LOGINJovani's POV"Who was on the phone?" I turned immediately to find Donatella atop the stairs."Jovan," The smile on her face disappeared and she frowned."Why is he calling me?" She came down the stairs. I handed the phone to her. She scrolled through her call logs and blocked his number then tossed the phone into her tote bag."What did he want?""Does it matter?" I shrugged. "Probably wanted to cry about his relationship problems with your brother."She made a disgusted sound. "I don't want to hear it. Whatever's going on between them is their business. I'm done being involved in that mess."I studied her face, looking for any sign that she was hurt or still cared. But there was nothing."You ready to go?" she asked, grabbing her keys."Go where?""The farmer's market. I told you about it last night, remember?"I didn't. I'd been too busy thinking about other things while she was talking. But I nodded anyway. "Right. The farmer's market.""Don't sound so enthusiastic," she teased, bu
Jovan's POV"Good morning," I greeted him as I rubbed my eyes. He was leaning against the headboard just staring into space.Silence.Of course, that's all I'd been getting from him for the past few days. Either silence or sharp words that cut deeper than any knife."Lorenzo," I tried again."What?" His voice was flat."Are we going to talk about this or are you just going to keep giving me the cold shoulder?""There's nothing to talk about.""Bullshit." I sat up, pulling the covers around me. "You've been acting like I don't exist ever since Donatella found out what really happened. So yeah, there's plenty to talk about."He finally looked at me, and the coldness in his eyes made my chest ache. "What do you want me to say, Jovan?""I want you to say anything, something. Instead of freezing me out like I'm the one who did something wrong.""You want me to talk?" He laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Fine. Let's talk about how my sister hates me now. How she looks at me like I'm a
Jovani's POVDonatella and I showered together and with her body in close proximity, I couldn't keep my hands to myself for a second.What was wrong with me? Was the one question that ran through my mind. I kept telling myself that any man in my shoes wouldn't hesitate to fuck a beautiful lady like Tella but what was the feeling in my chest?“Julian,” Donatella tapped me on the shoulder, jolting me back to the present.“Are you okay?” She asked, worried.“Y.yes.” I stammered. “I was just thinking about work, that's all.” yeah, the perfect lie to tell.“And you were lost in thought that you didn't hear me call you repeatedly?”“Tella,” I took hold of her arms, gently squeezing them. “Don't worry, I'm not thinking about another woman.”“I never said you were,” she rolled her eyes at me. “I'm just worried about the fact that you're zoned out so early in the morning.”“Worry not my love,” I kissed her hand and the worry on her face was gone, in it's place was a bright smile that made my h
Donatella's POVHis lips found mine for the third time and I melted into his kiss. All I wanted was to feel something else aside from the hurt in my heart and Julian was doing just that.He picked up in his arms while my arms were wrapped around his neck and we went upstairs to the bedroom.“Wait,” I said to him as his hands reached for his button. I got up from the bed, slowly taking off the hoodie while his hungry eyes travelled down my body.“What is it Milady?” he asked, stroking my face gently with his finger.“There's no fun,” I wrapped his loosened tie around my fingers, pulled him closer and whispered. “ill take off your own clothes.”“Your wish is my command.” He turned the other way and sat down on the bed then I leaned closer, our lips away from each other and I began undressing him.Within seconds, his upper body was bare and I ran my fingers down his toned chest. Damn this man was a fine piece of shit.Julian wrapped his arm around my neck and a sound of pleasure escaped
Jovani's POVI opened the door slowly because I thought she was still asleep. But I caught the smell of vanilla ice cream and…….I sniffed the air, catching a whiff of chocolate donuts.When I turned, Donatella was on my couch in what appeared to be my university hoodie which I hadn't seen in three years with a bowl the size of a small satellite dish and tears running down her face.She looked up when I came in, chocolates at the side of her mouth which she wiped clean with a serviette."Don't," she warned, pointing her spoon at me."I didn't say anything." I rubbed my nose as the smile crept up my lips."You had a face and stop rubbing your nose because I know you want to laugh.""I just walked in.""I'm warning you Julian Voss." She scooped up an enormous amount of ice cream and put it in her mouth and looked at the television, which was playing something she clearly wasn't watching because it was a cooking show.I put my keys down, loosened my tie and sat on the other end of the co
Lorenzo's POVLeilani, who'd heard the yelling and the chaos, came downstairs when Tella left. She looked at me then at the walk smeared with the wine.“Maybe I should call her to be sure she got home safely.” And she went back upstairs.Donatella would never go home. I knew because I called four times and the fourth one didn't even ring — went straight to voicemail, which meant she'd turned the phone off, which meant she wasn't just ignoring me, she'd made a decision about ignoring me. There was a difference. Donatella ignoring a call was irritation. Donatella turning her phone off was a verdict.I stood in the entrance hall for a long time after the fourth call. "She's not picking up," I said."I know." He came over to where I was, crouched and picked up the three pieces of the bowl and held them in his hands. "Lorenzo—""Don't," I said. "Don't apologize. It doesn't belong to you.""Some of it does.""Some of it does," I agreed. "But I'm the one who had eight months."He set the pie
DONATELLA'S POVI found the almond cookies and I ate three of them standing at the kitchen counter in my socks.After that, I poured myself a glass of wine, Lorenzo had Clara hide because he knew I was a sucker for it and I took the wine upstairs.I knocked on Lorenzo's door because the light was s
LORENZO'S POVI had conducted interrogations in four countries, two of which had no formal policy on the matter.None of them had been this difficult."The question," I said, for the third time, "is straightforward. How many serious relationships have you had in the last five years.""Define seriou
JOVAN'S POVThere are several stages of grief; Denial, Anger, Bargaining, depression and Acceptance.Nobody tells you there's a sixth one, which is lying face-down on a bed at eleven-thirty at night, fully aware that you are absolutely, catastrophically, humiliatingly horny, and that the reason for
Lorenzo's Pov The problem with knowing something about a person was that you couldn't unknow it.Jovan Rosfrith had been in my east wing for weeks and in that time I had learned a number of things about him that I had not been looking to learn, and the thing I was currently failing to stop thinkin







