Three Days

Chapter 14

Day Three

I woke up the next morning with Ryan's face in the crook of my neck. I might have gotten less sleep last night then when we were watching Amelia. I smile as I remember all the rooms we christened last night. I look at Ryan and run my hand up and down his shoulder. I don't ever want to wake up without this man beside me again. Which means today I need to get some stuff figured out with my work. But that is a later problem, for now I just want to enjoy this moment.

Ryan stirs and smiles as he looks up at me, "Giana, I could get used to waking up next to you everyday," he said before kissing me.

"You took the words right out of my mouth," I say as he trails kisses down my neck. "I think we got less sleep last night than we did having to watch Amelia."

"And yet I don't feel as tired as I did yesterday. I wonder why that is," he said with a hum in his voice.

"Must have been the hot tub last night," I said with a chuckle.

"I agree, the hot tub was very relaxing," he said, showing me a mischievous smile.

"Mhm, I could stay here in this bubble with you forever," I say.

"Do we have to go back today?" he says with a pout.

"Yes, mio caro, I am afraid we do," I said as I kissed his jaw.

"Did I just get a nickname?" he said with a huge smile.

"I guess you did, do you want to know what it means?" I asked.

"It means 'my dear'," he said as he lowered his head and continued kissing down my collarbone.

"How do you know that?" I asked, my breathing getting light at his kisses.

"Because that is what Nonni called Nonno," he says as he returns his kisses to my lips.

"Yeah, it was," I whisper as I pull him tightly into my kiss. "Do you want to know what Julian meant by what he said about Nonni yesterday?"

Ryan pulled back to look me in the eyes and nodded, "When I went to see Nonni before she died, she told me that I needed to stop running for love. She said I needed to stop running from you. I never told her that I liked you, she just knew, and she told me that when I was ready, I needed to fight for you."

"Wow, did she say anything about me liking you?" Ryan asked.

"No, why would she," I ask with eyebrows raised in confusion.

"She is the only person who knew that I liked you. I mean, dad guessed but she was the only person I told," he said as he held me close to his chest.

"Wow, even from the grave she is playing matchmaker," I say busting out laughing. Ryan soon joins me, and we are having to hold our stomachs from the pain of laughing so much. Our laughter dies down and I suddenly remember what I have to do today.

"What's wrong?" Ryan asked, looking over at me.

"Today I have to meet my family for lunch and I have to tell them something really bad," I said as I placed my head on his chest and listened to his heart beat.

"Do you want me to come?" he asked as he kissed my hairline.

"No, I don't want you to know what I did. It is horrible," I whisper.

"Giana, the only bad things you have ever done, you have done to protect your family. Nothing you have ever done will make me think less of you," he said as he pulled me tighter.

"Promise?" I whispered.

"I promise," he said. "Now before we go back to the real world, what do you say to a shower."

I laughed at his cheesy grin, "A shower sounds brilliant."

A couple of hours later, we managed to get redressed and head to the house. We decided to stop and get donuts for the guys as an apology for not calling them back last night. We found over twenty missed calls and texts begging us to come help with Amelia.

"I should feel bad about not being there to help but we really needed last night," Ryan says, rubbing circles into my hand as he drives home.

"Yeah, I still feel bad but at the same time, Chase needed to be thrown in the deep end. He needed a night to figure it out for himself and not rely on me to save him," I say before taking our hands and kissing the back of his. "And it would have taken much more than a crying baby to drag me out of your bed last night."