27. Theá
Chapter twenty-seven
Theá
I t’s warm and the air feels festive with Premio and Whylde winning, along with Natalia’s birthday. Antonio’s expression, however, is stoic as we arrive at the restaurant and he hands his keys to the valet.
“Are you okay?” I ask as I wrap my hand around his upper arm to help stabilise myself as we head up the stairs.
“Hmm,” he answers without even looking at me.
“Hmm? That’s not an answer. What’s wrong?” I pout, and that catches his attention.
“It’s nothing, Theresa.”
“Now I know there’s definitely something wrong.” I chuckle, but it’s without humour as I stop in my tracks.
“What are you doing? We’re going to be late?”
“I’m not moving until you tell me what’s wrong.”
His eyes meet mine, and for the first time, I notice they aren’t as bright as they have been the last few days.
“It’s nothing important, Theá. It’s stupid, actually.”
“If it’s making you feel upset, then it’s not stupid. Did I do something wrong?” I take a step back.
“No. God no.” He moves closer, cupping my face. That’s when I see it, in this close proximity, the pink tinge to his cheeks is unmissable. He’s embarrassed. “I’m just being selfish. I’ve had you all to myself since the wedding, so I’m not used to sharing you with other people or having to fight for your attention.”
A small smile pulls on my lips.
“See? I told you it was stupid.” He lifts his glasses and runs a hand over his face. He looks so sheepish and nervous that I’m in disbelief.
Antonio Vitale, one of Europe’s youngest billionaires, is worried about fighting for my attention. This 6’5, absolute god of a man, is upset because he thinks I’m not paying attention to him. If only he knew.
I grab both his hands. “It’s not stupid, and you never have to fight for my attention, Nino. You’ve had my attention since the first day we met.”
“You…You called me Nino.”
I bite my lip, the nickname slipped past my lips without me intending it. I’ve been wanting to call him that since I heard Augustus and Adriano call him that, but it seemed too personal. “Is that okay?”
“More than okay.” His hand cups my jaw and he pulls me in for a kiss. It steals my breath and for a split second, my world is frozen. Nothing else in this world matters more than Antonio’s lips against mine.
“Keep it in your pants, Nino,” a female voice exclaims, and it shatters through my little fantasy, sending reality right back through me.
Antonio and I pull apart to find Valerie and Ambrose standing a few steps below. I smile brightly as I slip out of Antonio’s grasp and walk over to greet her.
“You look absolutely stunning,” I say, meaning every syllable. She’s wearing a gorgeous off-the-shoulder, floor-length, black dress. A change of colour to her usual pink
“Says you! This is 100% your colour!” she exclaims, pulling me into a hug. My cheeks heat because I know the reason I started wearing yellow was because it is a certain someone’s favourite colour. “It makes you look like you’re glowing,” she continues her praise as she steps back.
“Because she is,” Antonio says as he steps up behind me. Ambrose offers me his standard head nod of acknowledgement before guiding Valerie inside the restaurant.
“I can’t tell if your brother likes me or not,” I say as Antonio guides me to do the same.
“He doesn’t like anyone but Valerie.” He shrugs. “Don’t take it personally.”
The server guides us to a room just off the main dining hall, and it’s decorated to the nines in gold, red, and black. A truly luxe scene as I take in everyone in the room. Celebrities from all over the world, ones I’ve fangirled over for years, are standing here in front of me.
“Wow,” I whisper.
“Starstruck?” Antonio asks, his mouth next to my ear.
“Just a little, this is crazy.”
“Take it in your stride, they’ll love you…” I hear him hesitate at the end of his sentence, but he doesn’t say anything more.
Instantly. the usual suspects surround us. I head straight for Selena who has finally decided to grace us with her presence.
“We missed you at the race today,” I say as I reach her, and she smiles brightly.
“I had a shoot,” she pouts. “I actually came straight from there. Luckily, my stylist had this dress in her car or Natalia would’ve killed me.” We both chuckle, knowing the pop star accepts nothing less than extra for every event.
“You look great either way,” I say reassuringly.
She shrugs me off. “How was it though? Gus said Antonio is quite moody.”
I frown for a second before slipping it away again. His brothers noticed the mood, too. I can’t help but wonder if there’s something more going on than what he said.
My eyes drift across the room to where they’re talking, and he seems a lot more relaxed than he did when we arrived. “He’s not the biggest fan of Formula 1, so he was just bored,” I say before returning my attention to her.
“Makes sense. I thank my lucky stars I had the shoot, even I’d get bored of watching it. Yet somehow, Adriano and Gus are obsessed with the damn sport.”
“Natalia, too.” I chuckle, and immediately begin filling Selena in on the day and just how much our birthday girl enjoyed it.
A glass clinking causes the room to fall silent and all attention moves to the lady of the hour in the centre, dawning the most stunning, skin-tight, red dress. “If everyone could take their seats, they’ll be serving food soon.” She smiles brightly, and you can practically hear everyone in the room swoon at her natural beauty. A taller man covered in tattoos is at her side in seconds, and I raise my brow.
“Who’s that?” I ask Selena as we head to find our seats.
“Oh, that’s Leo, Natalia’s older brother.”
“Wow, he’s…” I cut my sentence short when I feel a familiar presence behind me. “…nothing compared to my husband,” I continue, and Sel chuckles.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Have a seat, tesoro ,” Antonio grumbles as he pulls out my seat for me.
“Don’t fangirl too hard. Adriano is already his number one fan,” Antonio adds. I look over at Adriano, who indeed does look like he’s looking at the love of his life as his eyes track Leo around the room.
“What does he do?” I ask, still looking at Leo. His presence is scary, yet inviting and magnetic all at once. Very similar to his sister. It’s an almost irresistible pull. His eyes meet mine and the bright blue colour sparkles as a brow raises in my direction.
“He’s part of this band called Solex. Adriano loves them. Ambrose, too. Ambrose is a bit more…subtle with his obsession,” Antonio says.
His words snap me out of the trance and I focus my attention on the drink being placed in front of me.
An Aperol Spritz.
I look at Antonio. His arm is draped lazily over the back of my chair as he chats with Mattia on his other side. He looks ethereal, in his element, and comfortable. He looks gorgeous, to put it bluntly.
My stomach flutters as his eyes return to mine, almost as if he felt my stare burning into him. Then, those beautiful, green eyes drink me in. “Everything okay, tesoro ?”
“Perfect,” I say, and he kisses the top of my head.
I don’t know if this is all fake right now. Because it feels very fucking real. It feels like we’re really married, like that was second nature for him. And the butterflies that erupt as a result are a feeling I never want to stop.