No Strings Attached

Chapter Twenty-Two

I notice one of the girls looking at me, waiting with curiosity, whispering over to another. Shit. Suddenly, they are all looking my way. It hits me then that they probably think I'm with him.

Giovanni turns then, his eyes meeting mine. I try to control how pleased I am when his eyes falter in surprise, his double-take lasting longer than it probably should. The poor girl is still talking to him, trying to regain his attention. Normally, I'd gesture to him to direct his attention back to his devoted fan, but right now, I'm enjoying watching him stare at me.

He blinks, looking down before he turns, speaking to the girl, already backing up. She looks thoroughly upset as he apologizes for having to leave, turning back to walk over to me.

He doesn't say anything at first as we begin to walk side-by-side down the sidewalk.

"My car is over here."

"You drove yourself?"

"Yes, I do know how to drive," he replies defensively. "I'd be pretty lame if I drove around in a limousine every day."

I chuckle to myself as we approach a shiny, darkly-tinted Bentley.

Damn, nice car.

He steps down to get the door to the passenger side for me. I slip into the leather, inhaling that delicious new car smell. He shuts the door, and I exhale for the few seconds I have alone before Giovanni sits down beside me in the driver's seat.

I look at him as he shuts the door, my heart in my throat as he reaches over, kissing me abruptly. It's a strange feeling having his hand on my neck, the nape bare now. I don't push him back. In fact, I lean closer to him, moaning softly when his hand moves into my newly-styled hair, disrupting all the hard work that woman just did, and I could literally give a damn.

I can't stop kissing him.

***

Wanting to be out of the public eye, we decided on take-out, bringing it back to Giovanni's very large, very beautiful home. It's daytime now, so I can see the landscape, the intricate architecture of the building perfectly. Giovanni takes the food out of the car as I look around, smiling at the sight of a garden.

He could grow his own food.

"Do you care for this yourself?"

"I do."

Hm, Chef Giovanni.

I follow him up the steps into the house, amazed at how nice the weather is when it's snowing in New York. I sigh with relief when we are inside, setting down my bag on the table, not bothering to look at my phone.

I think I'm going to ignore it for the rest of the weekend.

"Will you take this to the table? I need to call Sasha back."

I nod, taking the bags from him. I walk past the Zen waterfall with a small smile. I usually feel uncomfortable in people's homes, but here, I'm happy. I'm calm.

I step into the living room, crossing it to get to the table. Setting down the bags, I inhale the chicken fried rice, extraordinarily hungry.

"Who the hell are you?"

My head snaps up at the sound of a woman's voice. I find a gorgeous woman sitting on the loveseat by the window, and my stomach falls.

Lola.

It's Lola.

Defense mode is up immediately. What the hell is she doing here? "Lola... um, hello."

Her eyes are taking in every inch of me. "How do you know me?"