Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“I was just coming to see if you were ready,” he said calmly.
“I am,” I answered with a bubbly, not at all strained smile.
“Come on, then.” He nodded toward the stairs at the end of the hall, already headed in that direction.
I glanced at Giovani’s room. The door was still closed and there was no sign of his presence at all. Where was he? Had something happened to him?
I walked down the hallway, side by side with Alessandro, barely paying attention as my mind whirled with possibilities.
“You look beautiful today.” Alessandro smiled at me.
“Uh-huh.”
“You smell good. Did you use perfume?” He leaned closer to me, sniffing around my hair. “It smells like strawberries.”
“It’s soap,” I said blankly, leaning away from him as we turned to head down the staircase.
Just as I took my first step down, I tripped in mid-air like the clutz I was. Before I could fall, a hand wrapped around my waist, pulling me back into a hard figure. I breathed out, wide-eyed as I realized I had almost toppled over down the stairs. I would’ve broken something, no doubt.
“You should be more careful, Livi,” Alessandro breathed softly in my ear.
I shivered, and not for a good reason.
There was an uncomfortable feeling in my chest as I pulled away from Alessandro, pretending to fix my hair as I refused to look at him. Goosebumps had erupted all along my arms and shoulders, and I could still feel his touch lingering despite breaking away.
Unlike when Giovani touched me, I didn’t like this one bit.
“Thanks,” I muttered, wrapping my arms around my middle.
Alessandro sent me a massive grin, a flirtatious look in his eye as he stepped closer and leaned down.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered to me. “I’ll always be there to catch you.”
My lips thinned as I prevented any words from flowing out of my throat. I couldn’t be rude when Alessandro had just saved me from a rough tumble down the stairs, but there was something about the way he looked at me–like I was a piece of meat in the eyes of a dog–that I just didn’t like.
His attempts at flirting were obvious and also incredibly uncomfortable. I could only nod, a strained smile on my face as I wished I was anywhere else but here.
“What’s going on?”
A new voice broke through my thoughts, and I whirled to face the new person. A smile burst across my lips as I spotted Giovani standing there, an impassive look on his face.
“Nothing,” I said hurriedly just as Alessandro opened his mouth.
“Livi almost fell down the stairs, so I caught her.” He smirked, proudly, looking like a peacock preening in front of a potential mate. “Nothing to see here.”
“I see,” Giovani said patiently. “It’s almost time to go, so we’d better get down there. Gabriele has the cars waiting.”
“Okay.” Alessandro smiled, trying to be charming as he turned to me. “I’ll hold your hand when we go down so you won’t be scared.”
“No, that’s okay,” I shook my head, but he wasn’t paying any attention.
Before I could protest anymore, he grabbed my hand in his tightly, preventing me from pulling away as he tugged me down the stairs with him.
I glanced behind me at Giovani, trying to send him a “help me” look, but he only stared at us blankly as Alessandro forced me down the stairs.
Irritation crawled under my skin. It was clear he was going to be of no help.
Once my feet landed on the last step, I tugged my hand away from Alessandro, stepping away as I firmly held my stance.
“Finally, you guys took forever,” Tallon called out as he entered the foyer from the kitchen. He was holding a popsicle in his hand–some sort of lime and white flavor. The madman bit into it without even a flinch, staring at us expectantly.
I sent him a horrified glance.
“How can you stand to bite into it? It’s freezing!” I scolded him, half in wonder and half in horror.
“Eh.” He just shrugged.
“Car’s here,” Giovani said as he stepped down. “Let’s go.”
He wasted no time as he swerved past the three of us and opened the door before shifting his eyes toward us expectantly.
Tallon stuck the popsicle in his mouth, humming what sounded an awfully lot like, “Aye-aye, sir!” before he stepped outside.
“You’ll ride with me.” Alessandro turned to me with a huge smile.
My eyes went wide, and I opened my mouth to tell him that I was absolutely not going to ride with him, but there was no time to speak.
He grabbed me by the wrist and tugged me out the door with him before I could say a single word of protest. I glanced at Giovani as we passed, wondering if he was even going to stop this madness.
He just nodded in response, locking up the door behind us like he wasn’t bothered in the slightest.
I steamed in my annoyance, glaring at Alessandro’s back as he pulled me along. I felt more like a piece of luggage than an actual human being–like I was a dog, and Alessandro held the leash. The only thing I could do is go to the end of my leash and bark.
My choices had been taken from me, and I was getting angry about it.
I was relieved when he let my wrist go so he could pull open the door to the black sedan for me. I stubbornly got inside, rubbing my wrist from the tight grip he’d had on it.
I knew he didn’t mean to be so rough with me, but Alessandro had always been like this, doing what he wanted without considering anyone else’s feelings. When we were kids, I’d just let it happen because he was Dahlia’s older brother, and I felt like he was mine too.
But after learning of his feelings for me, every action he took had a different meaning to it now. And I wasn’t liking it one bit.
Alessandro got in on the other side, leaving Giovani and Tallon to take the other car. I sulked as I buckled, and then looked at the driver in surprise.
It was Gabriele. Shouldn’t he be driving Giovani?
“You know I’m going to be staying here for a while,” Alessandro said, hinting at something as he buckled. He smirked at me like there was some hidden meaning in his words, but I only frowned.
“Don’t you have to go back to the States?” I asked, confused. “I thought you had a job over there.”
Alessandro shrugged. “It’s not as important as catching Dahlia’s kidnappers. The people who did this to her are going to pay big time once we catch them.”
“We?” I asked, downright bewildered now. “Isn’t that up to Giovani? He’s the leader, isn’t he?”
Alessandro’s eyes darkened, and he glanced at me, the resentment in his eyes on full display. It wasn’t directed at me, but at Giovani.
