WOW, I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING. I thought it would take the whole six weeks to get a yes from her, especially how aloof she was a couple of hours ago, but that just happened. I’m blown away.
Now I have to decide how I’m going to pull this off. I don’t want to give her any time to change her mind. I grin. I’m getting my girl tonight.
“Antonio! Jesus Christ, man, where’s your head?”
I look up as Dan yells at me, and the cast and crew stare. Yasmin is in place watching me. “What’s up?”
“It’s your cue.”
“I’m ready. Relax.”
“Take your places,” Dan directs.
I stand in the doorway, waiting for the cue. We’ve had to do this scene three times already until Dan got the angle he thinks he wants. I can do this in my sleep. Right now, I’m focused on Giovanna. I glance to the back and see her standing in her corner, watching, like she does. She doesn’t smile or even acknowledge my gaze. One day I’ll get that to change. I would love to see her face light up at the sight of me. Man, she’s a tough one to crack. I wonder what happened in her life that made her like that.
“Action!”
We go through the scene successfully this time. I’m aware of Giovanna’s eyes on me, and I want to be perfect. I want her to think the highest of me. I want to sweep her off her feet.
“Cut!”
I look across the room to see her face. She offers a thumbs up and just a hint of a smile. That’s enough for me. At least for right now.
The next scene is outside, and I’m glad. The fresh air will clear my head for a few minutes. Giovanna walks to the window, and I’m exciting she wants to watch me, but then I see her talking to her employees. Ah, she’s here for them. Not me. I’ll take it either way. God, what I’m gonna do to that woman tonight. If she lets me.
A FEW HOURS LATER, we start to wrap up, and I slip, unnoticed I hope, to the back. I knock softly on the office door.
“Come in.”
“Hey,” I say, as I come through the door.
“Hey.” She leans back in her seat.
“We still on for tonight?”
She taps her pen on the desk. “I changed my mind.”
“What? Why?”
She grins. “I’m kidding.” She laughs. “We’re still on.”
I cross my arms. “That was mean, Gio.”
“You can handle it.” She hands me a slip of paper. “My phone number in case you need it.”
“Thank you.”
“One question,” she says, leaning forward.
“Sure.”
“How are you gonna pull this off without anyone seeing us?”
“Leave it to me,” I say, winking. “I’ve gone on secret outings before. I can make it happen.”
“Yeah, but we’re not in LA. Everybody notices everything around here.”
“Trust me. I got this.”
“Okay. Oh, one more thing. How should I dress?”
I bite my tongue from saying what I really want to say. In lingerie would be fine with me.
“Comfortably.”
She smiles. “I can do that.”
“Oh and I really like the way you wear your makeup.”
“I don’t wear makeup.”
“I know.” I grin. “Your face is perfect just like that.”
She lightly touches her cheek. “Thank you.”
“Seven o’clock?”
“I’ll be ready.” She sighs. “I think.”
“Don’t be afraid of me.”
“I’m not.”
“Good.” I walk toward her knowing I should keep my distance, but not being able to. I just need to touch her again. “Come here.”
“No. You can wait.”
“Actually, I can’t.” I reach out to her and take her hand when she offers it. “I just wanted to touch you again. I would kiss you if there weren’t so many people around.”
She steps back from me just as Yasmin enters the room.
“There you are,” she says, eyeing Giovanna. “We were looking everywhere for you.”
“Oh. Giovanna was just telling me some interesting facts about the town.” Giovanna offers a tight smile. “Did you need something?”
“Dan wants to take us out for drinks and talk about script changes.”
“When?”
“Right now.”
I look at my watch. It’s nearly six. I have to figure out how to get out of this without arousing suspicion.
“I’ll be right out.”
“I’ll wait.”
“I don’t need a babysitter, Yasmin. I said I’ll be right out.”
Yasmin crosses her arms and leaves. That girl is gonna cause problems for me if I’m not careful.
“We can reschedule if you need to,” Giovanna offers.
“No way. I waited a long time to get you to say yes.”
She laughs. “You waited a week.”
“I knew I could get you to laugh.”
“You did.”
“I’ll be at your place at seven no matter what.”
“Okay.”
My body yearns to touch her again, to hold her. I just have to wait a couple more hours.
“See you soon, Beautiful.”
“See you later, Movie Star.”
I reluctantly leave and walk outside to find out what’s going on. I see Dan and put my plan into place.
“Hey, man,” I say. “Yasmin said you want to meet tonight, but I have a splitting headache. If I want to be any good to anyone tomorrow, I want to go sleep it off.”
Dan frowns, but nods. “I can work with it. The changes really relate more to Yasmin’s scenes with the mom and sister. We can work around you.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“Have a good night.”
I plan to. I walk briskly up the street to the hotel, catching a glimpse of some photographers nearby. They especially can’t see me leave. Between them, Yasmin, and the residents, it’s a lot to maneuver. But she’s worth it. I know she is.
Back in my room, I shower and then pull on a pair of jeans and a sweater. I slap some gel in my hair and put cologne on. Then I sit down at the desk with my computer and look for date options where we can have some privacy. After a few searches, I finally find what I want. Perfect. I pick up the phone, dial the number, and have a brief conversation with the hostess. As a precaution, I go ahead and book an overnight room. Always gotta be prepared for any scenario.
Finally, I have one more thing to arrange. I don’t know how she’ll react, but it’s something I have to do in every town I visit. It’s just my thing. I finish that, and then at 6:45, I sneak down to the lobby and out the back door. Walking briskly down the sidewalk, I wait in front of the closed flower shop for several minutes until the driver shows up. I slide into the backseat and give him Giovanna’s address. In just a few minutes, we pull up in front of her place. I get out and take a deep breath before knocking on her door.
She opens it and smiles. It’s tense, but it’s a smile.
“Hi,” she says.
“Hi. Ready? I have a car for us.”
“Ready.” She grabs her coat and closes the door behind her. I walk her to the car and help her in. Once both of us are out of view, I give the driver the next set of instructions.
“Certainly, Mr. Cochran,” the driver says.
I notice Giovanna’s brief look of confusion, before understanding settles over her pretty face. “So, Michael,” I nod as she speaks. “Where are we going tonight?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“Oooh, how mysterious. Do I get a clue?”
“No.” I lower my head. “I just hope you’ll be cool with it.”
“I’m sure I will. You seemed to have gone to a lot of trouble for this night.”
“Anything to be alone with you,” I whisper. “It’s all I’ve wanted since I laid eyes on you.”
She looks up at me with those sweet honey colored eyes of hers. God, she’s beautiful. Her lips are so supple, so mmm, I’m getting turned on looking at the girl’s mouth.
“What are you thinking?” she asks.
“How much I want to kiss you again.”
Giovanna shifts in her seat, and I know I’m getting to her. “We’ll see how the night goes.” She turns and looks out the window.
“What are you thinking?” I ask.
“How I ended up sitting in this car next to you.”
“It’s not so bad, is it?”
“No, it’s not. I just don’t know what to do.”
“Whatever you want, Giovanna. Whatever we want.”
“I don’t know what I want.”
I pull her chin so she’s facing me. “Let’s find out together. We’ll take it slow. Your pace. Whatever you want tonight.”
“This is a change from the man who pinned me to my office wall.”
I chuckle. “I had to make sure you knew how much I wanted you. Now that you’re here, I don’t want to scare you off.”
“I appreciate that.”
I take her hand in mine, and she lets me. This feels good.