Nineteen

 

 

Aria

Gio and I are laying in his bed. After we both got cleaned up, he pulled me into the bed with him, refusing to let me get dressed, and we have been laying here together, neither of us saying a word. My head is on his chest as he runs his fingers up and down my back, shivers tickling their way down my spine. Every time my body reacts, Gio laughs softly.

“You called me your heart.” It’s not a question. I know he did but by the way his body stills, I don’t think he knew I know Italian.

“You know Italian.” His response isn’t a question.

“I do. I told you I want to travel there one day.”

“You did.” He doesn’t say anything else.

“What is this?” I ask, finally breaking the comfortable silence. Gio’s hand stills.

“This is you quitting your job.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m serious.”

“So am I.” His fingers go back to trailing a line of goose bumps up my spine. After a few minutes he lets out a soft sigh, his chest rising and falling under me. “I’m going to suck at this, Aria. I’m going to fuck it up at every damn turn. You are going to be in danger every day we are together.”

“We can take things slowly.”

“I can’t promise you anything.”

“Ok.” A lot of people would be upset at what he says but when you have lived a life like mine, having had shit kept from me and have been lied to most of my life, I respect his raw honesty. I may not like his truth but I still appreciate it.

“I’m leaving next week to go to the Bahamas. Come with me.” A little balloon inside me inflates at the thought of spending some time on the beach with Gio and at the fact he wants to spend time with me, too. Until he adds, “My family will be there but we will have plenty of alone time.”

Then my balloon pops. “Your family hates me.”

“Nico mentioned bringing Amber. Her finals are over and he wants her to go. Apparently, they are getting serious.” It doesn’t go over my head that he doesn’t argue with his family hating me but I focus on the part about Amber’s finals almost being over.

“What’s the date?”

“May fifteenth, why?” A lump in my throat forms.

“My mom died today. How could I forget?”

“Baby,” Gio coos in my ear, his arms encircling me. “You have a lot going on. You have been through some crazy shit this year. Did she have a burial?”

I shake my head. “No, asshole Weston said she wanted to be cremated. I know he just didn’t want to spend the money on a funeral. He wouldn’t even give me her ashes.”

“I’ll have Johnny find them for you. If they are in that house, we will get them. I promise you.” We lay in silence for a few minutes before I remember what we were talking about.

“Why do they hate me, Gio?” I look up and meet his eyes. He gives me a small frown then leans down to kiss my forehead.

“Who?”

“Your parents.”

Gio sighs. “They want Cecilia and I to marry. I’m the oldest and one day I will take over the organization. Stefan and my dad are best friends, practically brothers. If we marry, it would make us family by marriage, and if we had children, we would become family by blood.”

“Will she be there?”

“I can try to get her to stay here but she usually goes. Whether she goes or not won’t matter, though. My time will be spent with you.”

I give him a kiss on his chest and nod. “Ok, I’ll go.”

Gio and I fall asleep together but when I wake up he is gone. I go back to my room, shower and get dressed. Then I go downstairs to let Cecilia know I won’t be working at the gentleman’s club anymore, but when I approach her, her attitude and brush off tells me she has already been informed.

“Can you at least stay on for another couple weeks? Gio and I are going on vacation to the Bahamas and I will need to look for your replacement once I return.”

“I would except I’ll also be on that vacation with Gio.” I shrug my shoulders in nonchalance and walk away, leaving her with her jaw halfway to the ground.

I grab my camera and ask Rome if he will take me to the strip to take some pictures. Natalie overhears and insists on coming. “We can do some shopping while we are there!” Normally I would say no because I’m usually broke but after the attorney left the other day, Gio informed me the sale of the shares went through and I am several million dollars richer. He gave me my credit card and my account info and told me not to spend it all in one place.

Not having heard from Amber the last few days, I give her a call, who screams through the phone how excited she is to be going to the Bahamas with Nico, and even more excited to know I’m going as well.

Giselle and Sierra are both working, so it’s just Natalie, Amber, and me walking from shop to shop. They are spending money and I’m snapping pictures of the crazy tourists and attractions. My mom never let me come down here growing up so it’s cool to finally experience the city I’ve lived in most of my life.

“Hey! Isn’t this the guys’ hotel?” Amber points to the beautiful hotel in front of us. I recognize it from the day Johnny dropped off Gio for a business meeting.

“It is.”

“Let’s go in and see if the guys are here!” She grabs my hand, pulling me inside before I can protest. Natalie just shrugs and follows behind. The gentleman at the door asks for our identification to confirm we are all over twenty-one since there’s a casino here.

“We are here to see Giovanni or Nico Valentino,” I tell the concierge, who in return frowns at me.

“Ms.…” The gentleman from the night at the charity ball walks up to me, a devious smirk plastering on his face. Something about this man rubs me the wrong way.

“Aria,” I say, still refusing to give him my last name.

“Aria, I was just about to go up and see Mr. Valentino. Why don’t you join me?” He ignores Amber and Natalie, taking my arm in his. I look behind me to make sure the girls are following. They both give me a what the fuck look but none of us say anything. When we get to the elevator, Mr. Lorenzo—I can’t, for the life of me, remember his first name—tells the guard we are going up to see Mr. Valentino. The guard scans his license before patting each of us down. I’m still not sure which brother we are going to see, but I keep my mouth shut.

When the elevator dings on the top floor, the four of us get out. Johnny is standing there and when he sees me, his eyes visibly widen for a half a second. “Mr. Lorenzo, Giovanni and Nico are waiting for you, but we weren’t expecting guests.”

Mr. Lorenzo laughs and glances around him. “I was on my way up and found these beautiful women looking for Mr. Valentino. I thought I would do him the favor and bring them on up.”

“I’ll let them know you are here.” Johnny walks to the desk behind him and picks up the phone. He speaks in a hushed toned for a minute before setting the phone back down. “Giovanni is on his way.” Not even thirty seconds later, Gio comes barreling down the hallway. If it were possible, smoke would be steaming from his ears. His body is visibly tense and his jaw is ticking. His eyes are trained right on me and Mr. Lorenzo, where our arms are entwined. Shit!

“Sebastian, I suggest you get your hands off her if you want to keep your limbs intact.” That’s his name! Sebastian!

Sebastian simply laughs but removes his arm from mine and puts his hands up in a placating motion, his body shaking with laughter. “No need to make such violent threats, Giovanni.”

“Johnny, take Sebastian back to the conference room while I speak to Aria.” As he says this, Nico comes down another hallway and once he takes in the scene in front of him, he curses under his breath.

“This way,” Johnny commands, but before Sebastian lets him guide him down the hallway he turns to me and taking my hand in his, lays a wet kiss on the top of my knuckles.

“Until we meet again.” He gives me a wink and a shutter rips through my body. When he turns to follow Johnny, I wipe my hand down the jeans trying to get his grossness off me.

“What the fuck were you thinking coming here?” Gio booms. He stalks closer to me getting in my face and my defenses go up, ready for a fight.

“Whoa there, buddy. Back the hell up.” My hands come out and I push him slightly back. “We came to say hello. I didn’t know your hotel was off limits.” I see him calm down slightly.

“You can’t be doing shit like this, Aria.”

“What my brother is trying to say,” Nico takes over, “is that as much as we love seeing you pretty ladies here, this is business only. It’s not safe to be seen around here.” Nico wraps Amber up in his arms and gives her a kiss. She melts into his arms, smiling up at him. “Next time, call me first. Ok, babe?” Amber nods and kisses him back.

Natalie rolls her eyes. “I’m just along for the ride. I didn’t even want to see either of you.”

“I’m sorry, Gio. We’ll go.” I turn to leave, the feeling of rejection hitting deep, but he grabs my hand, pulling me into him—His front to my back. Natalie smirks as I screech at his assault.

“I need to keep you safe, cuore mio. I’m sorry for yelling.” His cool breath hits my ear sending a completely different kind of shiver down my spine than the ones Sebastian sent. His cool lips press against the sensitive skin behind my ear. “I’ll see you at home tonight and I want you back in our room.” My lips part in protest but he murmurs, “Don’t argue. Second floor is for employees. I want you in our bed.” I nod in agreement. Tilting my head to the side, Gio gives me a soft kiss on my lips, his tongue sliding in quickly before he lets me go. “I’ll call you guys a car.”

“We’re shopping on the strip.”

Gio smirks and turns me around to face him. “Anything for me?” He waggles his eyebrows.

“What would you want?”

“Anything you buy for yourself is technically for me. You should pick up a few items for our trip.”

I give him a quick kiss and Nico shows us out.

“I’ve never seen Giovanni act like that!” Natalie laughs once we are out of the hotel and walking back down the strip. I look behind me and see Rome following us. He must have been following us earlier, yet he didn’t warn Gio. I turn and give him a soft smile and he nods once. I’m not one hundred percent sure but if I had to guess I would say he didn’t warn Gio because his job is to protect me, not rat on me.

“Like what?” I ask turning my attention back to Natalie.

“Well he’s always serious, but you didn’t even have to do anything and he calmed down and was so… sexy! And playful! I should have recorded it to show the other girls. Cecilia would have a heart attack. She is always trying to worm her way into Giovanni’s arms but he always rejects her.” That makes we wonder if Cecilia and Gio have had sex. I know he’s had sex with plenty of women. We all have pasts and it’s ridiculous to expect someone to not have one but I want to know if her stuck up bitchy self is part of Gio’s past. Instead of asking Natalie, I decide to wait and ask Gio himself.