lips.”

She burst out laughing. “You had me there until the red lips. Nope. Not happening. I don’t like any kind of lipstick. But tell me, Luca. It sounds like you’ve pictured this image before?”

She was wiggling her eyebrows at him.

He really hadn’t until she brought it up.

“It’s a pretty easy one to conjure up.”

“I’ll let you have that one,” she said. “And we are getting close to the dock. Let’s head back to my car.”

He followed behind her, his eyes dropping to her ass in fitted stretchy jeans and casual canvas sneakers.

He wasn’t dead, that was for sure.

Or at least his body wasn’t.

“Just so you know,” she said as they walked into her building thirty minutes later, “this is not a fashion emergency.”

He glanced sideways at her, slow and steady. “You say that now, but I’ve been misled before.”

She snorted. “By who? A patient in race car pajamas?”

“Hey. Those kids can be very persuasive.”

She bumped his arm with hers, they got on the elevator and she hit the button for the third floor. “I’m literally just swappingout seasonal clothes. Shorts go away, sweaters, jackets and boots come out. Very dramatic stuff.”

“I feel honored to be included,” he said solemnly. “This feels like a big step.”

She laughed. He never thought he had this quick of a wit before, but damn, if it didn’t just come fast with her.

“You’re watching me fold clothes into a bag, not meeting my parents.”

“Still,” he said. “It feels special.”

She shot him a look. “If you comment on how I organize my clothing, I’m kicking you out.”