My mouth falls open as I blink down at the little girl staring up at me. I don't know which one of us is more startled and I don't get a chance to say anything in the way of an apology for entering her space or to say who I am before a set of hands fall onto my shoulders, flexing faintly, and I'm pulled to the side.
"Kaylee," Luca breathes heavily.
I look up at him, my mouth still open.
He looks from me to the girl, then back to me. He licks his lips and takes a deep breath.
"I . . ."
His gaze turns to the mess of the playroom and he frowns. I look down at the little girl and see her bottom lip begin to tremble.
"I'm sorry, daddy," she whispers.
"Louisa," Luca says softly. He leaves my side and walks swiftly to his daughter, crouching down at her side and pulling her close. "Didn't grandpa tell you to not make a mess in here after Tanya spent all afternoon tidying everything up in here?"
"He did but I couldn't find Bella," Louisa responds, on the verge of bursting into tears.
"Tanya placed her back in your room for tonight."
"Oh." She looks down at the floor and sniffs loudly. "I'm sorry, daddy."
"It's fine, sweetheart." Luca places a kiss on the side of her head, her fringe moving slightly on her forehead. "It's fine. You didn't know. I'll get your gran to tidy this up a bit when she comes later."
Luca gets to his feet and steps back to me.
"Kaylee," he starts. His chest rises and falls as he steadies his breathing before going on. "This is my daughter Louisa."
Louisa looks up at me, her hands clasping together as she shifts anxiously before us. She blinks a few times and I can't help but stare at her.
I'm mesmerised by her eyes. I want to say that they're so much like her dad's but they aren't. They're a pale shade of blue which has me staring at her to a point where I can't look away. Almost like I'm being drawn into something that will be hard to get out of.
She blinks up at me as though she's fluttering her lashes at me. Like she's trying to impress me but I'm already there. I don't need to be impressed considering the fact I know her dad pretty well.
Luca leaves me side and crouches back down next to his daughter. He runs a hand down her perfect chestnut hair that's pulled back into a simple ponytail.
"Louisa," Luca starts, getting her attention to him. She turns her attention to him without hesitation. He smiles. "This is Kaylee." He looks at me briefly before going on. "Do you remember the stories I used to tell you about the girl I was with when I was younger?"
She looks at me then back to Luca. She nods and Luca pulls her closer to him.
"Well," he continues, "Kaylee was that girl. She was the girl I told you about that I had gotten back in touch with."
She hesitates before speaking, her voice coming out soft and innocent. "The one you've been staying with?"
Luca laughs lightly. "Not staying with, darling. Sometimes we stay together but not all the time." He adjusts his position next to her so he's kneeling down on the floor. He pulls her into his hold and kisses the top of her head. "Kaylee is my girlfriend."
Louisa stays silent and stares at Luca. I don't think she's ever heard her dad say those words about someone before now. I don't even think that she's heard him say anything like that to her. She might not know what those words entail but Luca will no doubt explain it to her as best as he can.
"Kaylee," Luca says, his attention turning to me.
I look at him, forcing myself to move my gaze to him from his daughter. He gestures for me to come closer but I don't move. I know I should be stepping towards them but I can't. Not yet.
I stay rooted to the spot as Louisa looks back at me and my gaze falls back to her. It would be a bad thing to wish that she would make the first move considering her young age. I wouldn't expect her to do that. I'm not her mother and from what both Luca and his parents have told me, she has never seen her mum. She doesn't know what she looks like, sounds like – nothing.
I don't register Luca getting to his feet and lifting his daughter into his arms. Nor do I register the fact that he's brought her closer to me so there can be some interaction with us. I just can't look away from Louisa's eyes.
They're so pale and nothing like I've ever seen before. Fair enough, I've seen people with blue eyes before but not this pale. It's a rare thing to see and I can't get over it.
"Kaylee," Luca says quietly.
I blink out of my staring faze and look at Luca. "Huh?"
Luca raises a brow at me before setting his daughter back down onto the floor. He stays crouched and instructs her to go to her room and play with her toy she has been searching in the playroom for. She does so without saying anything and skips away like nothing happened.
"You're captivated by her eyes, aren't you?" Luca asks, standing back up.
"I-I'm sorry," I stutter. "It's just . . . they're so light and compared to yours . . ."
Luca nods, his hands slipping into his trouser pockets. "She gets them from her mother. It's the only thing she actually got from her."
"She has your hair colour," I add.
"She does," he agrees.
"She's beautiful."
"Everyone who meets her fort he first time did what you did – stare at her eyes. They can't believe the colour but since they've seen what her mother was like, they can see where she gets them from."
"I . . . I'll be honest, I knew about her from the moment you told me but I didn't quite believe it until now."
"Most people don't because I'm always working." He takes a deep breath. "She's been the only thing up until now that has kept me working as hard as I have been. Everything I do and everything I have, it will all be hers one day. I don't want her to have to worry about a single thing when she's older other than living."
"You want to take away the hard work she would have to do to get to this point where you are," I validate.
"I do. I want to protect her from all the late nights and travelling that I do for work."
"But she will still do all of those things when she takes over from you. You can't hide her from that."
"I can and will for as long as I can."
"You really are preposterous," I mutter.
"Did you swallow a dictionary before you came here?"
I reach out and hit his arm as soon as the words leave his mouth. "Cheek!"
He laughs. "And here I thought I was supposed to be the one to use fancy words considering my job title."
I open my mouth to say something else but Luca beats me to it.
"Until you came back into my life, I worked only to provide for her. Now . . . my work ethic has changed and I've found myself working to provide for both you and her."
"You don't need to provide for me. I have my own job."
"I know you do and I don't want to take that away from you."
"Providing for someone like you're talking about is like you're talking about marriage."
He stays quiet.
I frown.
"You're not talking about that, right?" I draw the question out with confusion in my voice. "Tell me you're not talking about marriage. I just had this conversation with Allison and set her straight. Tell me you're not talking about marriage."
He says nothing and I take a step back.
"Luca, tell me you're not talking about marriage!"
"I'm not," he finally says. "Not the now, anyway."
"Luca."
"You read the interview, didn't you? They asked about marriage and I set them straight. I know my mother told you I bought an engagement ring nine years ago and still have it."
I pinch the bridge of my nose with my fingers and breathe deeply. I don't have it in me to talk about marriage for the second time today. It's getting too much to handle after I've just met his daughter by accident.
"Luca, can we not have this conversation right now?" I look at him and let my weight fall to the one side as I lean against the doorframe. "I think accidentally meeting your daughter is more of a situation to be dealt with than marriage talks."
"You're right," he agrees with a swift nod.
He reaches for me and turns me round so we're walking back in the direction of his office. He ushers me into the bright room and to sit down on the nearest chair in front of his desk. He stands to the side and sits on his desk facing me.
"Did you intentionally go looking for my daughter?" He blurts out.
I gawk up at him. "If that's what you really think then you don't know me at all."
"I had to ask."
"Even though it's been you who has tried to push the meeting between us and I've been telling you it's too soon? Give me some credit."
"I'm sorry." He gets up and moves round his desk, taking a seat in his luxurious chair. "I'm sorry. You're right." He runs a hand down his face. "I've just never introduced a woman to her that I've been dating. Mainly because I haven't done the whole proper dating thing until I met you again."
"I was expecting her to act nasty to me," I confess.
"It's not in her nature to act like that," he defends.
"I know but it was the first thing that came to my mind."
"I was almost expecting her to call you mum or something," he jokes.
"Don't go there," I warn.
"Let me guess; Allison has played that joke once already today?"
I nod.
"You know, I'm really starting to like Allison more and more each day but she's taking the fun out of annoying you for me."
I raise a brow at him and he smirks.
"I didn't mean to stumble across finding Louisa," I begin to explain. "I just heard something crash and because you were in the middle of a business call and didn't seem like finishing anytime soon, I thought I'd go and see what it was."
"I didn't respond to it because I thought my father was still with her."
I shake my head. "Nope. He bypassed me on my way in and said you were in the office as he was leaving."
"Nice to know I can blame him for this and not you."
I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or not.
Did Nick plan this? Did he know Luca would be too busy to see me before Louisa began turning the playroom upside down? Did he know what Louisa was looking for and that me being me, I'd go and see what all the noise was about? Was he pushing for this meeting because or was it all Jane's doing despite her not being here?
I guess we'll know but at least I can say I've met Luca's daughter despite the circumstances, and I'm happy I have. It's opened a few more doors for us now date wise since we're both aware of each other and not by word of mouth. I have no doubt that Luca will be telling her all about me before the night ends.
In her eyes, I'm the princess from the stories Luca used to tell her who has come to life and made her daddy happy again.
"I know I invited you over for dinner but seeing as my mother isn't here yet to see to collect Louisa . . ." Luca shrugs. ". . . it's up to you what you want to do."
I look down at my clasped hands then pucker my lips. "When's you're mum due here?"
"In an hour or so," he answers.
"Ask her to bring a takeaway in with her and then when she has Louisa, we can have dinner."
I watch Luca closely as he smiles and reaches for the house phone on his desk.
"I like how you think."