Page 80 of Driftwood Daffodil 3

“I don’t need to buy you.” Gio stepped up behind me and reached around either side to brace his palms on the counter. “You’re already mine.”

Having him this close to me, looking all fine in his suit with that look in his eye was dangerous. All I could think about was running my hands through his hair while he did dirty things to me. And this dress was too clean and nice for any of that.

Searching for a distraction, I turned away from him and let my eyes fall down to the black leather bound case. “Are they sparkly and expensive?”

Gio leaned in and breathed in my ear, “is there any other kind?”

That should not have sounded as seductive as it did. Curse you three piece suit.

“I don’t do expensive.”

“I don’t know…” Gio’s intense green stare met mine in the mirror. “I think you do expensive real well.”

“Clearly you haven’t seen my collection of cheap plastic necklaces.”

Half of them I may have stolen from Memphis, but I had some good pieces in there.

His brow arched. “Why would anyone wear plastic jewelry?”

Wow, he was out of touch.

“This may be a shocker to you, but most people can’t afford to be dripping in diamonds.”

I worked at a diner that served nontexan Texan food, with a cook who smoked while on the job. I was lucky if I could afford a snack from the food truck, let alone diamonds for family dinner.

Gio ran his nose up the side of my neck, causing a shiver to race down my spine and growled in my ear, “I’d like to see you dripping in diamonds.”

“I’m not your pet project.” I didn’t need his diamonds to look good.

“But you are my pet.”

My face dropped. “IfGattinameans pet I will kick you in the balls right here and now.”

“No,” he let out a chuckle which he should not be allowed to do when he looked like that. I was having a hard enough time keeping my hands to myself. “Gattinadoesn’t mean pet.”

“Are you going to tell me what it does mean?”

Finally, this was it. I was going to find out what he’d been calling me.

At least that’s what I thought until he brought his lips a breath away from my ear and said, “no.”

Asshole. “Give me the damn jewelry.”

Maybe I could stab his eye out with it.

Gotta say, I was a bit surprised when Gio opened the case. I was expecting some gaudy big gemstones, but the jewelry inside was actually tasteful. The earrings were small daffodils with a diamond in the center hanging off dainty what I assumed to beplatinum or white gold bands. And the necklace was made of the same metal with a larger daffodil pendant and a bigger diamond in the center. They were beautiful and oddly me.

“Huh, I kind of expected something bigger.”

“I was going to get something bigger…” Gio picked up the necklace and carefully fastened it around my neck. “But I didn’t think you’d wear it.”

He was right. I wouldn’t. It bothered me that he knew me enough to know that.

“If you think I’m going to thank you for this, you’re sorely mistaken.”

“Oh you won’t thank me. In fact I’m fairly sure you’ll hate me when I show you the next piece.”

Oh god, he was going to give me a ring.

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