“I need to use the bathroom.” I quickly turn and rush into the connecting master bathroom. Once the door is shut and locked, I sink down to the floor.
He kept it. Something he obviously feels sentimental over. Something he feels connects him to me.
My heart soars at the realization. Maybe I was wrong about him. Maybe I can forgive him.
I stand and stare at myself in the mirror. After a couple of deep breaths, I turn and open the bathroom door. I step into the room, expecting to find Gio. Instead, I find the shirt he pulled out sitting on the bed. I walk to the closet but find it empty. I walk over to the dresser and run my fingers over the symbol of our love. The tingles on my skin could be completely mental, but I choose to believe it’s our love filling my body.
Just like that, my decision is made.
Giovanni
“What were you thinking?” I groan to myself.
I wasn’t. That was my problem. I don’t even know why I brought her back here. If she didn’t short-circuit my brain, I would have loaded her up into the car with Dante and had him take her home. Instead I selfishly brought her here. She gave me an inch, and I took the whole fucking Atlantic Ocean. I should have followed my own advice and been happy with the inch.
No wonder why she ran before. I’m an idiot when it comes to relationships. It doesn’t help that the only woman I ever dated was Izzy. We were just kids then.
It’s not like I haven’t had opportunities. Women throw themselves at me left and right. During the dark days, also known as the period of time Isabella pretended I didn’t exist, I would attempt to take them up on a quick fuck. I could never do it though. Don’t get me wrong, I made sure I gave them pleasure, but I could never receive any myself. Iz was the only woman I wanted, the only one who could turn me on. I only gave in when things in my head got really bad.
I always hoped that one day Izzy would give me a chance to explain, a chance to make it up to her—that she would forgive me.
Sofia will never know how much I love her. Her chance meeting with Bash changed my life dramatically. Before then, I was lost, just taking every chance I could to steal a glimpse of the girl who haunts my dreams.
Then Bash fell in love with Sofia, and suddenly I had a reason to interact with her. I knew what was going on in her life. I wasn’t an outsider looking in anymore. Even when she was screaming at me, I savored the sound of her voice. It was better than nothing. I didn’t have to hear her voice speaking to someone else. The words were being directed at me.
I would take every nasty word she threw at me as long as she continued to speak to me. Accept every hurtful thing she could think of only to take in her sweet voice and know that she was speaking to me.
Now I might have ruined any progress we were making. She had finally talked to me without murder in her eyes. She had been civil with me. Hell, she danced with me at Bash and Sofia’s wedding. She let me kiss her not one hour ago. Ten minutes ago, she let me kiss her neck and hold her for a few fleeting moments.
Then I had to take her to my room. It wasn’t a conscious plan of mine. I only wanted her to rest. My feet naturally carried us to my room. There was nowhere else I wanted her to be.
Going into my closet was an even bigger mistake. I didn’t even think about the dresser. I didn’t think about how she would feel when she saw it. Thinking about it from her perspective, she probably thinks I set her up. If I had thought about it before going in there, I would have known seeing that little piece of her that I couldn’t bear to part with would cause her to cry.
All I can hope now is that she will take the hint and rest.
I walk over to the fridge and pull out a bottle of water. I gulp down half of it before setting it on the counter. I lay my head next to it while the stress of the damage I might have just done runs through my head.
“I can hear you thinking all the way in the other room.”
Her teasing voice causes me to jump upright. I turn and find her standing in the archway wearing nothing but the T-shirt I left out for her. I didn’t even hear her walk up, which goes to show how messed up she has my mind.
“I didn’t think you would still have this either.” She pulls the shirt slightly away from her body.
The shirt is one she used to wear. It’s a plain old white button-up. Even back then, I wore suits every day. It had been required of me. This particular shirt doesn’t even fit me anymore. The only reason I kept it was because of the stain on it—the stain and the memories of her.
“It doesn’t fit me quite like it used to.”
It used to fall to her knees, but the way her body has filled out since then, it now brushes the top of her thighs and hugs every curve of her body.
I shrug, at a loss of what to say.
“Does it even fit you anymore? I mean and this stain. I thought you would have thrown it out long before now. If not you, your mother.”
“I guess she missed it somehow.”
She smiles like she doesn’t believe me. “You remember the night this stain happened?”
I let a smirk take over my face. “How could I forget? It was the first night you snuck into my room. I had been so nervous that I was shaking. When I went to hand you the wine I stole from Ma, I spilled it all over you.”
