Sofia’s pov
My eyes widened in shock as his words washed over me and continued to reecho in my head over and over again.
A small, almost regretful looking smile tugged at Luca’s lips as he regarded me for a few heartbeats while giving my hand little squeezes.
“Why is it a surprise to you?” He asked, voice soft and eyes sincere. “I thought it was pretty obvious.”
I gulped emptily and contemplated on what to actually say, because it felt like my brain had shut down.
“I- I didn’t know…” I whispered and once again, Luca chuckled.
“I had no idea either, until it dawned on me.” He hesitated for a moment. “I think I’ve been in love with you for a really long while. It just didn’t actually dawn on me because I never considered it.”
And then voice took a bitter tone as he continued. “I just wished I had done this in a better moment. I didn’t say this right now in order to make you give me all your trust at once, that wasn’t the case at all.”
“I wasn’t even planning on saying that. The only reason why I came tonight was to deal with anyone dumb enough to believe touching you wouldn’t come with consequences. Those words just came from nowhere, but they’re very sincere.” He squeezed my hands a little and this time, I returned the squeeze instantly.
“I don’t want you to give me all your trust yet, because clearly I do not deserve it. I want to work for it, I want to properly earn it. If you’d give me a chance to love you, then I’d love you so, so good.”
Everything that he was saying, left me in a state of shock. This was something I never saw coming, something I never imagined hearing from Luca anytime soon. It was something I’ve sometimes envisioned in my head here and there, but I never imagined that it would play out like this, with so many words involved.
The onslaught of emotions that is still rushing over me, clogged up my throat and made it impossible for me to get a word out, leaving me to appear frozen in front of Luca with my eyes widened.
“I…”
Before I could get any more word out, Luca was softly shushing me.
“You don’t have to say it back. I didn’t say it because I wanted you to do the same. It was a spontaneous thing which I do not regret because I wanna be sincere with you moving forward.” He reached up and cupped the side of my face and I leaned into the feeling of his large palm against my skin.
“It’s also alright if you don’t feel the same way too, hm?” He continued, voice soft, and that was the key to getting the waterworks going. One sniff and Luca was tugging me into his arms while reminding me that he hadn’t meant to make me cry in any way. I clutched him tightly, not knowing how to explain to him that I was only crying because of the rush of emotions flowing through me right now.
Luca got up from the ground he had been kneeling on, hoisterimg me into his arms in one go and I clung to his strong shoulders with my face buried in his throat as he sank headed into the bathroom and cleaned up my face, with me perched on the counter.
“I’ve missed doing this so much. Miss taking care of you like my life depended on it.” He murmured softly as he cleaned off my tears with a soft wash clothe, and unsurprisingly, his words only made more tears fall out.
When we exited the hotel in about thirty minutes, our hands were entwined. He helped me pack up my bags and carried one for me, insisting I leave the rest of the bags in the hotel for my bodyguards to come get them later.
Throughout the drive home, Luca controlled the steering wheel with only one hand majority of the time, because the second one was entwined with mine. I clung to his lagerer hands greedily and only reluctantly let go whenever he needed his two hands to control the car, till we finally pulled up home.
As we made our way into the house, I remembered how I had stormed out from it about that particular night and that colored my cheeks a little right before I shoved the thought away.
Luca poured me a glass of juice in the kitchen and I glanced around, searching for Matilda because it’s weird to not have her chatting my eyes off right now from curiosity and excitement of having me back home.
“I uh… I sent her away for some time.” Luca tentatively explained when I asked if he had seen Matilda and my eyes widened for a moment, right before he rushed to clarify.
“I wasn’t eating. I couldn’t eat with you being away, and Armani isn’t home most of the time, so I saw no point in her preparing meals no one was eating, which was why I dismissed her for the time being.” He paused for a moment.
“Oh.” I whispered in surprise, because I hadn’t realized my absence has affected Luca this much.
“Although now that you’re back, I’m gonna call her back.” He continued but I was quick to wave him off.
“That can wait till the coming week, she deserve more time away.” I declared as I rinsed my glass off and put it away.
Being back at home didn’t feel weird in any way. Instead, my mind was at complete ease because this is where I feel the most comfortable.
As I showered that night, my mind kept wandering over various things till I exited the bathroom and dressed in a pair of shorts and one of Luca’s shirts that smelled so strongly of him.
When he slid into the spot beside me that night, a few minutes passed in silence before he tugged me against his chest, and I literally melted against him.
I was about to drift off to sleep since he was stroking my hair as he held me against him, when his voice pierced through the silence.
“Thank you for giving me another chance, bunny.”
I pushed even more against him and hesitated for a moment before speaking,
“Luca?”
“Hm?”
“Can you give me a kiss?” I asked as I blinked up at him. He regarded me silently for about a minute before tilting my chin up and softly brushing his lips against mine in the softest way possible, which made me melt even more against him.
When I later drifted off to sleep, it was with my heart soaring really, really high.