page62 (2/2)

“No, cara I don’t”

He took her hands in his She wanted to believe hi in her ears He was here and for so here was important She had to believe that was because somehow she was important

She absorbed how he looked; the tanned skin, the full mouth that didn’t smile, the cappuccino-colored eyes that had always been able to see into her Soed to cup his face in her hands and kiss hiht in the alcove

But he spoke, keeping her in her chair

“You know that h we had our father, I felt very responsible for Gina And for h to see how our ain I saw hiless He tried in every way he could but it wasn’t enough for her”

“Did you think I didn’t mean what I said yesterday?”

“I’m not one for words, Mari I need to be shown…I need to show I said the words once…reave her my heart And it wasn’t so much that I found her with someone else, you see It wasn’t even that I learned she was only with me because I was a Fiori It was that I’d trusted her, withain So when I started having feelings for you, I gave myself every justification and excuse in the book”

Mari pictured a younger Luca, vibrant with being in love and having that crushed She squeezed his fingers “So you focused on work”

“There was never a question of e built by randparents I would feel I had let them down if I hadn’t stayed with the company I would have felt as if I’d let myself down I love Fiori It is in my blood”

“I hear a ‘but’ in there”

He let out a little sigh “But I spentpeople And I didn’t kno to have both”

She raised an eyebrow She had the azines to prove that his nonavoidance ell documented Yet she knew he did have it within him The way he’d held her as she cried proved it Luca was capable of great feeling

“Oh,” he chuckled, a sood show But I never got close to anyone after Ellie Never wanted to Gina gotaround the world, watching out for our interests But putting on a front takes a lot of energy, Mariella You, of all people know that”