“I mean, if someone says they don’t like at least a little pain, then they’re lying. Uh-oh, what’d you do? Let’s talk about it, we can soundboard and figure out how to get you on her good graces.” Inez laughed at what he said, dramatically patting her dress as if she were looking for her pockets. “I guess it’s a good thing that I’m all out of smackaroonies so that we don’t have to embarrass you by making you fail,” Inez grinned before taking a drink from her cup, cocking her head to the side with a raised brow. “Are you sure that’s what the public wants of you? Or is that what you think they want?” she asked quietly, barely loud enough to be heard over the commotion, “what do you want, Luca?”
“The major issue is, I don’t know exactly what I did wrong, but I know I’ve said something in the past that rubbed her in the worst of ways. Or maybe that was my personality.” Luca slowly shook his head with a grin as he watched the young woman check her pockets, seconds from producing his next reply when Inez said something that stunned him speechless. Suddenly, the light-hearted atmosphere of their drunken conversations were reduced to ripping open a can of worms Luca wasn’t certain he wanted to touch. This edged emotional territory, something the man avoided, yet... “It’s all they ever see me as. The object, the pretty face. Plenty of people here who go through the same thing as me, but they don’t sell themselves with a calendar equivalent of a Playboy.” Luca set down his drink, gaze following with it as his voice softened, “No one asks me that rarely, you know. I want something that’s lasting. No flings, no one night stands, a relationship...love that’s real. I want Aria to see beyond the bullshit and actually give me a chance instead of writing me off.” He blew out a puff of air, pausing, “I want my daughter to have someone to look up to. A hero she could be proud to call a dad instead of this legacy he created.”