can’t,” Luca confirmed. “But I had some sperm frozen before my treatment. There was a mix-up at the clinic and a woman ended up pregnant with my child instead of her husband’s.”
“Holy hell. What are you going to do?”
“Well, first I sued the crap out of the clinic. Now I’m trying to negotiate custody terms with the mother. I can assure you it hasn’t been easy. She’s not happy about all this.”
“I can imagine her husband isn’t that happy, either.”
“I’m not sure if it makes all this easier or more complicated, but her husband is actually deceased. Apparently he was in a car accident when she was pregnant.”
“I thought my situation with Sabine was complicated, but you take the cake, Luca.”
“Thanks. This brings me to the favor. I’ve proposed that all three of us spend some time away to get to know each other. She’s not very confident in my ability to take care of a baby and I’ve got to convince her everything is going to be all right.”
“Why don’t you just tell her that you helped raise your younger siblings and have spent time with a dozen nieces and nephews? The last time you came over, you handled Jared like a pro.”
That was a good question. “I doubt she would believe me. She’s a feisty woman, and to tell you the truth, it’s more fun to aggravate her.”
“It sounds like this vacation might prove a little dangerous. Where are you going?” Gavin asked.
“That’s where you come in. I was hoping that we could stay at your beach house for a couple weeks. A month, actually.”
Gavin only hesitated a second before he answered. “Sure thing. We’re not going back up there until after Memorial Day. But why wouldn’t you stay at your family’s place in the Hamptons?”
That had occurred to him. They had a huge place in Sag Harbor where the family liked to gather. But it was too big. And at this point, he didn’t want to run the risk of crossing paths with his family. “To do that, my mother would find out. As it is, I’ve got to feed my brother an excuse to run the business while I disappear for a month. I will tell them, and soon, but I need to spend time with Claire and Eva without Mama circling like a shark around her granddaughter.”
Gavin laughed. “Fair enough. When are you going up? I’ll have the place cleaned and the pantry stocked before you arrive.”
“I’m not exactly sure. We both have to make arrangements with work, but I’m hoping in the next week.”
“So, four weeks in a beach house with the woman you accidentally impregnated and the child you’ve never met? And the woman doesn’t like you, at that.”
Luca sighed. “That pretty much sums it up.”
“Well, good luck to you, man,” Gavin said. “I’ll have a bicycle messenger bring you the key tomorrow. And just in case, I’ll have the cleaning company hide anything breakable.”
Claire paced nervously around the living room of her Brooklyn brownstone. After her meeting with Luca Moretti and his lawyer, things had moved faster than she’d expected. Her supervisor at the museum had been understanding about her situation. The exhibit she’d been working on the past few months had opened the week before and everything was going smoothly. It was actually the perfect time for her to take a vacation, so he’d practically shoved her out the door. With no excuses, she’d called Luca and told him that she could leave as soon as Saturday.
Then her conscience got the best of her. Despite their battles over the past few weeks, Luca had yet to meet Eva. She doubted that the ideal place for their first meeting was the back of a hired car on their way to Martha’s Vineyard. She could hear the voice of her lawyer in her head, telling her to play nice. Before she could stop herself, she’d invited Luca over Thursday night.
He should be there any minute.
At the moment, Claire was practically buzzing with nervous energy. Since she’d gotten home, she’d barely held still. She’d already cleaned downstairs, fed and bathed Eva and put her in her footie jammies so she’d be ready for bed when the time came. Eva was currently lying on her jungle gym mat, babbling at the brightly colored lion and monkey toys dangling overhead. She could lie there for hours, contently slobbering on a plastic ring striped like a zebra.
The sound of the doorbell nearly sent Claire leaping out of her skin. She didn’t know why she was so anxious about having him over. It wasn’t just the idea of a billionaire in her home, although that was intimidating enough. It was a billionaire with an influence on how she raised her child. Would he think their home wasn’t good enough? Would he argue her neighborhood was unsafe? That she wasn’t providing well enough for Eva? Any of those things could tip the scales in court to Luca’s favor.
Truthfully, she didn’t know how he could complain. She and Jeff had bought and restored this beautiful brownstone a few years earlier. It was in a safe, trendy part of Brooklyn with great schools. Even then, it wasn’t the Upper East Side. She didn’t have a doorman or co-op board to keep the riffraff from moving in nearby.
Claire forced her feet across the parquet floors to the front door. She glanced through the peephole, seeing Luca waiting impatiently on her front stoop. Just a glance at him, knowing he was about to step into her home, sent a shiver through her whole body. She wasn’t quite sure if she was excited or terrified by the prospect. She unlocked the door and opened it as she took a deep breath to push all those feelings aside. “Good evening, Mr. Moretti,” she said.
He smiled and stepped through the doorway. He had a pink chenille teddy bear in his arms and a more relaxed expression on his face than at the lawyer’s office. “Please, I told you to call me Luca,” he insisted.
She knew that was what he wanted, but she didn’t like the idea of it. It was too casual, too intimate. She preferred to keep some formality between them, at least for now. It felt as if it would make things easier over the next four weeks if she had that emotional buffer, even as the scent of his cologne was making her pulse spike in her throat. Ignoring his request, she shut the door behind him and returned to where he was waiting for her in the foyer.
Luca took the opportunity to study her home, admiring the architectural details she’d worked so hard to preserve. Claire much preferred her view of him at the moment. He was looking very handsome tonight in an expensive navy suit that was tailored to highlight his broad shoulders and narrow hips. He’d paired it with a blue-and-brown geometric tie that seemed to capture the same shade of milk chocolate as the waves of his hair.
Chocolate waves of his hair? Claire squeezed her eyes shut for a moment to rid the image from her mind. Why was she cataloging his good looks, anyway? That was not what tonight was about. Or any night from now on. Luca might be Eva’s father, but it didn’t happen the old-fashioned way. Thinking of him like that was dangerous while their custody arrangement was still up in the air. She couldn’t afford to make a mistake when it came to Eva and her welfare.
“I wanted to thank you for inviting me over tonight,” he said as she took his coat and hung it in the entryway closet. “I realize this is difficult for you.”
Claire forced a smile. “It was the least I could do,” she said. “After all, you’re treating
