When It Falls Apart (The D'Angelos, #1)(57)

She tried to smile and found it difficult.

Until Luca reached for her.

His hand touched her face, another at her side. “We are in the same place, Brooke.”

She wanted to believe that so much.

And when he leaned down and kissed her . . . the fear that sat at the surface of all her thoughts drifted away, and hope took its place.

When Luca pulled back, he said, “Let’s go home.”

On the short drive back to Little Italy, Luca held her hand. He talked of how much the city had grown and how busy it was now compared to a few short years before.

They pulled into the parking lot and walked through the back door.

The restaurant was still open, but from the noise inside, the night had calmed, and the evening was winding down.

Brooke watched to see if Luca had a desire to check on things.

He gave the door leading into D’Angelo’s a glance but headed up the stairs.

As they passed his floor and headed to hers, Brooke’s heart started to tap a little faster.

She took out her keys. “Locking it is a habit.”

“A single, beautiful woman can’t be too careful.”

“Has this door ever been locked?” she asked as she stood inside the threshold.

Luca shook his head. “Not since I was born.”

With a laugh, she stepped inside and put her purse on the kitchen counter. When she didn’t hear him behind her, she turned.

He stood at the doorway like a vampire waiting for an invitation.

“What are you doing?”

He looked to the left . . . the right. “If I come in, tesoro, I won’t want to leave.”

Oh my God . . . who invented this gentleman and then broke the mold?

Brooke lifted a foot and removed one of her shoes, then the other. “Did it occur to you that I might not want you to leave?”

One corner of Luca’s mouth lifted as he stepped into her apartment and the door behind him shut.

Brooke smiled. “Can I get you—”

The question was cut off as Luca reached her in three steps and pulled her into his arms.

Unlike anytime he’d kissed her before, this time he meant it. His lips were on hers and open, his tongue searching and asking hers to respond.

When she did, he sighed into the kiss. “Beautiful and passionate,” he whispered. He reached around her hip and pulled her flush with his.

Brooke leaned her head to the side as he trailed his lips down her neck and back up.

The warmth in her belly spread south and encouraged her to press even closer. She turned her head and met his lips once again, combing her fingers through his hair to pull him in. Brooke lifted her knee to the side of his leg, felt his hand wrap around her thigh.

The hard length of his erection, through his clothing, pressed against her in all the right ways.

“Bella,” he whispered over her lips.

She opened her eyes and found him staring at her through a hooded gaze.

He said something to her in Italian, something she didn’t understand, but when he lifted her up, his hands covering the globes of her ass, she wrapped her legs around his waist and held on as he walked them to her bedroom.

“I can walk,” she said, half teasing as she nibbled his ear.

“I’m not letting you go.”

Brooke knew Luca spoke of now, but the words felt more like a promise than anything she’d ever heard before.

Beside her bed, she untangled her legs from his waist and slid her hands down his chest.

He watched her as she released one button after the other until his shirt was tossed to the floor.

She fanned her fingers over his skin, felt the prickle of the hair on his chest. “You’ve been hiding all this goodness under your clothing,” she teased. And it was yummy. Muscles she could always tell he had now rippled under her touch.

Luca reached for the zipper of her dress. “And what have you been hiding, tesoro?”

“Mine is softer,” she warned him. While she wasn’t embarrassed of her body, she certainly wouldn’t go down in history as being athletic.

“I certainly hope so,” he said.

As one side of her dress slid from her body, Luca kissed her shoulder before taking a moment to look at her. “My God, bella. You’re such a gift.” His hands circled her waist as his eyes came back to hers.

“You sure know all the right things to say.” She’d never been referred to as a gift.

“I will always treat you like the treasure you are.” He sealed that promise with a kiss, this time his hands taking full advantage of her nearly naked state. His palms came up to cup the sides of her breasts as they pressed against his chest.

Her nipples responded and rubbed against the lace of her bra. His thumbs teased through the fabric.

Brooke squirmed and ran a hand down his hip and around the front of his pants.

Luca paused with her touch, his breath strangled.

“You’re overdressed,” she told him.

He reached for the button on his pants, and she helped them off his hips.

Brooke touched him through the thin layer of his briefs. His erection strained to be released.

Her fingers no sooner circled around him than Luca was leaning her down onto the bed and crawling up beside her.

With one knee placed between her thighs, he presented just enough friction to bring her hips off the bed with the want of more. “You’re killing me, Luca.”