Page 72 of Family Bonds- Gabriela & Luca

This playful side when he had such heavy thoughts was exactly what he needed.

“I’m going to give you crap about a lot of things. It’s just the way I am. You seem to handle it well, or am I wrong?”

“No,” he said, his voice more serious now. “You’re not. And it’s a good thing.”

22

CIRCLING OUR ATTRACTION

“Well, we made it to the ferry with fifteen minutes to spare, so you could have changed. We can sit here and chat or get out and go inside to do it where there are people around. Your choice,” she said cheerfully, looking at him in his suit, sitting in his car.

“Here is good unless it bothers you. You said it makes you claustrophobic.”

“It does if I’m just sitting here and my mind is wandering, but the time will go by with our chat.”

“Do you want to start?”

She really didn’t but knew one of them had to, and the way he was trying to hide how anxious he was over this, it was best if she took charge. If he had a problem with it, she’d find out now.

“I’m not going to apologize for being a bit aggressive last night. I mean, you weren’t exactly fighting me off.”

He laughed. “I think you could take me if I tried to.”

She held her arm up and flexed. “I’m pretty strong, but also a good judge of character. We’ve been circling our attraction for over a month. Correct?”

“Correct.”

“Maybe we’ve both been afraid to say it. Well, we’ve been texting it, but not really speaking it.”

“True.”

“So it got me thinking that it was really hard for you. And I’m tiptoeing here.”

“Don’t,” he said, putting his hand on her thigh. “Nothing drives me more insane than people not saying Zoe’s name. Or not addressing what I went through. It was there. It happened. It’s life. I’ve moved on.”

She blew a breath out. “I see you’re trying to. It sounds like you’re trying a lot more than you had before you moved, so I don’t feel as if I’m pressuring you. You could have stayed the same. Or more so in a new place.”

“That’s right. I could have. I choose not to. I think I was held back there. I can’t explain it.”

Her hand landed on his, her thumb rubbing over his knuckles. “You don’t have to explain it to anyone. Least of all me.”

“Thanks. I’m not hiding anything. I don’t think you believe that.”

“Nope. Not at all. You’ve been upfront about it and you are awkwardly adorable as you adapt to being single in this dumpster fire of a dating world.”

His lower lip went between his teeth. “Am I single?”

“Do you want to be?” she asked. “That is part of this conversation. I’ll start by saying, I’m not someone who sleeps with a man unless I feel some kind of connection. We work together, though don’t see each other daily, so it won’t be awkward either way.”

“I don’t take sex lightly or casually,” he said. “But again, I’m out of my element.”

“You didn’t answer me on if you want to be single or not. Maybe you like the single life now that you’re feeling your way around. I’m your first since Zoe, right?”

Maybe her voice lowered some at the end of that last question, but it had more to do with her own insecurity than anything else.

Did she want to do a friends-with-benefits situation? Not really.

But she wouldn’t force Luca into something he wasn’t ready for.