I wanted so badly to just let his words roll off me, but I couldn’t. Not only did they sting, but they halfway made no sense. I turned back around to look at him. I threw my hands up in exasperation. “Honestly, what the hell does any of that mean?”
Before either of us could say anything further, a group of club-goers crossed our paths, entering the club.
Giovanni glanced at me and then rounded the building, and somehow, I intuitively knew he wanted me to follow him. I rounded the building, the two of us coming to a stop in the alley behind it.
Giovanni turned toward me with his arms folded. “I know the engagement is over, but can you at least have the decency to tell me why? I have no idea what went wrong.”
“It’s because everything you do in the dark comes out in the light,” I said. “I know about your other woman—and it wouldn’t even surprise me if there are more than one. I knew your type straight from the start. I just regretted being stupid enough to fall for you.”
Giovanni laughed and shook his head. “Wow…You really are delusional, aren’t you?”
“Asshole.”
“What other woman, Arianna? Because since you’ve come into the picture, you’ve been the only one.”
“Wow. I can’t believe you’re such a smooth liar.”
“I’m not lying!”
“I saw you with my own eyes! Surprise! I was at the club last night, and I saw you with that long-legged bimbo!”
I watched his face twist in confusion, and I waited to see if he was honestly going to have the audacity to dispute what I’d seen.
“I saw you here last night. And I was about to introduce you to…Oh…wait…” he paused for an instant, and a genuine smirk began to spread across his face. “I get it now. Maria.”
I grimaced. “Is that her name?”
He nodded. “Yes. And she also happens to be my cousin.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh please! I’m not stupid Gio! I wish you would quit acting like I am!”
“Well stop acting like you are! Arianna, look me in the eyes. Do you really think I’m lying? The woman from last night was my cousin! I swear! And when I spotted you, I was about to introduce you to her, but the next thing I knew, you were gone!”
“A likely story!” I spat.
“But it’s true! Will you just stop being so goddamned hard-headed and listen to me, Ari? The whole time I was with Maria, I was telling her about you.”
But I’d heard enough. I wanted to go back to the club to get Jessica and Angela, but I knew that Gio would just follow me and continue giving me his pathetic sob story, trying to convince me that he was a stand-up guy who wasn’t cheating on me. But I wouldn’t be fooled again.
I stormed off, deciding that I would flag down a taxi and go home, and I’d just call Angela and Jessica later to let them know that I was all right. I had genuinely appreciated their effort to make me feel better, and they would have succeeded had Giovanni Romano not showed up to ruin things. It was like the universe just kept playing the cruelest tricks on me, refusing to let me be free of his presence. Every time I tried to let my guard down and move on with my life, I feared he would show up. He was like a parasite; sometimes I couldn’t see him, but he was still there, sucking the life out of me regardless.
“Arianna!” he called. “Come on, listen to me!”
But I blocked him out. Having made it to the main road, I glanced down the street.
Giovanni was talking a mile-a-minute, but I kept ignoring him. When I saw a cab coming, I flagged it down.
“Where are you going? I can give you a ride,” Gio offered.
“If I haven’t already made myself clear, let me make myself perfectly clear right now—I don’t want anything from you ever again in life. So please, just go away already!”
“I will not,” he said, stubbornly. “I will not let things end between us based on a lie.”
“You are the most infuriating person I’ve ever met.”
“Where to, ma’am?” the cab driver had lowered his window and peered out at me.
I hopped in the backseat and quickly gave him my home address, but unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough because Gio ran over to the opposite side and got in the cab too.
“Are you kidding me?” I said, glancing sideways at him.
“Uhm…is he with you, ma’am?” the cab driver asked.
At the same time, I said ‘no’ and Gio said ‘yes.’
I swore. “Just drive,” I told the cab driver. “You can take him wherever the hell he needs to go after you drop me off.”
CHAPTER 22
Giovanni
“Thank you,” Arianna said as the driver pulled up to her parents’ house. She leaned forward to pay the cab fare and hurried out of the car. I followed after her.
“No!” she said, turning around and glaring at me. “You are not welcome here.”
“Well, I seem to remember differently. I’m pretty sure your parents gave me an open invitation to your home.”
“That was before the engagement was called off, you idiot,” Arianna said as she stormed to her front porch.
Following behind her, I couldn’t help but laugh. She sounded so cute when she was furious. Or perhaps it was just that some of my fury at her had dissipated now that I knew why she was carrying on the way she was. On some level, it was flattering that she was so upset because it indicated how much she had cared about me. Now, I just needed to get her to care again.
I wished she would just believe me, but at the same time, I couldn’t fault her for what she’d thought when she saw me with Maria. After all, I certainly hadn’t reacted too well upon seeing her dancing with that guy at the club.
When Ari pulled out her keys and unlocked the front door, she hurried inside and tried to slam it in my face, but I caught it with my foot.
“Ouch! Dammit,” I muttered, hopping on one foot as I stumbled inside.
“Serves you right,” Ari spat. “Now get out of my house before I call the cops.”
I shut the door behind me and proceeded to stare at her. She looked back at me, her expression livid, but her bottom lip trembling as if she was close to tears. As angry as I was with her before, I couldn’t stay mad at her. I wanted nothing more than to take her into my arms and tell her that she had the wrong idea. And then I wanted to kiss her anger away, and perhaps make love to her for the rest of the night.
But first, I simply had to get her to believe me.
“Remember how pissed you were when you first found out that I was the guy you were going to marry?” I asked.
“Why are you speaking in the past-tense? I’m still pissed,” she retorted. She was about to say something else when her cell phone started ringing in her purse. “Hello? Angela—I’m sorry. I’m home. I’m all right.”
I crossed the living room and went to sit on the couch to get off my foot, which was throbbing from where the door hit it.
“Look, I’ll explain everything tomorrow, okay?” Ari said into the phone. “I just can’t talk right now. I’m sorry again. Okay. Bye.”
She set her phone back down on the table and turned her attention to me. “Listen, you need to leave, Gio.”
“And you need to hear me out one good time.”
“There’s nothing for me to hear. I know your type, and I know you sleep around. I was dumb to think I could change that, but I know better now. So please, just go.”
I sighed and stood. Ignoring the throbbing in my foot, I moved toward her. She attempted to step back, but I grabbed her shoulders.
“Don’t touch me!” she yelled.
I lowered my hands. “Arianna, I love you!” I shouted. “All, right? I…love…you. You’ve been on my mind constantly from the moment we met. I think about you day and night, and I can honestly say that I have never felt this way about anyone before. You may not think you’ve changed me, but I know you’ve changed me. This all started out as an agreement I made with my father, but it is so much more than that now. I want you, Ar
ianna, and you alone. I don’t care about my family obligations. I don’t care about my father. I don’t care about arranged marriages or anything. All I care about is you, and being able to wake up beside you every day for the rest of my life. Arranged marriage be damned. I want to marry you. I love you, and I literally feel like my life will have no purpose anymore if you aren’t in it.”
A long silence stretched between us, and I felt like my heart was sinking lower in my chest with each second that ticked by. I stepped backward.
“Well—I’ve said all that I have to say. If you don’t feel the same way, then just say so. Then I’ll get out of your life for good.”
Arianna pursed her lips. “Do you mean it?”
“I’ve never meant anything more in my life.” She looked down at the ground.
“Look, I’m not sleeping with anyone but you.” I closed the distance between us, burning to touch her and end with all these doubts and fights. “I love you, Arianna. Can’t you see this? I can’t be with anyone else because I have eyes only for you.”
She took a step backward, completely surprised with my revelation, and I followed her. “Since the moment I saw you, you got under my skin. I can’t stop thinking about you, always wondering what you’re doing and when I’m going to see you again. And when I see you, it’s the best time of my life.”
I allowed myself to touch her, taking her cold hands in mine. I needed this—her skin against my skin—and I needed her scent that was pervading my senses. Luckily, she didn’t recoil, allowing me to hold her, which encouraged me to tell her everything.
“I’d never felt like this with any other woman before, and God knows I’ve had plenty of them. Up until now, it was all about pleasure and the rush I got whenever I brought them to my bed, but it was never serious. I never felt anything for them. I would always forget them, moving on to my next conquest... Until you. You appeared in my life, and that was it. You stole my heart, and I don’t want it back. I want to build my future with you, Arianna, so please, believe me.”
I kissed the back of her hand, pressing my lips slowly against her smooth skin. She trembled, and a small moan escaped her lips.
“I love you.”
Her lips quivered, her face twisting in a mix of insecurity and affection. “Oh, Gio. I...”
Not able to resist anymore, I grabbed her face and kissed her, drawn to her lips more than anything. Her kiss revived me, making me powerful—making me high... She owned me.
I rested my forehead on hers, looking into her eyes. “Tell me you feel the same. Tell me you love me,” I whispered and brushed my lips against hers. “Tell me.”
She let a long sigh out and covered my hands on her face. “I love you. I love you so much, Gio.”
“You’re mine—always remember that.”
“Only yours.”
I kissed her and picked her up, wrapping her legs around my waist. I brought her to a piano in the corner of the room and put her on its lid, stopping in between her legs. At this point, I didn’t even care if her parents were home.
“I want you so much. I need to have you right now.” I pulled her dress over her head and threw it aside. The next was her bra. I covered her beautiful tits with my hands, admiring their size and shape. “Beautiful,” I muttered and kissed each nipple, turning them into two hard buds.
She arched her back and snaked her legs around me, bringing me closer to her.
Her pussy glistened with her juices, and my eyes followed the trail of her wetness that ended on the wooden surface. That was all for me. That was her pussy’s invitation for me to plunge into her as deeply as I could and fuck her harder than ever before.
I growled and pushed her down, bringing her legs around me. I shoved my dick into her softness and dug my fingers into her waist to keep her in place as I thrust into her. She was so wet and hot, her walls closing around me like a fist, and the incredible raw sensations grew stronger. Her face twisted with pleasure and her hands clutched my arms.
“It’s... It’s so good. Don’t stop... Ah!” She could barely talk, screaming too loud, but I loved it. I loved the way she vocalized her pleasure, unleashing that inner Arianna that needed to be brutalized like this—fucked until there was nothing left but soreness once I was done with her.
My balls slammed against her as I pounded into her, bringing her to her first orgasm. Fuck. Her pussy clenched around me hard, pulling me further inside. I planned to give her many more orgasms, so I picked her up and carried her to the couch. I made her hold onto the back of the couch and took her from behind, watching her ass bounce after each thrust. It was too hot.
“I’ll make you feel even better. I want you to come again for me, babe.”
“Oh, Gio! Yes. Just don’t stop fucking me.”
“Never.”
A new wave of pleasure built quickly in her, and the force of her orgasm almost sent me over the edge, but I pulled out, intent on giving her much more.
I went to my knees and licked her sensitive mound, inhaling her smell like the addict I was.
“Gio! Oh God.”
I thrust my tongue through her swollen lips, grazing all the right places, and more juices poured out of her. She was calling my name, pleading me, urging me to give her bliss. I spread her labia with my fingers and latched onto her clit, sucking it roughly into my mouth.
“Oh... That... That is amazing.” She was completely breathless. “Right there...”
I pulled on her pulsating clitoris faster, and her shuddering intensified, her juices drenching me completely. It was unbelievable how wet she was now, and my cock was killing me to put it inside of her and never let her go. As soon as she came, I stood up and plunged in, reaching the place where I belonged. She was mine. Only mine.
I took a handful of her hair and pulled her head toward me, meeting her lips halfway. My tongue snaked its way inside her mouth, simulating the movement of my cock in her, and the warmth of her mouth shot through to my cock.
Ecstasy pervaded me, making me unaware of anything but this gorgeous woman who stole my goddamn mind and heart. This sounded cheesy, and I felt like a big pussy for even thinking about her in this way, but it was true. She was integrated deep into my system, and I couldn’t function anymore without her by my side.
I increased my pace one last time, watching my cock enter her forcefully, and grunted when her pussy spasmed around me again in her climax. Her walls contracted, swallowing my cock, and violent pleasure ripped through me, heightening more and more until I burned together with her.
I pulled out and shouted her name when the first spurt of my come landed on her ass. The second, third, and fourth joined it, making a mess out of her ass, but it was fucking sexy that I never wanted to wipe it off her.
“Do you have any idea how good you feel? It’s never enough.”
“I feel the same, Gio. You make me feel all these things I can’t even give a name to. You make me forget about everything and just feel.”
I took her hand from my shoulder and kissed it. “So, what’s it going to be? Will you marry me, Arianna?”
Again, there was another pause. But then she nodded her head.
I looked up to the ceiling and took a deep breath in relief. A smile spread across my face. When I looked back down, she too was smiling.
“Just one thing,” she said.
“Anything, baby.”
“How about we get this wedding done as soon as possible? I’m tired of all the pressure.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
And with that, I pulled her toward me and kissed her. Her lips eagerly met mine with a passion and intensity I had never felt from her before.
CHAPTER 23
Arianna
I realized that I had quite a bit to learn about married life—mainly learning the importance of trust. As it turns out, the woman I’d seen with Giovanni at the nightclub really had been his cousin. He showed me pictures of the two of them growing up together, and even let me speak with her on
the phone.
“I’m sorry, Gio. You just have to understand, I’m new to all of these feelings,” I said, after getting off the phone with Maria Romano.
“It’s all right. I’m willing to help you adjust,” he said, kissing my neck as we lied across my bed. My entire body tingled with how badly I already wanted him again, but it was getting late, and I didn’t want my parents to find him here—to find us together in such a compromised position. Thankfully they had been gone when I had gotten home.
I sighed. “You need to get out of here, Gio. I don’t want my parents to find us like this.”
He laughed. “All the more reason I can’t wait to get this wedding over with.”
“Tell me about it,” I said, laughing as I watched him put his clothes back on. I walked him to the door and kissed him before letting him out. “I’m going to talk to my parent's first thing in the morning to let them know the wedding is back on.”
He stood on the doorstep, his hands in his pocket and his head tilted to the side.
“What?”
“Let’s do it next week.”
“The wedding?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Why not? The sooner, the better, right?”
* * *
The last 24 hours had been a whirlwind, to say the least. But it was a relief to know that things were finally on the right path.
I ventured into the kitchen, where I heard my parents making breakfast.
“Good morning,” my mother said, smiling. “Did you have a good night with your friends?”
My cheeks began to burn, and I suppressed a smile that would have surely revealed how my night had ended. “Yeah,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.
“Good.”
Daddy turned toward me with a mug of coffee in his hands. “Well, I’ve spoken with the Romanos and—”
7+Us Makes Nine: A Nanny Single Dad Romance (Baby Makes Three) Page 29
