Page 47 of His to Keep
Rosalia slides over a cappuccino and a piece of almond cake with an apricot glaze. She’s also made a platter of fresh fruit and there’s a bowl of Greek yoghurt. This is my type of breakfast. I’ve never understood the appeal of eating fried crap first thing in the morning. I wonder what Gio prefers. He strikes me as the type to choose a healthy option. Of course, I could be wrong. Perhaps he devours his own bodyweight in bacon every day.
Taking a large bite of the dense, flavorful almond cake, I scroll down the page in front of me. I’ve already discovered that mybest friend Lia is studying medicine in Edinburgh like she always intended to. Sophia is at the same university getting a physics degree. That is a surprise. I always thought she’d go down the drama route; she loved acting in the plays we put on with our high school theater club. I guess she succumbed to pressure from her parents to follow a more conventional career path.
Lauren, who I did Highland dancing and gymnastics with from the time I could walk, is a mother of two small boys. Her partner is Fergus MacNeil who used to bully her in the playground. I guess he liked her all along.
The page I’m looking at now belongs to Callum Barclay. He’s changed so much I had to check his information a couple of times to make sure it was the same person. Sadly, it is. The boy I once thought was the cutest on the planet now sports a weird goatee and has an impressive beer gut for a nineteen-year-old.
“I can’t believe I had a crush on this guy.” I turn the laptop around so Rosalia can see.
She grimaces. “You liked this guy?”
“He was cuter when he was fifteen. I thought he’d go the other way, you know, that he’d get all buff and manly.”
“You thought who would get all buff and manly?” Gio asks as he comes into the room. He slept longer than me, something I doubt is typical of him. I guess he wore himself out. After his brief episode of breathlessness, my super-hot husband seemed to want to prove himself by fucking me into the mattress not once but twice. Then he woke me in the early hours of the morning by mercilessly teasing my nipples and playing with my clit. That led to more fucking. He didn’t have trouble breathingagain, but I’m worried he’ll work himself into an early grave trying to prove his physical prowess.
As Rosalia excuses herself and leaves the room, I bring the laptop back around to show Gio what I was looking at.
“I fancied this guy like mad when I was in school.”
“Guess you traded up.” Gio puffs out his chest.
Though his arrogance is justified in this instance, I can’t let him get away with it. “You sound like your cousin.”
“Ugh! Shoot me now.”
I arch an eyebrow. “Is Lorenzo really so bad?”
“Nah, I don’t suppose he is. He’s a cocky asshole, but it is kind of a family trait. Wait until you meet Leo and Matteo.”
Not wanting to think about meeting his family yet, I rake my eyes slowly over Gio’s fine form. He’s wearing jeans and a black button-down shirt with black boots that look like they were polished to please a particularly demanding drill sergeant. There’s no disputing that he’s an upgrade from Callum Barclay and his burgeoning beer gut.
“Are you going somewhere?” His appearance is a little smart for lounging by the pool I’ve only just learned is in a building at the edge of the garden.
“Weare,” he replies. “I thought you might want to go into Florence and buy some clothes.”
That would be fun. “Is it safe?”
“Yeah. Damiano’s sending a driver for us and Lorenzo’s going to meet us in the city.”
“Okay. Can Rosalia come with us?”
A little crease appears at the bridge of Gio’s nose. “You want to take the housekeeper shopping?”
His tone bugs me. “She’s friendly and I’m not exactly drowning in friends right now.”
He rubs his chin thoughtfully for a moment, then motions toward the laptop. “Is this because you were looking up old friends?”
“What?”
“Do you miss them? Do you want to reconnect?”
It’s the damnedest thing. Every day I was Jason Henry’s captive I dreamed of getting together with my friends, just to hang out and enjoy each other’s company. Now, I don’t really care if I never see any of them again. Too much has happened. Their social media posts, filled with their day to day nonsense as well as images from the big events in their lives are proof that we’ve drifted too far apart now. Seeing them would be weird. It would be even more jarring than my brother’s sudden reappearance in my life was.
“No, there’s been too much water under the bridge. I wouldn’t know what to say to any of them now.” The way Gio tilts his head to the side and purses his lips tells me he doesn’t believe that. I decide to move the conversation on. “So, can Rosalia come with us?”
Gio shrugs. “She seems nice.”
“Is that a yes?”
