Page 12 of Undeniable

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The next day, I arrive on time as usual. Giovanni opens the door giving me a curt nod and a brief hello before he steps aside to allow me in, actually moving all the way away from me so I don’t have to brush up against him unlike yesterday.Too bad.

Giovanni stays silent as he watches me make us both a cup of coffee. When I hand it to him, he dips his head in thanks but says no words as his silver eyes stay on me as he sips his drink. It seems all of our moments alone together are nothing but lingering stares and drawn-out silence.

I would fill in conversation more if he didn’t dry out my mouth with a single look and scramble my brain with the barest of touches. Thankfully, the awkward silence doesn’t last long as Alessandro comes bounding down the stairs, looking happier each day than the day before.

“Morning!” He says as he hugs his dad before coming around to hug me. This time I am not as surprised, and I am able to hug him back.

“Good morning. Did you sleep good?” I ask.

He nods before sliding onto the stool at the island. I grab him a bowl of cereal and pour it for him as his dad kisses the top of his head.

“I have to get going. I love you,” Giovanni says abruptly.

“Love you too Papa.”

Giovanni gives me a smile that looks only a little forced before he hurries out the room and through the front door. Guess he is deciding to be frigid today. I don’t know why it bothers me. It just does. Yesterday morning, he was looking at me like I could be his next meal and today, I see nothing but a steel wall, impenetrable to any measures I could take to find out what is going on underneath his gorgeous exterior.

I turn to Alessandro with a smile when I realize that I am just standing here staring at the empty hallway.

“So, what is on the schedule for today, buddy?”

He shrugs with a smile as he happily munches away at his sugar filled breakfast. With dimples like his, the kid can have anything he wants. I am pretty sure he knows it too. His dad is going to be in trouble with him, or should I say the young ladies of New York will be in trouble.

“Can you draw?” He asks.

I grimace and shake my head. “Not well. How about you?”

He nods. “My Nonna taught me. She was really good,” he says as his happy features cloud over with sadness. Wanting to take away every ounce of pain this sweet little man has ever had to feel, I walk over to the side table that I know has some extra pieces of paper and a couple of pens. I hand him a piece of paper as I take mine and sit down next to him.

“Okay, what should I draw?” I ask.

Alessandro seems to think it over for a second when he smiles. “An Elephant!”

My eyes widen as I blow out a breath. If it keeps a smile on his face, I’m in. I nod my head as I try to picture the best way to start drawing a damn elephant.

“Alright, just don’t laugh at me if it turns out looking like a dog.”

Alessandro begins to giggle incessantly as he draws a dinosaur. I start with the trunk but then realize I made it too long to be proportionate for the rest of the body, so I scrap it. Then I start with the legs, that end up looking like chicken legs on a horse’s body.

Soon hours pass by, and pages are filled with various animals, flowers and landscapes, all done by Alessandro as I struggle to create anything even semi-decent. For only being 6, the kid is actually incredibly talented. I am sure with an actual set of decent sketching pencils and some practice he could be a full-blown artist if he really wanted to be.

We cover the fridge in all of his drawings until every inch of space is taken over. He politely told me that my drawings were okay, but that maybe we should save them for later before he put them into the recycle. Little shit.

When I hear the front door open and close, followed by heavy footsteps my stomach drops as my heart flutters no matter how hard I will it to stop. Unfortunately, the fluttering only gets worse when Giovanni steps into the living room. My eyes greedily roam over his perfectly polished appearance. He is wearing his typical black suit and black tie with a crisp white shirt that stretches across his wide chest like it is a struggle just to contain all of that muscle.

Without meaning to, I lick my lips softly as my eyes trail up him until I see that his silver daggers for eyes are resting on me, waiting to realize that I have been caught. My face flushes and I quickly look away, as if that could save me any humiliation at all. Being the gracious man he is, he seems to ignore the fact that I undoubtedly greeted him like a hungry lioness.

Giovanni walks to the fridge and stops in his tracks when he sees all of the drawings. I stand up and take a few tentative steps towards him.

“I hope it is okay. He was really proud of them so I told him we would hang them up for everyone to see.”

Giovanni doesn’t take his eyes off of one picture in particular, admiring it silently. It is a picture of a woman with angel wings standing in the clouds with a smile on her face. It was his favorite one and he insisted it be at the very top of the fridge so that it was that much closer to heaven.

“He drew these today?” His rich voice rumbles through the kitchen.

I nod as a small smile crosses my face.

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