by M. D. Melai
“So how are the attacks going?” Lucas asked curiously.
“Pretty good,” I said. “I passed the first few with an A and Emilio said there wouldn’t be anymore, but I am not holding my breath on that one. He will probably throw me another one before too long to keep me on my toes.”
“I am glad to hear that. Emilio had briefed me a little on what was going on around here this week. It seems a bit intense, and overboard on Emilio’s part, but I know it’s all for your safety. I think I would do the same thing.”
“Well I would hope that you would try and keep me safe considering you’re my new ‘escort’,” I said using my fingers to make quotation marks. Lucas’s laugh filled the entire living room. I don’t think I had ever heard him laugh that loud before and it was intoxicating.
“Don’t worry you are safe with me,” he laughed. “You’re not the only one who is or has gone through training lately.”
“You too huh?”
He nodded. “Emilio didn’t make it mandatory or anything. I have just never been someone’s shadow, so I wanted to make sure I could handle anything that came my way.”
“I'm impressed. You didn’t have to go through all of that for me though.”
“Yes I did Lily. It’s my job to make sure not even a hair on your head is harmed. I am going to do it to the best of my ability. I am not doing this just for the sake of anyone. I am doing this for you and for me. You have no idea how crazy I have gone since you left. If anything ever happened to you, I don’t think I could live with myself. I care for you more than you can even imagine.” He lifted my chin and gently pressed his lips to mine. I missed his lips, his kiss. It made everything else totally irrelevant and had me forget my surroundings.
Someone cleared their throat from behind the couch, making both Lucas and I jump. Dante was standing behind us with his arms crossed. Thank God it wasn’t Emilio. What an awkward situation that would be!
“Don’t stop on my account,” Dante said with a smirk. “I just thought I would let you know that Emilio will be back any minute now.” Then he turned and headed up to his room.
It didn’t take Lucas any time to jump up and head to the front door. I walked him out and stole one last kiss before he left. I took a look around the grounds. Emilio wasn’t anywhere in sight yet. Thank God.
“I didn’t expect to see Lucas until Monday.” Dante’s voice scared me.
“Me neither, I was just as surprised as you were.”
“So what are you going to tell Emilio when he asks why Lucas stopped by today, and why he was here so long?” he asked with a hint of smugness in his voice.
“Emilio won’t know.” I smiled at him.
Dante chuckled. “Oh Lily, did you forget that Emilio has this whole property under complete surveillance. Everyone who comes and goes has to punch in their personal code. He knew the moment Lucas was here.” The smile faded from my face, but appeared on Dante’s. I had completely forgotten about that.
“Shit, what am I going to say?” I half begged.
“If Emilio asks what Lucas was doing here, just look at Emilio and tell him, with his IQ you wouldn’t think he would understand.”
My eyes immediately bugged out of my sockets, and Dante almost hit the floor from his spat of laughter.
“Do you want me to die? I can’t say that!”
“I know you can’t, but it was totally worth it to see your eyes pop out of your head.”
“Sometimes…” I shook my fist at him.
“Just tell him the truth Lil,” he said seriously now, “but you might want to leave out the make out session.”
“Don’t worry I will. I can only imagine what that conversation would be like.” I grimaced at him.
“Emilio only wants you to be happy Lily,” Dante said. “You need to stop hiding things from him and just tell him the truth for once. He might be hurt in the beginning, but at least it will be all out there.”
“That’s the problem,” I mumbled.
“Well I am sure you will think of something,” he said as he kissed my forehead and headed back upstairs, “but the truth is always better than nothing, and easier to remember.”
Why did he always have to be right?
Chapter 19
I don’t know if Emilio had changed his mind or Dante was just testing us to see how fast Lucas could get out of the house, but Emilio hadn’t even made it home by the time I headed to bed that night. I had worried all day about what I would say to him, but in the end I figured Dante was right. I was terrible at winging things and Emilio always knew when I was lying or embellishing and called me out on it.
I was about to switch my lamp off and try to get some sleep when a knock came at my door. I knew it was Emilio just by the way he knocked. It wasn’t the first time he had knocked on my door, nor would it be the last.
“Come in,” I said trying to steady my racing heart.
“I didn’t wake you, did I?” he asked as he made his way over to my bed. I shook my head as he sat down. “Good.” He smiled. “There was something I wanted to ask you about.” Here it came. How was I going to respond? Tell him the truth or lie?
“What is it?” I asked trying to keep my voice steady.
“Are you doing okay here?” he asked. “I know you haven’t been here very long, and I know there have been so many things going on and so many new arrangements. I just wanted to make sure you are okay with everything.” I was not expecting this.
“I'm…” I stuttered, caught off guard. “I'm doing good.” I smiled, assuring him I really was.
“Okay.” He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Massimo wanted you to go back to work on Monday and look at some new places. I just wanted to make sure you would be up to that.”
“Honestly, that sounds amazing. I am already getting cabin fever. It will be nice to get out for a while and find something to do, even if that means going to work.”
“Sounds good,” he said patting my hand. “I was just double checking.” He rose up and looked at me as if he wanted to say something else, but he didn’t. He just leaned in and kissed my forehead. “Goodnight Liliana.”
“Goodnight,” I said and then he was gone. I fell back on my pillow, relieved he hadn’t asked, although I know he wanted to. I saw it in his eyes when he paused. Maybe he already knew what happened. I didn’t think there were any cameras in the house unless they were activated by the alarm system. Or maybe he was wondering if I would lie to him. He couldn’t take that. Sleep tonight was going to be restless.
***
The weekend had ended and Monday had begun without any mention of Lucas being at the house, and I was happy about that. I was nervous about starting again today without having to worry about that situation. As nervous and scared as I was to be going back to work, I was just as excited to be out of the house. Dante could only entertain me for so long.
Getting back to a normal schedule and doing something I loved would be a good thing for me. Emilio had brought four new files for me to look at over the week. They would definitely be keeping me busy, two houses and two businesses. I already knew the two housing projects would take up a good two months, and the businesses hopefully not as long. It would just depend on the contractors and their other projects.
“Lily, we are leaving,” Dante shouted from downstairs. “Lucas should be arriving any minute now. We will see you tonight.”
“Okay,” I yelled back. “I will see you two tonight.”
Dante had been on my case all morning. I guess he thought I had forgotten what it was like to go to work. He kept asking me questions about my day, what exactly I was going to do, and if I had everything I would need. It was a miracle I was even able to get dressed as quickly as I had with him babbling in my ear.
I was relieved when I heard the door close behind them. For the first time in two weeks, I was by myself in the house. It was a bittersweet moment, but it only lasted long enough for me to think about it. The knock at the door came seco
nds later, and I checked myself one more time in the mirror before I headed downstairs. I had butterflies in my stomach all morning. Today was the start of me being able to see Lucas every day. I was more than ecstatic about that!
“Hey Lucas,” I said as I threw the door open.
“Hey Lil,” he said with a smile that set the butterflies to flight once more. He leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “You look beautiful.” I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face or the shade of pink my cheeks turned. “Ready?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said as I grabbed my purse and keys. “Oh and by the way, I’m driving.” I smirked as I shut the front door and locked it.
We had spent most of the morning and the beginning of the afternoon touring the new locations. I had made page after page of notes for each one and I had a plethora of ideas floating around in my head. My father had already, as usual, put his two cents in on what he thought each should look like. I would take them into account, but I wasn’t going to let him dictate what I thought was best for the space anymore.
Lucas announced it was lunch time before I knew it, and we argued for twenty minutes after that on who was going to drive. He said he could no longer let me drive. I scared him to death and that no one in their right mind should have given me my driver’s license or a car that went “that damn fast.”
I would have been hurt, but he was hilarious every time he grabbed the ‘oh shit’ bar, as he likes to call it, and fell to the ground, kissing the concrete every time we got out of the car. Frankly, I wondered what took him so long to finally speak up about it. I hated driving in the city, but I had missed driving my car.
We had decided on a small deli for lunch. We talked about my ideas for the new properties and he helped me brainstorm. I told him that my father, on the two houses, wanted them upper class style with a modern twist. I thought for one of them that would be amazing, but that I had a different idea for the second one. There was a possibility the second one would be taken back a few decades.
“A few decades?” Lucas questioned.
I explained that I thought maybe vibrant colors and a new twist on classic looks might be the way to go. I was greeted with a strange look, to which I assured him it looked amazing in my head. He told me he believed me, but I don’t think he did.
“Wanna play hooky tomorrow?” he asked as we headed back toward my car.
“Play hooky?” I asked confused. “I can’t play hooky. It’s only my second day back to work silly.”
“Why not? You already have an idea of what you want for each location. We are just going to Faith’s tomorrow and we order everything else online right? So why not?” He was eyeing me like it was that simple.
“That’s not all of it,” I laughed at him. “I still have to hire people to, you know, actually do the manual labor. It doesn’t just fix itself overnight. Plus, I have to check in on their progress and answer any questions they might have and make sure they are staying on schedule and within budget. I still have to make a schedule for the projects to make sure we hit our milestones, and we have to go out and buy not only the furniture, but pick out tile, flooring, carpet, countertops, and anything else we might need. Plus all the décor for the rooms….”
“Okay, okay,” he laughed and threw up his hands. “I got the point.”
“What?” I asked. “You didn’t know so much went into my silly job, did you?”
“No I didn’t,” he said honestly. “I thought you just drew it up and bam, everyone else did all the work.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Well now you know. Although without Violet here to help, I always feel more overwhelmed than usual. It’s always nice to have someone else to help you out.”
“Well if anyone can do it, it’s you. Plus I will be here to help you when you need me.”
I raised my eyebrows at him in disbelief as he grabbed my hand and looked at me so seriously.
“Well I can at least supervise,” he said and then laughed.
“That you can do.” I laughed along with him.
We headed back to the house after lunch. I needed to sit down and input all my measurements and ideas into my programs and get them done and sent to my father for his approval. I sent a copy to Violet as well. I needed her opinion on a few things, especially a beautiful little office my father told me that a client had no specific details for, and that I was to decorate it exactly the way I would do my own space. I was super excited about that one!
When I laid my head down to sleep that night, all I could think about were the things I had to do tomorrow. It was going to be such a busy day between making phones calls and visiting Faith. I was looking forward to seeing her. I had missed her.
***
“Lily!” Faith yelled at the top of her lungs as soon as Lucas and I walked through her door. She practically tackled me when she finally reached us.
“Faith,” I said as I tried to steady myself before I hugged her back.
“Where have you been girl?” she asked releasing me and stepping back to take a look at me. “Violet said you have been back in town for a couple weeks. And you are just now coming by to see me?” Faith was always eccentric, sometimes it was a little too much, but I loved her nonetheless.
“I was on house arrest for a while.” I smiled. “They released me back into the wild yesterday.” I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Good for you,” she said turning to Lucas. “And who is the tall drink of delicious water you have with you?”
Lucas had drifted to the other side of the store, hopefully out of earshot.
“That is Lucas,” I said turning toward him. “He is my new…” I paused for a moment, I hadn’t thought about what to call him yet. “He is my new escort,” I finally blurted out.
“I wouldn’t mind being escorted by him,” she said eyeing him from head to toe, “if you know what I mean,” she said while nudging my arm.
“Faith, I always know what you mean.” I rolled my eyes at her. She was a mess.
Lucas waved at her. She stood there for a few more seconds smiling like a love drunk teenager, before she sighed loudly, took my hand, and announced it was time to get to work.
She ushered me around the store for hours. We picked out fabrics and patterns, along with furniture she would have to refinish or upholster. Lucas followed us around trying not to look too bored, but I could tell he was. He never left my side though, and at times he was the decision maker for ties between Faith and me. He always favored my choice.
Faith was being Faith. Several times she made things awkward with her comments about Lucas, loudly. I would just shake my head and keep on going, glancing at Lucas who would be mirroring my actions.
We left Faith’s hours later. We had been there almost all day long. It would be dinner time by the time we made it back to the house. The entire ride home was quiet though. I think after spending the afternoon with Faith, we both were thankful for the peaceful and quiet ride home.
Emilio and Dante were already home when we pulled up at the house. Lucas snuck a quick kiss after we parked the Camaro in the garage. I had asked him to stay for dinner, hoping that it wouldn’t be too awkward.
The house smelt wonderful when we walked in. I was shocked to discover Emilio and Dante in the kitchen. It was the very first time I had ever seen them cooking.
“What are you two doing?” I asked as Lucas and I took a seat at the kitchen bar.
“We are making you dinner,” Dante answered back as he looked in our direction, “and I guess Lucas too.”
“Yeah, I asked him to stay for dinner. I thought I was going to be the one doing the cooking tonight,” I replied.
“Fine with me. There’s more than enough,” Dante said.
I looked over at Emilio, who didn’t look as happy as Dante. He didn’t like mixing his personal and professional lives together, so having Lucas here probably upset him.
“We thought tonight it would be a nice surprise if we were the ones to treat you
to dinner instead,” Emilio spoke up after a moment. “We knew today was probably going to be a rough one getting back to work and all. We thought a good cooked meal from us would be nice.” He forced a grin and turned back to cooking.
“Aww, you two are the best.” I was excited to be treated tonight and terrified. I had never had the opportunity of eating anything those two had ever made. “It was a long day, so I do really appreciate this.”
Lucas stayed downstairs with Emilio and Dante as I headed upstairs to change out of my work clothes. Dinner wouldn’t be ready for another thirty minutes, so I thought I’d change into something more comfortable.
I was nervous about leaving Lucas alone with those two, but when I made my way back downstairs, I heard all three of them joking and talking about the basketball game that was on last night. I sat and listened to them talk about it until Emilio and Dante placed the food on the dining room table.
“Wow,” I gushed, taking in everything. “You two did an amazing job!”
“Well, don’t get used to it,” Dante spoke up, smiling. “This is a one-time thing.”
“Dually noted,” I giggled. Emilio just shook his head at Dante.
The meal tasted just as good as it looked and smelt. I couldn’t believe those two could actually cook. They weren’t going to get away with not helping out with dinner once in a while. The days of me being the only cook in the house had ended. They were going to be helping out way more in the kitchen.
Dinner talk was steady. Dante and Emilio listened as I talked about my day with Lucas. They laughed when I told them about Faith. Both of them knew that girl was crazy.
“That was absolutely incredible you two,” I applauded them as I stood up and started grabbing plates. “You two cooked, so I will clean.”
“Sounds like a deal to me,” Dante said as he stood up. “Lucas, come with me, I want to show you something.”
“Alright,” Lucas said, unsure. I gave him a reassuring look. He didn’t need to worry about Dante.