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I had a feeling it was the same receptionist who had woken me up when Mom couldn’t reach me after I first arrived. She’d been paying closer attention to me than anyone else as far as I could tell.
Gian understood my reasons for staying at the hotel, but he didn’t like them. He slept with me every night, however, not bothering to go to his house without me.
Next time, I silently promised us both.
Next time, we would stay in his house instead of a hotel, and we would spend more than a few weeks. I was already looking forward to the next time, not only because I loved Rome and wanted to see other parts of Italy, but because I wanted to be with Gian in his homes and enjoy every minute just being beside him.
“Not really,” I answered distractedly as we walked through the growing crowd of tourists.
He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. With his hand in mine, I was forced to stop too, and I gazed up at him curiously. “Are you feeling unwell?” He touched his palm to my forehead, a frown pulling his brows together with concern. “You look pale, precious.”
“I’m fine,” I assured him, wrapping my arms around his waist. “Just not hungry.”
I couldn’t see his eyes behind his sunglasses, but I knew they were dark with need. His erection flexed against my belly, making me want to climb him like a tree right there and kiss him until neither of us knew our own names.
“Tell me what’s wrong,” he urged, lowering his head until his lips barely skimmed over mine. The soft touch had my breath catching. He didn’t play fair because he knew what those barely there kisses did to me.
“Nothing’s wrong. I promise.” Pushing up onto my tiptoes, I kissed him quickly. “Come on. If you’re asking if I’m hungry, then I know you must be. Let’s order room service and take a long bath. My feet are killing me from all the walking we’ve been doing.”
“Why didn’t you say so?” he grumbled unhappily, scooping me up into his arms. “I would have carried you.”
Laughing, I wrapped my arms around his neck. I knew he wouldn’t drop me, but I loved holding on to him. “Um, because I’m not a toddler, and I can walk all on my own?” He glared down at me, and I couldn’t help giggling. Kissing his jaw, I wiggled in his arms. “I love you, G, but you have to let me walk every once in a while.”
“Not if your feet hurt,” he said with a grunt. When a group of people didn’t get out of his way fast enough, he glared at them, sending two of the guys in the group stumbling back a few steps to let him pass from whatever they saw on his face.
Gian had a body made for sin. Thick muscles, hard abs, thighs so toned I felt like a freak for how turned on I got just looking at them. But while I loved his handsome face, scar and all, he could be intimidating as hell to everyone else. Especially when he got all grumpy and territorial. It was cute, and I felt all kinds of soft and feminine when he got growly, but I was sure he scared the hell out of other people.
I thought it was sexy that other people were scared of my man. I’d grown up surrounded by alpha men, more cavemen than anything, so it was only natural I would pick the most alpha of them all.
Gian carried me into the hotel and straight to the elevators. An older couple was already stepping into one, and the woman blushed a bright pink when she saw the way Gian was holding me. Her husband shot him an approving nod, and Gian winked down at me before brushing a soft kiss over my lips again.
“Tomorrow, I’ll take you shopping for better shoes to walk around in,” he informed me. “Or we will take the car.”
“I’m leaving tomorrow,” I reminded him, feeling my stomach bottom out just thinking about not being with him every minute of the day.
“No,” he said with a simple shake of his head. “We will stay a little longer.”
“I really want to, but I promised my parents I would get everything finalized so I can start the fall term at Trinity.” I stroked my fingers down his jaw, loving the slight scruff there. “We made a deal, G. I go to Rome for six weeks, and now I stay at home for school.”
“Where did you plan on going to school if not Trinity?” he asked, his eyes narrowing on me, and I nearly groaned.
We hadn’t talked about my college plans, and I’d been thankful to avoid that conversation. Something told me he would have been just as upset as my dad had been if I’d gone through with my decision to attend Princeton in the fall. But then again, if I was being honest, that was what I had been going for.
Piss him off. Drive him crazy—just a little. Make him chase me. Admit he couldn’t live without me just as I couldn’t live without him.
He’d done all of that—and more. And every day we’d been together, I’d fallen for him more and more. I had even gotten over him not telling me he loved me back—for the most part. I would have paid any price in the world to hear him say those three words, just once. But for whatever reason, he never uttered them. I wasn’t going to get hung up on it, though. He showed me over and over how much he cared about me.
I would eventually learn to live without hearing the words I craved the most.
“Monroe.” There was a warning in his tone, telling me he wanted an answer.
I glanced at the older couple, both of them watching us attentively, like we were a reality show they couldn’t look away from. While those were my guilty pleasure shows to watch on television, I wasn’t a fan of being the object of live entertainment.
“Can we talk about this after we get to the room?” I asked Gian, turning my gaze back to him.
He clenched his jaw, causing a muscle to tick, and I lowered my head, nipping at his flesh. He clenched his fingers on my hip. “Monroe,” he growled, then cursed in Italian, and I grinned. He’d been teaching me the language, and I’d gotten really good at understanding it, even if I didn’t sound all that pretty when I spoke it.
The elevator slowed then stopped on our floor. Gian’s hold tightened, and he took off at a sprint to our room. I giggled, already pulling out the keycard to swipe before he reached the door.
