Page 61 of Worth the Risk
“How’s your niece going to feel about you trading her for lasagna?”
“I’m trading an address, jackass. Not her. Get your facts straight. If you tell her I traded her, I’m making you run suicides for an hour tomorrow.”
“Well played, Coach.”
When he doesn’t respond, I end the call. I’m suddenly feeling rejuvenated. Optimistic. Hopeful. And when a text comes in with an address on the far west side of Denver, I’m ecstatic.
After a quick shower, lunch, and answering some emails, I venture out to the area of town where Hannah is staying. I’m not sure how she ended up way over here, but I’m relieved she’s not in a bad area of town. She’s not too far from my sister, Arianna, and probably only twenty or so minutes from my hometown.
I decide to park near the apartment building and wait. It takes me a while to come up with something to say. There are so many things I want to tell her. Things I want her to explain. As I drum my fingers repeatedly on the steering wheel, I realize I’m so fucking nervous. I’ve never had this many nerves about a woman before.
It’s close to six before I see Hannah’s car pull into the parking lot. As she gets out of her car, I grip my steering wheel as tightly as possible to keep myself from sprinting over to her and kissing the daylights out of her. It’s only been a few weeks since I’ve seen her, and I feel like it’s been an eternity.
She’s wearing a long coat over a patterned dress and knee-high boots. She looks absolutely breathtaking, her blonde curls pulled into a low bun, a few loose tendrils dancing haphazardly around her face as she quickly walks into the building. I wait about ten minutes before I take a deep breath and call her.
I bet her uncle is wrong. She won’t answer.
She doesn’t want to be with me.
She deserves better.
“Luca,” Hannah says breathlessly.
Holy shit. I didn’t even hear her answer the phone. “Hey, Pixie.”
“Are you — is everything okay?”
I debate on how I want to answer. I could say yes, everything is fine. I could tell her I’m doing okay, but I wish I could see her. Or hold her. Or anything. But instead, what comes out of my mouth is, “I fucking miss you, Han.”
She sighs and her answer is breathy and soft. “I miss you too.”
“You do?” I ask, surprised.
“Of course I do! Did you really think I wouldn’t?”
“I don’t know. Everything happened so fast, and I didn’t know what to think. I don’t understand it all, to be honest.”
“I know,” she whispers.
“I just …” I trail off, clearing my throat. “I needed to see you, Pix. You look beautiful.”
“Wait, what?”
Shit. “Oh, um. Well, yeah. I’m kind of in your parking lot?”
“You’re here? Right now? How did you find out where I live?”
I hate that she says she lives here, not that she’s staying here. “I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but your uncle gave me the address.”
“Seriously? Uncle Bennett?”
“Good ole Uncle Bennett,” I chuckle. “And yes, I’m serious.”
“Wow,” she giggles. “Never thought I’d see the day that you’d be in cahoots with him.”
Her giggle is music to my ears. “We’ve come to an understanding, I guess.”
“Are you really downstairs?” she asks.