Free Honeymoon For One by Lily Zante Page B

would either leave or let him through because
he couldn’t stand this close to her any longer without doing something he would
later regret.
    Mistaking his silence for anger about the
Blackberry she said, “I’ll get you another one if it’s damaged.” She stared up
at him for the longest time.
    “It’s fine Ava, really. I must get going.”
    “Busy day today?” she seemed eager to strike up a
conversation.
    Then
he remembered he had told her he would be tied up for the day. “Yes. Hectic.
Where are you off to today?” He asked, to lighten his tone.
    “Gina told me to try the Roman Theatre and the Arena but I’m thinking about going to Milan for the day.”
    “Milan?” he asked in surprise. “That’s over an
hour away, by train.”
     “I like trains,” retorted Ava defensively.
    “Ahhh.  You like shopping too? If you like
shopping, you will love Milan. Most of the women do.” He didn’t have Ava down
for someone who was so interested in shopping. She and Silvia were such
opposites. .
    “I thought I might check out Milan ahead of our
trip to Montova.”
    Nico’s
eyes glittered with curiosity, “If you want to shop for yourself, then by all
means go to Milan. But if you’re looking for products for your store, you won’t
get them in Milan. Montova is much better. But, I don’t want to keep putting
you off visiting these places. It seems that’s all I am doing at the moment.”
His eyes displayed a touch of playfulness. He tried not to stare too intently
at her face as she thought about it.
    “Since you’ve convinced me to go to this place
tomorrow, I don’t think I’ll bother going to Milan today. I’ll go to those
places that Gina suggested instead.”  She got out her sunglasses and
slipped them onto her face.
    “The arena is a good choice although it is better
when they have operas on,” said Nico and he couldn’t help but notice the
wedding band on her hand.  “Have a good day Ava,” he said, opening the
glass door.
    “Ciao.”
    They parted ways and Ava practically skipped off
the steps and headed out of the hotel.
    Nico watched her walking away out of sight and the
adoring look on his face changed in an instant as he saw Silvia storming
towards him with a look of pure hatred on her face.
    “You forgot your calculator,” snapped Silvia
blasting in through the double doors and heading straight for him. She threw
the small silver device at him. The good feeling that Ava had just left him
with, evaporated into the air.
    “It’s only a calculator Silvia,” he said irritably.
“Alessa was bored, I told her to play with it. I don’t even need it back.” But
he knew the real reason for her coming here was not to return the calculator,
she would have found another excuse if it wasn’t that. He hadn’t even seen or
heard her car pull up but he didn’t need to guess. He knew that she had seen
everything.
    Silvia’s face turned into a tight smile. “Don’t
worry darling, you know how much I like to see you,” she said, before she
rushed back to her car.
    As soon as she said that, he knew she had seen
everything. With a face like thunder, Nico headed straight towards the
reception desk only to find Gina hitting him with the words he least expected.
“Nico, your father’s back.”
    The day could not have gotten any worse. 
Nico placed his hand across his forehead and ran his fingers through his thick,
black hair. His father was not going to be very happy with him. But he had to
face him no matter what.
    “Where is he?” he asked Gina wearily.
    “In the office,” she replied, looking sideways at
the small door just behind the hotel reception.  “You’d better be quick. He
has a meeting with the Luxuriant Group at two.”
    “He wasn’t supposed to be back until tomorrow,”
replied Nico, tensing the fingers of his hands.
    “The Luxuriant group bought forward their meeting
to today. They have an offer that interested your father greatly.”
    Nico’s shoulders rose and