CHAPTER FOUR

A few hours later, after he had awakened and saw that she was still asleep, he stroked her thick, long, wavy hair as he stared at her. She gave him a feeling he couldn't describe. It was as if a veil lifted when she entered his orbit. As if he'd been holding his breath his whole life, and he saw her and exhaled.

But what on earth could he give to her? Pain? Destruction? Death? Those were the realities that followed him. That was all he ever had to offer.

Realizing he couldn't give her anything good, which was a shame but was the truth, he removed his hand from her hair.

But as soon as he did, she open those big green eyes of hers. And those eyes, once again, melted his heart. Who was this person , he couldn't help wondering, and why did she have such a profound effect on him?

"You're awake," she said with a smile.

"Wide awake. Like your adorable eyes."

"But you said I needed them examined."

He smiled. "You remember that?"

"You gaslighting me? I'll never forget it."

They both continued to smile and to stare at each other.

"Forty," he said.

Vivian didn't understand what he meant. "What about forty?"

"My age."

She smiled. "Oh. I thought that was taboo."

"It is."

"Then why did you tell me?"

Giorgio didn't answer that. But Vivian could tell he had something more on his mind than his age. She waited for him to say what it was, but he didn't. So she did. "What are you thinking about?"

Giorgio was never good at sharing his feelings. And she was a stranger to him. But she also captivated him in ways he did not understand himself. "I'm thinking how nice this is," he admitted. "And how nice it would be to continue this way."

Vivian had similar thoughts, but she couldn't dismiss what she knew to be true. Men never wanted her for who she was. Men only wanted her for what she could give to them in the bedroom, until they didn't even want that. "Continue which way? The sleeping with you way? Or the being with you way?"

Giorgio didn't know what the answer was, but he knew he wasn't talking commitment. "This way. Sleeping with me."

It was an honest reply, and she appreciated that. But she'd been there and done that too many times before. "Thanks," she said, "but no thank you."

Giorgio was at first surprised. He had never been turned down before, not in his entire life. Even women who hated his guts, and there were tons of them, still jumped at the chance to sleep with him. His skills were legendary. "Are you telling me no?"

"That's what I'm telling you, yes."

"But why?"

He seemed genuinely surprised to Vivian. Which only reinforced her answer.

"You owe me an explanation, Vivian."

She agreed that he at least needed to know her reasoning. "While you were sleeping, I woke up and heard your phone constantly ringing. I tried to wake you up so you could answer it, but you were sleeping too hard and all you did was turn over. So I looked over on the nightstand and saw that every time your phone lit up, the Caller ID identified a lady's name. It was woman after woman calling you."

"And that's the reason?"

"That and my instincts yes."

Giorgio frowned. "What would women phoning me have to do with your instincts?"

"I don't wanna be calling you while you're in bed with somebody else. Been there, done that. Not interested."

Giorgio didn't know how to react to such a statement. It spoke volumes about him. It was an indictment of a lifestyle he'd had nearly his entire life. Because he didn't know what to say, he merely asked what time it was, saw that it was three in the morning based on his cellphone. And he turned his back on her and eventually went back to sleep.

Vivian didn't understand his reaction. Why would she want to be one of those pathetic women calling him over and over begging for his attention? And for him to act all offended? That offended her!

As soon as he fell asleep again, she was leaving. She was out of there. This man took her on a rollercoaster ride of emotions.

Until they woke up again, felt the presence of the other person, and those sensual feelings that overtook them both could not be ignored. And he was entering her once more.

This time was even slower than the first time. Giorgio was prolonging it again and both of them were on the verge of cumming the entire time.

And then they came. Together. Not as frantic and explosive as the first time. But still the best fuck either one of them had ever had.

And they were empty again.

Until Giorgio finally pulled out of her and pulled her into his arms.

He held her close against him. Which was another rarity for him. All this touchy, feely-ness was not his style. But he couldn't take his hands off of her. And he didn't want her to leave him.

Until he fell asleep, and she took that opportunity to extricate herself from his big arms and get out of there. Being with him, given his stated reason as to why he wanted to be with her, was a bridge to nowhere. It was time to go.

Vivian wasn't even trying to see if he wanted to give more than just a sexual relationship a chance. She was dressed and within inches of walking out that door when he opened his eyes.

Giorgio saw that she was trying to tip out. And he was stunned that he didn't just let her go. He leaned up on his elbows. "You're leaving?"

Vivian didn't want to face him. She just might weaken if he gave her that kind look again. But she wasn't settling for less.

She turned around. "You're awake," she said.

"You're leaving?"

"Yep. That's what I'm doing. Yes." She felt oddly awkward. As if she was a kid again tipping out of her mother's house to go party with her friends. "My friends will be wondering where I am," she added.

Even Giorgio knew better than that. Not those so-called friends of hers. And he didn't want her to go. He wanted to ask her to breakfast, or lunch, or dinner. Or all three. But he knew he wasn't going to commit to that girl no more than he'd ever committed to anyone else. Why put her through the agony?

But then his cellphone rang that particular ring that let him know it was his security chief. And he grabbed his phone off of the nightstand and answered quickly. "You found her?"

Vivian found that an odd thing to say. She couldn't hear what the person on the other end was saying, but whatever it was it made Giorgio throw the sheet off of his naked body and jump out of bed. Vivian was jarred by how huge his penis was even when it was at rest.

"Where?" a now animated Giorgio asked the person on the other end of the phone. Then he frowned. "South Carolina?" Then he asked if whatever they were talking about was touchable or just eyes only, which made no sense at all to Vivian.

"Okay," Giorgio finally said. "I'm getting ready now. Have my plane ready to go." Then he ended the call.

"We need to take a ride," he said as he began frantically putting on his clothes.

Vivian thought it odd that he would include her when she was supposed to have been leaving. Or had he forgotten that little fact already? "A ride where?" she asked him.

"South Carolina. Some small town I've never heard of."

Then he grabbed his phone that he had tossed on the bed and began hurrying out. He placed his arm around Vivian's waist as they left. She could feel him shaking as he kept his arm around her and pressed the elevator button.

"Why are we going to South Carolina?" she asked. "What's it about?"

Giorgio wasn't about to go there. Not yet. "Long story," he said as the elevator doors dinged and then slid open. And they got on.

But Vivian wasn't about to go with out of state with a man who didn't even think enough of her to tell her why they were going out of state. She pressed button number two.

"Why did you do that?" he asked her. He had pressed the lobby button.

"That's the floor I'm staying on."

"You know what I mean."

"I don't wanna interfere with your long story. I'm going to my own room to live my own life and I wish you well in South Carolina. But I'm not going with you."

Another shock to Giorgio's system. Who did she think she was? He wanted to lash out at her the way he would have done any other human being on earth. But he didn't do it. He wanted to open up to her. He needed to open up to somebody! But she'd judge him harshly and want to have nothing to do with him. She wanted to roll in the hay with a stud just like all those other women wanted. She got that. Now she was done with him. Now he had to face his demons alone.

The elevator stopped at the second floor, the door dinged, and then slid open. When Vivian stepped off, she turned and looked at him. Her soft, gentle eyes melted his heart. "I hope you find what you're looking for," she said to him. And then the doors closed her out, and locked him in.