Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 479 -

*Giovani*

I knew Naples would be the perfect city to take a break in, and I was proven right. I smiled, trudging after my excited wife as she took photos of absolutely everything. Elio giggled, holding onto her hand and switching from the stroller I was pushing when he got tired to running after his mom.

He didn't seem to know why all the statues and artwork were so important, but he could tell his mom loved it. I was sure she could spend a lifetime inside just one of the museums Naples had to offer and become a piece of art herself one day. But I adored how happy it made her just to see the thousand-year-old works. From the Museo Cappella to the Galleria Borbonica and even the show we watched in the Historic theater, there was nothing that didn't amaze her. The National Gallery of Capodimonte had to be her favorite, however.

"Bellini shares your name, did you know?" Olivia said excitedly as she beamed at a particular painting in front of me. "He was a Giovanni, but he lived in the 1500s, so he'd be quite a bit older."

"Is that your way of calling me old?" I raised an eyebrow, staring unimpressed at the oil painting of a bunch of people holding a naked baby. It seemed like a weird scene and even a weirder comparison.

"Of course not, Gio." She grinned, leaning over to kiss me on the cheek. "You're infinitely more handsome and talented."

I let it slide with a roll of my eyes, studying the painting a bit more closely.

"What are they even doing to the poor kid?" I frowned. "Seems like a lot of people to be interested in a baby."

She snorted, covering her grin with her hand as I looked over at her. She smiled knowingly, humor dancing in her eyes as she gently pointed to the label underneath the painting, which read, "Circumcision of Christ."

I blanched, staring at the painting with a new horrified light. Who the fuck would paint a scene of a kid getting circumcised?

Olivia burst into giggles and just because his mom was laughing, Elio did as well. I rolled my eyes, smiling playfully as I scooped Elio into my arms.

"Are you laughing at me?" I grinned at him as he shrieked with laughter, squirming in my grip. "You and your Mommy are ganging up on me, aren't you?"

"Gio," Olivia called out, grabbing my hand. "Come on. There are still more paintings to see."

We circled the entire gallery and then headed to the San Severo Chapel, and every time we passed works made by someone who shared my name, Olivia would point it out. It turned out that my name was a lot more common than I'd thought. I sighed after about the hundredth artist, wishing that my parents had named me something else. It seemed like a fourth of all artists were named Giovani at this point.

I

After the chapel, we stopped in the marketplace for some treats and we got Elio his first cup of gelato. It seemed that he took after his mom in one thing because he devoured half of an entire cup of mint chocolate chip after only taking a spoonful of his mom's.

By around noon, Elio fell asleep in his stroller, buckled up, and with half his cup of melted mint chocolate chip gelato still clutched in his little hands. It took a bit to pry the cup from his sticky hands and wipe down his palms and face, but Olivia was a master at this point. With Elio asleep, we decided to head back to the house so he could rest.

Our new chef had lunch prepared by the time we arrived and we put Elio in his crib for a nap, turning on the monitor and watching whatever movie was on. Olivia settled on a Spanish telenovela while I finished up some work.

I only paid a quarter of attention to the drama-filled show, filtering through the paperwork. I rubbed my eyes, leaning behind the couch to close up the blinds from the sharp light and grabbing my spare pair of reading glasses. The moment I slipped them on my face, my vision to read got better but I could feel the stare from my wife. I glanced at her with a raised eyebrow, reading the sheer wonder in her eyes as she gaped at me. "What?" I tilted my head, consciously pushing my glasses up the bridge of my nose.

"Nothing." She pressed her lips together to stop the giggles slipping from her mouth, but she wasn't doing a very good job of it. "I didn't realize your eyesight was so bad. You need some hearing aids next, grandpa?"

"Now, you've done it," I growled, turning to her with the grace of a predator about to pounce. I gave her a playful but fierce look and she screamed, grabbing onto the couch to run away, but I was faster.

I grabbed her legs, dragging her toward me. She shrieked with laughter as I pinned her underneath me, grabbing her arms so she couldn't fight back, gently enough that she could escape if she wanted to.

Playfully, I settled my weight on my legs, straddling her as she kicked under me before realizing there was no getting away. She panted, staring up at me with a challenging glint in her eyes and I grinned, gently nipping her on the nose. "Brute." She pouted.

"Brat." I moved both of her wrists into one hand, easily holding her there as I smacked her ass with the other hand.

She jolted, eyes going wide as she cried, "Hey!"

"That's what you get for teasing me, carina," I smirked smugly. "Take back the grandpa comment and I'll let you go."

She rolled her eyes, and her smile only grew wider. "Fine, fine, I'll take it back. Happy now?"

"Very." I nodded, letting go of her hands but not moving another inch.

She laughed as she leaned up to grab the nose of my reading glasses with her teeth, gently pulling them from my face. I raised an eyebrow, curious at what she would do now.

She grabbed them with her hand and gently pushed them onto her face. Her nose wrinkled as she gave me a weird look and I smirked.

"You look funny," she remarked.

"Because those aren't for you, carina," I told her, chuckling to myself at how damn cute she looked.

"Do I look weird?" she asked, tilting her head with wide, innocent eyes.

"You look like an adorable grandma," I smirked, leaning down to press my lips against hers.

She gasped into my mouth, clearly not happy with the reference, but I pulled off my glasses from her face, tasting every inch of her until I was satisfied.

She eventually relaxed, clinging to me and running her fingers through my hair, slightly tugging on my curls with every pull and I tilted her chin up to get better access, running my lips from her mouth down to her neck. "Elio will wake up soon," she breathed, her hot breath brushing against my skin.

I just chuckled, watching the skin around her throat turn a lovely shade of pink, leaving a lasting mark that would most definitely bruise.

"What would you like to do tonight?" I asked in a sultry tone, hoping she'd prefer to stay inside.

"Can we go to the city for dinner?" She met my eyes with a questioning look, anxious like I could ever say no to her.

I chuckled, giving her one last peck on the lips before I finally let her up. "Of course, carina. Where would you like to go?"

"Surprise me." She grinned, sitting up as we took the opposite sides of the couch.

"My wish is your command," I smirked, settling my reading glasses back on my face as I turned back to my paperwork. I pulled out my phone, sent a quick text to make a reservation for dinner, and then took up my pen. Olivia was right about Elio waking it. It hadn't even been five minutes later that he started crying on the monitor, fussing like always. It seemed he was a little grumpy when Olivia came out with him.

The pout on his lips was exactly like his mother but the crazy curls were exactly what I looked like after a night of drinking too much, being too drunk to replace my way home, and ending up sleeping on a friend's pull-out couch. Those were times that I did not miss.

Elio slowly came out of it though and Olivia played with him on the floor of the living room, laughing as they built a castle out of building blocks and named his stuffed shark plush King Sharkie.

Seeing the two of them so carefree, lost in their little make-believe world, it was hard to imagine all the hardships we'd been through. Despite everything, Olivia was still the strong, kind woman I loved. She had never lost her ability to trust in others, and it was one of her greatest strengths.

It was something that Elio seemed to have inherited from her as well. Seeing their huge smiles was a relief to me.

This was my happiness, seeing the two people I loved the most in this world so free of worry and full of joy. There was no better feeling in the universe.

Naples was the perfect getaway, a safe haven from all the chaos back at home. We would have to go back eventually, though, and I didn't know what was waiting for us in Florence, what kind of trap we'd be walking right into.

But I knew for sure at that moment that we could handle it.

There was nothing we couldn't do together.

The rest of the night went smoothly. We went to dinner at a nearby seafood restaurant, one of the best actually, and though Elio never quite figured out how to eat a piece of shrimp, he tried and we both made sure to tell him that he got an A-plus for effort.

We went for a walk around town afterward, and I ended up spending way too much on souvenirs. But I just couldn't say no to Olivia, who had to make sure to get a souvenir for everyone she knew, and Elio who kept grabbing anything with a shark on it from the stalls.

I had no clue what he needed with a tie shaped like a shark but I knew when I bought it that I'd be wearing it at least once to humor him.

I stuffed all of our purchases in a corner for tomorrow once we got home, and Olivia put Elio to bed. Once I was sure the mountain of souvenirs wasn't going anywhere, I headed back to our room and collapsed onto the bed.

It had been a long day, and I threw my arm over my face to cover from the light, relaxing. I was halfway to sleep when the annoying ringtone broke me out of it. I sighed, glancing at my phone and tensing as I spotted the caller. Gabriele.

Well, this can't be good, I thought.