Page 115 of 7+Us Makes Nine

I sighed. “I just feel that we did things backward, that’s all. And I’m not sure how I feel about that. It makes me feel indecent, as a woman. My mother didn’t raise me to…”

“Give yourself away before marriage?”

I swallowed nervously and nodded. “I don’t know what it is about you that makes me go against everything I’d been taught.”

“I guess it’s my good looks. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Most women would have a hard time resisting me.”

I looked up at him and blinked.

He burst out laughing. “Relax, Ari. I’m just joking.”

“No, you’re not,” I said, laughing regardless. “You are the cockiest person I’ve ever met.”

He grinned slyly. “Let me hear you say that again.”

My face flushed again. I shook my head. “Stop it,” I said.

Giovanni laughed heartily. “You are so hot when you’re embarrassed. It’s adorable, really.”

“How am I supposed to put up with you?”

“Just keep doing what you did to me before we left the house. That’ll work for me.”

“Gio, stop it!” I said through an uncontrollable laugh that was steadily building up inside of me.

“Stop what?” he said, feigning innocence.

I was spared from having to answer him when our food arrived.

“Thank you,” I said to the waiter as he set my plate before me.

“Is there anything else I can get for you?”

“No, thank you,” Gio responded.

The waiter nodded and left our table.

“For the record,” Gio said, after we’d been eating in silence for a while, “I think this can work out fine. You and me.”

“Of course, you do,” I said. “You believe you’re God’s gift to women, don’t you?”

“No, but I do think it was a gift for me to get matched to you. At this point, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Luck was certainly in my favor.”

“Do you say that to all the girls?”

“Not at all.”

He stared at me from across the table again, and my body began to tingle. I started to think about the feel of his body, and suddenly desire almost suppressed my appetite. As I tried to focus on eating, I couldn’t help wondering if he could sense the direction of my thoughts based on the way he suddenly seemed unable to take his eyes off me.

I suppose it really could have been worse. My parents could have paired me with someone a lot less appealing, which made me feel that it was perhaps time to accept things the way they were. I had been paired with a handsome man with a decent family, who was just as attracted to me as I was to him. So maybe Giovanni Romano had a point—this could work out.

CHAPTER 13

Giovanni

I guess what they say is true—third time’s a charm.

Instead of going back to the Marino compound, Arianna and I went back to my apartment.

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