Page 10 of Private Reserve
“What can I help you with today?” she asks in English.
“I need a dress. I’m getting married in…” I pause and glance at my watch. “Four hours.”
“Oh my goodness,” she says, and zeros in on my stomach. She obviously thinks I’m pregnant. I resist the urge to correct her.
Gio, however, pulls me into his arms, a public display of affection. “We’ve been apart,” he says and cups my chin. He dips his head, his lips so close to mine I’m sure he’s going to kiss me.
Please kiss me. My pulse thumps, and my lips part in offering.
“And I’m not waiting another second to make this beautiful woman mine,” he says quietly, like he’s speaking only to me.
My heart leaps. There’s something so deep and honest in his eyes as he looks at me, if I didn’t know better, I would think he is serious.
But I do know better.
He hovers over me for a moment, and when the kiss doesn’t come, I blink to pull myself together. I straighten and try to get my breathing under control as the sales lady smiles at Gio, then gives him the o
nce over. Twice. Jealousy surges inside me, and I want to tell her to back the hell off, he’s spoken for. But I don’t because, really, he isn’t. Still, to eye-fuck a guy while his bride—fake or not—is beside him is crude. If my girlfriend Harper were here, she’d have punched the chick by now.
“Please come with me. I think I have just the dress for you.”
Gio keeps his arm around me in a possessive, loving way that envelops me in warmth and feels much deeper than pretend—deeper than just “caring about me.”
If only…
“What was that all about?” I ask.
“I didn’t like the condescending way she looked at your stomach. Pregnant or not, it’s none of her fucking business, and I protect what is mine.”
What is mine?
I swallow the knot clogging my throat and follow the sales lady to the back of the store. The hangers scrape the metal rod as she searches through the dresses. She casts another glance my way. “Size six?”
“Yes,” I say, and she pulls a simple, strapless, A-line dress from the rod and displays it for me. “I think this will be beautiful on you.”
I look it over and glance at Gio. “What do you think?”
His knuckles brush mine, the touch powerful and intimate, so goddamn real I pinch my leg to remind myself it’s not. “Anything will be beautiful on you, Olivia,” he whispers in the softest voice.
Good God, if he keeps touching me and looking at me like that, I’ll never survive this.
I run shaky fingers over the dress. “It’s so pretty.”
“Try it on,” Gio says, looking like he’s in total agony as he gives my hand a little squeeze. I pause for a second and take in his pained expression. What the hell has come over him? I’m about to ask but stop when he gestures toward the changing room and says, “Go.”
“Okay.”
I make a move to turn, but his hand captures mine to stop me. “Liv,” he says, his voice a soft rasp that sends shivers skittering through me. “I want to see it on you.”
The sales lady wags her finger at Gio. “Now, you know it’s bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her dress, right?”
“Yeah, I know.” He drops onto the sofa facing the changing rooms. I meet his eye, and he gives me a smile so full of heat and promise, my entire body warms. “I’m waiting,” he says.
I slip into the changing room and peel off my sundress. My fingers slide over the soft silk of the dress, as I put my feet into it and pull it up. I press my hand to my stomach and turn left and right, the hem swishing with the movement. So far I love it, but I can’t quite seem to get it zipped all the way. I open the door in search of help, and when I find Gio staring at me from the sofa, his eyes flaring hot, my knees wobble. My God, is it possible that he does want me in his bed?
Could he want me as much as I want him?
I mull that over for a second then bite the inside of my cheek as I give myself a quick lecture. This isn’t about love or sex. You’re both just doing each other a favor, Olivia.
