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Urgh. That voice. Why does it have such an effect on me? My whole body stood to attention and my heart fluttered before he had even come into my eyeline. Keeping my eyes glued to my croissant like it was the most interesting thing I had ever seen; I could feel his heated gaze on me. He was being too nice today. It was unsettling.
“What do you mean?” Cecilia asked as he took a seat at the head of the table.
“We are going to France. We fly out in two days,” he replied coolly. My eyes flickered up to stare at him. I couldn’t help it. Something in my stomach dropped. Was he going away? For how long? Hang on. Why did I care? This should be a relief. I would finally get the peace and space I had so desperately wanted.
“We?” Cecilia had put her untouched breakfast down and was looking a little unsure.
“Yes. We. All of us.”
I coughed loudly as a piece of buttery pastry got caught in my throat and they all stared at me with concern as I flapped my hand apologetically. Surely, he didn’t meanallof us. Cecilia must have been thinking the same thing as she repeated her question.
“We as in the whole family?”
“Si Mamma and Olivia.”
OK, now I really was choking. I grabbed my glass of water and started taking urgent gulps to try and dislodge my breakfast. Placing the glass back down, I stared at him from across the table in disbelief.
“What?” I managed to choke out.
He leaned back in his chair with an amused smirk. “What is wrong with everyone this morning? Are you all hard of hearing? Yes. We are all going to France. Mamma and I have some business to attend to, so I thought why not take the opportunity to stay in our ski lodge in the Alps for a long weekend? Raya has never been, and Sani was barely walking, let alone skiing the last time we went.”
Cecilia’s face radiated with glee as her eyes shone brightly. She leaned over the table, grabbed her son’s face in her hands and gave him a massive kiss on the cheek. Giovanni merely chuckled lowly and shook his head as she released him. I was still sitting with my mouth hanging open in shock.
“Are we going on holiday? All together? And Liv?” Sani shouted excitedly and Giovanni nodded, a huge, satisfied smile on his face as he popped a grape into his mouth. His eyes found their way to mine, and he winked. Oh, dear lord. I cannot go on holiday with this man. I can barely be in a room with him for more than a few minutes without wanting to strangle him or kiss him.
“I can’t go. It sounds...lovely but I don’t think it necessary for me to come on a family holiday,” I said quickly, causing his smile to fade.
“Nonsense! I need you there! Like Gio said, we will need to do some business, so someone will need to be around to watch the kids. Have you ever been skiing, Olivia?” Cecilia looked about twenty years younger, the way she beamed at me and her eyes twinkled. Gone was the gloom and sadness they held only ten minutes ago.
“No but – I –“ I stumbled over my words, wracking my brain to come up with some brilliant excuse.
“You have another date? With your boyfriend?” Giovanni cocked his head to the side playfully and sat back with mischief in his eyes. He hadn’t told his mother about what had happened last night, which I was grateful for or maybe he had, but she had politely ignored the small bruise on my face. Who knows with this family?
I narrowed my eyes at this infuriating man. How can I go from actually thinking he was a decent human being from the way he handled the situation with that mugger this morning to finding him so irritating I wanted to stab him in the eye with my fork? “Maybe I do.”
His dark eyes hardened but he kept that shit-eating grin on his face, calling my bluff. “I very much doubt that bambola.”
I felt my heart flutter at hearing him call me that again. After last night and his confession as to why he calls me doll, I have to admit, I liked it. Not that I would ever tell him that. I scoffed loudly, “What is that supposed to mean?”
“The man has more sense than to take you on another date. Trust me,” he smirked, and I folded my arms across my chest.
“Did you find a prince Liv?” Sani startled me with his interruption and brought us both back into the room, reminding us of the fact that we had an audience to our bickering. Giovanni chuckled lowly as he reached for another grape and I peered down at Sani, giving him my best fake smile.
“No one as worthy as you Sani,” I ruffled his hair and he grinned. Once again, I felt Giovanni's penetrating gaze on me, but I refused to look his way. Instead, I glanced up to see Cecilia leaning back in her chair, her curious eyes darting between Giovanni and me.
“Well, I don’t know what that was all about and nor do I wish to, but it is in your contract, Liv, that you will need to attend holidays or trips that the children go on,” she smiled sweetly, but her eyes were stern. She was really saying, I didn't have a choice.
“Well, I understand that Cecilia, but I haven’t actually signed the contract yet. I was hoping to speak to you about that today,” I said in a hushed tone, hoping the children and Giovanni wouldn’t hear. No such luck. I saw Giovanni sit up straighter in his chair from the corner of my eye.
“You haven’t signed the contract?” His voice was dominant and serious. All his previous mischief and playfulness had evaporated.
I sighed and turned my head to him. “That is what I just said.”
“Why not?”
“I wish to speak to your mother about this matter,” I replied curtly and watched his strong jaw muscles flex in annoyance.
“Then let’s talk, my dear. Later. I need to go and take my medication first. I will come and find you,” she smiled down at me as she stood. “I am very excited about our trip, Giovanni. I must start packing right away. You must invite Elle too and she can attend that museum she wants to go to! I have a feeling that this may be a trip to remember!”
