Love in the City, an erotic romance novel

by Hall, Heather

  Anabelle saw things more clearly after her conversation with Sarah. Sarah had insisted that Anabelle get out of the house and be with friends, so they had decided to meet up Wednesday after work at Painter’s Cove. It was typically a quieter night at their favorite hangout, so it wouldn’t be too much for Anabelle to handle in her frazzled state.

  Over the lunch hour on Wednesday, Anabelle had received a text from Giorgio. She had grabbed a sandwich and a bottle of water and headed to a small park with some benches to sit and be alone and just breathe. Thankfully work had been fairly quiet, so Anabelle could keep to herself. She had a pounding headache and felt stressed from the lack of sleep and the disaster that had been her relationship with Giorgio. She knew he’d be trouble, so did Sarah, and it turned out they were both right. Still, curiosity getting the better of her, she read the text:

  My beautiful girl, I’m so sorry for the way I treated you. Please let me make it up to you. I miss you very much and I have something really important that I need to tell you. Big changes have happened. Please call me back. – G. xo

  Anabelle went to delete it, but hesitated. She’d save it just to show Sarah later. Whatever changes he’s referring to, he can stuff it, she thought. She wasn’t going to be attached to his twisted yo-yo anymore. She needed distance and time to gather her strength and her sense of self back, and for her broken heart to heal. She figured he’d get the message sooner or later when she wouldn’t respond to him. She hoped it would be sooner than later, because this wasn’t helping.

  The rest of her day at work went by uneventfully. She noticed that Raquel had left work early, so she followed suit twenty minutes later. She was glad to get out of there.

  Anabelle was on a train back to Brooklyn at 5 p.m. when her cell phone rang. It was him again. She knew she needed to stay away from him. He had too powerful an effect on her and she didn’t want to lose perspective and get caught up in something physical between them again. She didn’t think she could hold out at this point. Maybe in time. A long time. Maybe not. Besides, she thought bitterly, one of the last things he’d said to me was that we both needed perspective. He’ll have to live with the fact that’s now our swan song.

  Her phone beeped. It was another voicemail. She couldn’t resist listening to it. Besides, she’d need to fill Sarah in on it later, anyway.

  “Anabelle, I know you’re mad at me. You have every right to be. I was a jerk. Please give me a chance to explain some things, it’s really important. Can I come pick you up at work today? Please call me back when you get this.”

  Ha, she thought, I’m not even there anymore. She was even more relieved now that she had been able to escape early. Thank heavens for slow workdays, she told herself. She got home, took care of Jasper, and then changed into a dusty rose sweater and black jeans to go meet Sarah at Painter’s Cove for dinner.

  Barry was extra attentive to them, not only because of his blossoming relationship with Sarah, but because he felt bad for what Anabelle was going through. He was a good guy, she told Sarah. She was a lucky girl. Sarah agreed and assured her that one day she’d meet her Mr. Right, too.

  After dinner, two glasses of wine, a long conversation about men and dating and life and careers and dreams for the future, they enjoyed some dessert and espressos. Finally, Anabelle decided to head home. Sarah protested because it wasn’t very late yet, but Anabelle was exhausted, she had hit the wall from her two nights of insomnia. The two friends hugged and agreed to talk again tomorrow.

  It was still light out, the sun had just started to dip below the horizon when Anabelle made her way on the fifteen-minute walk back to her apartment complex. It was a well-trafficked area, so she always felt safe walking home as long as it wasn’t too late. The walk also helped to clear her head a bit. She was going to watch some TV, cuddle with Jasper, and then hit the sack early.

  She arrived back at her apartment complex and headed up the long front sidewalk to the building’s entrance. She heard a car door close and then the sound of footsteps hurrying along the grass.

  “Anabelle!” a man called out.

  She froze in her tracks. Her heart nearly stopped. It was Giorgio.

  “Anabelle, can I talk to you please?” he asked, as he got closer to her.

  She stood there still as a statue, barely breathing. Then she heard his footsteps stop. She turned around slowly. She swallowed hard. He stood there, about six feet away from her. She looked at him, then looked past him. His silver Jaguar was parked on the street in front of her place behind three other cars, but on the opposite side from where she had come from. She hadn’t noticed it there. It hadn’t occurred to her to keep an eye out for something like that.

  Giorgio hesitated. He could see that she looked like a deer caught in headlights and she hadn’t said a word to him. He kept his distance so as not to alarm her. “Anabelle, I just want to talk to you. Please.”

  She took a step back, still not saying anything. She looked at the front door of her apartment building, then up at the balconies that overlooked this side of the complex. She looked back at Giorgio.

  He could tell what she was doing. Sizing up whether or not she could make a run for it. It sickened him that she might be scared right now. “I don’t mean to scare you, but you wouldn’t return any of my calls. I just want to talk to you in private. Please.” He held his hands out in a gesture of peace.

  She regarded him, taking in his posture, his look. He wore a light turquoise blue sweater with buttons open at the collar, and casual, faded denims. His hair looked slightly disheveled and he looked like he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days. She noticed there were dark circles under his eyes. She pursed her lips.

  He didn’t move. He just waited for her to respond.

  “Usually when people don’t return calls,” she started to say, “it’s because they don’t want to talk to you.” She gave him a hard look and tried to hide the fact that she was trembling inside.

  “I know,” he said, his expression pained.

  “And they also usually don’t want to be stalked, so then what’s the problem?”

  He winced at her words. “I’m sorry, I really don’t mean to frighten you. I’m not going to try anything. Don’t worry.” He took a deep breath. “The problem, as you put it, is that there’s some things I think…or at least I hope… that you’ll want to hear.”

  “I don’t think so.” She felt her temperature rise out of anger and embarrassment for having this happen publicly.

  He looked down at the ground for a minute, then back up at her. “Please just hear me out. If, after that, you never want to see or hear from me again, I’ll leave and never bother you again. I promise.”

  “I don’t know that there’s anything you need to say that I need to hear,” she replied, trying to sound strong and bold. She was anything but.

  He swallowed hard. His blue eyes regarded her for a few moments. He nodded. “I understand why you feel that way. I do. But please just give me one last chance, for the things we’ve shared, for our time together. Just give me a chance to talk to you. That’s all. Then I’ll go.”

  Anabelle felt shaky, her emotions were bubbling to the surface. She had to go inside before she started crying in front of her building. Finally, she nodded to him, then silently went and unlocked the door.

  Relieved, he walked up behind her, still keeping a bit of a distance so as not to unsettle her any more than he already had.

  She didn’t look at him, but held the door open.

  He took it and followed her up the stairs a few paces behind.

  They hadn’t said a word on the way up to her place. Anabelle felt incredibly conflicted. Sarah would kill her if she knew that she was letting Giorgio into her place right now. But part of her was curious about what he had to say. Still, the memory of him leaving in anger the other night, not caring how it affected her, letting things hang in the balance like he had, especially over Portia, still stung. She started to feel queasy as she unlocked her apartme
nt door. She feared she was making a gargantuan mistake.

  In silence, they entered her apartment. Anabelle flicked a light on. Jasper came running over. He immediately started rubbing his sides against Giorgio’s leg and purring loudly. Giorgio bent down to pet him.

  Traitor, Anabelle thought to herself. She took her jacket off and threw it on a chair. She headed into the kitchen. She topped up Jasper’s bowl, then called out to Giorgio, “Water?”

  “Please, thanks,” he said. “Do you mind if I sit down?”

  “Go ahead,” she replied.

  She brought out two big glasses of water and set one down in front of Giorgio. He had taken a seat at the far end of her sofa. She sat down at the other end, not looking at him. She took a sip of water. Giorgio did the same.

  “How long were you waiting out there?” she asked.

  He let out a heavy sigh. “Not too long. I called to see if I could give you a ride home from work. You didn’t answer, so I went home to shower and change. I tried calling you at home a couple more times. I left messages on your voicemail.”

  She glanced over at her home phone and saw the red light flashing. She didn’t say anything.

  He continued, “I waited until maybe 7:30, but I still hadn’t heard from you. I was going to call again, but I figured there was no point. You weren’t going to answer.” He ran his fingers through his messy hair. “I planned to settle in for the night, but I just couldn’t stand not talking to you. Telling you what had happened since I last saw you. And giving you the apology you deserved…in person.”

  Anabelle took another sip of water and just listened, still avoiding eye contact with him.

  “I called Nikolas and…”

  “Your brother?” she interrupted. “What does he have to do with any of this?”

  “A fair bit. Anyway, I told him where things were at, that you weren’t speaking to me, weren’t returning any of my calls. I told him I was thinking about driving to your place to try to talk to you in person. I asked him if that would make me seem like a stalker and do more harm than good, or if I should just wait and try again tomorrow and the next day if I hadn’t heard back from you.”

  “And he said it was okay to come here?” she asked, incredulously.

  “Not at first. But I filled him in more on…how things were between us, the way I felt about you…what it would mean if I lost you.” He paused, staring into his water glass. “That changed his mind.”

  Anabelle frowned. What did he mean by that? she wondered. “Well good,” she said.

  He looked up at her, a curious expression on his face.

  “That way if I disappear or they find my body floating down the river, someone will know who the last person to see me was.”

  He didn’t know whether to laugh or be offended.

  She watched him. He had a stunned expression on his face. “I’m just kidding,” she admitted. “I think…” She smirked at him.

  “Very funny,” he said, furrowing his brows. He sat in silence for a few moments.

  Just then, Jasper jumped up on the couch, meowing.

  “Someone wants attention,” Anabelle said, giving him some pets. He meowed again.

  “I think he’s trying to mediate,” Giorgio offered lightly.

  Jasper then went to Giorgio for some more pets.

  “See,” he said, “what did I tell you?”

  Anabelle couldn’t help but smile.

  “I think he likes me,” Giorgio said.

  “Silly cat,” Anabelle replied. “If he only knew how mean you were to his mom, he’d bite you.”

  “I think he can tell how sorry I am for the way I behaved,” he said as he continued to pet Jasper, slowly getting grey fur all over the sleeve of his turquoise sweater. “And how much I care about his mom. How deep my feelings are for her.” Jasper jumped back down. Giorgio glanced up at her. He looked scruffy, more so than she had ever seen him look. His long dark lashes hid some of the hurt his blue eyes revealed.

  “You could have fooled me,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. She felt herself tear up. She looked away.

  “I know,” he said. “And I’m truly sorry. For everything.”

  Anabelle just nodded, then took a sip of water, fighting back the tears.

  “You were right, you know.”

  “About what?” she asked, staring at the coffee table.

  “About Portia. About how blind I was. How I should have listened to what you were telling me. Trusted you.”

  The mention of Portia made her stomach turn. She tightened her grip on her water glass. “Oh?”

  “She and Nikolas are getting a divorce. He’s moved out already, not all his stuff yet obviously, just him. We fired her from Tsar Enterprises, too. We may even sue. We’ve been consulting with our legal team on our options at this point.”

  Anabelle was shocked. “What?”

  Giorgio nodded. Over the next hour he proceeded to fill her in on the events of the past couple of days. He also told her how Portia had apparently purposely picked a big fight with Nikolas as an excuse to head over to his place under the guise of needing comfort and friendly advice. He had considered leaving out the nudity parts of Portia’s failed come-on so that Anabelle wouldn’t feel so uncomfortable, but he figured he might as well just be one hundred percent honest with her at this point. He really didn’t have anything to lose now.

  Anabelle listened, but looked away when he told her about how far Portia went to seduce him. It upset her. She had sensed Portia’s duplicity. She had tried to tell him.

  “Anabelle, I know this isn’t easy to hear, but I wanted to be completely truthful with you. Admit how wrong I was about everything. I’ve hardly slept in the last couple of days, this has all bothered me so much.”

  She just nodded. She felt ill.

  “If it’s any consolation, just think how Nikolas felt when he found out. He didn’t know either. Didn’t see it coming at all.”

  That realization struck Anabelle hard. She vividly remembered how it felt when Aaron betrayed her and they weren’t even married, nor had he cheated on her with a member of her own family. This was worse. Much worse. Her hand went to her heart. “Oh, he must be devastated.”

  “He is.”

  “That’s terrible,” she said. “So awful. I’m…I wish it hadn’t been true.”

  She put her hand to her lips as it dawned on her that Giorgio’s family and business had been torn apart by this. She realized that both of the Tsarkopolis brothers were likely devastated by this turn of events, that they had been maliciously betrayed, personally and professionally, by someone from within their own family…by Nikolas’ own wife.

  Anabelle was at once heartbroken for both of them. She looked over at Giorgio, for the first time really seeing him since he arrived tonight. He looked tired and worn and wrecked.

  Giorgio’s shoulders were hunched over and he rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Nik spent the night at my place. We stayed up most of the night talking, trying to figure out what to do...about everything.” He put his hand over his forehead to shield his eyes.

  Anabelle regarded him for a moment.

  He squeezed his eyes closed and rubbed them with his fingers and thumb. He took a deep breath. “It’s been a difficult time, for Nikolas, for you…I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you.” His deep voice started to crack. “I should have trusted you…the woman I fell in love with.” He pressed his fingers into his eyelids.

  His statement knocked the wind out of her. “What did you say?” she whispered. She leaned in closer to him. “Giorgio?” She placed her hand on his arm.

  He couldn’t answer.

  She could see he was fighting back tears. Her heart shattered. She didn’t want this, to see him hurting this way. She slid over next to him and put her arm around his broad shoulders. She kissed the side of his head.

  He didn’t move. He just kept his fingers pressed against his eyelids.

  “Giorgio…” she started to say, but then sh
e felt his shoulders shake a bit. She put her other arm around him. “Oh Giorgio, I’m so sorry about what’s happened to your family. It’s heartbreaking. I can’t even imagine what this has been like for you, for your brother.”

  Her heart swelled with emotion for the man sitting broken in her arms. She then moved her hand to gently touch his chin, rough with stubble. She lifted his face.

  He moved his hand away from his face, but looked down at the floor.

  She saw the tears trail down his cheeks. “No, my Adonis, don’t cry, I’m sorry I was so stubborn today. I was just really hurt. I should have talked to you, though.” She leaned over and kissed him, his lips were wet and trembling. She slowly ran her hand back and forth across his back as she kissed him tenderly at first, then with more passion.

  He responded in kind. He reached his hand out to softly stroke her arm.

  She paused. “I never wanted any of this to happen,” she said as she pressed her forehead to his. “You mean the world to me.”

  He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. “My beautiful girl, I thought I lost you.”

  She shook her head and placed her hands on his waist. “You haven’t lost me. I’m here. With you. If you want.”

  He held her tight. “I do, Anabelle, I do.” He pressed his soft lips to her temple and kissed her. He then whispered in her ear, “I am in love with you, Anabelle Parker. I wanted you to know.”

  Her heart felt like it would burst out of her chest. “Giorgio, oh my handsome Giorgio…” she stopped as her own tears started to fall. She took a deep breath and said, “I love you, too. So much.”

  He pulled away and held her face in his hands, looking deep into her hazel eyes. “Are you sure? You’re not just…”

  She pressed a finger to his full, soft lips. “I’m sure. I think I fell for you the day we met. And from how this has all felt, everything between us…I know now that I am truly, deeply in love with you.” Her tears spilled down her cheeks.