Jupiter didn't pull away, but reached up and covered her hand, raising it up just the slightest bit to press her fingertip to his lips instead.
Gia jerked her hand back, pulling free of his grasp. "Whoa, there, big boy." Her whole arm tingled, a sensation that quickly spread until she could feel it down to her toes in her boots, like aftershocks. She scooped up her phone from the console and checked the time. "Um, yeah. So we should go in now."
Jupiter frowned, studying her, a look of uncertainty on his face. "So help me to understand. You touch me willingly and it is okay, but I cannot touch you willingly?"
In spite of the slightly incongruous words, Gia knew exactly what he was saying. "I'm sorry I'm sending mixed messages." She closed her eyes and gripped her steering wheel for a moment before turning back to look at him again. "Okay. Let me start over. Yes, I think you're very handsome. I think you're probably too handsome for your own good, and I think you probably know that, too. Regardless, you look like some golden Greek god—"
"Roman. Jupiter is a Roman god. So am I." Then he blushed. Her eyes widened as she watched the color suffuse his neck and cheeks, and she grinned, happy to see the tables turned for once. "I am not saying I am a god," he hurried to amend. "I am saying I am from Rome. Italy. Not Greece." He waved a hand at her and shook his head. "Please continue before I become a bigger fool."
Gia snorted. "Ha. You might be a Roman god, but I'll have you know that I'm an Amazonian warrior princess. Don't we make a pair." The snort expanded into a chortle as Jupiter eyed her quizzically. He must think her at least the tiniest bit crazy.
But when he asked, "Are you perhaps related to Wonder Woman?" she released a loud guffaw of appreciation and brought her hand up to cover her mouth self-consciously.
Jupiter, too, was chuckling now, and he reached over and pulled her hand away from her face. "I like to hear you laugh. It is a good sound for a Monday morning."
Gia leaned back against the headrest until she could catch her breath, then turned just her head so she could look at him. "Jupiter Valentine, I'm a little afraid of you."
He cocked his head at her. "You have nothing to fear with me, Gia—ah! I do not know your full name."
"Gia Gustafson. Well, my full name is Georgia Amity Gustafson. What about you? Do you have a middle name?"
"Do I have a middle name? A second name?" When she nodded, he said, "My name, Georgia Amity Gustafson, is Jupiter Alonso Damiano Pascal Valentine." He held out the 'n' and then his voice lifted at the end of Valentine, giving sound to the 'e' with a dramatic flare. He lifted one eyebrow again, this time with a look of such pride that she resorted to giggles once more. "What? You do not like my name? You think it is funny?"
"No, no. I love it!" she declared. "Would that we could all be dubbed such a litany of names. It's really quite remarkable."
Jupiter held up two fingers. "That is two things you like about me, then. My fossetta—my cleft chin—and my name. It is a good start, yes?"
"Maybe," she grinned, then started scooping up her belongings. "Doesn't mean I'm not still a little afraid of you. But come on. We're going to be late if we're not in there in thirty seconds." The words were barely out of her mouth before Jupiter had pushed open his door. She looked up to watch him circling the car to her side again, where he opened her door for her and offered her his hand. She paused for just a moment before accepting his hand, even though, to be honest, holding his hand actually made it harder to get out of the little car. But she soldiered on, letting him be chivalrous. She had to give him 'A' for effort, that was for sure.
"There is something more that you will like about me," he said as they hurried toward the employee entrance.
"Oh yeah?" She was almost afraid to ask, but her curiosity—and the fact that he was so disgustingly charming—got the best of her. "What might that be?"
"My family owns a coffee bar in Rome and I am a certified SCAE barista, so yes, I do know how to operate an espresso machine very well."
Gia waited while he held the door open for her, then passed through in front of him. "Call me naive, but what is SCAE?" They were in a short hall that passed by the break room and the combination employee bathroom and laundry room where they washed towels, dish cloths, and aprons.
"Ah. Maybe it is not so important here. Speciality Coffee Association of Europe?"
When she stopped suddenly, he was walking so close behind her that he had to pull up short not to run into her. Even so, he brought both hands up to her shoulders, so when she turned around, they were practically face to face. "Wait. You went to official barista training? Like at a barista school?"
Jupiter didn't release her shoulders, so she stepped back and shrugged. His hands skimmed down her arms before he let go, sending a shiver whispering up her spine. "I attended my barista courses at the Florence Culinary School of Art."
"Seriously?" Gia muttered, suddenly a whole lot more afraid of him than she'd been only moments before. She didn't wait for his response, but spun back around and led the way toward the front of the shop. Why was Jupiter Valentine, the Italian fancy pants with his bronzed hair, whiskey eyes, and his highfalutin culinary school of art barista certificate really here in Ricardo's Cafe? Was her job in jeopardy?
Why, oh why hadn't Ricardo warned her about this guy?
~ ~ ~
The Gustafson Girls Series is continued in…
GIA & THE BLAST FROM THE PAST
The Gustafson Girls Book 4
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