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“Well then, I guess it’s a good thing he’sin lovewith you!” she quipped back, and I could sense a hint of frustration in her tone.
“Don’t you two have somewhere to be?” Henri snapped, waving his hands at both Lily and Lizzie in annoyance.
“Oh, get off your high horse, Henri,” Lily said, a mouth full of chocolate truffles. “You’re just mad that your sister is dating your teammate, aka, the most handsome driver on the grid.” Lily just smirked at my brother, fully aware that she was getting on Henri’s nerves.
Before Henri could squeeze in a snarky comment, I heard the front door of my hotel suite open. In walked Luca and Matteo. The two of them didn’t notice us at first, chatting away about the photo shoot, which, by the look on Matteo’s face, had gone very well. I cleared my throat, and the two men looked up at me. As soon as Luca saw me, a huge smile grew on his face, and he shuffled over to me, giving me a warm hug.
“I see you opened your gift basket. Did you like it?”
“Oh, she loved it!” Lily yelled out behind Luca, her mouth full of a Lindt chocolate she had stolen from the basket of goodies.
“It was very nice, thank you. You really shouldn’t have,” I said, walking over to the basket and pulling out the gold tissue paper. I waved it in the air, rolling my eyes at Luca.
“Yeah, Luca, you really shouldn’t have,” Henri said sternly, looking directly into his teammate’s eyes. I could see Luca blush a bit. He definitely had not been expecting Henri to be here when I openedthatgift.
“I helped pick that one out!” Matteo yelled proudly, not actually looking at what I was holding in the air. Lizzie, Lily, and I looked at Matteo, a shocked look on our faces.
“No, mate, you didn’t help pick outthat one,” Luca chuckled; his face looked slightly embarrassed now.
“Is that not the...”
“No.” Luca gave Matteo a look that told him to stop speaking. “Trust me, I picked out this oneallby myself,” he added with a wink.
“Well, this has been lovely,” Lily finally said, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen between us. “Thanks for the chocolates, Luca. And Georgia, I hope you enjoyallof your gifts,” she added as she wiggled her shoulders like a mom who had just gotten a saucy piece of gossip. Lizzie said her goodbye as well and left the hotel room with Matteo shortly in tow, running after Lizzie, likely to discuss a few more ideas they had to quell the newest story.
“Your coffee is ready, Peaches,” Henri said, handing me the cup of coffee he had brewed with the Denver beans. He poured his coffee into a to go cup and made his way to the door.
“You not going to stay?” I asked. Henri only grinned in response, a devilish gleam in his eyes.
“I can tell when I’m not wanted.” He shut the door after that, but I could hear a small laugh from him as he walked down the hallway, very amused with himself. As the group left our room, I turned to Luca, who had just shoved a chocolate as brown as his eyes into his mouth.
“So…didyou like the item wrapped in the gold tissue paper?” I could see the smirk on his face as my cheeks turned a little red, a blush creeping on my face.
“You’ll just have to wait and find out.”
“You saying I can’t get a sneak preview today?”
“Nope,” I said with a slight pop of the “p” at the end. I gave Luca a pointed Cheshire cat grin, and I grabbed the gold issue paper before heading off into my room.
* * *
Oliver and Edward had organized a small dinner for Henri, Luca, Éliott, and me at a local restaurant that they knew wouldn’t be too mobbed with tourists – or journalists. I put on a blue summer dress with white sandals. As I looked at my jewelry collection, I pulled out the Aphrodite’s bracelet that Luca had given me today. Itwasincredibly beautiful, a very thoughtful gift.
The detail in the charms were incredible. The car was etched to look exactly like the Valkyrie F1 car. I was amazed that Aphrodite’s Jewelry had spent the time to craft this for me, especially since they hadn’t asked me to wear it to any of this weekend’s events yet. Seemed like a lot of work to have no guaranteed reward. Still, it was so beautiful, it wasn’t a hard ask to wear it.
As I walked out into the living room, I saw Luca's eyes stare at the bracelet, and he smiled but said nothing, grabbing my hand and motioning for us to head to the elevator on our floor. I closed my eyes as I waited for the elevator to arrive, issuing a silent prayer to whatever God was listening, begging for it to be empty. For some reason, these hotel elevators seemed to get busier and busier as the season went on.
Luca and I stepped inside the elevator and smiled at the guests inside, huddling together in the corner. The elevator stopped on the next floor, and much to my surprise, in walked Sara, the Maison de Klotho executive who we had met all those weeks ago. She smiled at me and Luca.
“Going to smash it this weekend, Georgia?” Sara asked. If she meant ‘smash the journalists,’ then her answer was yes.
“As if she knows how to do anything else,” Luca quipped, earning a laugh from a few different people in the elevator.
“That Aphrodite’s bracelet is just lovely, Georgia,” Sara said, observing the bracelet around my wrist. “I’ve never seen charms like that.” Sara’s comment took me a bit by surprise, but then again, Maison de Klotho merely owned Aphrodite’s Jewelry. Sara didn’t actually work at Aphrodite’s, nor was she the coordinator who likely helped Luca pick out the charms.
“Luca has exquisite taste.”
“In both women and jewelry.” Sara gave us both a warm smile as the elevator reached the bottom floor. “Looking forward to seeing you both this weekend!”
