Chapter 8 - Chapter Eight

Arianne woke up and found out that she was still in Luca’s arms. She looked at Luca. He was still sleeping. She grinned. He looked peaceful. When Luca was awake, he looked mysterious, dark and somehow brooding. When he was asleep, it was like he let go of those traits and relaxed himself.

Arianne sighed. He looked hot both ways. She tried to remove his arms from around her waist.

Luca stirred and woke up, groaning, his eyes still closed. “What time is it?”

“A little after ten.”

His eyes flew open at the sound of Ari’s voice, and he pulled one side of his lips into that half-smile she found irresistible. “Sorry. I thought I was still at home.”

Arianne grinned. “So that’s how you speak to your family.”

Still smiling, he rolled his eyes at her and yawned, stretching his arms above him, gazing at her sleepily as he did so.

She waited till he was in mid-stretch. Then she pushed him off the bed.

“Wha—? Hey! What was that for?”

“For not keeping your hands to yourself,” she said, swinging herself off the bed and heading into the bathroom.

She locked the bathroom door behind her, and as she brushed her teeth vigorously, she thought about last night. Why on earth had she let him hug her? This was insane. She hated his guts. She was sure even he knew that. She spat into the sink, rinsed her mouth with water and washed her face. She felt more alert immediately when the cold water splashed onto her face. She dried her face off with a towel and threw open the door. And almost walked into Luca.

“What the hell?” She complained, pushing him aside and heading to the dining table.

Luca watched her go. He was used to girls slipping their arms through his, finding random opportunities to hang onto his arm. Pushing him away? Not so much. He shook his head and went into the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Ari sat down at the table, banged her head on the kitchen table three times and leaned against the table with her head, groaning.

“Headache, sweetie?” Kieran asked, chuckling at his joke.

“Funny,” Ari replied, finding it anything but.

“Here you go.” Jaxon put a bowl of cereal in front of her.

“Thanks.” She slid the bowl towards her and stirred the cereal with her spoon, staring into blank space.

When Luca came into the living room, Arianne was staring into her cereal, Jaxon was staring into his newspaper and Kieran was staring into his coffee.

“Not morning people?” Luca asked as he poured himself a glass of orange juice.

“Nope,” they replied.

Luca sat down at the table and stared into his orange juice. “Thank God.”

After breakfast, Kieran stumbled back into his room, mumbling something about getting changed while Jaxon sat down on the couch, turned on the telly and aimlessly flicked over the channels. Arianne walked to her room, with Luca following her. Just when Luca was about to walk into the room, she turned around.

“I have to change,” she said shortly, slamming the door in his face.

Luca stared at the door for a moment. He was used to girls practically pulling him through the door and into their rooms. Rejection and door slamming? Not so much.

Arianne rummaged through her bags, looking for a nice top she had brought with her. For some reason, she felt like dressing up a little today. She found a black coloured long-sleeved top that was slightly low cut and had dark purple lace around the edges. She shrugged. Good enough.

She pulled on her blue jeans and combed her hair. She stopped in front of the mirror to put on some mascara and lip gloss. Then she smiled. She was going to knock Luca’s socks off.

When Arianne opened the door, Luca stared at her for a minute, stunned. She looked…amazing. He licked his lips and opened his mouth. “Are you done?” He managed to choke out.

“Yeah,” Arianne said, walking past him, a smirk forming on her face for the look on Luca’s face when he saw her.

The smirk got knocked out of her when he came out wearing loose-fitting dark blue jeans, a plain white long-sleeved shirt and a forest green cashmere sweater. He looked good enough to eat.

Arianne reluctantly dragged her eyes way from him and sat onto the couch next to Jaxon, staring at the telly.

After watching what seemed like countless hours of television she turned to Jaxon.

“What are we doing today?” She asked him.

“Nothing, as far as I know. Is there anything that you want to do?”

“Yeah, there is, actually,” Luca said suddenly. “I want to take Arianne out to have a look around the neighbourhood.”

Ari gritted her teeth. “No, you don’t.”

Luca ignored her and waited patiently for Jaxon’s answer.

“It’s really dangerous out there,” Jaxon said. “You could get mugged or raped or killed or…” he trailed off.

Luca snorted. “I don’t think so. I come here fairly often. It’s quite safe. Besides, it’s two in the afternoon. Muggers, rapists and killers don’t come out at this time of the day.”

Jaxon frowned. “I don’t know…”

Luca grabbed Arianne’s wrist and opened the door, with Arianne protesting hopelessly. “We’ll be back in a few hours,” he called before slamming the door behind them.

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