Untangle Me

Chapter 69

Giada

"Finally, you're back!" Andrea says, getting to his feet as soon as I open the door of our hotel room. I'm barely inside when he pulls me into his arms and presses a soft kiss to my lips. I melt into him, humming against his lips but he pulls away too soon. Keeping me at arm's length, I smile at him.

"We're supposed to meet Leo and Nyla in the lobby in one and a half hours already, want me to push it back a bit or is it enough time for you to get ready? Also, I need to see the dress," he says quickly as if he's been thinking about this for some time now.

Taking a good look at him, I realize he's already set to go. He's wearing a light blue button-down complementing his tan skin, the top few buttons undone and his cuffs rolled up to his elbows. His hair is slightly wet, falling around his face in dark waves, and there's a five-o'clock shadow adorning his cheeks. He looks absolutely drool-worthy.

His chuckle rips me out of my daydreams. "You done? I mean, any other time I'd only be too happy to let you check out what's yours for as long as you want but right now I need to know whether to text Leo," he says.

What's mine, huh? So fucking hot.

"Right, no. There's no need for that, I'll get ready right away," I insist, attempting to push past him to get to the bathroom. I feel itchy after having tried on all those dresses and can't wait to take a shower.

But Andrea stops me by tightening his arms around my waist. "The dress first, my love. Been waiting for over an hour," he reminds me.

I smile and shake my head. "Nu-uh, babe. It's a surprise. You'll see me when everyone else does. Actually already texted Nyla I'll be catching a ride with her since you guys need to be at the banquet early. We'll make it a grand entrance, alright? Real extra," I tease him, wiggling my eyebrows.

He pouts. "Just a peak into the box? Just to see the color?" I shake my head, stand on tiptoes to kiss him and when he relaxes around me, I slip away and run into the bathroom.

"Not fair!" he yells after me. Laughing, I start getting ready.

Nearly two hours later, Nyla and Leo have the decency to finally meet us in the lobby. My friend looks rather smug, his hair a mess and lips suspiciously red while Nyla looks flushed. Ugh, gross.

"Lovely for you to grace us with your presence. Look at that, only thirty minutes late! You're really getting the hang of being in Italy quickly," Andrea mocks them playfully.

"Sorry, sidetracked a little," Leo answers, still grinning while his company squeaks an apology. I don't want to think about what's got her so out of it. Ewww, definitely don't want to think about Leo's love life. Yuck! Even less his skills in bed.

"You okay there, Giada? Look like you're going to be sick," Leo points out.

"I think I might." At his questioning gaze, I pull myself together and brush him off. "Never mind. You ready to go?" Since no one objects, we head out.

We decide to walk, an idea I really hate since I'm hungry as hell. But since we're showing our two friends around, it's alright. Leo's mostly obsessed with all the different foods he smells as we weave our way through the different streets. Every few feet he'll hit me or Andrea with a, "Oh, damn, what's that?" or a "That's a gelateria- (pronounced horribly)-, right? Oh, I need to try it! Can we come back here on our way back? Please?"

He's like a child, just slightly more obnoxious. It's cute.

Meanwhile, I'm getting to know Nyla a bit better. She's asking mostly about the architecture, to which I give her a little bit of cultural background. She's adorable, looking around wide-eyed and hanging at my every word.

Her interest makes sense, considering she works at an architecture firm in NY.

My first impression of her was that she's shy, right? Yeah, scratch that.

"What are you looking at? Crane your neck a little more, come on, I dare you. What are you, an owl? Our eyes are up here, asshole!" she shouts at a guy that whistled at us, nearly walking backward to get a good view of our backsides.

The stranger's eyes bulge, probably hasn't expected that, and he stumbles before turning around and jogging away. Nyla turns to me, smiling as if nothing happened and I can't help it.

I fall in love.

Okay, maybe not that but I do burst out laughing and link her arm with mine. "We're going to get along great," I predict.

"He totally had it coming," she insists.

"Oh, I'm not arguing with you. His face was priceless." We laugh some more, our gazes trained on the ground which is why we didn't see the obstacles ahead of us. We walk right into a wall.

Well, a wall named Leo and Andrea who look deliciously pissed off as they stand there, their bodies tense and eyes dark.

"You good there?" I ask, wiping away a stray tear.

"Still debating whether to go after him, actually," Andrea admits darkly. I sigh dramatically, exchanging a knowing look with Nyla before both of us turn our attention to our men.

"We handled it," Nyla says.

"Drop it," I order. For the rest of our way, we stay tucked into the guy's sides. I could say it's a ridiculous power play or some primal way to mark their territory but honestly, I won't over-analyze it. I enjoy being this close to Andrea, having his arm around my waist and his full attention.

When we finally reach the restaurant, we're greeted warmly by a short, old man. He's wearing a red shirt with the place's name on it, his greying hair is slicked back and his eyes nearly disappear beneath wrinkles. Still, I can literally feel the joy coming off of him as he pulls Andrea into an enthusiastic hug and starts babbling to him in Italian. Something about not having seen him in way too long.

When they break apart and Andrea's hand is back in mine, the old man's attention shifts to me. Now he really lights up and pulls me against him too. With a kiss on each cheek, he greets me. Then he starts talking in a heavy Sardinian accent so quickly I don't catch a word.

I smile helplessly but Andrea saves me. He introduces me and our friends and after having promised to talk to him later, we're being led to our table by a waiter.

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Did I write this instead of studying? Yes, yes I did.

Also, any guesses for the colour of Giada's dress?

Anyways, y'all only got a few more chapters to go so if u made it this far, yayy:)) have a great day and don't forget to vote and comment ur thoughts<33