Page 14 of And Everything In Between (Love By Any Means #3)

Giovanni crouched beside the bed, his hand lingering against the warmth of her thigh, debating if he should even wake her yet.

She looked so peaceful and completely unbothered.

The stresses of her life had melted into the sheets in the night.

There was no tension in her face, no tight jaw or furrowed brow.

Just quiet. And he wanted to keep her there, untouched by the world, for as long as he could.

“Paige,” he whispered.

She was curled toward the space he’d left in bed, one arm tucked between her legs, the other stretched across where he’d been lying. His T-shirt had twisted around her during the night, hanging off one shoulder, riding high enough to expose the dips and curves he wanted to touch every night.

He dragged his thumb lightly over the curve of her leg, assuming he had every right. Maybe he did now. Maybe last night had given him that.

Paige stirred, a soft noise rumbling in her throat. She shifted toward him, brushing her foot against his arm like she was searching for him even in sleep.

Giovanni exhaled through his nose, a low, quiet breath.

She didn’t even know. She had no fuckin’ idea what kind of spell she had dropped on him.

This wasn’t just a night or a nut. He didn’t just crave her skin.

He wanted everything . The attitude. The softness.

The secrets. The fight. She smelled like heaven, sun-kissed, sweet, enveloping, he’d never forget it.

He could see her, read her. She was stubborn, reckless, and beautiful. And he wanted that headache.

“Wake up, baby,” he said again, voice rougher now, luring. “I made breakfast.”

Paige’s lashes fluttered, her lips parting with a soft exhale. For a second, she blinked up at him, dazed and adorable, looking like she had forgotten where she was. Then recognition flooded back and with it came panic.

She bolted upright, the sheet falling away as her hands flew to her hair, her face, herself, making sure she was still intact.

“Shit!” she hissed, eyes darting around the room, searching for her clothes, her phone, any evidence of the woman she was supposed to be instead of the woman she’d been last night.

“What time is it? My car, Oh my God, it’s still at the fairgrounds.

I didn’t even tell anyone where I… fuck, my family is gonna think I’m dead in a ditch somewhere! ”

Giovanni straightened, watching her spiral with a small smile lifting the corner of his mouth.

“Breathe, P,” he replied. “It’s only 9:30. Your car’s fine. I can take you to get it whenever you’re ready. I ain’t holding you hostage unless you into that.”

“My phone,” she said, ignoring that last part, already halfway off the bed, his T-shirt riding up dangerously high on her thighs. “Where’s my fucking phone? I’ve got work tomorrow, and I need to check on my daddy, and…”

“Paige.” His voice was firmer now, cutting through her chaos.

He caught her wrist, his grip gentle but secure.

“Stop. Your clothes are folded in the bathroom. Your phone’s on the charger in the kitchen.

Nobody’s called or texted. The world didn’t end because you took one night for yourself. Chill for me.”

She froze, staring at him. Reality hit her all at once. She was in Giovanni’s bedroom, wearing his clothes, the spots he touched still humming, thighs tender from being gripped around his waist, and she had absolutely no regrets. The realization terrified her.

“This isn’t me anymore,” she said, voice quieter now, more vulnerable than she meant it to be. “I don’t do this. I don’t spend the night with men I barely know. I don’t... forget all my responsibilities.”

What she didn’t say was that forgetting, even for a second, scared her more than anything.

Paige had built a life that worked. It was hers.

A path she carved with no promises and no passengers.

She knew how to function alone. Fully. And maybe that was the problem.

Slowing down made room for thoughts she usually outran.

One night didn’t mean forever. And they hadn’t even scratched the surface yet. Her future was already spoken for, stacked with goals, promotions, and caring for her father; she wasn’t about to blow up her life chasing a maybe.

Giovanni nodded, clocking her energy. He understood boundaries, but with her he felt tethered, close without effort. He wasn't saying it out loud, not yet, but he already knew he wasn't staying away. He’d lie before he let her think he could.

“Maybe that’s exactly why you needed it,” he said. “When’s the last time you put yourself first, even for a few hours?”

“Don’t do that. Don’t judge me.” She flopped back down on the bed, her heart was beating so fast, she needed a minute.

“I’m not judging,” he added, meeting her defiance head-on. “Just saying... sometimes the most responsible thing you can do is be a little irresponsible.”

Paige laughed, shaky but real. “That’s some backward-ass logic, Vanni.”

“Maybe.” He shrugged, the slow grin returning. “But I’m right. And you’re still here, so…”

She was. And despite the voice in her head telling her she should be anywhere but here, she didn’t want to go. Not yet.

Giovanni’s hand slid up her arm, settling on the nape of her neck. “Now, you got two options. You can keep spinning out over shit that’s already handled, or you can come eat this breakfast I made before it gets cold.”

Paige studied his face. No pressure. No judgment. No angle.

“You cook too?”

“Not well.” He laughed. “But I make a mean omelet.”

That pulled a genuine smile from her. “Impressive.”

He offered his hand. She slid her fingers into his and let him pull her to her feet, still feeling the echo of what they’d done together.

The kitchen smelled like cheese, bacon, and black coffee. His place was warm. He was surprisingly warm, kind, and attentive. He’d been raised by women or around women, she could tell.

The apartment above the shop wasn’t what she’d expected. It was clean but lived-in, masculine but not bare, with touches of his personality everywhere, framed blueprints for custom cars, old vinyl records stacked neatly in a corner, a well-worn leather jacket draped over a chair.

“You live here?” she asked, hopping onto the counter.

“Nah. Only when I’m mid-project. Sometimes I don’t wanna leave the shop. But I got a spot in Haven Springs.”

“Damn, money bags.”

“I work hard.”

“I see that.” Her eyes swept the room again. “I like seeing a man passionate about something. It’s beautiful, and I can tell this all brings you joy. It’s cute.”

Giovanni smirked, moving through the kitchen like he’d done a hundred times but never with anyone watching his every move.

She watched him in silence, taking him in. The warehouse looked different in the morning. Everything felt sharper. More exposed.

She nibbled a piece of bacon, her leg swinging off the counter.

“You’re cute,” he said, “But not when you let that grizzly bear come out.”

She swatted at him, trying to hit him, but he dodged with her swinging arm. He chuckled, dragging a stool in front of her, her foot finding its way into his lap without instruction. His thumb worked patient circles into her arch.

“I was snoring?” Embarrassment covered her face.

“That means you ain’t sleeping,” he said quietly. Making an observation. Every so often, he’d glance up at her, checking in, letting his touch ask questions his mouth didn’t know how to shape yet.

“I sleep, just not good sleep. Not like last night,” she expressed with a shrug.

“You had some dickquil last night, that sleep always gon bless you.”

“Is it for sale? I need that regularly. I slept so well. I’ll be writing in my diary about it.

” The thoughts of his soft but firm mattress, his expensive sheets, the slight scent of his cologne and bodywash had infiltrated her brain.

Everything about yesterday had her mind doing the math and wondering how they just went back to being strangers.

“I’d give you a good deal. Let’s say, weekends and one lunch break a week,” he winked and she exhaled thinking about her legs being to the ceiling last night.

“Oh, it seems you already thought about offering your services again.”

“It crossed my mind. I’m tryna see you again. I won’t bullshit with you.”

“You out here rubbing feet unprovoked, so you might,” Paige murmured, sipping orange juice from a tall cup, eyes on him.

“I learned early, take care of the parts most men forget.”

His words settled into her, warm and weighted with a significance he probably didn’t even realize.

That was exactly what he’d done last night, seen the parts of her that most people overlooked.

Not the curve of her body, but the weight in her eyes.

The silence in her sighs. The need buried beneath all the doing.

Paige’s eyes dropped to where his hand curved around her ankle. She hated how easy it felt, how he made space for her without pressing. She wasn’t dodging his questions, and that alone felt risky. It had to be the foot rub.

“I needed that last night,” she admitted, feeling vulnerable.

Saying it out loud made it heavy. She needed comfort, connection, things she trained herself not to need over the years.

It felt dangerous, giving a man the blueprint to her soft spots.

But his peace made her want to tell the truth. The kind she usually swallowed.

“I have been carrying a lot,” she admitted. “Daddy, work… holding myself together in between. Sometimes I just want to be a girl .”

The world always wanted more. Competence. Strength. Poise. Giovanni hadn’t asked for anything. He gave. And that was the part messing her up most.

He leaned in closer. He didn’t speak, only held space and gave her the kind of listening that was rare to her. It made her feel understood, not judged. And she knew without asking, his momma had raised him right.

Her voice dropped low. “You didn’t ask for anything last night. You just... gave.”

“I saw what you were carrying. It didn’t feel right to add to it. The night was about you.”

“You made me feel soft,” she admitted. “That’s rare for me.”

That truth sat between them. Heavy. Exposed. But she didn’t take it back.

Giovanni lifted her foot and pressed a kiss to the top of it, and then to her ankle, while she squirmed on the counter. She was gorgeous.

“Let that be the new standard,” he said. “You ain’t gotta stay hard because the world is. Nothing you do will ever change that. We just gotta roll with it and not let it harden our hearts.”

She’d been waiting for permission, not from the world, but from herself.

And as she started to believe she could give it…

Her phone lit up.

Then rang, hard, loud, urgent. Reality crashed back in like a wave she couldn’t outrun. Her body stiffened instantly, muscles tensed and face hardened. The peaceful bubble around them shattered, the outside world demanded entry.

Giovanni’s hand stilled, resting on her shin. He didn’t pull away, didn’t make a sound, simply watched as the transformation happened. Paige the woman… becoming Paige the caretaker, the problem-solver, the one everyone could count on.

She snatched the phone off the counter and answered, her voice already shifting back to that capable, controlled tone.

“Hello?”

A pause. Her face hardened slightly, the softness Giovanni had coaxed out of her receding with each passing second. Then her face changed slightly. It was enough for Giovanni to read the worry, fear, and resignation settling in.

Her hand gripped the phone tighter, knuckles going white. “I’m on my way.”

She ended the call, not saying anything for a beat.

The silence felt different now, heavier, amped with something that hadn’t been there moments before.

He stood slowly, already moving, like he knew before she said it.

Like he could already read it in her stance, in the way her shoulders squared, and her jaw tightened.

“That was the center,” Paige finally said, her voice clipped and professional, eyes duller now. “They rushed my daddy to the hospital. Blood pressure dropped. He passed out during breakfast.”

He grabbed his keys.

“Let’s go.”

Not I’ll take you.

Not You should go.

Let’s. Go.

Her problem became his without her having to say a word. Another gift she hadn’t known to expect.

She almost argued. But she didn’t have a ride, and her mind wouldn’t rest until she saw her father’s face. She nodded, silently thanking him.

Giovanni provided her with a pair of his sweats and a hoodie. She looked a mess, but that was the least of her concern. He grabbed her hand, and they headed for the door.