I don’t just want Grace for a fling—the way Margot said we should—but for real. All week Margot has continued to spew nonsense about hooking Grace up with this guy or that. I’ve nearly lost my fucking mind each and every time.
I can’t let that happen. I just fucking can’t.
Grace has to be mine. There is no other option.
I will make her fall in love with me. I will erase that douchebag Tony from her mind and her heart. I let the woman I was desperate for go once and I won’t do it again. I won’t.
Because Grace is it for me.
I knew it the moment I saw her standing before me in her scrubs with that wry smirk and those glimmering blue eyes and that I won’t take your shit mouth. I just had never considered it an option. She was engaged after all, but now, here, this… it’s my moment.
Even as my father’s words ring through my head with annoying clarity. Patience and persistence.
Which is why I’ve been sipping my margarita, picking at some of the pulled pork, and pretending to ignore her.
“Does Oliver know you’re overtly lusting after his best friend?”
Shit. I wasn’t staring at Grace. Was I? Of course, I was. I ignore Luca, who slides in beside me, leaning against the counter and staring out at the group in the great room.
“Go eat a chicken wing.” I point to a large platter of them.
“You know what this party is missing?” he continues without missing a beat. “Dessert. I’m thinking we need some pies to counterbalance the brownies, cookies, and cakes. Apple. Pecan. Lemon… what’s that white topping on it called?”
“Meringue.”
“Right. That. I’m thinking we need pies. Because you’re obviously lusting after a pie you cannot have.”
“I’m throwing that bullshit back at you.”
I turn to glare, only to find his green eyes loaded with so much amusement he could fill a park. He brings his drink up to his lips, smiling through his sip. “My romantic woes are well documented. Yours, not so much. You were digging on that Alanna chick, right? The one with the fucked up past who ended up with the dude who saved her life?”
“I hate you.”
“Everyone does. You’re missing the point.”
“And what’s the point?” I snap.
“You’re coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs over Oliver’s BFF. Why else would you allow her to move in and throw her a party? You hate parties.”
“I don’t hate parties.”
“You do,” he tells me, picking over some of the food on the counter without eating any of it. “Especially ones in your place. You’re as fucked as a man can get short of bringing your mistress to your daughter’s sweet sixteen party.”
My eyebrows scrunch. “Huh? What the hell does that even mean?”
He shrugs, taking a bite of an empanada and talking through a mouthful of spicy beef. “I’m drunk. Deal with it. It made sense in my head since my neuro partner just did that and is now getting a divorce. Whatever. This is your moment to act.”
Didn’t I just think those very same words?
“It’s not.” At least not yet. It’s too soon. She was with Tony for three years. She’s only been single for two weeks.
“Explain.”
Grace is sitting on my sofa between Rina and Aria. They’re all munching on who knows what while drinking who cares what. Actually, I think they’re doing shots and I don’t think I’ve ever seen Grace do shots because typically Grace doesn’t drink.
“She’s my resident,” I start, throwing all my own personal arguments that I don’t exactly care about any longer at him.
“Not the first time such a thing has occurred. It simply requires a conversation with the residency board and your supervisor. What else you got?”
“She’s Oliver’s best friend.”
“Do you intend to use her like a high-class hooker?”
I glare daggers into my brother, who only smirks in return, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
“Didn’t think so. Next.”
“She just got out of a long-term relationship where she was engaged.”
“Do you plan on cheating?” I flip him off and he laughs, tossing the now balled-up napkin in the direction of the trash and making the basket. He turns back to me. “Again, didn’t think so. You’re not selling me on anything that’s pushing this as a hard no. Especially when I’ve seen the way you’ve been watching her all night. Landon has too by the way. The broody bastard is the one who told me to dig into it.”
“You can leave now. All of you.”
“Actually, I’m thinking that’s wise. You know, give the two of you some alone time. You should put on a rom-com and cozy up with popcorn and champagne. Help spark your fledging love and maybe even learn a few pointers along the way.”
Jesus. I can’t even with this right now.
“What did you buy her?” he asks, not relenting even an inch.
“Shut up.”
He laughs, leaning against the counter beside me, folding his arms over his chest as he cocks an eyebrow at me. So perfectly coiffed because that’s Luca. He doesn’t even try, it’s just natural. Asshole.
“Leave him alone,” Landon demands, coming up and standing on the other side of me, mirroring his twin’s pose, but not expression. For how much Luca and Landon are identical, their personalities could not be more different.
“But messing with him is fun,” Luca whines like a toddler.
“Should I tell him you’ve been stalking Raven again?” Landon quips, a rare smirk replacing the perpetual frown on his face. “He’s still pissed no one informed him she was in town for those few days before Mom and Dad left.”
I burst out into a laugh, elbowing Luca in the side. “I thought you had kicked that habit, man? You need to be careful. If she presses charges, none of us will bail you out. She looks good, by the way. You know, for a teenager. Where did you stalk her to this time?”
Luca glares at us both. “She played Carnegie Hall last night before flying back to London. Carnegie Fucking Hall. I wanted to see it, that’s all. She didn’t know I was there. She never knows when I watch her perform.”
Landon and I exchange quick glances, both of us smiling like bastards at Luca. “Congratulations to her. What is your pretty, young cellist doing next?” I tease, already knowing she’s moving back to Boston in a couple of months.
Luca flips us off and my mood just improved exponentially. Even Landon is now smiling. Like a full, real smile. The kind he only ever gives to Stella.
“She hasn’t posted anything else on her social media. Whatever,” Luca grouses, twisting around and picking up a random drink and finishing it off. I scrunch up my nose, as does Landon.
“That’s nasty. You have no idea who that belongs to.”
Luca shrugs. “We’re all family here. Besides, tease me all you want about Raven, but at least I have a goal unlike you.” He points at me. “Better man-up soon before it’s too late.”
“Before what’s too late?” Kaplan asks, dropping his hand onto my shoulder and pushing me to the side.
“Nothing,” all three of us respond at once because Kaplan has the biggest mouth of all of us.