She stepped closer and studied his expression. Questions clamored within her. Insecurities circled like vultures waiting to swoop in. Rena’s words came back to her, bolstering her resolve. Don’t give up on him. “How about just being honest?”
He lashed out verbally. “Dammit, Julia. I’m not taking you to the wedding. I refuse to involve you in this.”
Tears clouded Julia’s eyes as she saw what was behind his anger. He wanted to protect her. “Okay.”
He frowned down at her. “Why aren’t you upset?”
Julia’s throat clogged with emotion. “Because I’m listening with my heart and not my ears. My father taught me that. It’s how he said you see the soul of something. You close out all distractions and you let yourself feel the essence of it.” She took him by the hand and led him out of the bedroom to one of the couches in the living room. She sat down even when he continued to stand and glower down at her. “You’re angry, but not at me. Let’s start over. Yell and rant as much as you want. Let it out. Then we’ll talk.”
Gio shook his head in bewilderment. “What?”
“Throw something if it makes you feel better. Sometimes I do that. Bottling it up only makes it worse.”
“I don’t yell.”
“Everyone yells.”
He shook his head again.
“Then I’ll do it for you.” She let out a high-pitched angry scream.
He sat beside her. “What are you doing? Stop.”
She screamed again.
He covered her mouth. “Someone is going to call the police.”
She smiled beneath his hand. He removed it and she said, “I just released all the anger I felt when you told me I couldn’t go to the wedding. Now you do it. You’ll feel better.”
He cocked his head to one side, then started to laugh. He laughed so hard his eyes misted over. And while he did he pulled her into his arms and hugged her.
She nodded with approval. “Laughter works, too. How do you feel?”
He cupped her face between both of his hands and looked down at her, his expression sobering. “Better than I have in a long, long time.”
“Do you want to talk now?
“Hell no.”
Even though she was disappointed, she was relieved to see him smiling. He swung her up and over one of his shoulders. “I just thought of another way to relieve some of my stress.”
She playfully swatted his back. “Don’t think this lets you off the hook. I want to know why you don’t want to take me to the wedding.”
He growled and rolled onto the bed with her. “What’s it going to take for you to stop talking?”
Julia smiled up at him impishly. “Do I really need to tell you?”
She didn’t.
The next hour left her pleasantly unable to speak or even form a coherent thought.
Chapter Sixteen
Julia woke in Gio’s arms. Lying naked in his embrace was heaven. He was absently tracing the curve of her lower back.
She hugged him tightly. She wanted to ask him so many questions, but she held her tongue. He would tell her when he was ready. “Gio?”
“Hmmm?” he asked, resting his chin on the top of her head.
“I care about you.”
He instantly tensed but said nothing. What is he afraid I’ll say? Who taught him that words of kindness are followed by something unpleasant?
Rubbing her hand across his lightly haired chest, Julia said, “That’s all. I just needed to say it.”
He buried his face in her hair and held her for a moment longer, relaxing beneath her touch. “Did you have fun with Rena?”
Julia knew he was trying to distract her and she let him. “Yes. We even looked at some old photographs. I’m so jealous. How did you not have a gangly, awkward stage?”
He chuckled softly and ran his hand through her long hair. “I’m not sure I should let the two of you become friends.”
“Too late,” Julia said with a mischievous grin. “I love that she’s your best friend’s little sister. She told me that you and Kane ruled your high school. What was it like being so popular?”
Instead of laughing at her ribbing, his face grew serious. “Kane was my friend. The rest of them were more interested in how much money my family had. That’s the problem with money. People don’t see you. They see the car you drive. They see the house you live in. Beyond that, none of it is real. When you have enough money, it’s no longer a thrill to get more of it. All that matters is keeping it and ensuring it’s there for the next generation.”
Julia held up one of her hands and rubbed her thumb and index finger together back and forth quickly. She stopped and said cheekily, “Do you know what that is? It’s the world’s smallest violin, and I’m playing it for your very sad story. Too much money. The burden of it. How did you survive?”
He raised his hand and slapped her bare ass with enough force that she jumped, but not enough to hurt her. “I thought you were a sweet woman.”
She smiled back, unrepentant. “I am, but I call bullshit when I see it.”
“That can be a dangerous trait,” he said with a bit more seriousness. “Many people don’t like having their reality challenged.”
She propped herself up on one elbow and said, “I’m a lot tougher than you think.”
He ran a gentle hand down one side of her face and down her neck. “Are you?”
“Yes, I am.”
A pained expression twisted his face. “I don’t know what the wedding will be like. It has the potential to become an ugly situation.”
Julia leaned forward and rested her head on his chest. “Then you should definitely take me. You shouldn’t go to something like that alone.”
He shuddered beneath her, and Julia knew she’d said exactly what he needed to hear.
Chapter Seventeen
It was a few minutes before three on Friday morning when they arrived at the private airfield. “Oh, hell no,” Gio said as his town car pulled onto the tarmac next to his plane and he saw the outline of three men standing next to a stretch limo talking. “I told Rena to hire a second plane for them.”
Julia leaned over him to look out the window. The move tightened the material of her slacks over the curve of her ass in the most tempting way. As adorable as she looked in them, he’d spent the ride over imagining taking them off her in the seclusion of the plane. “Who are they?” she asked.
“My brothers. They’ll have to find their own damn plane.”
“Won’t they think it’s strange that we don’t want them to come with us?”
Gio raised his eyebrows and Julia turned an adorable shade of pink. “I don’t care.”
Julia said softly, “I’d like to meet them.”
Gio swore beneath his breath. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about Julia, but he knew damn well how he felt about sharing a six-hour flight with her and his brothers. He was about to explain to her why his way was the only way when he looked into her blue eyes and lost his resolve. “Nick will probably make a pass at you,” he warned. “Even if I threaten to kill him for it.”
“I’ll laugh it off.”
“Luke will bore you with details of his last surgery.”