Romance with Curves, page 47
Luca let out a laugh as he made his way to the couch. “So, Rhys. Tell me. What did you think of today? Have we scared you off yet?”
I made my way over, sitting beside him and watching the dogs as they played. “I actually loved it. I spend all day doing calculations and reports for other people. And I’ve always loved my job. I’m an analytical person. But tonight, being around the animals and actually talking to people just felt so…” I trailed off, looking for the right word.
“Freeing?”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” I sat back and pulled my knees up. “Was this always your dream?”
He let out a light laugh. “Yeah, it kind of has been. I remember when I was a little kid, I was always trying to rescue any animal I could. Even the worms had to be saved.”
“That’s so cute.”
“Yeah, I guess.” I watched as the color rose in his cheeks.
“Was it difficult opening this place?”
He hemmed and hawed. “I started out as a vet tech at a normal veterinarian clinic. I spent nearly six years there before I was able to finally open this place.”
“Had to save up?”
“Well, it started that way.” He dropped his head, looking at his hands instead of me or the dogs. I felt the air shift around him. “But then I came into just enough money to buy this place and get it going. And since then, it’s been my whole life.”
“It really is quite the accomplishment.” I softly spoke as I looked all around, taking in the place again. As I did so, I saw a balcony just above our heads. Originally, I thought it was just an overhang, covering the little deck here. “Wait, does someone live up there?” I could see the faint illumination of a light from inside what now looked like someone’s home.
“Yep.”
I looked down to see him grinning at me.
“Wait, you live there?”
“Yep.” He repeated.
“That’s awesome.”
“It actually is. I don’t have to drive to work. And if there’s ever an emergency on my days off, I’m close enough to just drop in. Plus, once I sunk all my money into getting the clinic going, I didn’t exactly have any left to get a separate place.”
“So, you turned the upstairs into your home?” I finished.
“Yeah. It’s actually really nice. I finally got it to look more like a home and less like the squatting quarters of a homeless man.” He let out a laugh and I echoed it.
We continued with some small talk for a bit longer until Izzy was finally worn out enough to come curl up between our feet. “Well, it looks like someone is ready to go home.” I stretched my hands on my jeans and pushed up. Luca followed suit.
“Well, thank you for everything tonight. You were a huge help. Plus, it was nice just sitting and talking for a minute.” Luca’s lips curled into a bashful smile.
“I really enjoyed it.” I met his smile with one of my own. Izzy danced between us, begging for Luca to give her attention.
He crouched down, scratching her behind her ears. “You behave. No desserts tonight.” Luca looked up while still crouched down and winked at me.
I rolled my eyes playfully. “Trust me, Becca and I have agreed that chocolate donuts will not be gracing the presence of my apartment again any time soon.”
“Becca?” He tilted his head as he stood.
“My best friend. She was the one who’d brought them over. She still feels so bad.”
“It’s okay. Izzy is no worse for wear.”
“Thankfully.”
I offered one last smile before we corralled the dogs all back inside and I went on my way.
CHAPTER 4
I found myself counting down the minutes to my next volunteer shift. Becca did her best to distract me on Saturday but even she failed when she kept asking questions about the clinic—mostly focusing on Luca. I kept dodging, not because I didn’t want to talk about him but because I did. I really did. And it scared me.
But I also still didn’t know that much about him.
It didn’t stay that way for long though. Sunday was a slower day, and it was just Luca and I at the clinic so we spent the majority of the day playing with the dogs or the cats. Izzy was beyond overjoyed to just be with the other dogs.
“I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get her to go home with me.” I joked as we watched Izzy rub up against the pit bull mix named Rocky. “I think she’d rather stay here with Rocky.” We were sitting outside on the couch again but had the side door to the lobby propped open in case anyone came in. The sun was beaming down, bringing with it the summer heat. I’d decided to wear shorts and a t-shirt, hoping it would be okay but also keep me from wanting to die.
“I’d say she’s more than welcome to, but I get the feeling you would not be too happy.”
“Oh no. I don’t think I could sleep if she wasn’t with me.”
“I’m the same way with that guy over there.” Luca nodded his head towards Rocky.
“Wait, is Rocky actually yours?”
“He wasn’t supposed to be. He came in as a rescue up for adoption just like all the others. But his breed preceded him. It didn’t matter how cute and sweet he was. He just stayed here. And him and I just bonded.”
“How long has he been here?”
“He was one of the first dogs we took in. He was barely a year old. And he’s almost five now.”
“He still acts like a puppy.”
“Oh yeah, he’ll probably always be like that.”
I watched as Izzy and Rocky continued to lay together, letting the other dogs run around them. I smiled, finding their sweet innocence so warming. “How does he handle dogs coming and going?”
I heard Luca sigh. “He handles it better than I do.”
I turned to face him and tilted my head. “What do you mean?”
“I can’t help but get attached to every dog and cat that comes in here. So, when they finally get adopted, it’s so bittersweet.”
“I can imagine.” My voice came out soft, slightly sad. “It’s such an amazing thing you do here but it really can’t be easy to have any of them here for a while and then they aren’t.”
“Yeah, but I have a whole wall of photos that people send me over the years of their pets.” Luca broke out in a wide, proud grin.
“Oh, I’ve seen that. I was wondering what that was.” I remembered the wall that was to the left as one would come in the front doors of the clinic. The entire span of the wall was covered in photos of dogs, cats, and some people. I had caught a glimpse of some letters and postcards but hadn’t read any of them yet. Knowing now that they were from people who cared enough to send him photos over the years just made my heart swell with joy.
The rest of our afternoon continued just the same. The clinic closed at five, but I didn’t make my way home right away. Instead, Luca ordered some food and we enjoyed it outside while about eight drooling mouths watched us.
“So, Rhys. Tell me more about you. I feel like it’s all been about the clinic and me.”
I quickly chewed the bite of burger I’d just taken. “What about me?”
I watched as Luca rolled his eyes up, thinking. “Okay. Tell me more about what you do for work.”
“I’m a data analyst. I’ve always had an analytical mind, so I like it. It keeps me busy.”
“How long have you been there?”
“About four years.”
“Are you from here?”
“Nearby. Becca and I are childhood best friends and moved here after college. Then she got engaged.”
“What about you?”
I furrowed my brow. “What about me?”
“Anyone else in your life than Becca?”
I could see him beating around the bush, spelling out just the right amount so I’d know what he was referring to. “My parents still live in the house I grew up in. My brother lives in San Diego with his husband. My older sister lives in Guam with her husband and my youngest sister bought the house three doors down from our parents. She is getting married next July. And I am just me. It’s just Izzy and I at home these days.” I shrugged and gave a smile like it was all okay.
Having all three siblings in committed relationships didn’t help my case when I went home to visit my parents. They were just traditional enough that they couldn’t help asking me when I was going to find someone to settle down with. They didn’t push as much these days. Not since Jared broke up with me when I thought he was going to propose. But I could tell they were getting to the point where they couldn’t bite their tongues anymore. It had been a little over a year and I hadn’t had a boyfriend since. I’d dated a bit here and there, but my trust just wasn’t there to give anyone a chance.
I wasn’t unwilling to try. I just wasn’t willing to bend too far.
“That’s quite the family.” Luca replied and I tried to read his expression, but it was indiscernible.
“Yeah, but holidays are great. Everyone always manages to come together. They pick on me for only bringing Izzy these days. But my family is amazing.”
I watched Luca smile and felt like there was so much more behind his smile. “That is amazing.”
“What about you?”
“Me?”
“Yeah, your family or…” I trailed off.
“It’s always been just my mom and me. We lived in Italy until her parents died. Then we moved here. She had a cousin that had moved here just after she had graduated, and my mom had always dreamed of coming here. But she had to take care of her parents and me, so she waited.”
“Then she suddenly only had to take care of you.” I whispered.
“Yeah.”
“How old were you?”
“When we moved? Eleven.”
“How beautiful is it there?”
I watched as his eyes lit up and the smile spread across his lips. “It’s the most gorgeous place on earth.”
“Would you move back?”
He slowly nodded. “Yeah, I’ve thought about it a few times.”
“But now you have this place.” I gestured to the building around us.
“Yeah. One of my dreams come true.”
“What other dreams do you have?” I couldn’t help wanting to know everything about him. The way he looked at his rescue showed me the passion running through his veins.
I watched as he suddenly turned bashful, blushing. “Na, it’s—”
“Oh, come on. You can tell me.” I bumped his shoulder, trying to encourage him.
“As much as this place is my whole life, I’ve always wanted a family of my own too. Like yours.” He dropped his tone at the end, like he was scared to say it.
I felt my heart melt at the way he looked. I watched as his eyebrows stitched together, burrowing together the fear of admitting something so private out loud. But it shouldn’t be something he was scared to say.
“Why don’t you have that yet?” I asked, then realized how blunt and terrible that sounded. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say it like that. It’s just that I assumed that if that’s what you wanted, that you’d have that by now. I mean, come on. Look at you.” I felt the blush rush to my face. I rambled long enough to allude to the fact that I found him attractive.
I saw him stifle a smile, also blushing slightly. It was hard to see with his olive skin, but it was there. I’d been around Luca just enough to know that he was a private and shy person. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I-I just mean…” I trailed off, not sure how to respond. I wasn’t prepared to have to put my current thoughts into words.
“Thank you, Rhys.” He said, giving me a bashful grin. He took a deep breath and looked off, his face growing serious. “I almost had it all.” His voice cracked, nearly shattering my heart. The pain in his words was not something I was prepared for.
“What do you mean?” I whispered, afraid to hear but also needing to know. Whatever had caused him this anguish hurt me enough to want to fix it.
He took another deep breath and grimaced. “I was engaged a few years back. To an amazing woman. We’d been together for a few years before I proposed, and we were set to marry just a year after that. But less than two months before our wedding day, she died.”
I felt all the oxygen leave my lungs, letting out an audible gasp.
“Yeah, it was sudden.” He gulped and I saw his jaw tremble. “It knocked me back for a while. I nearly lost the clinic. If it wasn’t for my assistant and our volunteers, I would have. I’d lost my mother only a little less than a year before that. It was actually how I was able to get this place. I bought it with the inheritance she left me. And we put everything into this place. It was ours. So, when I lost her too, I couldn’t even stand to be here. But I didn’t have anywhere else to go. So, I just wallowed in the loft.”
“I’m so sorry.” I whispered.
He gave me a pained smile. “Thank you.”
“How long has it been?”
“Almost three years.”
“Wow.” I let it sink in. “How’d it happen?” I asked, cautiously. “You don’t have to tell me.” I quickly followed, reaching out a hand to rest on his knee.
“No, no. It’s okay. She was in a car accident on the interstate. Someone was speeding in the rain and slammed into her. It sent her car under an eighteen-wheeler. It killed her instantly. She was on her way home from picking up groceries. I’d just taken the dogs out and was starting dinner for us.”
I didn’t realize I was crying until I felt the tear hit my chest. I took in a shaky breath, trying to stabilize myself. “I’m so sorry.” I whispered, my voice cracking.
“Thank you.” He fought to smile again, fighting back the tears I could see burning. “I know it’s been three years but…” He trailed off.
“Three years is nothing when you were planning the rest of your life.”
“Yeah.” He breathed. “I’ve tried to move on though.”
“How has that gone?” I asked, scoffing more at my past than his.
“Well, I’ve always been a hopeless romantic. So, I wanted to try. I remember when I was a kid, my mother would joke with me, saying I’d choose love over candy any day. Hell, even when love tore me completely apart, I refused to lose hope. But somewhere along the line, it’s gotten harder. Losing her was its own world of hell. There’s no doubting that. But trying to meet someone these days just isn’t easy. And I’ve dealt with far too many women assuming I was loaded or a pushover or whatever other assumptions they wanted to make about me because I’m a vet with my own business. But when they find out how much work I put into this place, they would run the other way.”
“Their loss.” I joked.
I watched as the color flooded his face and he looked down. When he finally lifted his head, I saw the bashful smile back in place.
This guy—with his deep olive Mediterranean skin, dark hair, inviting eyes, and fit physique that obviously turned heads—was one of the shyest guys I’d ever met. The exterior didn’t seem to match the interior, in the best of ways. By assumptions, he could get away with being shallow, living off the attention he gained just by flashing his smile. But I could tell he didn’t think that way.
And that alone made me need to know him even more. I’d known him less than a week and I was already completely enamored with him. I wasn’t sure if it was quite crush territory yet, but it was certainly something that I actually felt myself wanting to explore.
CHAPTER 5
With July fourth just around the corner, I was preparing to make the trek back home. It would just be my younger sister, Rylie, and I celebrating with our parents. Ryder and his husband couldn’t take the time off this year and Ruby and her husband were taking their own trip with their family.
I’d already let Luca know that I wouldn’t be able to make it to either volunteer shift this week. Just sending him the text, reminding him, was hard. Volunteering had become the best parts of my week.
But it had also been a few months since I’d seen my parents. For me, it felt like a lifetime. Plus, I needed to catch up with Rylie.
I loaded my car with my suitcase and Izzy’s favorite toys, food, and plenty of treats before finally loading her in and making our way onto the highway. The drive was thankfully quick. It was a three-hour drive but sometimes there was enough traffic to add an extra hour or so. I’d decided that leaving Thursday morning would probably help me beat the traffic—and I was right. We breezed the whole way to my parents, making it there just in time for lunch.
“Rhys!” My mom called out, meeting me at my car before I could even climb out.
“Were you waiting at the door for me?” I joked, falling into her hug and embracing her as we both danced back and forth.
“No, Rylie just walked down and said she saw your car on the main road.”
I laughed and pulled my bag from the car before letting Izzy out. She’d been here enough times to know exactly where to go—straight to my dad who was undoubtedly waiting with the biggest bone he could find to spoil her with.
My parents had a beautiful large house in a cul-de-sac. Rylie had the house at the edge of the community and could see the main road from her house. Her house wasn’t as large as our parents, but it was perfect for her and her fiancé. They were already planning on starting their family pretty much as soon as they got married. In her words, they were going to need all four rooms in that house. We all liked to joke that they were trying to outdo our parents and were going to create their own little football team.
I made my way into the house and sure enough, found my dad already playing tug of war with Izzy.
“Hey Dad.” I called out, dropping my bag at the bottom of the stairs and joining him on the floor.
We spent the next twenty minutes tossing a ball back and forth with Izzy and catching up with each other. It was no secret that I loved my family. I’d always been close to my mom and was certainly a Daddy’s Little Girl. Ruby and Ryder were always closest to Mom while Rylie and I were nearly carbon copies of our Dad. There wasn’t anything we didn’t discuss with each other. We were just as invested in each other’s lives as we were our own. Which is why I think my whole family was just as devastated as I was when Jared broke up with me.
