Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 617 -

*Elio*

I sat at my desk, my knee bouncing up and down as I read over an expense report and tried desperately to keep myself from glancing at the clock on the wall for the hundredth time since Cat had called me. I had thought about her nonstop ever since our kiss, but I hadn't wanted to push anything that she wouldn't be comfortable with. Now that she had reached out to me, all bets were off.

I was going to take that as the green light from her that she was interested in exploring this new development in our relationship. I wasn't sure exactly what she wanted from me, but I couldn't wait to replace out. Against my better judgment, I glanced at the clock again. It had been nearly an hour since Caterina had called and asked if she could come follow me around for the day, and all I'd managed to do was read two lines on the expense report in front of me.

With an irritated sigh, I shut down my desktop computer and stood up, hoping that a quick stretch would alleviate my jangling nerves before she arrived. I had already decided to take her to one of my commercial buildings and show her around. It would allow us to walk and talk without being forced to sit face to face in my office.

I was hoping we could explore these new feelings that we both seemed to have for each other, but I knew that would never happen if we were sitting across my desk from each other.

The clock ticked off another minute, and I pulled out my phone to see if she'd texted me any updates. Before I could open my messages, there was a knock on my office door. I took a deep breath and ran my hand through my hair, looking down to ensure my clothes weren't overly rumpled from sitting at my desk all morning.

"Come in," I said, forcing myself to calm the fuck down.

She opened the door, and I could practically feel my eyes bulging out of my head as I got a good look at her. She was absolutely gorgeous in a professional-looking dress that emphasized her curves.

For a moment, I couldn't stop myself from picturing her working in my office. I knew that just seeing her every day in that outfit would be enough to make me want to show up bright and early. "Wow, you look amazing," I told her, reaching out for her hand.

Instead of holding her hand out for mine, she clasped both hands behind her back. Her cheeks flushed slightly with my compliment, but she kept her eyes trained on the floor.

Fuck. She'd been here all of two seconds and I'd already made her uncomfortable. I should have known that she wasn't ready to discuss what was happening between us.

Internally, I forced myself to change plans. It was just going to be a fun day between two old friends, nothing more. And I was okay with that, no matter how hard it would be to wait to talk about everything that had happened between us. It was best not to push things to move too quickly between us. She deserved my patience, and I could give it to her.

I cleared my throat, trying to dispel the awkward tension that had built up in the room.

"Um, anyway, I thought I could show you one of our properties today," I said. "It's actually pretty cool. It used to be a high school, but we're having renovations done. Eventually, it'll be a mix of apartments, office space, and maybe a restaurant or coffee shop. I'm actually pretty excited about it. It's a lot more unique than what I usually get to work on."

Finally, she looked up and met my eye. I felt like her gaze was burning into me, but I refused to look away. I wanted her to know that I could do this. I could just be her friend if that's all she wanted from me.

I seemed to pass her test as she nodded once before saying, "Alright, let's go."

I led her back downstairs and to my car, resting my hand gently on the small of her back. When we got to my car, I felt her body tense up slightly and she turned around, looking at me accusatorily. "What?" I asked.

"You drive yourself around?" she demanded.

"Um, yes, usually I prefer it." I had no idea where she was going with this.

"Then why did you send a car to pick me up? You seriously thought I couldn't handle driving myself here?"

Damn. I'd forgotten how fiercely she protected her independence. I should have known she would hate the fact that I sent a car for her.

"I'm sorry, Cat," I said. "I thought you'd like being driven around a bit. I honestly didn't mean to imply anything."

She narrowed her eyes at me, obviously trying to tell whether I was lying or not. The air between us felt electric. I so badly wanted to lean down and kiss her, just to see if sparks would fly, but I had a feeling that would only result in a quick smack across the face.

Instead, I reached around her to open her door, then quickly rounded the car before she could yell at me. I smiled to myself as I caught her rolling her eyes. She could yell and stamp her feet all she wanted, but I couldn't stop being a gentleman. It just went against every fiber of my being. Besides, I knew my mother would kill me herself if she ever heard of me not treating a lady correctly.

We drove in silence until Cat leaned over and turned on the radio. I wracked my brain to think of something safe to say that wouldn't get those sparks flying between us again. It had never exactly been easy to spend time with Cat... but damn I didn't remember it ever being this hard either.

Caterina seemed content to ride in silence, bobbing her head along to the music and watching the passing buildings. Finally, I thought of a topic of conversation that seemed innocent enough.

"Do you miss New York?" I asked.

She stared out the window for a few more seconds and I thought she hadn't heard me, but then she turned to me, her eyes moist. Fuck, I should've known this wasn't a safe conversation. Of course, she missed New York. It was the first place she'd lived on her own. But how could I have known that? I knew that staying here to finish out the semester had been her choice.

"I just miss feeling like I belonged somewhere," she said quietly.

My heart broke to hear her say that. She didn't feel like she belonged here? I really must have been doing a shitty job at being her friend lately.

"What do you mean?" I asked, knowing better than to immediately start telling her all the ways in which she definitely did belong.

She swiped quickly at her eyes, obviously not wanting me to see the tears that had gathered there. "Well, I know it's stupid. I know Mom loves me and I know I have friends here, and you...."

Her voice trailed off, but I noticed the way she had separated me from her friends.

"If it's how you feel, then it's not stupid," I said firmly. "I learned a long time ago that there's no point in trying to out-logic our feelings. How we feel is how we feel."

"Thanks for saying that," she said. "I just feel guilty because I know my mom has been out here living her life without me, and I refused to even come back for visits, so who am I to suddenly insist that she hang out with me? But when she's constantly having to run off for work. I don't know, it just reminds me of when I was a kid, you know?"

I smiled slightly, thinking of the days when her mom would call me at the last minute to come take care of Cat. It was cute that Caterina had thought of me today. I liked that she knew she could count on me, even for small stuff like giving her something to do.

"Yeah, I get that. I hope you know that you do belong here. I'm happy to spend every day with you."

She smiled. "Yeah, I think I'm starting to figure that out."

And just like that, even though I had tried so hard to avoid it, that electricity between us was crackling again. Luckily, we were pulling into the parking garage next to the building I wanted to show her.

I parked and got out, practically running around the car to open her door before she did. She waited for me to open her door for her, although she was laughing so hard that she could barely catch her breath.

"What?" I asked, full of faux indignation.

"That was ridiculous. You know that was ridiculous, right?"

"I have no clue what you're talking about." I turned around and started walking, enjoying her laughter, even if it was at my expense.

It was a short walk to the building, but I could tell her interest was growing with every step. It was nearly one-hundred years old and had clearly been intended to be used as a school. The architecture was whimsical, it looked like a ten-story fairy cottage.

The second I'd laid eyes upon it, I'd known it would be one of my most favorite projects. The double doors opened to a massive lobby, with an old principal's office that I envisioned turning into a coffee shop. There was a cafeteria also, located on the ground floor, that had great bones to be turned into a restaurant. The next few floors were filled with classrooms that would be easy to convert to office spaces, but it was the top three floors that I was particularly excited about. The gymnasium of the school was on the top floor, and we were converting it and the classroom next to it into a massive penthouse with an open-floor plan. "Wow." Cat exhaled as I showed her around, talking through my plans.

"I really love it here. I'm honestly considering keeping one of the apartments for myself," I told her as we rode the elevator back down to the ground level. "The penthouse calling your name?" she asked with a smirk.

"Nah, I'm not that fancy," I joked.

We got out of the elevator and wandered over to a few plush chairs that I had added to the lobby, trying to get a feel for what it would look like fully decorated.

"Thanks for bringing me here. It reminds me a little bit of a place my dad took me to in Italy once."

She smiled, and I could tell by her face that she was re-living a special memory. It warmed my heart to see her be able to remember her dad with a smile.

She still didn't know all the details about what had happened to Vinny. All she knew was that he'd been murdered. I felt horrible for keeping the full truth from her, but I knew it was for her safety.

"I'm glad you can talk about him with a smile on your face. He was a great man," I said.

She nodded once, then stood up. "Alright, where to next?" she asked, obviously wanting to change the subject.

"Let's head to my house. We need to talk," I said firmly.

Cat might have wanted to avoid it, but I couldn't wait any longer. It was time to figure out what was going on between us.