Page 12 of Vegas Daddies (Forbidden Fantasies #17)

LUCA

T he rhythmic sound of my sneaker soles hitting the pavement filled my ears as I jogged through the sleepy streets of Allie’s town.

The morning air carried the scent of salt from the Pacific, blending with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee from the small businesses I passed.

It was much quieter here than LA, even though it wasn’t terribly far.

Maybe it wasn’t a place I’d ever imagined traveling, but I’d always liked checking out new places.

Once, I’d hoped to go pro with soccer, and I’d always loved the idea of getting to travel.

I told myself that long-dormant desire for new places was my main reason for going out for a run today.

Besides, I liked running. It was meditative for me, and it was good for keeping me in tip-top soccer shape, even if I’d settled into my role as a soccer coach by now and given up the dream of athletic stardom.

As a kid, I’d gotten into the sport in the first place because of my Italian father’s own obsession with calcio , and even though I’d long since given up any hope of sports bringing Marco Branchini and myself closer together, I’d never lost the love of the game.

I’d meant to use this time to clear my head, to push away thoughts of Allie, of Vegas, of the ridiculous situation we found ourselves in.

Not to dwell on unpleasant family drama.

But as I slowed my pace, winding down, I glanced at my surroundings and saw that I wasn’t far from Marv’s Diner.

Like I’d unconsciously taken a route that would lead closer to Allie’s workplace, to her.

My pace slowed all the way to a stop, my heart rate taking its sweet time in getting back to normal.

Would it be weird to stop in and say hi to her, or would it be weirder to be in the area and not announce my presence somehow?

I could use some breakfast after my run, and it wasn’t like I had anywhere else to be besides waiting with my equally stir-crazy friends back at the beach house.

Plus, the diner’s menu had looked pretty good that first day, and I hadn’t gotten to eat any of it.

My stomach growled a little in reaction to the thought.

But it wasn’t about the food, and I knew it. It was really about Allie.

I exhaled sharply, picking up my pace for another short stretch, trying to shake the thought. There was no future there, no reason to see her until we had an update about the annulment. And yet my feet itched to turn in her direction, to find some excuse to bump into her again.

I spotted a small juice bar and decided to duck inside, ordering a protein smoothie to at least justify the detour.

As I waited, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

I barely had time to register my mother’s contact before I answered without thinking.

Her lovely face appeared on the screen for a video call—her smile bright, eyes practically glowing with excitement.

“Luca!” she practically sang, adjusting the angle of her phone so I could see her better. The hazel-green eyes we shared, the smile that was all hers. “My beautiful boy, how are you?”

I smiled despite myself, despite the looks I was getting from the few other people in the juice bar. I dug in my pockets for my headphones, letting them pair with my phone as I popped them in my ears. “I’m good, Mom. Just grabbing a smoothie after a run.”

“You went on a run? On your vacation?” Her tone was playful, but I could see the curiosity brimming beneath it.

“It’s a good way to see the sights,” I said lamely.

“Is that what this little trip is about? I had no idea you were so interested in exploring more of the area where you’ve always lived.”

I sighed internally, wishing I’d come up with a better explanation for the trip since Mom first asked me about it.

I didn’t often leave Mom behind—another reason a travel-filled life as a professional soccer player wouldn’t have worked out in the long run—and despite being grown and out of the house, I still felt the need to keep her up to date on my comings and goings.

“I needed a change of scenery,” I said vaguely, hoping she’d leave it at that.

“Not much of a change from LA,” she pointed out again.

“I just needed a little one.”

But my mother had a way of getting to the heart of things before you even realized she was digging. Rose Branchini was never one to leave things be, and her lips twitched.

“Hmm.” She pursed her lips, then grinned, as if she’d failed at holding it back. “Or is this about your wife?”

I nearly choked on my smoothie. “ What ?”

“Oh, don’t play dumb, Luca. I found your little photo book from Las Vegas. You two look so cute together!”

Shit.

“I don’t—how did you even?—?”

“A mother knows these things,” she said smugly, even as I started to theorize she’d seen it the last time she’d visited my new apartment under the guise of trying to help me unpack and decorate properly. My mom was practically a saint, but she wasn’t above snooping.

“That’s why you’re on this trip, isn’t it? You’re reconnecting with your lost love?”

I let out a slow breath, dragging a hand down my face. This was exactly the kind of romantic nonsense my mother lived for. She’d spent years trapped in a marriage with a man who never deserved her, clinging to the idea that love—real, consuming, life-altering love—could make everything better.

She wanted that for me. Needed to believe I would find it, the real thing, even if she never had. And the last thing I wanted was to disappoint her.

So instead of correcting her, instead of telling her this was all a huge mistake, I smiled. “Okay, you caught me. I’m…reconnecting with her.”

Her squeal of excitement was loud enough that the nearest table gave me a startled glance. “Oh, Luca, this is wonderful! Tell me everything. What’s her name?”

I hesitated only a beat. “Allie.”

“Allie.” She sighed dreamily, rolling the name over in her mouth like she was already picturing it in cursive on wedding invitations—never mind the fact that we were maybe already married. “And she’s wonderful, yes?”

I thought of Allie’s teasing smile, the way her body had felt beneath mine years ago. “Yeah,” I decided quietly. “She’s…she’s pretty great.”

My mother sighed again, completely enraptured. “I cannot wait to meet her.”

Yeah, as if that was happening.

I managed to wrap up the conversation before I could dig myself into an even deeper hole, but the weight of my words settled in my chest like a rock. What the hell had I just done?

I grabbed my smoothie and stepped outside, still shaking my head at my own stupidity. And that’s when I saw her.

Allie stood outside the diner—how had I ended up basically next door to it without noticing?

—sipping a to-go cup of coffee, the morning sun catching the coppery strands of her hair.

She was wearing a Marv’s shirt, hadn’t even shed the apron that held her little order-taking notepad.

On her break, I guessed, and something about the easy way she leaned against the wall made my pulse quicken.

I followed my feet toward her, accepting that they were in control of this ship in a way my brain just wasn’t.

As I approached, Allie spotted me, lips twitching upward even as her eyes grew wider. “Luca,” she said first, the surprise evident in her tone even as she tried to shift toward casualness. “What are you doing here? Stalking me?”

“No!” I hurried to clarify, my face heating. Luckily, I was already a little red and sweaty from running, so I didn’t think she’d notice. I held up the cup in my hand for her to see. “I was, uh, in the area. On a run. Stopped for a smoothie next door. Didn’t realize I’d run into you.”

“Uh-huh,” she drawled. “And there are no other smoothie places in SoCal besides the one next to my place of work, I guess.”

I winced. “It does look bad. But I promise, I wasn’t trying to bug you.”

She sighed, gesturing for me to come stand beside her. I followed her lead, leaning against the side of Marv’s, close enough that I could smell her shampoo. Cherries and sugar.

“Well, you wouldn’t be the first of your little crew to do that. Cade stopped by yesterday. He was as charming as ever.”

Her tone said exactly how charming that was, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “I can imagine. Cade is…not the best at social graces.”

“That’s a generous way to put it.”

“He’s a good guy though,” I made sure to defend my friend, seeing the genuine distaste in Allie’s expression. “I’ve known him for years, and he’s always had my back. Don’t judge him too harshly until he warms up a little.”

“As if sleeping with me isn’t enough to warm him up,” she grumbled.

I winced, but she smiled to soften it, showing a level of camaraderie with me that had started the day we sat in her section at Marv’s.

She was watching me, eyes flicking over my face like she was trying to figure me out.

And I was watching her right back, wondering why I’d found it so hard to be away from her for the handful of days since I’d seen her last.

Then, the anxiety of trying to keep another secret getting the best of me, I blurted out, “So, funny story—I may have accidentally told my mother you’re my actual wife?”

Allie choked on her coffee. “You what?”

I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. “I think she found this photo booklet I had. You know, from Vegas. And she got all excited when she put it together. I didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth.”

She stared at me for a moment. Blue eyes wide and unblinking. Then, like a burst dam, she laughed and laughed.

“Oh my God,” Allie started when she was finally calming down. “Jesus, Luca. That’s insane. And pretty stupid”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Not my best moment.”

“Does your mother want you to get married so bad she’s willing to take a quickie drunk wedding so long as you have a wife? Or is she somehow too innocent to know about the saying? You know, what happens in Vegas,” Allie clarified when my brow furrowed. I barked my own disbelieving laugh.

“Little of both, probably,” I mused. Plus a heavy dose of hopeless romanticism. “Anyway, I thought I should tell you. It shouldn’t come up ever, but…on the off chance my mom calls while we’re dealing with annulment stuff, can you back me up? Just until I figure out how to tell her the truth.”

Her laughter lingered, eyes dancing with amusement even as anxiety fluttered through my veins—not quite as pleasant as butterflies in the stomach, but not far off, considering Allie was the reason.

Surprising me again, Allie shrugged. “I mean, sure. Why not? I don’t even have a real boyfriend. Wouldn’t hurt to have a fake husband.”

I studied her, pondering the ease with which she’d agreed.

Though she’d undeniably grown up in our time apart, there was still something a little wild about her, a taste of the girl we’d met that night in Vegas—something that told me she liked the chaos.

Liked the adventure of being part of a silly scheme.

And damn, if that didn’t make her even more attractive. I was a play-it-safe type, and Allie Tate was exciting. I’d never known I wanted excitement before.

Allie checked her phone then, a simple reflex more than a reaction to any kind of sound.

I didn’t mean to look, but as she checked it, I caught a glimpse of her lock screen over her shoulder.

There, under the time, a little girl looked out at me—light hair, light eyes, a wide smile. Maybe school age, but maybe not quite.

I straightened, smiling a little at the child’s image even as something nagged at the back of my brain. “Cute kid. Who is she?”

I saw Allie’s expression shudder, her usual carefree openness clouding over.

She shoved the phone back in her pocket quickly, straightening up and dusting herself off as a signal she was finished here.

She ignored my question completely, which didn’t bode well.

“Good to see you, Luca, but my break is over. I’ve gotta get back in there. ”

She gestured toward Marv’s and didn’t wait around for me to respond before darting back inside through the glass door, the bell ringing over her head.

A similar bell seemed to ring in my head too, the already-fuzzy memory of a little girl’s face giving me a feeling there was something Allie Tate wasn’t telling me. Something she wasn’t telling any of the three of us, and I knew without knowing that it was something big.