When It Falls Apart (The D'Angelos, #1)(59)

They started laughing.

Chloe tilted her head. “I’m really happy for you both. I know my brother is a wonderful and loving man. He just needed the right woman.”

“Let’s not jump ahead too far. We just started this . . . relationship.”

“I have a good feeling about it.”

Brooke sat on her new yoga mat and stretched her legs out in front of her. “I’m a bit older than you, and with that, a few more failed starts under my belt. Sometimes, the more you get to know someone, the less you like them. Or the attraction fades . . . or someone else comes along that makes the sparks fly higher. You name it, I’ve been on the other end of that line more than I care to admit.”

“Luca is loyal to a fault. We were all happy when Antonia walked away. He wouldn’t have done it, no matter how unhappy he was.”

“For Franny.”

Chloe nodded. “My niece is his world.”

“As she should be.”

“Have you dated someone with kids before?” she asked.

Brooke shook her head. “No.”

“It will be a learning curve for both of you. He hasn’t dated, not that any of us knows about anyway, since the ex.”

Brooke thought of the comment Luca had made the night before, about how if she were casual, his family would know nothing about her. It made her wonder if he’d been a saint since his divorce, or just very good at keeping his private life private.

She moved to her feet. “Unless you want details of how amazing your brother is in bed, we might want to get moving here or I’m going to start singing a song you don’t want to hear.”

Chloe shook her head and fake screamed. “I’m happy for you, but ewhh.”



Sunday’s family dinner was met with a little preamble Luca wasn’t expecting from Brooke.

She showed up at his door an hour before their meal, an apron in her hand.

“What’s this?” he asked, looking over his shoulder to see if Franny had heard the door.

Not seeing her, he leaned in and kissed Brooke and pulled her inside.

“Teach me.”

He looked at her. The apron. “What?”

“You’re making dinner, right?”

“If I don’t, my mother will insist she does.”

Brooke moved straight to his kitchen. “Then teach me so I can help. You shouldn’t have to do it all.”

Could his heart warm for her any more?

“I might not be able to make pasta from scratch, but I can chop and mix and taste . . . I’m an excellent taster.”

“You’re sure?” he asked.

She waved the apron before wrapping it around her waist.

Luca couldn’t help but wonder what she would look like with only the apron on.

He shook the fantasy from his head and walked into his kitchen. When he passed her, he placed a hand around her waist in a touch that only two people who had been intimate would know.

“I think this might also be a good time for us to talk about Franny.”

Luca opened his refrigerator. “What about her?”

Brooke lowered her voice. “If you haven’t dated much, we might be a shake-up in her life.”

He’d given that a lot of thought as well. More than once over the years his daughter had asked if she was going to get a new mama. Broke his heart every time she said it.

“I’ll go with whatever you want to do here, Luca. And regardless of how you and I play out, I want you to know that she will not be a casualty of us.”

“I’m not sure I’m following you.”

Brooke glanced across the apartment to the hallway to the bedrooms, then back at him.

“Let’s say we’re good. And Franny knows we’re dating, and she gets attached.” Brooke pointed a finger to her chest. “And then you change your mind about us. Or . . . I don’t know, something happens, and we decide this isn’t going to work.”

“You already have us breaking up.” He didn’t like the sound of this.

Brooke placed a hand on his arm. “Hear me out, okay? I’ve been on the other end of my mother’s failed relationships where I hung my heart on one of the good guys she should have held on to. When it was over, they were gone, and I was left thinking all men were assholes. I’d have been better off if she’d kept her casual flings out of our family home.”

“I already told you you’re not casual, cara.”

Brooke placed her other hand on his face, her expression softened. “I know. And I believe that’s what you feel . . . right now, today. I’m feeling the same way.”

He paused. “I feel a ‘but’ coming.”

“But . . . ,” she started. “If . . . if that changes, I need you to know, right now and from this moment on . . . that if Franny is involved and invested, I will be whatever she needs. Because she’s not asking for this . . . for us.” Brooke pointed between the two of them. “And if we don’t make it, it’s not fair that she is part of the fallout.”

Brooke’s hand on his arm had clenched into a fist. Her eyes were pinpoints and staring at his.

Her message, the one that said she’d put Franny first, punched him in the gut.

“Brooke . . .”