Chapter 21

I tried to chop this chapter up a bit so it was a little bit easier to read, but it may not show the whole chapter so I hope it works! Anyways, thanks so SO so much for reading. Enjoy! Xx :D

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CHAPTER 21: The next week or so was relatively, mostly quiet. Besides the times when Giovanni was roaring at his men to find Natalie's father. Natalie couldn't help but wince with every loud, or deadly low command that was given. She felt bad that Giovanni was running all of his men ragged and it was all because of her.

Even so, Giovanni insisted that she planned the wedding. Even though she wasn't as horrified as the thought as she first was, she wished that they didn't still have to go through with it. Maybe date for a while-like regular couples.

Were they even qualified to be called a 'couple'?

Natalie didn't know what to call her relationship with Giovanni. Was it business, or something more than that?

So, with the help of Ana-Marie, Natalie had been planning the wedding like crazy and even though Ana-Marie was doing a lot of it, Natalie felt beyond tired and drained.

Who knew wedding planning could take so much out of you?

Lately when they have had to meet people, like caterers and florists-they all had to come to the house. Giovanni hadn't allowed Natalie to leave the house once since the incident at the café during the lunch date between her and Ana-Marie.

It was frustrating that Natalie was back to being a prisoner, a captive-- by her own fiancée.

Sighing, Natalie put on a white lace panties and a matching bra, then pulled on a taupe silk shirt-dress.

It fell about mid-thigh and it was surprising in how comfortable it was.

The fabric whispered a soft caress against her skin and she smiled at her reflection as she curled her hair. She was almost all the way healed up, the cuts just small scratches and scabs now.

The only thing to show of her ordeal was a bruise on her cheekbone with the small, almost unnoticeable, healing scratch in the middle of the light yellow and purple bruise. She slipped in some small dangly coral colored earrings that matched her coral colored clutch. Today, was cake-tasting day, and Natalie was sure that it would be her favorite part in wedding planning.

She was surprised when Ana-Marie told her that Giovanni had decided to let them actually out of the house. She had to resist the urge to do a dance on her bed screaming "FREEDOM!" so, instead she put on a small polite smile that barely contained the full-blown grin that wanted to split over her face.

Natalie turned and slipped on some small, cute flats and then made her way out of her and Giovanni's room to begin making her way down the stairs where Ana-Marie said she would be waiting.

She slipped on her ray-bans over her head as she began shuffling through the small clutch to make sure she had the essentials. Lip stick, a small pill box that had some Tylenol, and a tampon.

"Hey. I'm ready to go. I-" she stopped dead, her mouth hanging open as she looked up from her clutch to find Giovanni standing at the bottom of the stairs with a grinning Ana-Marie and Nicholas next to him.

She could only stare. She had barely seen Giovanni this past week. He had always come to bed late, and she had been half asleep and only partially felt the kiss on her head and the arms around her waist. Same when she woke up in the morning.

"W-What the hell are you doing here?" she spluttered-oh, so graciously.

Giovanni's eyes crinkled with amusement as she came down the last few steps. She made sure she stayed on the last stair a small distance away from him. She wanted to be mad that he had barely given her any attention, but then again she didn't want to act like a clingy girlfriend.

It was hard, though, when he looked good enough to eat. He wore dark jeans that clung to his long and muscled legs, and a V-Neck cream colored cashmere sweater that stretched over the wide expanse of his chest and broad shoulders.

She knew he would smell divine, too. She barely realized that he had looked her over as well and flushed when she realized that he was giving her the same close look-over, his eyes darkening with lust.

How could he think she looked so wonderful? She hadn't dressed up, and she only put on a small amount of makeup.

Before Natalie could blink, Giovanni had taken a step forward and wrapped his long, muscled arms around her waist to pull her forward and pull her to his chest.

She let out a small yelp of shock that turned into an 'oomph' as she hit his hard, warm muscled chest.

He nuzzled her neck, inhaling, then growling softly with approval.

His scent surrounded her and her mind became foggy with the tingles that she felt run over her skin and the warmth that settled in her chest and belly. He pulled back enough to kiss her, and oh god she wanted him to, but then she realized they had an audience.

Blushing, Natalie turned her head at the last moment so his kiss landed on her cheek instead.

He let out a low growl and she grimaced as she pulled away from him. Or more like-tried to pull away from him. He kept her waist wrapped in his arms and tight to his chest. Natalie cleared her throat.

"What are you doing here?" she asked again.

Giovanni grinned down at her. "I know I have been working much, mi amour, and I know how excited you were about today and I figured that since it is our wedding that I should at least be there to pick the cake." He said and Natalie was shocked.

She turned her head slightly so she could look at Ana-Marie. The woman nodded with a mischievous grin on her face. Natalie sighed, nodded. "Okay." She murmured and Giovanni's grin only widened. He let her go only to wrap an arm around her waist and pull her into his side as they made their way out to the big black escalade that was waiting for them. Ana-Marie waved goodbye and kissed Nicholas goodbye. A few moments later, the car was moving.

"I can't believe you're here" Natalie said, breaking the silence as she shook her head.

Giovanni's lips twitched as he caressed her face with his fingertips. She shivered as fire tingled in his finger's wake. "I am sorry that I have been so busy, I've just been so focused on-" he cut off as his face hardened and he took in a deep breath.

Natalie looked down at her hands fiddling in her lap. "H-Have y-you found anything?" she managed.

Giovanni shook his head slightly and her shoulders sagged, but she tried to hide her disappointment with a shrug. She didn't want Giovanni to know how much stress this had caused her, constantly wondering if he knew where she was, if he was going to get her soon.

"Okay, well thank you for trying." She said sincerely.

Giovanni seemed surprised as if he wasn't used to being thanked. He gave a stiff nod just as the car pulled to a stop. They got out to find a big building standing in front of them. It was all in white, with a large wraparound porch and big, wide columns framing the front porch steps and front door. They walked up, Nicholas trailing silently behind them and rang the doorbell. It opened to reveal a small, pudgy man with a receding hair line and a big mustache covering small thin lips. He wore a dirty white apron and jeans with a t-shirt underneath. He held out his arms as he smiled, or Natalie assumed he was smiling since she couldn't see anything but the large mustache that was on his face. "Giovanni!" he said in a thick Italian accent.

Giovanni nodded, a small smile as he leaned forward to embrace the old man. "Santino." Giovanni said and turned to Natalie as he wrapped a possessive arm around her waist.

"This is Natalie." He said and Natalie blushed as she practically turned into mush at the way her name rolled perfectly off of his tongue. The man let out a loud gleeful laugh and scooped her up in his pudgy arms so that he could lift her off the ground. Natalie let out a squeak of shock that turned into a soft chuckle as she blushed and tucked some hair behind her ear.

"Nice to meet you." She mumbled and held out her hand.

Santino took Natalie's hand as she had intended, but instead of shaking it he lifted it to his lips and gave it a soft kiss. The hair of his mustache tickled her skin and she giggled softly.

"She is beautiful! Amazing, Giovanni! Perfetto!" he praised and Natalie blushed-sure that she was beet red by now.

"Come! I have much planned! You will love." Santino said and with that he turned to begin making his way through the house.

Giovanni's gripped her waist again, gave her hip a light squeeze as he looked down at her with hooded, dark eyes that sent delightful shivers down her spine. They followed after and Natalie gawked as they went through a busy kitchen with many workers. There were large beautiful cakes stacked in a line on a large stainless steel countertop. All of the cakes were beautiful, flawless. Beautiful, big fondant flowers, perfect and straight different piping of different colors icing. She was sure that these cakes must be pretty damn expensive. Some of the cakes had seven tiers! The most she had ever seen was on television and that was at the most 3 or 4. She wondered as they walked what Giovanni's favorite flavor of cake was. He never told her anything about himself and she realized just in that moment how little she knew of the man she was going to be calling her husband soon. Still, she couldn't deny the pull that he had on her. They had electric chemistry and not only she knew it, Giovanni did too, and he was using it to his advantage. They got to a large dining room and Santino sat them down.

"I have different, wonderful flavors planned for you. I am sure you will love, love, LOVE, everything that I have planned for you!" he said with outstretched arms as if presenting something priceless and amazing.

Natalie bit back a smile as she played with the napkin she had folded in her lap. Santino left the room, leaving Natalie alone with Giovanni-who still were the dark, hooded, and unbelievably sexy eyes as he stared at her. He leaned down to run his lips along her jawline, before he made his way to her ear, his slight stubble rubbing against the soft skin of her face as his breath fanned over her ear. He nipped at her ear lobe, and her head fell back as she tried to swallow down the rising desire that was going to swamp her, drown her in moments. Giovanni pulled back only slightly.

"I, too, have a lot planned for you today, mi amour..." he whispered and Natalie knew in that instance he did have a lot planned for her and even as she wondered what it was, she decided if he wanted to play that way...that she could too...

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Chapter done! I decided to try and chop it up so it was a little bit easier to read, but I don't know if it will all post in one chapter. Hopefully everything works and goes smoothly! Anyways! I hope you liked this chapter! More fun to come! Vote. Comment. Follow. Share. XX, my most amazing perfetto readers!<3