Chapter 32

My shout out goes to my Indian 🇮🇳, Pakistan 🇵🇰, Italian 🇮🇹, Kenyan and Canadian 🇨🇦 friends/readers. You've been really supportive.

Comment your country and I'll be glad to give you a shout out.

Kara’s POV

*

I was giggling, playing with our beautiful, cute puppy and throwing it in the air occasionally. It was freakishly dyed pink, or maybe it was naturally pink. It had bright blue eyes, reminding me of the bright blue eyes of a certain man in my life.

We were in a wide, white store and it was filled with pet clothes, meds and food. The puppy gave me those cute eyes and I knew what it meant. She was hungry again.

“Nu-huh. You had some milk not too long ago so no-mo.” I playfully cooed, nuzzling her neck with my nose even though I knew I would be sneezing twice or more times in a few minutes after, whenever I nuzzled her that way.

Her cute expression didn’t change but she blinked twice. I narrowed my eyes at her playfully.

“Alright. Whatever! You’re getting spoilt nowadays. Spoilt brat.” I nagged disapprovingly and huffed. Turning around to head over to the back where my bag was, I felt sudden heaviness in my head and realized I just crashed my head into someone’s hard chest.

“Careful there babe.” The familiar voice said. I looked up and ignored the fluttering in my stomach, my brown eyes immediately clashing with blue ones; bright blue ones that I already fell so hard for.

He chuckled in his deep, alluring tone and gave me a lopsided smile but I was just staring at him like a dumbo, feeling my words get stuck in my throat. I could never get tired of staring at this man and his piercing blue eyes. He was just so beautiful and as always, he was glowing.

I heaved a contented sigh and struggled not to drool at the sight of his smile. He was still holding me by the waist, so I couldn’t pull away. Or maybe I didn’t want to pull away. I straightened my stance after some tense seconds and cleared my throat twice.

“Thanks.” I breathed out. He leaned in and caressed his nose against mine.

“Have you gotten everything you need?” His fingers drew lazy patterns on my waist.

I fought my body to cooperate and not squirm at the effect. Those fingers could be distracting when they wanted to and right now, my breathing was becoming slightly ragged.

“Yes. I just did.”

“Where are they?”

“They’re at the back, the exact place where you came to meet me the other day.”

He raised a perfect brow. “Including hot stuff’s new socks? I don’t want her whining at night due to cold.”

“Hmm. Including hot stuff’s new socks and her food.” I nodded again and felt my shoulders sag in relief.

Hot stuff was the name we decided to give our cute pink puppy Labrador.

“Then we should head home, I’m hungry already.” He told me with mischief in his eyes. I knew what he meant by that, I always knew what my real life prince charming with blue eyes meant whenever he gave me a certain look and said he was hungry. Feeling his hot minty breath close to my nose and his eyes focused on a part below my nose, I decided to end my torture and slowly connected my lips with his.

That was what I wanted anyway. I wanted him.

All of him.

His smile was like a breath of fresh air, it always managed to leave me feeling refreshed.

Just like he had promised me once; when we weren’t all that close, he repeated his promise last month and proposed. Thinking about it now though, I had no idea how I actually survived without jumping him and doing him. Oops, the thoughts flowing into my mind weren’t encouraging in the least, I must say.

His hands were firm around me, and the memories came back. Albeit faintly, I knew each word by heart. He told me he never wanted to let go of me, he wanted to do everything with me. Sleeping, waking up, going to work and even making a family.

To say I was elated would have been an understatement because I knew he didn’t know how to do romantic stuffs. But for me, he would always give everything a try.

Give us a try.

“What’s going on in that mind of yours right now?”

I shrugged. “Nothing.”

“It’s never nothing for a woman, is it?”

“What do you mean?” I scowled, but one look at him and even the pretend scowl morphed into a bashful look. My heart warmed and I became a puddle of mess, just basking in his warmth. His hand tightened on my waist and I fluttered my eyes close, allowing myself to relax as I basked in the minty smell of his breath and the cologne that filled the air all around him.

He leaned in closer till our breaths were mingling and then his lips met mine in a sweet, tantalizing kiss. “Don’t get too defensive but girls think a lot, and then they begin to worry even though they’re merely overthinking. They think about everything and we men, we worry because they even think too hard on the menial things— things like drinking water now or waiting for a few minutes before doing that.” He jested.

“Bu-”

He silenced me with another brain shattering kiss, tracing his lips down my neck but quickly bringing it back up. “You know I’m right. Women are too complicated.”

“But you men love us.”

A resigned sigh escaped his lips. “We are empty without you. I’m empty without you, my love.”

I looked up at him and fell all over again. I drowned, and he didn’t try to save me. I didn’t want him to save me. It was a resigned journey; I also didn’t try to save myself. It was too late; his blue pools had pulled me in. I was deeply in love with this man.

When, where or how it happened, I wasn’t too sure about that.

Leaning again, he used his tongue to caress the seam of my lips, seeking entrance and I eagerly granted it. No one was around this part of the store to catch us making out. I hated it when people caught us because it just showed how childish we were acting. To me, such actions screamed ‘indiscipline’— especially whenever we got caught by kids.

“Mmhhmm. Bab-oh...” The shameless moan escaped my lips when his tongue explored every part of my mouth slowly and his large, warm hand moved from one breast and grabbed me at the nape of my neck, deepening the kiss. Wetness pulled between my legs and I held from grinding against him. The Stephano I knew wouldn’t bat an eyelash before granting me anything I wished, even if we had to excuse ourselves to a bathroom.

His hold tightened on my waist where he still held me with his second hand. I pulled away with ragged breathing and caught a ghost of disappointment about his features.

“I love doing this with you. I’m addicted to it.” I rasped slowly, identifying the heated and lustful gaze he gave me as I assured.

I loved it whenever he looked at me that way, like I was the only one in the world. A meal he needed to hungrily devour. He was the only one in my own world and I knew he was aware of that already.

No one could ever make me feel the way he did.

His eyes swept over my face and down to my chest. They stayed glued to that spot for a while and he shut his eyes, muttering a low curse in his seductive tone. I traced my lips with my tongue and his eyes narrowed at the spot when he caught me doing that.

“I love it too baby. I love everything that revolves around you. I love you.” He mumbled. Slowly, he traced kisses up my neck and sucked on my cleavage. A low moan ripped off my throat again. What?

I didn’t feel restricted, even though I was wearing a damn shirt! He traced his lips back up and placed his hot lips on my temple. “I love you so much.”

I felt emotions surge through me and slowly blinked back a tear, opening my mouth but the words got stuck somewhere in my throat. A whimpering sound dragged me back to the present world and I slowly pulled out of his arms.

Looking around, I caught sight of my pink puppy Labrador, sprawled on the ground and she was casting me a sad, hurtful look.

My lips parted to produce a gasp, remembering I actually dropped her when I crashed into Mr. Blue eyes. I bent to pick her but she shook her head with sad eyes, turned around and ran. I chased her but the more I did, the more she ran.

“Come here, hot stuff. I’m sorry for dropping you...” My voice slowly faded and became more distance even with how loud I was shouting, weird enough. I coughed and felt a slight headache forming.

“Cazzo!” Someone muttered beside me, close to my face.

My head felt heavy, so I cradled it and let out a low moan. The temperature seemed to have dropped even further because my body suddenly felt warm and constrained. I shut my eyes and made a low hiss.

I fluttered my eyes open once again, only to find blue ones staring back at me.... I quickly looked around with wide eyes. This wasn’t the white hall, there were no puppy accessories around or a dressed up Stephano.

This was my room, but...Stephano was lying down with head propped up on one hand and supported by his elbow. He was staring at me, yummy, toned chest on display for my hungry eyes to feed on. Goodness! He was naked down to the waist!

I took a slow gulp and shook my head, shutting my eyes tight.

When I blinked my eyes open once again, his eyes were still trained on me.

His gaze was intense, I didn’t know if I should be scared or not. I observed him like one observing a specimen, he was looking breathtaking and his hair was tousled over his head— like a model just prepared for a shoot.

I guess he’d had a rough night.

His lips were dark pink, as if he had been chewing on them for too long or he had been kissin... Snap out of it! Immediately, I sat up and knelt, contemplating on what to do next. We were on the same bed in my room. How that was possible, I had no idea.

“Hey.” He greeted in a low tone. This voice was recorded somewhere in my memory, just like how husky it had sounded in my strange dream.

The dream!

It had been a dream!

Thank goodness it was just a dream. My cheeks warmed up as I remembered initiating a kiss with the handsome young devil and even telling Stephano that I loved him. He’d also said he loved me too. I shook my head to stop myself from think about the huskiness in his tone when he said that, it was still very early in the morning.

“Slept well?” He asked, bringing my right hand to his lips and caressing them with the pads of his thumb. The act was enough to make my eyes droop with sudden desire, I quickly looked away.

Last night’s gala had been a success. It was fun, but also super awkward after he told me it was his dingly dingly I had grabbed when we were kissing and not his hand. I remember dragging myself to bed at a very late hour of the night after changing into my night gown and cleaning my face free of makeup, just before dumping my body on the bed.

But I didn’t remember seeing Stephano with me before magically blacking out due to the exhaustion. Noticing his stare, I looked over at him.

“Hi. Good morning.” I finally replied but nature was completely on my side, because it came out as a croak. Great! And I now happened to be the sexiest girl in the world, with the sexiest early morning voice. Did you sleep here? Or you just-”

“Yes, I slept here. You do talk in your sleep and kick too. A lot.” He chuckled with a small smile playing at the sides of his lip.

I stared at him with parted lips and an embarrassed flush. “Uhm, no I don’t.”

“Well, you did. I woke up twice at midnight to hear you,” he cleared his throat, “making some funny sounds.”

My eyes narrowed at him even before I realized what I was doing. “I do not whimper in my sleep if that is what you mean!”

“You weren’t whimpering.”

I frowned. “The-”

“You were moaning.” I sat still, staring with stiff muscles and a rigid posture. He didn’t just say that!

Cazzo! I didn’t moan in my sleep, maybe I did in the dream but Adrian has never complained of me moaning in the dream before. I couldn’t have possibly done that. I covered my face with my hands as heat flushed through my cheeks, ears and neck.

That must have been so embarrassing. He chuckled again, surprising me. “You were moaning my name without a care and when I placed my hand on your forehead, you grabbed it and started making out wit-” my hands reached over and I covered his mouth quickly, embarrassment flushing through me at his shameless words.

“Stephano!”

He gently pulled my hands away. “Don’t worry dear. I enjoyed every bit of it and it’s a good thing you mentioned my name and not someone else’s.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. Couldn’t he have kept this to himself? “I didn’t mention your name!”

“You did.” He instantly retorted through hard eyes and a serious expression. “And that was a good thing because, I wouldn’t be happy to know you weren’t having an erotic dream about me but about someone else.” He smirked. Even the ‘erotic’ word sounded so alluring coming from him.

He inched closer but I backed away, slapping my conscience for whispering ‘Baciami’ (kiss me) in a seductive manner.

“Well, it could’ve been about someone else I was kissing in the dream.” I shrugged slowly. His hand reached out so quick that it startled me, grabbing my shoulders firmly but not hurtfully. He pecked me on the lips, then shut his eyes tightly and slowly released me. My heart was thumping, fluttering filled my chest.

“It can never be another man. It will always be me.” He spoke confidently.

I knew guys always had this weird possessive stuff about whoever they dated but right now, Stephano’s ego was getting larger by the second. Was that possessiveness I sensed in his tone? Of course it was.

I feared his ego would float the whole of Italy and carry us all to another continent or even another planet.

I just couldn’t believe the incredulity of this man sitting before me right now.

Deciding to keep my retort to myself, I alighted the bed and went straight into my en-suite. After brushing my teeth and feeding myself with lies about how great and confident I was and how I could be badass throughout the day without getting on edge whenever I saw Stephano’s handsome features, I exited the en-suite.

I stopped in my tracks, with mouth agape when I saw him still lying on my bed as if it was his, covering himself waist down and still exposing his chiseled, slightly haired chest to me. In instinct, I looked to the left where my wardrobe was situated and his robe was hung right there, just beside mine.

“Shouldn’t you be leaving?” I asked. If I’d sounded a bit rude, coupled with the scowl on my face, then he was doing a good job at hiding the effect my harsh tone had on him. He sat up.

Not once did his eyes leave my body and I felt my face heat in a hot blush as he checked me out. “No. There’s something I would like to discuss with you.”

“Oh.” I sat down.

His eyes were glued to my face, and they ever so slowly moved to my chest, my stomach and down to my waist. If possible I would say his eyes narrowed at the chair I was seated on but unfortunately, I couldn’t guess if I saw right, or what he was thinking when he’d have probably done that.

“What did you want to talk about?” I heaved a sigh. I noticed I was no longer self-conscious around him. I didn’t freak out when I woke up to find him beside me; at least not like I’d have freaked out months ago. I was still very conscious around him though.

“Do you know who I am, Kara?”

This was a question Google would easily provide an answer to... “Yes.” I didn’t miss a beat.

“Who?”

“You’re Stephano Alfonsi, a rich businessman.” I stated in a flat tone.

“I know that already,” He chuckled. “I mean, who am I to you, Kara mio?”

“Stephano, you’re my pretend boyfriend.”

A small frown slipped onto his handsome face. “I am not that to you. I am your boyfriend; your loving, caring boyfriend.”

“That’s wha-”

“Your real boyfriend.”

“You are?” my tone dripped with sarcasm as I rolled my eyes at him.

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Yes, I am. So I want to take you out on a date. Get ready.”

He got up and wore his robe. I fought my eyes to stay glued to his face and not go downwards. Paul’s words came back. I was acting like an inexperienced teenager, I wasn’t being myself around him and this was becoming uncomfortable. I needed to be myself around him, boss or not, boyfriend or not. We still had about ten months before going our separate ways.

“I’m not going anywhere Stephano.”

He looked genuinely confused, lines forming on his forehead as he frowned at me. “Why?”

“You didn’t ask nicely and I have a right to either go with you or not, so I choose not to.” I stated matter-of-fact. He stilled for a moment, and then his face broke into a grin as he moved closer till he was standing by me. My heart hammered against my ribcage as I stared at him and admired his gorgeous smile. I had never seen him smile so widely before today. Smirk, yes but for a smile, this was the brightest I had ever seen and it stunned me for a few seconds. He crouched and got eye level with me.

“That’s why I lo-” he cleared his throat with furrowed brows. “That’s why I like you. Okay then. Please my dearest girlfriend,” and the smirk was back, “would you like to go on a date with me?”

I opened my mouth, shut it and then opened once again. It seemed he already brushed because he had the minty breath like in my dream. It caressed my face and spread around, filling me with a gust of warmth. “I-uh- yeah. Sure, Stephano. I would like to go on a date with you.”

“That’s my girlfriend.” He kissed me for not more than a thirty seconds but it was long enough to leave me panting and wanting more.

“An hour?”

“Yes. I’ll be ready.”

He pecked the top of my head and chuckled before leaving. I sat still, gobsmacked.

Squealing, my finger pads caressed my lower lip as I drummed on it. Or maybe I beat on it, I wasn’t sure because my mind was reeling at what just happened. I had to go check on mama, call Adrian and Paul since they didn’t call as promised last night and I had to do that soon.

Because I had a date to prepare for!