The Vine (26 page)

As the lift is going down to the foyer of the hotel, my stomach rumbles loudly again and I smile to myself. I clearly hadn’t realised how hungry I am. The door of the lift opens and I look up still smiling, but the smile is wiped off of my face as I look into chocolate brown eyes belonging to a very worried face. As Luca realises it’s me, I notice his concerned facial expression twists into the most amazing smile, and it worries me I’m the reason for his total change in demeanour.

It worries me because it’s the exact same reaction I used to have when Luke entered a room, and the reason it used to happen to
me
is because I was—and still am—totally in love with him. Surely Luca’s feelings for me aren’t that strong. It’s just a crush for him, isn’t it? After all, he’s only known me a short while, and let’s face it—he doesn’t really know me, or anything about me.

“Ella, what a lovely surprise. How wonderful to see you.”

I smile guardedly. “Luca,” I say in greeting as I step out of the lift, and as I do, Luca turns around and walks with me. “I thought you were waiting for the lift?” I ask.

“Oh, that can wait,” he replies, waving his hand dismissively. He opens the glass door for me and I step out onto the street. “Where are you off to?” Luca asks, falling into step with me.

“I’m just going to grab a bite to eat,” I answer casually, although there’s no hiding the nervousness behind it.

“Then have lunch with me,” Luca throws out there, not really as a question, more of a statement.

“No, it’s fine, Luca; after all, you must be really busy, what with all the interior designing and property owning,” I say, rolling my eyes slightly in annoyance over what I was originally led to believe.

As if reading my mind, Luca says, “I didn’t lie to you, Ella. I held back some details; there is a difference, and plus, I didn’t think it was relevant then. You were in such a state, and so incredibly sad.”

I nod and smirk at him, thinking of what an understatement that was.

“So please, Ella, have lunch with me,” he says persuasively. “As friends?” he pleads.

He must have spotted the uncertainty in my non-answer, as he then stands in front of me, walks backwards and clasps my hands as he continues.

“I have spoken to Stefano, and he has told me I am coming on too strong with you, and that you are not interested in anything more than friendship at the moment. I respect that, Ella, I really do. So please, just have lunch with me.”

I look into his eyes that are pleading and begging me and I weaken; I must admit, I feel happier about having lunch with him after just hearing Stefano has spoken with him. I smile and reply, “Okay, we’ll do lunch.”

I notice his body physically relax. “Oh, that’s great, Ella. Thank you,” he says while breathing out, or should I say ‘exhaling with relief’, because that’s certainly what it looked like.

Luca, now having gotten his way, steps back beside me, but only lets go of one of my hands, which means he is still holding the other one. This I am definitely not comfortable with, so I pull my hand away. Luca keeps talking to me like pulling my hand away hasn’t affected him, but not before I notice the brief look of hurt that crosses his handsome features. “I know a great place for lunch,” he says confidently, composing himself immediately and looking at me like he’s waiting for me to refuse. But I feel bad now for pulling my hand away so sharply, as if I had been burnt or something, so I just smile and nod to him, silently giving him the okay.

Luca lightly touches my arm and guides us confidently through the busy square and out to some quieter narrow roads. Wherever I look, there’s gorgeous Italian architecture surrounding us on all sides, and all of it seeped in history. It’s such a pleasant day; the sun is shining, and the sky is a vivid blue without a cloud in sight.

We finally stop outside a classy café with the usual outdoor seating. It’s situated under a great big stone arch, which is perfectly situated to cast enough of a shadow for us to sit in the shade, but it’s still warm enough I won’t feel a chill. It’s the perfect place for lunch, just as Luca had said. It’s exactly the place I would have chosen myself. How did this guy always get everything so right for me? First the hotel, and now this.

The staff obviously knows Luca well, as on greeting him warmly, they also produce a bottle of Prosecco with two glasses and proceed to pour without a sign of needing approval. Not that I’m complaining—I love Prosecco. After looking at my menu and being unable to decide on anything, Luca asks if I would like to
share a pizza with him; these are the first words he has spoken to me for some time, but fortunately, silence with him isn’t awkward.

“Yes, that’d be great,” I enthuse while my stomach growls in appreciation. After all my previous concerns, lunch turns out to be nice—lovely food, delicious drinks and good company are always a winner, and just what I needed today.

Luca tells me the truth about all the buildings he owns, and how he had acquired them so young after the death of his grandfather. He explains how his grandfather didn’t get along with his son, Luca’s dad, and how they hadn’t spoken for years. Despite this, Luca is very close to his grandfather, and when he passed away, he’d left Luca all his assets. He goes on to talk about his love for interior designing, and how he will never give up on his passion, no matter how much property he owns.

He also mentions what he knows about me—obviously, where I’m staying because he owns it, where I get my hair cut, as he owns that building too and then he surprises me by knowing where I work, because not only does he own the building, but because Isabella is his auntie. We speak about Isabella a lot; it turns out we are both equally affectionate towards her because of how lovely and kind she is. Luca asks me if I’m happy at the café, and I tell him I am.

We both laugh when he admits he has a mountain of far better jobs he can offer me, but if he did, Isabella would string him up by his balls for taking me away from her. I laugh long and hard at that because I know how fond of me Isabella is, and regardless, I don’t want another job; I really do like working at the café. I tell Luca about my passion for reading, and how I have decided to write a book too, so the quieter months in the café will suit me.

A couple of hours pass quickly and easily, and I realise I’m very comfortable in Luca’s presence as a friend. As we make our way back through the quaint, cobbled streets, we are both quiet and clearly lost in thought. Suddenly, I’m surprised when Luca grabs my hand and pulls me into an alleyway. It’s so unexpected, I gasp, and then in one swift movement, I realise I’m pushed up against
a cold stone wall and am being held in place by Luca’s warm, firm body. It certainly startles me, but surprisingly, I don’t feel scared. I’m not really sure what Luca is doing, but I know he won’t hurt me.

“Luca, what the hell are you doing?” I say as I look confusedly into his eyes. He leans himself further against me, as if he’s scared I’m going to bolt and run from him; he then cups my face in his large, tanned hands.

I stiffen as Luca’s head moves forward to me, but at the last minute, he leans past my face to my ear as he whispers, “Dear, sweet Ella, I want you so much. I want you so bad it physically hurts my heart. I have never felt for a woman I barely know what I feel for you. I look at you and I’m turned on—I mean, what man wouldn’t be—but, Ella, it is also so much more than that.”

Luca moves his head back slightly from my ear so we have eye contact again, and now it’s like he’s talking to my soul as he continues in his thick Italian accent, “I see the hurt and pain in your eyes, Ella, and it sears through me. If I can, I want to remove all that terrible hurt and pain burdening you, because you don’t deserve to have to hold on to that much agony and unhappiness.

“I want to make you happy again, Ella. I want to take care of you and protect you. I know you don’t need me to, because I also see your strength as you battle against your demons, trying to build a life for yourself. I applaud you for your strength, and I need you to know that as well as this intense physical attraction I have for you, I also respect and admire you because, Ella, you might not realise it, but you are one amazing woman—the whole package. You are the perfect girl my mama instilled in me from a young boy I should wait for. I just fear the walls you have built up around yourself—which I understand are to protect yourself—are just going to prevent you from finding the happiness you deserve, whether that’s with me, or someone else.”

Luca brightly smiles and tries to lighten the mood by saying, “Although, please God, let it be me and not someone else.” As Luca finishes what he obviously needs to get off his chest, he
looks even more deeply into my eyes; his pools of dark chocolate are half-questioning and half-pleading waiting for my response. I also notice he is practically wincing, in case I shoot him down.

Unfortunately for him, he is right to prepare himself for my reaction, as he already knows me too well. I won’t shoot him down, but I will let him down gently. I won’t be cruel or harsh, as he certainly doesn’t deserve that, but I do need for him to understand it can never happen between us, but also it’s not just him. It will never happen between me and anyone, and it’s not just due to my protective wall; it’s because I love and always will love someone else, and the fact that my love is not here in this lifetime anymore doesn’t stop me from loving and missing every damn gorgeous thing about him, every minute of every day.

Neither of us says anything for a while, so I decide to lighten the mood further. “So to recap: you are attracted to me, you care for me, you want to protect me, you respect me and you admire me?”

Luca smiles his award-winning smile at me. “In a nutshell, yes. Oh, and I’m pretty sure given time, I could easily fall head-over-heels in love with you, if that helps my case at all.”

“Well,” I sigh, “all that would be very hard for a normal girl to turn down, Luca—all that, along with the fact that you’re tall, dark, incredibly handsome, caring and sweet.”

“And rich,” Luca adds, smirking. I smile sadly back at his boyish, grinning, hopeful face, and in this moment, he looks so damn cute I almost want to ruffle his hair, but I don’t. As I look at him, my smile fades, and so does his with a sigh, so I know he is all too aware of what’s coming.

“The problem we have here, Luca, is I am not a normal girl.” That statement alone from me says it all. I see his face fall and his demeanour completely crumble; he removes his hands from my face and places them on the wall on either side of my head as he looks down to the ground. “Luca,” I say softly. He looks back up to my face, but there is no hope there now. “I want you in my life; I want you to be my friend. Can we please be friends?” I ask hopefully.

“Of course,” he answers, but there’s no emotion in his tone. I lean forward and kiss him tenderly on the lips. I pull back quickly though, in case he decides to deepen the friendly gesture.

“Friends?” I ask again.

“Friends,” he agrees. “For now,” he adds with a smirk.

I don’t think anything I say will make him ever completely give up the hope something will eventually happen between us, but I
know
it won’t, and sooner or later he will have to come to terms with that too. I pull him out of the alleyway, and we walk along quietly back to the hotel. I do know I care about this man, but my heart will always be in London with Luke.

We get back to the hotel, and I wave goodbye to Luca and head back to my room. I lay on my bed and think about my day. I feel calm—not happy, because having experienced happiness… real, true, floating-on-air happiness with Luke, I know I’ll never be there again—but I have a couple of good friends here now, a job and the relatively quiet life I wanted when I fled London. I say my life is relatively quiet—as having Stefano in my life is anything but quiet, but then I smile as I think I wouldn’t have him any other way.

I think of Luca as my friend, as I know he is dependable and would do anything for me, and after today’s conversation, although I think he will always hold a torch for me and always wonder what we could have been, I think deep down he now understands that for me, it will only ever be a friendship.

I head to the shower with my thoughts, and set about washing the day away before I pull on my joggers and a T-shirt, jump into bed and relax with my Kindle for the evening. I may even be in a place where I can start one of the love stories I used to enjoy—a tale of a couple who will go to hell and back, but in the end, their love will conquer all…and where happily ever afters do happen.

Just not for me.

I am on a break at the café the next day, when Stefano pops his head around the door. “Hey, baby girl,
how you doin
’?” he says in his best Joey-from-
Friends
voice. I nod, trying not to laugh, and unable to speak due to the massive piece of cake I had just stuffed in my mouth. I hold my finger up in indication for Stefano to wait one minute while I wash my cake down with coffee.

“In your own time,” Stefano retorts sarcastically and I laugh, nearly spitting my coffee out all over him.

When my mouth is clear, I stand and give him a big hug, saying, “I’m good honey, how are you?”

“I’m great as always, sweet cheeks, although I’m a little bit tired, as I got a call from Luca last night to go out for a drink and had to put up with him drowning his sorrows after seeing you yesterday. The more he drank, the more he whined on about the unfairness of it all, and how heartbroken he is.”

“Oh,” is all I say.

“Hey, Cherub,” Stefano consoles, “don’t look so sad about it. He’ll get over it, and it’s about time that hot piece of arse found out what it feels like to have his heart broken. It might even make him a better man—if that’s possible.”

I laugh. “Anyway,” Stefano continues, “that’s not why I’m here.
What I came to say is there is a band on at the club tonight, and I wondered if you fancied it?”

I can see he is raising his eyebrows at me, probably waiting for the knock back I normally give him. “Yes, that’ll be great,” I state.