I released a small laugh before heading back to the bed, dropping on my back and crossing my arms behind my head. I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. After months of frustration, I had been rewarded, even more than I’d hoped for. I waited for the sound of running water but silence reigned in the bathroom. I sat up, suspicion filling me. There wasn’t any way Gianna could escape from the bathroom, but what if she decided to end her life rather than spend it with me?
Gianna seemed to love life too much for such an action, but I wasn’t sure she wouldn’t do it to spite me. I moved toward the bathroom door, ready to tear it down when it opened. Gianna stepped out, her eyebrows shooting up when she spotted me right in front of her. Her eyes weren’t puffy, so at east she hadn’t been crying, which was a relief.
Her nose crinkled. “What? Don’t tell me you’ve been spying on me while I was in the bathroom?”
I crossed my arms over my chest with a smirk. I definitely wouldn’t tell her what I’d thought. “We both know you need supervision.”
With a sigh, she walked past me and climbed under the covers. After a quick scan of the bathroom, which looked the same as it had before, I joined Gianna. She had her back turned to me, and the blankets pulled up to her chin. I pressed myself against her back, my arm sliding around her naked waist. Having her naked body so close to mine was giving me all kinds of ideas and my cock was digging insistently against her butt. I couldn’t wait to take her like this, to have her in front of me on all fours, to have her riding me. I wanted to fuck her in a thousand different ways.
“Don’t even think about it,” Gianna said quietly, warningly. “I’m tired and I don’t owe you more than one go on our wedding night.”
I laughed against her neck before pressing a kiss to her soft skin. “You are such a romantic, Gianna. Your words always warm my heart.”
“Oh shut up,” she muttered.
I tightened my hold on her. She didn’t try to pull away, which surprised me, and again raised my suspicions, but I blamed her demureness on the long day both of us had had. It had been more than twenty-four hours since I’d slept.
Still, I fought off sleep until I heard Gianna’s breathing deepening and her body softening against me. I didn’t trust Gianna, not after what she’d done. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever trust her completely. I knew she’d run the moment I let her out of my sight. I wouldn’t give her another chance to evade me. I didn’t care what I had to do to keep her in New York.
Luca had thought I’d lose interest in her once I’d fucked her. Part of me had hoped for it, but I could already tell that it wasn’t the case. I still wanted her, probably more than before.
I was completely and utterly screwed.
Gianna
The next morning I woke to Matteo moving around in the bedroom. I didn’t give any indication that I was awake, instead I listened to his sounds. I didn’t want to face him. He’d be smug about last night, definitely intolerable. Before a long shower and a strong coffee I wasn’t in the mood for that particular kind of confrontation. When his steps finally moved away and the door clicked shut, I exhaled and opened my eyes. The skyline of New York was hung with heavy clouds. Maybe I could simply stay in bed, but I had a feeling Matteo might try to join me if I did. My traitorous body tingled with excitement at the idea of having his hands on me again, maybe even allowing him to go down on me for real.
I quickly sat up, slid out of bed and hurried into the bathroom to splash cold water into my face. I winced at the burning in my lip. I peered at myself in the mirror. My lower lip was swollen dramatically and the skin below it was bruised. I looked like I’d been in a fight, which wasn’t that far from the truth. I opened my mouth to take a look at the stitches. Disgusted, I quickly snapped it shut again. The events from yesterday flashed through my mind.
I hadn’t even had nightmares about what happened to Sid. I still felt horrible for his cruel death, but my dreams had been empty, a black void of nothingness. Maybe I did belong into this world after all.
My eyes slid down to a spot on the side of my neck where Matteo had left a hickey. The bastard had marked me like I was his property, and to him that was probably the case. I touched the bruise.
Grimacing, I turned away from my reflection, and took a quick shower. When I returned to the bedroom, I found my bags on the floor. Matteo must have carried them in while I was getting ready. Sneaky bastard. How could he move so quietly?
I quickly put my clothes into the drawers that Matteo must have cleared for me. Somehow it annoyed me that he’d made space for me as if he’d known all along that I’d eventually move in. He must have done it long ago. There hadn’t been any time last night or this morning. Putting away the clothes that I hadn’t worn in six months also made me realize that I desperately needed to go shopping. My old clothes felt like a relic from an old life. In our rush to leave my apartment in Munich, I hadn’t been able to grab any of my new clothes.
Afterward, fully dressed I headed out of the bedroom, pausing briefly to listen for Matteo. It was silent in the apartment and as I walked through the living room toward the open kitchen I didn’t encounter anyone, not even a bodyguard. Suspicion flared in me. Matteo would never leave me unsupervised after what I’d done. My eyes scanned the ceiling, the corners and every other possible place for security cameras, but I found none. I hesitated in the middle of the kitchen for a moment, eyes darting to the massive coffee maker. Screw it. I needed caffeine. If Matteo wasn’t there, for which I was grateful, I’d pretend this was my home.
And I didn’t even need to pretend. This was my home now, or it was supposed to be. Of course it didn’t feel like it. It had been a long time since any place had felt like home. In the last few months of my living there, even my parents’ house hadn’t felt like one anymore. There was no use thinking about it now. I’d never forgive Father for how he’d treated me, nor Mother because she’d let him. Maybe I was dead to them, but they were dead to me too.
My finger hovered in front of the button that would turn the coffee maker on. This eerie silence was driving me crazy. Scolding myself for my ridiculous caution, I finally pushed it. I grabbed a cup and selected a cappuccino. I wasn’t on the run anymore. The worst had already happened.
With a satisfying fizz, the hot liquid shot out. The moment it was done, I cradled the cup and took a long sip, feeling how the warmth and familiar taste cleared my mind further. I leaned against the counter, letting my eyes wander through the apartment. I actually liked the puristic design, the sleek black leather couches, black hardwood furniture and white walls. I wondered if Luca and Matteo had hired the same interior designer because their furniture was so similar. I could see myself looking for art pieces that would fit in, could see myself shop for pillows that would bring some color in, could see myself decorating a large tree for Christmas. I walked around the counter, perched on the stool and turned my back on the place I could so easily see myself living in.
This wasn’t what I wanted. Or at least something I hadn’t wanted six months ago, something I shouldn’t want, not after risking so much to escape it. I closed my eyes and inhaled the comforting scent of my coffee. I needed to see Aria again, but was I even allowed to go one floor up to her penthouse? The idea that I had to ask Matteo and maybe even Luca for permission whenever I wanted to see my sister drove me up the walls. It was a good reminder of why I’d run in the first place, something I could never allow myself to forget.