Cuffing Season

by Danielle Allen

  “Yes, please.”

  He sat down on the couch, and I sat on the loveseat.

  I opened the box and gasped. “Luca…”

  I pulled out a 16x20 print of me. The photos were from the private photoshoot we had before makeup, wardrobe, and the rest of his team arrived. He captured a photo of me looking directly at him with the fall foliage backdrop. My eyes kept going back to my eyes. I had plenty of pictures of me looking directly at the camera, but I’d never seen myself look like that before.

  “Wow… These are beautiful.”

  “Thank you, but that’s all you. I can’t take credit for these.”

  “I just… thank you so much.” I studied how I was looking at the camera.

  “You see it, too?” He asked as he stood.

  I looked up at him and nodded. There was genuine emotion spilling out of my eyes in that photograph.

  “I don’t mix business with pleasure, Serena. But the way you’re looking in this photo is the way you look at me when it’s just me and you. Seeing it on film made me realize that this wasn’t just an ordinary connection. In the back of my mind, I knew, but I told myself that it was just because you’re my muse. But I often have muses—sometimes multiple. They inspire me for a project, and that’s it. They fit the project and that’s that. But you didn’t fit the project. I had to create the project to fit you. The company told me what they wanted, and I told them I had something better.”

  My eyebrows flew up. “What?”

  “I sent them the picture of you and told them what I wanted to do, what I was inspired to do, and they loved it. But you weren’t just inspiring me for their campaign. Talking to you, getting to know you, spending time with you did something to me. I was hoping it was just sex or just work because that’s easier. But when we were shooting before anyone else got there and you looked at me like that.” He pointed to the picture. “My whole philosophy went out the window.”

  I placed the picture on the seat beside me and stood. “What are you saying, Luca?”

  He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. “I’m saying that even in those linty ass pants, you are absolutely gorgeous.”

  My head fell back, and I laughed so hard. I slapped his arms before reaching up and clasping my hands behind his neck. “You’re always talking shit.”

  “That was for the carbs comment earlier.” He grinned, staring into my eyes with adoration.

  “It’s weird you don’t eat carbs.”

  “It’s weird you don’t have a lint brush.”

  “It’s weird how much I like you.”

  “It’s weird that it’s taken so long for me to find you.”

  My lips parted as a rush of air released. Staring into his eyes as he said those words was getting to be too much for me. My eyes started watering. “Well shit, Luca. You’re going to make me cry.”

  Pulling me closer, he murmured, “I just want you to know that I see you.”

  That was it for me.

  Pushing up on my toes, I pressed my lips to his. The kiss started out emotional and loving—our mouths expressing our feelings without words. But before long, the kiss spiraled into hot and sexy—our bodies craving the opportunity to express those same feelings.

  He gripped my hips, pulling me into him. He moaned into my mouth and deepened the kiss.

  I could feel how hard he was, and my body reacted to it. “If you don’t leave now, there’s going to be trouble,” I whispered against his lips.

  He pulled away slightly and stared into my eyes. “Maybe I like trouble.”

  “Clearly, you are trouble.”

  He rested his forehead against mine and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “You’re not wrong.” He kissed me softly. “But for you, I’m going to be good.”

  What if I don’t want you to be good? I pushed the thought out of my head as I pushed my hips forward.

  His hands slid to my ass and he made an appreciative noise.

  “I have no doubt you’ll be good,” I flirted, creating space between us.

  Luca let out a long breath. Licking his lips, he looked me up and down. “I have to get the paperwork in by midnight.”

  “You don’t have much time,” I pointed out.

  “I’m trying to leave, but you—I believe you’re trying to seduce me.”

  Laughing, I ran my hands from his shoulders to the middle of his chest. “If I were trying to seduce you, you’d know it.”

  He let me go and adjusted himself. “Oh, I know it.”

  Playfully, I swatted at him. “Go get your work done so we can go on our first date.”

  He grabbed my hand. “Our first date was at District.”

  “That was not a date!” I giggled. “That was a business meeting.”

  Interlocking our fingers, he headed to the door with me in tow. “I picked the restaurant. I paid. We had a good time. We got personal.” He opened the front door and then turned to look at me. “That’s a date.”

  I grinned. “That was a business meeting.”

  “So, tomorrow I’m taking you to breakfast. I’m paying. We’re going to have a good time. We’re going to get personal.” He kissed my hand before he asked, “How is that any different?”

  “Because now there’s a chance you’ll get lucky.”

  His eyebrows flew up and he deadpanned, “What do you mean a chance?”

  I laughed, and he joined in.

  “I was smooth that night. If you were the average woman, I would’ve taken you home that night.” His eyes danced with amusement at his claim.

  “Smooth? You’d just told me that you slept with two people you weren’t interested in. I wasn’t going to sign up to be the third.”

  He made a face. “I forgot I told you that on our first date.”

  I laughed. “It wasn’t a date! We were getting to know one another, and you told me that you were knocking down sexy coeds.”

  “That’s not what I said!”

  “You said you were throwing the dick around all over town.”

  “Are you slut-shaming me?”

  My jaw dropped, and I swatted at his arm. “No! I don’t care that you slept with them. I don’t care what your body count is. I just know that these are women you took home from the bar. There was no date. There was no follow up contact. There was nothing. It was just sex. And that’s cool. But I wasn’t trying to be just sex to you.”

  “Ahh.” He nodded. “You knew you wanted more then.”

  I pursed my lips and glared at him. “No.”

  “I don’t know why I told you everything I told you that night.” He smiled. “But I will say that’s when I realized you weren’t like everybody else.”

  “Ahh, I understand.” I nodded. “You knew you wanted more then.”

  Laughing through our final kiss goodbye, I closed the door behind him. It wasn’t until I was back in bed that I realized that I hadn’t stopped smiling.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Wearing a pink and black floral dress with an oversized black sweater, I anxiously waited for Luca to pick me up for breakfast. Even though I just saw him the night before, it felt different at ten o’clock in the morning. He was picking me up for a date—not to hang out, not for a business meeting. My black boots clicked against the floor as I crossed the living room to answer the door.

  “Good morning,” Luca greeted me, planting a soft kiss against my lips. He took a step back and let his eyes flit down my body. “You look beautiful.”

  “Thank you.” I closed and locked the door behind me. “So do you.”

  He smirked. “I look beautiful?”

  “You do.” I closed the gap between us, running my hands up and down his muscular chest. “You are a beautiful man.”

  “I was going for ruggedly handsome…” He smacked my ass. “But I’ll take it.”

  I giggled and scurried away from him.

  “Are you ready to eat some of the best food you’ve ever tasted?” he asked as he easily caught up and
wrapped his arms around my waist.

  I squealed as he lifted me from the ground.

  When my feet hit the ground, my first instinct was to try to run to his car again. But with his arms around my middle, his body against my back, and his lips right on the shell of my ear, I melted into him.

  “I thought you were going to try to run away,” he whispered.

  “It feels too good to run,” I admitted softly, letting my head fall back against him. “You feel good.”

  He kissed the exposed area of my neck. “So do you, baby,” he murmured, trailing his lips up my neck toward my ear.

  My stomach fluttered. “You called me baby.”

  “Oh, I—um…” he stumbled over his words.

  Turning my head so our eyes could meet, I smiled. “I like it. Do it again.”

  He moved his hands to my hips and squeezed. Pulling my ass back into his denim covered crotch, he let out a low appreciative groan. “Baby…”

  The combination of the way he was holding me close and the sound of his voice caused my entire lower body to clench. Desire flooded my system and dampened my panties.

  “What was that little noise you made?” Luca whispered before kissing my neck again.

  A chill ran down my spine and my eyelashes fluttered shut. “Luca,” I breathed.

  “To be continued,” he murmured, kissing me again. He started moving forward, forcing my legs to walk. “Someone is coming.”

  I pried my eyes open and saw one of my neighbors taking a slow jog. I watched her watching us for a minute before I lifted my hand and she waved back.

  Luca opened the passenger side door and ushered me in.

  I grinned. “Thank you.”

  He closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side. After sliding in and cranking the engine, he backed out of the parking space. With the music blasting and our fingers intertwined, we drove to a high-end breakfast bar on the pricey part of town.

  “Have you ever eaten here?” he asked as we exited the car.

  “Once when they first opened.” When I saw the disappointment on his face, I continued, “But I’ve never been here on a hot date with a ruggedly handsome and talented—”

  His lips covered mine, shutting me up and warming me from the inside out. When he pulled away, he stared into my eyes. “Let me take you somewhere you’ve never been—and not just because you called me ruggedly handsome.”

  My lips curled upward. “You liked that, didn’t you?” I pushed my lips up against his. “We can eat here. I liked the food my dad picked up from here.”

  “I should take you somewhere you’ve never been before. I want our first date to be special.”

  My heart skipped a beat as I exhaled. “Luca, I’m with you. It’s already special.”

  I saw him try to hide the smile that played on his lips. Without saying another word, he took my hand and led me into the restaurant. We were seated in a corner booth. After looking at the menu for a few minutes, we were ready to order.

  “What would you like?” Luca asked, encouraging me to order first.

  “Pancakes and bacon, please. Water to drink,” I ordered.

  The waiter nodded at me and then shifted his gaze. “And you, sir?”

  “Steak, medium well. Brussel sprout omelet. And…water is good.” He handed the waiter the menu while I gawked at him. “What?” he asked after the waiter left.

  “Did you want to come here because of the extensive list of deceptively healthy breakfast options?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Are my pancakes going to be made out of cardboard?” My voice lowered. “Do they even have syrup?”

  He chuckled. “You’re funny. You have a problem, but you’re funny.”

  “My only problem is sitting across the table from me.”

  “How is this”—he gestured to himself— “a problem?”

  “Because you’re over there and not over here.”

  He smirked. Moving from his side of the booth, he slid in right beside me. When he lifted his arm to put around me, I instinctively nuzzled into his nook and rested my head.

  “Is this too much for a first date?” I wondered.

  “Hell yeah.” The amusement dripped from his words, but his fingers rubbed my arm.

  “We probably look silly.”

  “There is no doubt in my mind.”

  I laughed, lifting my head to look at him. “So, why did you come over here?”

  His hand came up and fondled my hair. Holding my gaze for a beat too long, he replied, “Because you asked me to.”

  My lips parted as I let out a puff of air. “I love the way you look at me.”

  “Here are your drinks,” the waiter announced, startling us apart. He dropped the glasses on the table with unnecessary force. “Your food should be out shortly.”

  Luca gave him a nod. “Thanks, man.”

  When the waiter was out of earshot, I placed my hand on Luca’s knee. “What’s on your agenda for today?”

  “How am I supposed to concentrate with your hand on my leg?”

  I giggled. “Sorry!” I moved my hand to my lap. “What are you doing today?”

  “I didn’t mean for you to move it. I just don’t think it’s fair for you to ask me a question at the same time as your hand makes contact with my leg.”

  “It was your knee!”

  “It was my thigh!”

  “It was your kneecap!”

  “It was my upper thigh.”

  I covered my mouth to try to smother the laugh that erupted out of me. “It was not!”

  “You are a distraction. I need to sit over here.” He kissed my head before returning to his seat. “You’re still a distraction.”

  I tilted my head to the side. “You always manage to put a smile on my face.”

  He winked at me.

  “What are you doing today?” I asked again.

  “I have to finalize some stuff with the seminar, do some edits, and make some calls.”

  “How are things with the seminar?” I lifted my hand. “I know you can’t tell me any specifics, but are you ready?”

  “I’m ready. The class is full already.” He shook his head. “It’s wild.”

  “That’s amazing!”

  We talked about what he had in store for his class until our food arrived and then the conversation changed directions.

  “What are you doing today?” Luca asked after chewing a big bite of steak.

  “I’m making dresses. Actually, I’m doing a dress for Akila Bishara. She has an event coming up, and she wanted to purchase something she saw when we did the interview.”

  “That’s what’s up.” He took a sip of water. “Are you filling orders already? You have inventory for that?”

  “I do personal orders on a case by case basis, but I’m going to have my website ready to accept preorders the first week of November. And in January, I’m going to have it preset with the number of pieces I have so it’ll say ‘sold out’ when I don’t have anymore. Even though I only have the second part of the Collection and Portfolio class next semester, I’m going to try to do as many pieces as I can before the end of the year.”

  He smiled and looked almost proud. “You’re going to be busy.”

  The fact that it was an observation and not a complaint did something to me.

  “Yeah, I am.” I swallowed my pancake. “I have a good amount done so far, but if I keep my schedule, I’ll be where I need to be by Christmas.”

  “That’s—”

  “Luca Romano?” A baby-faced man with curly reddish-brown hair walked up to our table with his phone up in front of him.

  “Yes?” Luca looked up at the man standing at the end of our table. He put his fork down and wiped his mouth. “What’s up?”

  The curly haired man introduced himself. “Sorry to interrupt your meal. My name is Bryant. I just wanted to ask you a few questions.”

  “I’m enjoying a meal with my girl. But thank you for stopping by,” Luca replied graciously.


  I glanced at the man and smiled. He wasn’t looking at me at all, but as I glanced between Bryant and Luca, something made me uneasy.

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I felt like it was my duty to let you know something important.” Bryant rubbed his hands together. “It’s bro code to let you know that you might need to look into some things with your girl. It didn’t seem like you knew you were turning a ho into a housewife.”

  My eyes widened as I looked at the stranger who wasn’t making eye contact with me at all. “What?”

  “What the fuck did you just say?” Luca barked, his jaw clenching.

  “Don’t get me wrong”—Bryant glanced my way— “she’s hot and I’m sure a good fuck, but come on, bro.”

  “You’re going to want to walk away.” Luca’s voice was low enough to not disrupt the other customers, but it had a growl to it that scared me. His eyes were dangerously dark as he rose to his feet. “Now.”

  “If you are okay with the fact that she’s a gold-digger, that’s cool. Our followers just want to know what’s the benefit of cuffing a ho—”

  “Call her out of her name one more time and I swear to God, I will knock your fucking head off. Don’t try me,” Luca warned, his chest rising and falling quickly.

  “He’s not worth it, Luca. Let’s just go.” I took two twenties out of my bag and threw them on the table as I stood. “Let’s just go.”

  “You better listen to your girl.” Bryant turned his phone onto me, panning up and down my body. “Because if you put your hands on me, I’m going to sue you. And how will you keep a gold-digging slut like this without money? She looks expensive. And we already know what that mouth do—”

  Bryant’s sentence was interrupted by the crack of Luca’s fist connecting with his jaw. Spiraling backward, Bryant tipped over a table and fell to the floor. It was like everything happened in slow motion. Gasps and two separate shrieks rippled through the restaurant. Bryant was splayed out on the floor and looked stunned by the hit. He touched his mouth and when he saw the blood on his fingertips, it seemed like he came to terms with what happened. The commotion that followed was in fast forward.

  Springing to his feet, Bryant launched himself at Luca, but slipped. He hopped to his feet again and took a wild swing at Luca. The first hit didn’t connect, but the second one landed against his abs. Luca responded with a jab that rocked him back a few feet. When Bryant tried to come for him again, the waiter and a manager grabbed him, restraining him.