Gio

Thrilling.

Electrifying.

Every part of me is on fire and he hasn’t even touched me.

Yet.

“What’s on the agenda, Mr. DelGado?”

He smirks. “It’s a secret. Get in.”

I’m thankful I changed into tight skinny jeans, a black crepe top that gives a little glimpse of my cleavage, and black booties before leaving work. I fluff out my waves, hike my purs

e onto my shoulder and get into the Porsche.

I am definitely going along for this ride.

“Do you remember those books, the ones where you make a choice and then flip to the page it tells you to?” Gio’s grin hasn’t left his face as he shifts gears and drives us out of the parking lot.

“Choose your own adventure? Yeah, Johnny loved those things.” I smile at the memory of flipping through those books with Johnny, normally a million times so we could live out every version of the story.

“So tonight, it’s going to be like one of those books, okay? So I’ll ask a question and then we go to the location that corresponds with that answer.”

Soft laughter fills the car. “Got it.”

“Swanky or low key?”

“Hmm,” I hum amused. “Low key, for sure.” Mostly because I’m wearing jeans, and also I want to see what low key means to someone like Gio DelGado.

“I thought so.” His grin widens as he turns the Porsche onto the next street.

“So what does that get me?”

“Pizza.”

He’s not joking. He pulls up to a pizza shop in downtown Providence. The place is busy for a small shop. It screams classic Italian pizza with red-checkered tablecloths, a mannequin with a dark mustache, and the overwhelming smell of greasy pizza.

“Gio!” a man with a thick Italian accent and a white chef’s coat greet us within seconds of entering.

“Sal.” The two men do a quick one-armed embrace. “Sal, this is Annie.”

“Ah, you brought a lady.” Sal takes my hand and places a light kiss on my knuckles. “Piacere di conoscerti caro.”

“I uh, don’t speak Italian,” I tell him confused. I have no idea what the man just said to me.

“He says nice to meet you.” Gio interprets.

“You’ll have to learn then.” Sal’s face is amused. “Gio here is fluent.”

“Really?” I turn to look at him. There is still so much I don’t know about this man.

“Si, bella ragazza.”

“What does that mean?”

Gio leans in close, moving a loose strand of hair behind my ear before whispering, “Yes, beautiful girl.”

I can feel the pink heat rising to my cheeks.