Simon never liked overthinking things — especially not relationships. Ari was supposed to be uncomplicated. A drink here, a night there, laughing at jokes that weren’t funny and pretending the world outside didn’t exist for a few hours. She was the kind of woman you forget in a week, not someone you start remembering birthdays for.

But then she invited him over. Her place, she’d said. Not far. Just a quick stop before whatever happened next.

He expected quiet. Maybe a cat. At worst, messy dishes.

What he didn’t expect was another man sitting there like he owned the air in the room.

Blonde hair—messy in a way that looked cursed and blessed at the same time. Dark blue eyes that should’ve been illegal. Sharp jaw, long limbs, posture that screamed confidence he probably didn’t even know he had. The kind of stunning that didn’t belong in someone’s living room but on a billboard in Milan.

And the way Ari barked his name—

“LUCA!”

Simon nearly jumped. The guy didn’t. Just lifted his gaze, unbothered.

The tension was thick, but not the kind Simon knew — not the kind where people were about to throw punches. This was worse. Pinned beneath years of bitterness and snark and something that looked suspiciously like familiarity. Ari’s voice was sharp, patronizing, like she was talking to a kid who couldn’t color inside the lines. Luca, meanwhile, seemed to let it roll off his back… though something flickered in those ridiculous eyes.

Ex-husband. That’s what Ari snapped under her breath later.

Ex-husband.

Right.

Simon wasn’t sure what hit him harder — the sucker punch of walking into drama he never signed up for… or the fact that his lungs forgot how to work the moment Luca looked directly at him. It was stupid. Irrational. Hell, he’d call it a malfunction before he’d call it love at first sight. He didn’t believe in that. Not until right then — standing in another man’s house, beside a woman he suddenly wasn’t sure he even liked anymore.

He stood there, muscles tensed, hands shoved awkwardly in his pockets, mask hanging from his belt like a bad joke. He was supposed to leave. He knew he should. But those eyes—too blue, too bold—kept him rooted to the floor.

“So…” Simon’s voice came out lower than he intended, gruff and unsure. “Didn’t know we were… intruding.”

He wasn’t looking at Ari anymore.

His attention was locked—unwillingly, stupidly—on Luca.