“Well let me go to the little girls’ room, and then I’ll leave with you. You can walk me to my car.”
“All right,” I said.
I found myself glancing around the nightclub again. It felt weird to think that I may be giving up such a
lifestyle soon, in favor of spending my nights at home with my wife.
At that precise moment, my eyes landed on a curvy dark-haired beauty. Stunned, I couldn’t believe it was her. Arianna.
I laughed to myself, finding it ironic that I’d just spent so much time describing her to Maria without knowing she was right there under the same roof.
Maria came back towards me from the ladies’ room, smiling. “Well cousin, it’s been great catching up with you. We’ve got to start getting together more often, you know that, right?”
“Definitely,” I said, hugging her. “But I don’t want you to leave just yet.”
“I’ve got to work in the morning. Besides, I thought you said you were about to leave too?”
I grinned. “Yeah, but I want you to meet someone first.”
I looked toward where Arianna had last stood, but she was no longer there. I glanced around the nightclub, but she was nowhere to be found. Just as I was about to describe her to Maria and ask if she had seen a woman fitting the description in the women’s restroom, I finally spotted her.
Something was wrong though. She looked furious and was heading straight for the door, with a friend scurrying behind her.
I frowned.
“What is it?” Maria said. “Who do you want me to meet? Gio?”
“I…I thought I saw…” My voice trailed off. I considered whether it was possible that I’d just been seeing things—or perhaps had only seen a woman who resembled Arianna. But I knew that wasn’t the case. There was no doubt in my mind that it was her. I would recognize her from a mile away at this point.
I glanced around again, wondering if someone had been bothering her. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cell so that I could call her. But as luck would have it, my battery was completely dead. I’d been so busy working with my father that I hadn’t charged my phone all day and forgot to do it before coming out to the club. And I couldn’t even ask to borrow Maria’s phone because I had yet to learn Arianna’s number by heart.
“Okay—earth to Giovanni.” Maria snapped her fingers in front of my face.
I swore and shook my head. “Nothing. Never mind. I thought I saw someone…but, maybe not. I, uhm…I think they left.”
“Have you had too many beers, cousin?”
I forced a laugh. “Maybe so. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
Maria and I tipped the waiters and then headed out. In the parking lot, I glanced around in search of Arianna again, just in case.
Maybe I really was just seeing things, I thought. But I still felt unsettled. I tried to brush the feeling aside though and vowed that I would call her first thing in the morning, just as I had planned to begin with.
CHAPTER 17
Arianna
It had taken some effort, but I managed to shake Angela off so that I could go home alone and unbothered. After seeing Giovanni at the club with another woman, I just needed some time to myself. I couldn’t handle dealing with anyone at the moment.
Granted, I knew Angela could have been a good shoulder to lean on, if necessary. I was so naïve when it came to relationships due to my lack of experience, but Angela, on the other hand, had plenty of experience. In fact, I’d spent a considerable portion of my life living vicariously through her as she told me about her various escapades with men over the years.
She had told me and warned me about the ‘pretty boys’—the handsome ones who could practically seduce you with one wink of the eye. They were good-looking smooth-talkers who were charming on the surface, but corrupt underneath. They were players, and they lived their lives to treating women as conquests. Each woman they managed to seduce was placed on a wall in their memories, like trophies for missions accomplished.
“They’re all the same,” Angela had told me. “I don’t know why I keep falling for them, but I swear I won’t do it again.”
After repeatedly hearing all the warning signs from her for years, I felt beyond stupid for having fallen for one myself. I should have known what kind of guy Giovanni Romano was from a mile away. In a sense, I had though, which was precisely why my guard had been up after our first night together. When I’d woken up in his apartment, I’d seen all the red flags about him. Yet somehow, I was dumb enough to let him get to me again anyway.
I officially knew better now though, and I refused to let him make a fool of me again.