Page 17 of And Everything In Between

He sat back slightly but didn’t break eye contact.

“I can be that. And not just for tonight.”

Paige blinked, her throat tight. She turned toward the window, letting the streetlights blur.

He didn’t push. Didn’t prod. Just watched her, silence didn’t scare him.

She inhaled slowly. Her reflex was to pull it all back in. To be fine. To be composed.

But something about him felt like a quiet room after a storm.

She wasn’t ready to enter, not yet—but she wanted to linger by the door.

But the fact that she evenconsideredit? That shocked her. She smiled until his voice called her back to the moment.

“You must be close with him?” he asked, not pushing, more curious than anything.

She hesitated. “It’s complicated. But I’m all he’s got right now.”

Giovanni nodded again. “That’s all I needed to know.”

He made a quiet mental note to figure out how to take something off her plate, whether she wanted him to or not.

Ms. Leah appeared at their table, refilling their drinks. “Y’all look too serious for a Saturday night,” she chided. “Giovanni, are you boring this beautiful woman?”

He laughed, leaning to the side. “Ms. Leah, I’m trying my best to make this a good first date.” Paige smiled and tilted her hand back and forth, saying he was doing okay. He winked at her as Ms. Leah continued.

“Does she know I watched you grow up? Chile, he always had his eye on a pretty girl. Nothing’s changed I see,” she said to Paige with a wink and laugh before walking off.

Paige laughed, “She’s a trip.”

“Too many memories,” Giovanni said, watching her. “But she’s not wrong.”

Their eyes held for a second too long.

“You always this direct?” Paige asked, tilting her head.

“You always this guarded?”

That made her laugh. “Touché.”

They fell into a rhythm then, eating in easy silence. When Giovanni leaned back, arm stretched along the booth, his tone shifted again, personal now.

“You ever let anyone help you with the load?”

He hadn’t meant to ask it out loud or bring it back up but the thought of her doing it all alone was sitting wrong in his chest. Heavy. Nowhewas the one caught off guard.

She picked at her plate. “That’s not other people’s job. I can take care of myself. I have been for a long time.”

“That don’t mean you don’t need it. And it damn sure don’t mean nobody wants to.”

He leaned in a little, not aggressively, but with heaviness. “I didn’t stop traffic today just ‘cause you fine as hell—though let’s be clear, you are.” A small smirk tugged at the corner of hismouth. “I stopped because I saw a woman locked in. Focused. Holding back more than she’ll ever say out loud.”

Paige held his gaze, lips twitching into a small smirk.

“Are you offering your services? Tryna be my knight in shining armor?”

Giovanni smiled. “I’m saying I see you. I’ve been you. And I won’t forget you sharing what you shared with me. I guess I’m saying I’d do it if you let me.”

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