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The night had been complete chaos, and I hadn’t gotten the chance to sit next to Dani, much less talk to her. And unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how I wanted to look at it, we’d never found ourselves under the mistletoe again.
After the meal, my family went into the whole gift-opening extravaganza. That took up the remainder of the evening and was a mix of total chaos and a couple of sweet moments when someone opened a special gift. My dad had given my mom a trip to Italy, to Matera, her favorite small town. They would be leaving on their thirty-fifth anniversary in late-April. And he’d sprung for business-class, which my mom tried to shoot down, but her sister cut her off before she got going on the subject.
Once that was over, a few of us cleaned up, then everyone was either politely told it was time to leave, or they were hurried off to their sleeping arrangements in the house. My mom didn’t like anyone lingering around much after midnight. She had a full morning planned, that included Mass at St. Theresa’s, and she expected everyone to be “bright eyed and bushy tailed.”
And now, here we were, knowing that if we lingered too long, my mother would return to scold us. She’d made that clear when she showed Dani to her room.
“Yes, it’s my room, but I’m trying to move out. Unfortunately, my mom doesn’t recognize any attempt at my departure. According to her, none of us can leave the house until we’re married. My brother Rocco still has his room here, even though he moved out three years ago. There are plenty of nights when I sleep in his guest room. I’m trying to ease my way out, but she makes it almost impossible. What can I say? My parents are old school. My dad still has a flip phone.”
She grinned, looking around at all my old posters still up on the walls, and my various sports trophies neatly lined up on the bookshelves. “I think it’s sweet.”
“I think it’s going to kill me tonight.”
“Why’s that?”
I grinned and wondered why it wasn’t obvious to her. “Because you’re sleeping in here, in my bed, and I’m not.”
“Rules of the house,” she said. “We should respect that.”
“Like you respected the rule we made for our dates tonight?”
“That’s different. Besides, wewereour dates.”
“Still, you lied to your date. You told him that something came up so you couldn’t meet him.”
She glanced down at my crotch, then up at me again, smirking. “I believe that was the appropriate description at the time.”
“You’re playing with fire, Dani,” I told her, as my dick responded to that eye graze. “You told me how you want to start your own business back home in California. After tonight, you can see that my world is here. I’m entrenched. If our relationship escalates, I will do everything in my power to convince you to stay. And I should warn you, I’m a very convincing kind of guy.”
She stared at me for a moment or two, then turned away and walked deeper into the room. “Where did your mother say those guest pajamas were?”
“She usually keeps them in the top drawer of the dresser. There should be a toothbrush and toothpaste in there as well. We passed the bathroom on the way here. It’s down the hall. There are always fresh towels in the white cabinet next to the bathroom door. Sometimes, there’s even sweats in there that might fit, if you prefer those over the PJs. My mom likes to be prepared for guests.”
“Thanks,” she said. “We should get some sleep. From what I heard, your parents get up early on Christmas morning, and they expect everyone in the house to be awake as well.”
“Have a good sleep, and if you get cold, there’s always more blankets in the closet.”
She nodded. “Night, Gianni.”
“Good night, Dani,” I said, then spun around and walked out, knowing damn well this was the right decision…but fuck, why did it have to be so difficult?
Dani 7
After a quick run to the bathroom to remove my makeup, brush my teeth, and rinse out my worthless panties, I opted for the men’s striped pajamas in the top dresser drawer. I didn’t need the bottoms, the top came down to just above my knees, and the bottoms looked so big, I could fit my entire body in one leg.
I did, however, find a set of gray sweats in the white cabinet that I intended to wear in the morning. The size seemed almost perfect for me.
I sent a heart emoji to Sarah, indicating I was alive, a habit we’d gotten into whenever we spent the night away from our apartment, plugged in my phone, and set it on the nightstand. I placed my wet panties on a windowsill to dry, pulled the covers back on the queen-sized bed, fluffed up the pillows, and let out a cleansing sigh… a deep, long sigh.
“What a day!”
Once I climbed into bed, Gianni’s bed… it even faintly and delectably smelled like him… I knew there was no way I would ever sleep. Not after everything that had happened tonight, starting with that kiss in the bar that completely changed my mind about Gianni. Up until that moment, I’d had a crush on him but never thought too much about it. But after that kiss, well, if we could’ve gone off somewhere private, I wouldn’t have hesitated to have what would certainly be some of the hottest sex I’d ever had in my entire life.
I could always tell what kind of a lover a man would be by the way he kissed me, and Gianni was one burning-hot kisser who immediately set my body on fire.
He’d made it quite clear, if we ever had sex, my world would have to change, but I was sticking to my New Years’ resolution. I wouldn’t fall for a local guy. I was absolutely, positively moving back to sunny California.
That said, Shannon wasn’t going anywhere.
