Chapter 3

Maya's POV

Three days later, Luca's Aston Martin drove into my garage again.

I crawled out from under a car and saw a pair of leather shoes that were far too clean.

"Broken again?"

"There's a strange noise."

"Where?"

"In the front."

Fifteen minutes later, I lowered the car. "Nothing is wrong with it."

Luca's expression stayed calm. "Maybe... it fixed itself just now."

I laughed in disbelief. "Don't you think using that excuse to flirt is childish?"

He rubbed his nose and smiled. Somehow, he looked a little cute.

I suddenly realized this man didn't feel quite as cold and dangerous as he had the first time we met.

At least around me, he didn't seem impossible to approach.

Then Ryan walked in carrying flowers. "Maya, we need to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"The wedding planner is still waiting for you."

For a moment, I thought I had heard him wrong. "The wedding is canceled."

Ryan frowned. "My mom rearranged the seating. I dealt with what happened last time, too. My assistant quit. How much longer are you going to act up?"

Only then did I know for certain. He truly believed I would marry him no matter what.

Ryan saw Luca, and his tone softened. "A customer?"

Luca answered blandly.

For some reason, it irritated me a little.

What else was I supposed to call him? The stranger I slept with once?

Ryan, however, found his confidence again. "See? You really think some rich man is going to want a girl with motor oil all over her hands after you leave me?"

Just then, a sharp metallic noise rang out beside us. A test car from the Moretti team had just started up.

I went straight over. "Turn it off."

The technician clearly didn't want to, but he killed the engine after Luca gave him a look.

I inspected it for a moment. "The ignition timing is wrong. If you keep pushing the RPMs, it'll knock."

He refused to accept it. "Those settings came from an engineer at headquarters."

"Then you drive it out and test it yourself."

Ten minutes later, the new data proved I was right. The technician shut up.

Ryan's expression looked bad, too.

Luca turned to him. "She designed the cooling solution for Moretti's GT3 test car last year."

I looked at him. "How do you know that?"

"I read the report. It was signed M. Reed."

I couldn't stop myself from lifting my chin.

Ryan gave a cold laugh. "Just luck."

"Then my luck is pretty damn consistent." I pointed at the door. "Get out."

"Maya..."

"The wedding is canceled."

I looked at Ryan and suddenly realized I no longer wanted to prove anything to him. "And I don't need to find a richer man first to prove I deserve to be loved. The second you cheated, we were over."

Ryan's face darkened completely. He threw down the flowers and left.

I stared at the doorway. My chest didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would.

Behind me, Luca said, "That last part was good."

"I was good already."

"You were."

He answered so quickly that I froze.

He turned to get into his car.

I called after him. "Wasn't there a strange noise?"

"It's gone."

I grabbed a cleaning rag and threw it at him.

He caught it, smiled, and got into the car.

I smiled, too.

Then I immediately reminded myself: We had slept together once. Don't take it seriously.