Chapter 52
I get up carefully, still trembling, and Gianni turns me to face him.
The lust in his eyes shifts instantly into something else. Protection.
It’s no longer the god of raw sex standing in front of me, but the other side of the man I love, the one whose memory never allowed me to truly hate him.
Gianni slips my bra back into place and buttons up my blouse.
He takes a tissue and wipes between my thighs, which are still wet with our orgasms. Then he pulls my skirt down and, only after making sure I’m put back together, tends to himself, tucking his still-hard cock into his boxer briefs and zipping his suit pants.
“I have to get out of here.”
“Not yet, Romniya. You’ve hidden long enough. I’m not ready to let you walk away.”
I force myself to think straight, even though I’m still shaking from the pleasure he gave me. “Owner of the airline or not, I’m on duty.”
“I’m the only passenger in first class.”
Gianni nearly bangs his head on the ceiling when he straightens up in the cramped space. I can hardly breathe with him this close, and if I weren’t so nervous right now, I’d laugh at how absurd this situation is. “Even so, I need to do my job. Unless you’re planning to fire me.”
“Why would I, when I bought the company just so I could hire you?”
And with that bombshell, followed by the brush of his lips against mine, he leaves me standing there, not knowing how to take his words.
I close my eyes, telling myself it’s madness to fall into the same trap twice. The problem is, I can’t lie to myself. Gianni was never a mistake. Despite all the pain I went through, he was the best thing that ever happened to me.
Half an hour later, I still haven’t gone to his seat to offer him anything, the way I should have.
When Irene comes into the galley and glares at me, I know I can’t stall any longer.
“I don’t care what your relationship with the owner is, Elodie, but I expect you to do your job.”
Her scolding stings, even though she’s right.
I’m not ready to face Gianni yet, but when I finally start walking toward his seat, my knees are weak.
He looks like he’s dozing, and for a moment I just stand there, drinking him in. The square jaw, his blond hair longer than I remembered. . .those broad shoulders that always made me feel safe in his arms.
He opens his eyes suddenly, catching me staring.
He doesn’t smile. Only then do I notice the phone in his hand.
“Something happened?”
“My mother had surgery for a breast tumor right after you left. A few months later, another cancer showed up, more aggressive. It was treated, and she seemed fine, but now. . .I suspect it’s back.”
“Oh my God!” I sit down beside him, remembering the impression I always had whenever I saw Greta: that her fiery temper didn’t match her fragile frame. She must have already been sick back then.
“The first time, she hid it from everyone but Tommaso, my oldest brother. This time, I think maybe not even he knows. She’s suffering in silence, and worst of all, not treating herself the way she should.”
“I’m so sorry, Gianni,” I whisper, for the first time pulling my head out of the sand and realizing I wasn’t the only one who suffered this past year. “How is she now?”
“All we have to go on is what she tells us. She says she’s cured, but she won’t let us come to her appointments.”
I take his hand, but he doesn’t lace his fingers with mine. Instead, he looks out the window.
“Talk to me, Gianni.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Of course it is. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
He sighs and squeezes my hand. “I think she got sick because of my father.”
He gives me the condensed version of what I already read in the papers back when we were together: his father, a cheater who kept two families at once. Now separated from his wife, and after continuing to treat Gianni’s mother as second best, Greta finally ended their thirty-year relationship.
Gianni believes the years of bottled-up hurt, hiding her feelings, and pretending to live a perfect life for her children took their toll in the form of cancer.
“I don’t even know what to say.”
Again, he looks away from me, staring at nothing through the window. “She wants to see you. She knows this flight is headed to Italy and asked you to visit her.”
“I wasn’t planning on going to Tuscany, but I’ve got three days off once we land, so yes, I can see her.” I suddenly let go of his hand, suspicion creeping in. “You planned this, too?”
“No. I wanted to take things slow this time. Thought I’d do the opposite of last time. We went from zero to a hundred way too fast.”
I gesture toward the bathroom with my thumb. “That was your idea of slow?”
“No. But I’ve never been able to think rationally when it comes to you, Romniya.”
There’s no arrogance in his tone; on the contrary, it’s as if it pains him to admit losing control.
“Why go this far, Gianni? Why buy an entire airline?”
“I wanted to make your dream come true.”
“I believe that, and I’m grateful. But I also think part of you wanted control over me.”
“I won’t deny it.”
I stand. “I’ll never stop being myself again. I don’t know where this is going, but I need to be clear about that.”
“I never asked you to stop being yourself.”
“No, but I let myself become a doll. I dove headfirst into your world and forgot who I was. It was hard to find myself again. That won’t happen twice.”
He looks irritated. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I’ll wear the clothes I can afford and the jewelry I can buy.”
“I don’t remember ever giving you jewelry.”
I scowl, knowing he’s baiting me. “You’ve been back in my life for two hours and we’re already fighting.”
“Wrong. I never left your life, Romniya. Just like, for me, you never left mine.”