Camille frowned. “Told you?”
Emma closed her eyes for half a second.
The truth was simple but complicated to explain. Luca had recruited her because refusing another blind date would insult his grandmother. Emma’s assignment had been straightforward — interrupt at inconvenient moments, expose Luca’s difficult habits, and make Camille walk away on her own.
She had agreed because Luca promised her a favor in return.
She had not agreed to explain any of that.
Camille looked at Luca. “You arranged this?”
Luca considered lying.
“That would be a terrible idea,” Emma warned.
“She speaks to you like that?” Camille asked, incredulous.
“Frequently.”
“And you allow it?”
Luca glanced at Emma. “Apparently.”
Teresa smiled.
And that smile worried Emma more than Camille’s anger ever could.
Teresa turned toward Camille with the calm certainty of someone who had already solved the puzzle.
“You came to dinner with a man who already has a woman.”
“I am not his woman,” Emma said immediately.
Teresa ignored her completely. She was watching Luca.
For years, women from powerful families had arrived polished and prepared and desperate. Luca had rejected them all with impeccable courtesy and the emotional warmth of a locked door.
Yet Emma had just ordered him to stop talking.
And Luca was smiling again.
“Three months,” Emma blurted when Teresa asked how long they had been together.
Luca’s head snapped toward her.
“And your first date?” Teresa pressed.
Emma’s irritation transformed into something dangerously creative.
“A karaoke bar. Luca sang. Twice.”
“I did not.”
“Darling, you promised we’d stop arguing about this.”
Teresa laughed so hard she nearly fell.
After she walked away, Luca leaned in.
