Page 17 of Obsessed Alphas: Volume Two

“é buono.” I took my seat back at the café, watching as she moved about. Sitting idly by wasn’t my thing. When I wanted something, I took it, but I had enemies, and she could be the bait to lure me in.

After checking my watch, two minutes passed, and that was the extent of my patience. Stepping up behind her as she tried to move around Cosimo, I laughed because my sweet bride-to-be was a tourist. Perfect.

When she turned to give me her best pissed off scowl, my sexy little thing gasped, and that hardened expression relaxed, allowing me to see the hint of lust in her eyes. I cuffed her bicep with my hand and led her to the table I’d dined at moments earlier.

“Come, Tesoro, sit with me and tell me why you’re running around the piazza. I hope it’s not a foolish man you were looking for.”

“Well yes,” she said, spinning her head around to look behind her. I let out a growl, ready to dispose of my competition. She turned her head back to me, and added with a blush, “Not like a boyfriend or anything. I was on a group tour and I got separated from them. I shouldn’t even tell you that. I don’t know you.”

“I’d never do anything to hurt you. I’m Alessandro DiMarco. What’s your name?”

“Isabella Vitali.” Did she come to Naples to find her roots or was it a class trip? Either way she’d been abandoned, and I wouldn’t stand for it. Her Italian needed work, but a lifetime with me would fix that.

“Tell me the company.” I’d have them fired immediately. Anyone could have abducted her from the streets. She had no idea how easy it was for a tourist to disappear and tossed into a sex-trafficking trade. The sea wasn’t far from here, someone could have taken her. She needed to learn to protect herself from the slick bastards out there when I wasn’t there to watch over her.

She sat nervously, biting her bottom lip, and fidgeting with the napkin on the table. “Honestly, it’s fine. I’m just going to go back to my hotel. I think it’s time I went home.”

“How long have you been in Italy?” I’d felt bruised by the fact that she was in my country without me. I intended to show her all the reasons she should stay with me.

“A day.”

“A day, and you’re ready to leave?” I was glad I found her before she left me forever. A burning pain in my chest from the realization that a two-minute difference would have been a lifetime missed.

“It was a mistake to come all the way here.”

“A mistake? I don’t believe that to be true. Isabella, I couldn’t let you leave now—unless I’d follow you back to America.” I sounded insane, but I didn’t give a shit. I was obsessed.

“You don’t even know me.”

She had a point, but my soul knew it the second I saw her exit the building. My heart raced out of control and all I saw was a future with her and our family we made. “Well that is what we have time for. Let me be your personal tour guide.”

The waitress came to take our order. So while we decided, I sent out a text to Cosimo to do some digging. After the waitress wrote down what we wanted and left, I asked, “So can I take you on a tour of Naples?”

“I don’t even know you. How am I supposed to trust you?” Smart.

“You trusted some other man and he abandoned you,” I growled, mostly to myself. “I’m not going to hurt you, but I want to ask you something. What made you cry earlier?” If it were being left here, I’d bury the fuck that forgot about her.

“The Pompeii exhibit. I mean I guess that makes me soft.”

“Amore, it’s there for a reason. It would not be such a special exhibit if it weren’t for the tragedy that happened in 79A.D. Pain and fear, hopelessness frozen in time.” Her eyes welled-up with tears and fuck, I wanted to kick myself. “I’m sorry, cara mia. I didn’t mean to upset you again.”

“No. See how silly I am?”

“There is nothing silly about it. Nothing. It was what drew me to you. I saw your gentle heart, and I wanted it for my own. I want you more than I can express, but I will take you on a small tour after dinner.”

“Okay.”

The food was excellent as usual. I watched Isabella move around her salad, hardly touching it. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Just a little uncomfortable. Listen. I’d like to go back to my hotel room. I’m not feeling up for a tour or anything else.” She appeared to suddenly get sleepy which bothered me. I wished I could take her back to the villa and let her sleep in our bed, but I knew it was too soon.

“Was it something I said?” I asked, hoping that I was reading her tired look correctly.

“No,” she exclaimed, shaking her head and gesturing with her hands.

“Well then what is it?”

“I think all that nervous energy made me tired. All of a sudden, I’m exhausted.”