Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 942 : Undercurrents

*Leo*

I must have looked like the abominable snowman when I arrived. I certainly felt like it, but Bianca’s laughter made it all worth it. She took one look at me and bent over with laughter. It was nice to hear her laugh so hard. It had been a while since I’d heard her laugh like that.

I was so happy and relieved to see her, but I didn’t rush her the way I wanted to. The desire to scoop her into my arms and hold her close and tell her all the things I needed to say before and since she’d left me alone nearly overwhelmed me.

A part of me considered if I should let her go. Just like Mia said. I’d pulled her into the mafia life knowing what the consequences were. I hadn’t thought beyond wanting her, then, loving her.

Now, I’d had plenty of time to think, and seeing the light of her eyes... I didn’t want to think anymore. I wanted her to come back to me.

We needed to talk. I spent as much time as possible by her side, but we always seemed to be with family members or that asshole, Taylor. Or, she found ways to avoid the subject of the distance between us and the way things were when she left LA.

I didn’t want to push Bianca into having that conversation, nor was I sure how to broach the topic. I knew part of the problem was my time away trying to get Michael. She knew I’d give her as much of my time as possible, but there was something else beneath the time I put into the businesses. There were undercurrents I didn’t understand.

I kept flashing back to the night Taylor and I drank brandy in my office and he’d told me he knew something about Bianca she needed to tell me herself. Then, there was the so-called routine doctor’s appointment she’d lied about. It was a little frustrating not knowing what was really going on.

The next morning, I hurried to the sitting room Bianca favored but heard Taylor’s voice.

“I don’t think you should take him back because of the way he treated you,” he said.

The bastard had the nerve to scoot closer to her and reach for one of her hands.

“And, what, Taylor? Should she be with you instead?” I asked as I stormed in glaring at him, unable to let him get away with moving on Bianca when she was vulnerable and confused.

“The two of you can stay here and have your little pissing match,” Bianca hissed and walked out the room.

I’d never seen her like that. She seemed almost disgusted by Taylor and me. her voice had been low and cold, her eyes like ice chips, and her face a mask of disapproval.

She left the room and hung out with the rest of the family. I was a little disgusted with myself as well. I had come to charm her, but the moment I saw Taylor getting close to her, my mind went on red-alert. I didn’t trust him.

Besides, she was mine and I wasn’t going to give up as easily as he thought I should. He thought bringing her to Italy would get me to stay home and let her go. He would learn quickly that wasn’t the case. Now, how to make it up to her after being an utter ass, I thought, as I went into the kitchen and offered to help Lucia.

“Can I help with breakfast?” I asked.

She nodded, giving me a knowing smile.

I lifted a brow at her smirk.

“She is a good girl, my Bianca,” Lucia commented.

I shook my head. “I know she is. Too good for me, that’s for sure, I muttered as I began slicing the fruits she put on a cutting board in front of me.

“Hmm, that kind of thinking is why you messed up with her, ” she said, pouring a ladle of her batter in a sizzling frying pan and drizzling a circle of chocolate on it then ladling a little more batter on top.

I watched in fascination, and listened intently to her advice.

“You have to woo her now. You have already done the other,” she said, a teasing lilt to her accented voice. I nearly grinned at her, as I caught her meaning, but she wasn’t finished. “She does not need you and Taylor to fight for her. You are already hers, no?”

“I’m beginning to wonder,” I muttered, standing to scoop yogurt into dessert bowls as she continued to create the fried pastries.

“Oh, you have already begun your mission. I saw you stealing flowers out of my garden and taking them to her. It means a lot, your being here, but your work is not done yet, son. You must tell her your truths. You must stop holding in your own love and pain. Be honest and whatever you do, let her know she comes first.”

I thought about what she said as I finished placing the sliced fruit atop the dessert bowls of yogurt.

“Look after this for a moment, Leo,” Lucia ordered and walked from the kitchen.

I nearly panicked, but I counted and flipped the little cakes of pastry until they looked the same amount of brown as Lucia’s did.

I breathed a sigh of relief when she came back to the kitchen and I could finish my less fraught task

“You are a good boy,” she said, patting my cheek. “You remind me of my late husband: handsome and sweet.”

I must have scowled at her description because she laughed at me.

“Yes, like my Otello. He would frown when I called him sweet also, and you are like him in many ways. You are a strong man. You will not let my Bianca go without a fight and I am rooting for you, but if you hurt my girl again, I’ll take a switch to your behind myself.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, trying my best to hide my smile. A part of me wanted to shout with laughter. This small woman with her strength and kindness was threatening to give me a whipping. Nobody ever dared to say something like that to me. It humbled me that she treated me like a son and thought I was good enough for Bianca.

During breakfast, I was ecstatic to be sitting next to Bianca. I didn’t know if it was a coincidence or if Lucia was behind it. Either way, I took my chance while I had it.

“Will you take a walk with me through the woods near town?” I asked, leaning close to whisper the request in her ear and was pleased with her shiver in response. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

“I, um, I don’t know about that, Leo,” she said hesitating to take me up on the offer.

I went back to eating my meal and sipping the espresso I was gaining a taste for.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. I felt her stare on me. I looked over at her and smiled softly. I didn’t want to pressure her to come with me, but I yearned to have some time alone with her away from the family and Taylor’s interference.

“It would be nice to take a walk with you,” she eventually agreed.

My heart flipped. We walked to the door and I helped her into her coat and shrugged into mine.

“You can’t go anywhere without your hat and gloves on,” Bianca said, smiling up at me. she tugged a skullcap over my head and took my big hands and put the gloves on them when I stared at her in wonder.

I was surprised at her care for me. She was lovely. Every part of her. I wanted to steal kisses and hold her in my arms, but I’d promised her a walk and she looked as if she were looking forward to it. As we left the house and started for the woods, we were silent. It wasn’t a comfortable one. I’d forgotten what it was like to be awkward.

Spending time with her had once been so easy. Over the past several weeks I’d managed to make everything weird between us.

Bianca,” I said, clearing my throat and reaching for her hand, but it was in her coat pocket. I lowered my hand and continued. “I’m sorry for the fight. I just,” I stumbled over my words and forgetting the scully she’d put on my head attempted to run my fingers through my hair. “I need you to know you’re everything to me. I don’t mean to be overbearing and an asshole. I want you to know you’re my first priority.”

She looked over at me, and didn’t say anything. Her eyes were enigmatic. “I do not know if I can believe that, but I think you do,” she said, looking away from me to the pristine path the snow made through the trees.

I walked with her in silence, but somehow, just the few words I’d shared with her had made a difference. The silence wasn’t tense with things unsaid. It was like we could just be us.

It felt good. I took my chances and held out my hand to her while the snow crunched under our feet and drifted onto our faces. The breeze ruffled the loose strands of our hair. She put her hand in mine and smiled at me. I smiled back and we walked taking in the snow-tipped trees and made our way to a frozen lake. .

“When I was little, I played on this lake every winter,” Bianca said, her face alight with memories.

“Really?” I asked, shifting closer to her. I smelled her shampoo and that underlying scent of woman I adored.

“Yeah, I doubt it would be as fun now.”

I smiled at her and pulled at her hand.

“What are you doing?” she asked, her smile growing wider.

“I think we can make it fun.”

I pulled her hand again, attempting to encourage her to follow me.

“Leo, we do not have skates,” she complained with a laugh.

“Who needs skates? We can balance just fine without them.”

“Do you know how?” she asked, allowing me to pull her along and get her onto the ice.

I showed her how to stand as if she were on actual skates, feet forward, knees bent a little, and pushing off with one foot at a time. She was a natural at shoe skating. I circled around her, trying to show off for her and show her all the tricks we’d used in the hood as kids, but in the process I slipped and fell on my ass.

I swear I didn’t remember falling ever hurting this bad. Was I blushing? Yep, my face actually felt hot.

Bianca Burst into laughter. I sat there grinning up at her like an idiot. She glided over to me like a swan on a lake. She was graceful, moving soft and light across the icy lake, looking like a ballerina.

I pushed to my feet, catching her in my arms as she glided towards me. I had her in my arms now, and I never wanted to let her go. I waltzed her across the lake, humming a song in her ear. She smiled up at me, her eyes shining.

I twirled her away from me and back, holding her close, and staring deep into her eyes. I leaned down to kiss those lovely full lips, but at the last second, Bianca pulled back and glared up at me. There was something there again.

The light in her eyes had dimmed. There was that undercurrent I couldn’t quite understand.

“It will not be that easy to win my forgiveness,” she said and glided back across the lake to the bank where she waited for me to walk back to the house with her.