Page 18 of Married to My Enemy

“What?”

“Let’s take a walk.” When I didn’t respond, he leaned down toward me. “Our parents are going to get suspicious if they don’t see us at least trying to get along, you know that, right? And we really do need to get along, don’t you think?”

With a sigh, I stood from the table. “Fine.”

I followed Gio as he led me toward the front door of the house. We passed by our fathers, who smiled and waved at us on the way out.

The evening had turned chilly, but it was lovely nonetheless. Bright stars sparkled overhead.

“Beautiful night, isn’t it?” Gio said. Once again, he reached for my hand, wanting to help me down the stairs, but I ignored him and descended the stairs on my own.

“I guess,” I said.

We walked across the yard and set off down a path along the sidewalk. I shivered slightly in the breeze.

“Are you cold?” he asked. He began unbuttoning his blazer, presumably to offer to me.

“No, I’m fine,” I said, not wanting his chivalry.

His hand brushed mine as he attempted to hold it again, but I snatched it away.

“Look,” I said, coming to a halt, “we may be forced to get married, but that doesn’t mean anything, got it?”

Gio stopped and looked back at me. He tilted his head. “What do you mean it doesn’t mean anything?”

“I mean that on paper, we’ll be married, but we’ll never actually be a thing.”

“Arianna, what did I do? I mean—we had a good time last night, but today, you hate me, and I don’t understand why.”

“The fact that you don’t know why is precisely the problem.”

CHAPTER 11

Giovanni

I knew I was in over my head, but I had no idea how to tell my family.

The not-so-romantic walk Arianna and I had taken after dinner hadn’t ended well. She made it abundantly clear that she wasn’t happy with our pre-arranged nuptial, and she already had no intentions of honoring our union as a real marriage. All because of something I did.

Ironically, before finding out she was my future bride-to-be, I had shared similar sentiments. But after seeing her response, I was beginning to have a change of heart. I wanted to give this thing an actual shot, and it was driving me crazy that she wasn’t willing to do the same.

After years of having women fawning at my side, I didn’t want to think that I was merely feeling offended about a woman not wanting me. I didn’t want to think I was truly that vain. But the more Arianna resisted me, the more frustrated I became, and I knew it wasn’t just solely because of my responsibility to my family.

This woman was hurting my pride.

“So—I see you and Arianna went for an after-dinner stroll. How did things go?” my father had asked after the Marino’s left that evening.

“We’re still new to each other. It’s going to take some time…”

“I know that. But what was your first impression? Do you think you’ll be able to go through with this?”

“Are you honestly giving me a choice?”

“You volunteered for this, Gio.”

“I know, I know…I’ll…I’ll give it my best shot.”

“Do you not find her appealing? I think she’s a beautiful girl. Well-mannered. Educated. Loves children. What more can you ask for? You just do what you do. Work your charm. Win her over so we can start planning this wedding.”

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