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“Very well I’ll speak to Gavin andwill you need to prepare for the trip and arrange the time off?”
It was Monday At the best, she could leave this weekend “I’m not sure, but it will take a few days”
“I’ll give you my contact information Let me knohen you find out¸ and I’ll have a car sent to pick you up”
“That’s not necessary I can arrange my own transportation” Claire was never the kind of woman who sat back and let people take care of her Not Jeff, and certainly not Luca She had the capacity and the money to handle this herself
“Ridiculous We’ll ride together and start getting to know each other as soon as possible”
Claire clenched her jaw He spoke as if everything was law It h If he wanted to send someone all the way out to her brownstone in Brooklyn to pick them up, then fine “Very well Are we done here?”
Luca’s lips twisted into an amused smile “We are”
Good Claire was in desperate need of getting out of this rooer Luca stared at her Those dark hazel eyes had the slightest hint of gold twinkling h her, seeing all the secrets and shame she was desperate to hide
Picking up her bag, she pushed up from her seat and turned her back on Luca Moretti She needed some distance between them She wanted to breathe air that wasn’t scented with leather and the spice of his cologne ClaireEdmund’s law offices with Stuart on her heels She didn’t stop until she was standing on the sidewalk, looking at the traffic buzzing down Lexington Avenue
Claire took a deep breath and felt the muscles in her neck and shoulders finally start to loosen It wasn’t just what he saw in her It was how he made her feel Luca lit a fire inside her that licked at her cheeks and er than she could remember
When she and her husband decided to have a child and it didn’t happen easily, sex with Jeff became a chore Mechanical When that didn’t work and they went to the clinic, it was even worse Desire and arousal went out the ith sterile rooed as their failures became all they could focus on
It was no wonder Jeff strayed
Claire had been so wrapped up in getting pregnant, and then obsessed with preparing for the baby’s arrival, she didn’t notice anything rong Jeff orking later, going onhours Even she did fro ready to open at the nored the fact that he took a shower the ot home, the distant look in his eyes and the complete disinterest in physical contact She was so adept at justifying every red flag that if his mistress hadn’t died in the car with Jeff when he wrecked, shean affair
It had taken ti that her relationship with Jeff would’ve ended no matter what had helped her cope with his death She had lost her husband long before that night If Jeff had lived long enough for the truth about his infidelity to coht, they probably would’ve divorced And if by so out that he wasn’t Eva’s father would’ve been the end His ego never could’ve taken a hit like that
Realizing all this had been a ood choices She had thought Jeff was the perfect ht a baby would help give her what she was e, and it wasn’t She loved Evaher, but a baby hadn’t been the answer to their problems In the end it made them worse
Being attracted to Luca Moretti was another bad decision Even as she could feel his gaze raking across her skin, she kneas a terrible idea And yet, she hadn’t felt that alive in years He hadn’t even touched her and she’d reacted to him like no other man before him
“Claire, are you okay?” Stuart ca hand on her shoulder
“Yeah, I was just ready to get out of there”
He nodded, looking out at the passing cars “Letdown the sidewalk “All things considered, I think it went okay today Edency visitation petition, so that buys us soreeet any better than that”