“What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you.”
A long and uncomfortable silence passed between us. I began to shift my weight from one foot to the other, feeling so uncharacteristically unsure of myself. What the hell was she doing to me? “Can I come in?” I asked.
Arianna folded her arms.
“Oh, come on,” I said. “Please don’t turn me away after I’ve come all the way out here to see you. I just…wanted to say hello to you and your parents.”
“My parents aren’t here,” she answered.
“Oh…well—maybe we could just hang out for a moment and…talk.”
“Just to talk, huh?” she said as if she didn’t believe my intentions.
Unfortunately, right that instant, I began to feel yearning stirring inside of me at the memory of the night we’d shared upon first meeting. Although that had been the furthest thing from my mind when I’d decided to come over, standing in front of her, I could hardly think of anything else.
I cleared my throat. “So, are you going to let me in or not? You know—you’re just making it harder on yourself, treating me this way. You do realize that whether you like it or not, we’re going to be a part of each other’s lives. So, we may as well start adapting to that now, don’t you think?”
Arianna’s expression faltered for a moment. Then, to my surprise, she stepped aside, permitting me entrance into her home.
My arm brushed against hers as I crossed the threshold and my eyes involuntarily traveled over her body as she closed the door behind me. She then turned to face me.
Neither of us spoke.
I ran my hand through my hair. “Arianna, can you at least tell me why you hate me so much?”
“Don’t play so innocent.”
“I’m not playing innocent. I honestly don’t know what I did to offend you. So please, enlighten me so that I can be sure to not do it again.”
She sighed. “Look—when we first met, I knew...I thought…there could never really be anything more between us. But still—the way you made me feel afterward. Kicking me out of your apartment like that, as if I was just some hired whore whose time had run out. I’m not that kind of girl. Until then, I’d never done anything like that before and…I just don’t like the way you made me feel. And to know that you view it as all right to treat women that way…” She paused and shook her head. “What kind of life am I going to have with you as my husband? And it’s not like I can say anything to my parents about it. They’re so ecstatic, I don’t know what to do.”
I hung my head and shook it. “Ari—I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel that way at all. The only reason I rushed you out of my apartment was because my father had called me at the ass crack of dawn, telling me that I had to get over to their house because I had to meet the woman I’d been arranged to marry. It was disorienting, to say the least. My mind was just preoccupied. Trust me—I wanted to stay with you longer, to at least have breakfast with you, but I was too busy thinking about meeting this mystery woman that I had to dedicate myself to even though I didn’t know who she was.”
Arianna stared at me for a long time. Finally, her expression softened. “I guess that makes sense.”
I smiled slowly. “So, does that mean I can take you out now? I really would like to get to know you better.”
Once again, I found my eyes involuntarily roaming over her body, and felt the yearning stirring within me again. I averted my gaze and took a deep breath.
“I don’t know about all of that.”
“All of what?” I asked.
“Going out with you. I mean—I still don’t know you.”
I smiled and extended my hand. “Hi. I’m Giovanni, and I’m not really the jerk you once thought I was. How are you, Arianna?”
I saw her struggling to hold in a laugh, but finally, it came out. She shook her head and then shook my hand. I pulled her in closer to me, and wrapped my arms around her, turning our handshake into a hug.
The hug went on longer than I meant it to, for I found myself not wanting to let her go as my hands rested on the small of her back, wanting desperately to roam downward. Her hands rested on my back, her touch steadily growing firmer.
I lean
ed away from her just slightly so that I could see her face. “Well, I’d say things are a lot better between us already.”
I didn’t mean to, but I stared at her lips. When I finally managed to look back into her eyes, I noticed that she was staring at my lips as well.