Impossible Things (24 page)

Lucas pulled the sheet up closer to Lucy’s neck and his mom smiled at the protective gesture. She moved into the room and held out her hand to Lucy. “Hello dear I’m Claire Antonelli.”

Lucy knew that her face was bright red as she carefully pulled her arm free from the covers and shook the older woman’s hand. “Lucy Jacobs.”

His mother backed away from the bed, a knowing smile on her face, and said, “I’ll be waiting downstairs for the two of you.”

She turned and walked away and the two of them remained silent, listening to the sound of her high heels descending the stairs. When they could no longer hear her heels Lucas sat down heavily on the bed next to Lucy. He leaned forward and put his head in his hands.

Lucy reached over and rubbed his back, “Sorry,” she said.

Surprised, he turned to look at her, “For what?”

She smiled and felt herself blush again, “For not wearing clothes, for attacking you last night, and for embarrassing you in front of your mom.”

He laughed, “Lucy you could never, ever, embarrass me.
I’m
sorry.”

“For what?”

He looked so contrite that she reached out and touched his face. He bent his head and rubbed his cheek into her hand.

His mom’s voice rang out through the house, “I’m still waiting!”

Lucas shook his head and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry to subject you to her.”

She smiled at that and he kissed her hand. “You’ve been subjected to my mom, my grandmother and Rodrigo. I think I can handle your mom, I just wish I had my own clothes.”

He leaned forward, kissed her and whispered in her ear, “How about I go kick her out, come back up here and we spend the rest of the day in bed?”

“Don’t make me come back up there!” His mom yelled and Lucy laughed as Lucas groaned.

Neither the pants nor the shirt fit her but with a belt she was able to keep the pants up. The t-shirt was big and thin and she felt so self-conscious of her bare breasts that Lucas gave her the sweater that he had worn the night before to pull on over it. It still smelled like him and she bent her head when he wasn’t looking and breathed deeply.

They went down the stairs together, holding hands and when they entered the living room his mom raised an eyebrow at Lucy’s outfit but thankfully didn’t say anything.

They sat down on the couch across from her and Lucy was grateful for the warmth and reassurance of Lucas next to her. The couch was small and they were pressed thigh to thigh and shoulder to shoulder, but it made her feel a little braver as they faced his mom together.

“I ordered some lunch for us.”

“Lunch?” Lucas asked and looked down at the heavy, expensive watch on his wrist and Lucy followed his eyes. When they saw that it was a little after Noon they looked up at each other with shock on their faces.

“So Lucy why don’t you tell me about yourself?” his mom asked and Lucas made a sound and said, “Mum don’t quiz her!”

His mom raised her shoulders, “What? It’s not every day that I find a woman in your bed. I’d like to know a little more about her.”

Lucas shook his head and grabbed Lucy’s hand and patted it. “Don’t answer her and she’ll go away.”

Lucy looked from him to his mom and realized how much they looked alike. Her hair was lighter, more brown than black but their faces were similar and they had the same dark, green eyes.

His mom smiled at her and asked, “How did the two of you meet?”

Lucas made another noise but Lucy ignored him and said, “Rodrigo is married to my grandmother.”

His mom’s eyebrow rose again and she nodded. “I thought you looked familiar but I couldn’t place your face. Well….this
is
a small world.”

Lucy didn’t know if that was good or bad so she didn’t say anything. His mom continued to inspect her and she met her stare, not wanting to back down. “How long have the two of you been seeing each other,” she asked.

“None of your business,” Lucas said and at the same time that Lucy answered, “A few months.”

His mom smiled, “Well, well, a few months. I think that’s a new record for my son.”

“Mum…” Lucas said in a warning tone but she smiled even broader.

“You must be special if it’s been a few months.”

Lucas opened his mouth to speak and Lucy expected another warning but that wasn’t what he said. Instead he said, “I love her. I want her to marry me, and one day, if she wants, I want her to have my babies, at least one anyway.”

Lucy and his mom
both turned to look at him in shock. Lucy knew that her mouth was hanging open but she didn’t care because she saw that the perfectly made-up mouth of his mom was also hanging open.

“Lucas-“Lucy started to say but he cut her off. “No. Don’t answer now. I’m not really asking you yet, I would never do it like this and I would never do it without the biggest diamond that you’ve ever seen. I just wanted you both to know my plans for us. I’m stating my intentions.”

She didn’t know what to say.

His mom was equally shocked but able to gain her composure quicker. She smiled at both of them and Lucy swore there was gratitude on his mom’s face as she looked at Lucy and said, “Welcome to the family.”

Lucas shook his head. “I’ve not asked yet and she hasn’t said yes. Don’t scare her off.”

His mom put her hand over her heart
. “I swear I would never do that. I think I may want her to say yes more than you do.”

Lucas laughed and said, “That’s not possible.”

For the rest of the afternoon Lucy sat in her borrowed, ill-fitting clothes as Lucas and his mom joked and teased each other. His mom regaled Lucy with stories of Lucas as a boy and when his mom asked if he had ever mentioned his dad she was pleased when Lucy said yes.

Lucas refused to go to the attic and find pictures albums until his mom threatened to go do herself. He reluctantly went, dragging his feet and looking like a small boy.

He came back twenty minutes later, covered in dust and handed his mom two books. She made Lucy sit next to her as she flipped through them and Lucy was captivated by Lucas as a boy. He looked almost exactly the same except his hair was curly. She realized that it would still be curly now if he didn’t get it cut so close to his head.

It was a surprisingly good afternoon and time flew as they ate, talked and laughed. She only realized how late it was when the clock on the mantle struck six and she realized that no one at her grandmother’s house knew where she was. She said she had to go and Lucas said he’d drive her.

His mom stood, hugged and kissed her before they left and Lucy thought that his mom might have had tears in her eyes.

They got into the low-slung, red sports car and Lucy sighed and rubbed the leather of the seat. She didn’t feel worthy to be riding in such a car in Lucas’ work-out clothes. “This is a beautiful car,” she said and he smiled.

“Rodrigo has a car just like it but black. Did you get yours from his friend too?”

Lucas laughed. “I am his friend Lucy. This is my car.”

Not understanding she turned to look at him. She loved to watch him drive, his wrist, covered with a sprinkling of dark hair looked so masculine and sexy as he shifted. “What do you mean?”

“This is
my
car. I made this. My company did.”

“What?”

He put on his turn single and turned down her grandmother’s street. “This is what I do, what my dad did, what my grandfather did. My grandfather started Antonelli motors. We make racing and sport cars.”

She looked down at the warm, tan, leather seat and rubbed her hand across it and then looked up at the dash and all the high tech meters on it. There was a crest sewn into the tan leather dashboard, with a small red A in the corner. She had probably seen that symbol a thousand times in her life and she had no idea what it stood for.

“You make cars?”

“Not personally but I oversee the company. I used to let other people look after it for me because it reminded me too much of my dad but I knew that I would have to do it sooner or later.”

She looked up at his profile, admiring the strong, golden color of his throat and the fine line of stubble that extended down onto it. “What did you do before?”

He looked at her for a second before looking back at the road. “I raced cars.”

“You raced cars?”

He nodded and she made a noise.

He pulled the car up to the curb in front of her grandmother’s house, and she sat in silence staring at him. He was the most gorgeous man that she had ever seen and the more that she found out about him the more intrigued she became. He was an Italian sex god, race car driver, and businessman all thrown together and it was an exciting combination.

He grinned and leaned closer and whispered, “Is that a turn-on or a turn-off? I can never tell with you. Does it make you want to sleep with me again?”

She grinned back and leaned closer until she could feel his breath on her face. “It doesn’t make much difference since I’m always ready for you.”

With that she pulled back before he could kiss her and got out of the car and walked away. At the front door she turned back and saw that he was still sitting there, the passenger window rolled down and a look of lust on his face.

She laughed as she realized how much she enjoyed shocking him, and he seemed to enjoy it too. She blew him a kiss before opening the front door and going inside.

“I need a job,” she said to no one in particular that evening as she ate dinner with her family.

“Are you staying then?” he grandmother asked and she saw that her mom was obviously curious about that answer as well.

She nodded and then realized that she hadn’t asked if she could stay yet. “That is if you’ll have me for a little longer.”

Her grandmother said, “Of course we will,” and Rodrigo nodded his agreement.

Rosaline asked, “Does this have anything to do with Lucas?”

She didn’t look at any of them as she answered, “
Sort of. I promised him I’d give us a try.”

She looked up to see that her grandmother was smiling and Lucy lifted her hand and pointed a finger at her. “That doesn’t mean anything, so don’t get your hopes up!”

Isabella nodded, said, “Of course, of course, whatever you want,” she shrugged as if she was innocent.

Lucy didn’t buy that for a second. “I mean it! I’m just going to see what happens. I didn’t just get out of one relationship to jump into another and I’m certainly not ready to marry him.”

Her family froze at that and too late she realized her mistake.

Rodrigo was the one who asked, “Has marriage been discussed?”

She looked down at her plate and picked up her fork. “He may have asked me in front of his mother today, but I didn’t say yes and I’m not planning on saying yes anytime in the near future.”

She put a shrimp into her mouth and looked up to see that Rodrigo was frozen in place, her grandmother was smiling and her mom looked stunned.

Keeping her mouth closed she smiled at them and winked at Rodrigo. She had a newfound talent for shocking people and she was enjoying the hell out of it.

After dinner her mom brought up her comment about needing a job again, asking, “What about the job you had?”

“I only worked two days a week, three hours a day. It hardly paid my bus fair to get there, but they laid me off anyway. I need a real job.”

Her grandmother spoke up, “I don’t know anyone in architecture but I’m sure someone I know does. I’ll make some calls tomorrow and see if I can find someone.
”

Lucy thought about declining but jobs were hard to come by and she needed to work so she said okay.

Rodrigo cleared his throat, “Actually I was going to ask you about that…”

Lucy looked at him. “About what?”

“My sister is here because we had a board meeting yesterday. We were talking about our plans, and what we need to do. Fashion is a competitive field and we’re always trying to be ahead of everyone else.”

Lucy nodded but she didn’t know what that had to do with her.

“We were thinking about starting a jewelry collection, and I thought of you. You’re an architect I know and while that is different, you do know something about design and we all know you love jewels.”

Isabella and Rosaline nodded and Rodrigo smiled. “So I was telling my sister that maybe we should ask you.”

Lucy stared at him in shock. “Design jewels?”

Rodrigo nodded. “If you don’t want to do it I understand. It’s not meant as an insult at all. I just thought I’d ask.”

He heart was racing and she couldn’t breath as the possibility opened before her. But Rodrigo held up his hand. “Think about it, you don’t have to answer now, but think about it and let me know.”

She went up to bed shortly after that and was in bed trying to read but too distracted to when her phone rang. She picked it up and saw that it was Lucas. “Hello handsome,” she answered it and he laughed.

“Hello beautiful. How are you?”