Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 394 -

*Olivia*

I woke up to my hand being pulled to Giovani's lips. He kissed my knuckles softly, then scratched his fingernails down the inside of my forearm, sending delicious shivers up my arm. "Wake up, sleepyhead," he murmured. "I have a surprise for you."

I blinked, trying to force my sleepiness away. Even though we were finally safe, I had struggled to sleep well the previous night. The stress of it all was still giving me occasional nightmares that I hoped would go away with time. Sleeping next to Gio every night definitely helped.

I rolled onto my stomach and pointed at my back. Giovani laughed, knowing exactly what I wanted. I felt the bed sink as he crawled onto it, then straddled his knees on either side of me and began working at the knots in my shoulders with his strong hands. I sighed and burrowed my head deeper into the pillows. Now, this was the perfect way to wake up.

"Don't you want to hear what the surprise is?" he asked, still chuckling.

"Is it better than a backrub?"

"I think so."

"Okay, tell me what it is." I rolled myself over so that I could face him. He continued to kneel over the top of me, but leaned down so that his arms framed my face and landed a gentle kiss on my forehead.

"I'm taking you back to Tuscany. I know how much you loved it when we went before, and this time we're going to stay for a few days so you can explore as much as you want."

That woke me up even more than the backrub. A trip to Tuscany with just the two of us? Yes, please.

"That sounds amazing!" I gushed, reaching up to grab his head and pull him close enough to kiss. "I can't wait! I just need to pack. I can do it fast!"

"No need to pack; I took care of it while you were sleeping. You really did sleep late!" he explained.

"Even better. What in the world would I do without you? You really give me the princess treatment," I told him before dragging him back down for more kisses. He let me hold him against me for a few moments, then pulled away. "As much as I love this, our car is waiting," he said, standing up and then helping me up off the bed.

"Well, why didn't you say so?! I have to get dressed!" I bounced out of the bed and whipped open the armoire to replace something to wear. Luckily one of my favorite dresses was hanging front and center. It was a simple long-sleeve wrap dress with floral details that exaggerated my curves and gave me a great hourglass figure. It would be perfect for a day in Tuscany with my love. I finished the outfit with a comfortable pair of flats that could withstand the cobblestone streets that I wanted to explore.

Once dressed, I turned to Gio for approval. He always thought I looked great regardless of what I wore, but I still liked to hear him say it.

"You look beautiful, carina," he said sincerely.

"You look great, too," I told him, and I meant it. Instead of his usual dark suit or jeans and a black shirt, he was wearing a lighter linen suit that brought out the olive undertones in his skin. I couldn't wait to tear it off of him later.

We walked to the car hand in hand, Giovani pulling our luggage with him. I loved that he had packed our clothes into one suitcase; something about our clothes being all folded up together felt more intimate even than sharing a suite. It felt like it was something an old married couple would do, and I was quickly realizing more and more that that's exactly what I wanted for us.

Being Giovani's wife would be a dream come true for me. I had never imagined that such a perfect man existed for me, but now that I'd had him, my standards were way too high to ever be with anyone else. My god, the man had planned not one but two surprise vacation getaways for me in the past month alone. I could never go back to the days of hoping some asshole would just text me back.

The car waiting for us was adorable, as silly as it sounds to call a car adorable. It was a little red MINI Cooper with black stripes. We just had one driver. I looked around in confusion, wondering where Gio's usual group of guards was. He noticed me looking and smiled.

"No Russians means no bodyguards necessary. I can keep the two of us safe from any other threats."

I hugged him tightly. No pack of bodyguards meant that we could really enjoy every aspect of Tuscany, instead of being forced to be aware of the group of men who always had to follow us around. It would feel so much more relaxing to spend time with just the two of us.

We snuggled into the backseat of the MINI Cooper, its close quarters forcing us to touch thighs, not that I was complaining. Giovani wrapped his arm loosely around my shoulders and I leaned my head against him, relaxing my body against his. As the car drove, I felt myself growing drowsy. My restless sleep from the night before combined with the warmth of Giovani's body and the pleasant monotony of the drive made it impossible to stay awake.

"Go ahead and sleep, carina. I'll wake you when we get there," Giovani murmured against my ear when he noticed that I was fighting sleep.

He didn't have to tell me twice. Within seconds, I was asleep against him. This time, my dreams were sweet.

***

*Giovani*

Olivia was softly snoring against my shoulder. I could tell that she'd slept poorly the night before, but I hoped her little nap in the car was enough to prepare her for the day. I wanted her to be wide awake for what I had planned. As we pulled into the driveway of the house we'd be staying at, I leaned over and pressed a kiss to her temple.

"Wake up. We're here," I whispered.

She woke up quickly and looked around, smiling with excitement. I shared in her excitement, but I also felt nervous as hell knowing what I had to do later in the day.

We walked into the house and looked around together. It was much smaller than the compound, but the architecture was classically Tuscan, which I knew Olivia would love. There were multiple bedrooms, and Olivia picked out the one with a canopy bed for us to stay in. She had picked well. The canopy was a deep blue color that would block out the light entirely when we closed it. I hoped that she would finally get some real sleep while we were here.

As Olivia unpacked our clothes, I kept an eye on the time. The closer it got to 5:30, the more nervous I felt. I felt like a fucking teenager asking his crush to the prom, but this was far higher stakes.

Olivia finished unpacking and turned to look at me, a seductive smile on her face. As much as I wanted to make love to her, we didn't have time. I glanced nervously at my phone again. 5:15. We needed to go.

"I have something special planned for us, but it happens at sunset," I explained. "We've got to get going now so we don't miss it."

"Okay, I guess we'll get plenty of time in the bed later," she responded with a little giggle that drove me wild. Every damn thing she did was such a turn-on.

I led her back out to the car and gave our driver, who met us there, instructions on where to go. Olivia started to recognize our surroundings as we got closer to the hot air balloon field. I could see on her face that she was excited. I wondered

if she had any idea what I had planned, or if I was going to totally take her by surprise. I hoped that it would be a surprise, but I also didn't want her to be totally shocked by what I was going to ask her.

I fingered the small jewelry box that I had hidden in my breast pocket, just to reassure myself that it was there. I would feel like a fool if we got all the way up in the hot air balloon and I had forgotten the most important part.

I felt a spike of fear as we climbed into the basket of the hot air balloon, but once we were both safely in, I felt much better. Even though I'd been a little drunk the last time we'd ridden in a hot air balloon, the fact that we'd managed to safely make it back to earth had done a lot to alleviate my fear of being in one. I knew Olivia had absolutely loved the ride, so I wanted to recreate it, but even better.

This time around the views were colored by the shades of the setting sun. The pink and orange reflected off of the old Tuscan buildings, and Olivia kept gasping and pointing out buildings that were lit up brilliantly.

After an hour in the air, the sun was fully touching the horizon and I knew it was time to finally tell Olivia the real reason why I had brought her up here.

I pointed out a rolling hill behind her so that she would turn around, then got down on one knee and pulled out the ring box from my pocket. I waited, my heart pounding so hard it felt like it was going to escape my chest, in that position until she turned back around.

When she did turn around, her mouth dropped open, and she clapped both hands over it. Her eyes were gigantic in the fading light. I tried to remember the little speech I'd prepared, but I was so nervous I knew I would forget some parts. I decided to just wing it and speak from the heart.

"Olivia Marie Robinson, you light up the darkest corners of my life. Every day with you is even better than the last. I didn't know my life was missing something until you came into it, but now that you're here, I never want to live without you. Will you do me the honor of marrying me?"

I opened the ring box to reveal the antique engagement ring that I'd picked out for her. It was a dainty yellow gold band with a large rectangular emerald in the center, surrounded on either side by baguette-cut diamonds that grew smaller the farther away they got from the emerald. On the inside of the ring, I'd had "my carina" engraved in tiny letters, just to add even more of a personal touch. Olivia was such a unique person, she deserved a ring to reflect that.

My heart continued to pound as I waited for her response. For a half second, anxiety rose in me as I wondered if I had pushed too quickly. Maybe I'd misread our relationship?

What if she wasn't ready for this next step?