Taming The Wild CEO novel Chapter 42

C H A P T E R 4 0 : T H E B L A T A N T S T A T E M E N T

E L L A S T A N F O R D

Despite Piers’s wish for the two of them to stay longer, they both packed the next day, claiming that they had to work on Monday morning. Piers drove them to their hotel and would then drive them again to the airport. Albeit Javier telling him that they could simply ask a driver of one of their hotels in Italy, Piers insisted to drive them anyway.

They were greeted with curiosity and surprise at the hotel. Ella was slightly embarrassed by the stares she received as her clothes were disheveled here and there but she held her head high—convincing herself that she was at least dressed. Javier inquiries about their rooms and the manager appeared, bowing, and politely assured him with an obsequious smile that he had indeed held their rooms, imagining that they would be returning since Mister Summers was well known in Italy and he had left his luggage inside the room.

They had gone to their respective rooms to pack. Ella was able to stand naked under the cool refreshing shower and let her body absorb the water gratefully. Although Piers's cabin was considerably clean, she longed for a proper shower and thoroughly cleaned her body. Once she was dressed, she went to the dresser and brushed her wet hair until it was dry enough to wind up into a chignon. A tap on her door slightly surprised her then she informed Javier to come in. He too had showered and changed too.

He looked at her across the room, his face unreadable, then a smile suddenly formed in his mouth. Although he was smiling, it did not really reach his ocean blue eyes. "Back to normal, Miss Stanford?" He tilted his head to one side, his eyes narrowing. "Do you also wish to pretend that what happened last night never happened? What happened in Sicily stays in Sicily?"

Ella knew sooner or later she would have to face this — this question on where they would take this relationship. And in all honesty, when she had decided to give herself to him, she had not thought about what would come past that. She had not even thought of the repercussions. All she had wanted that night was to be with him and that was it. Now that they were packing their bags and going to fly back to Washington, it was almost as if she was being shaken to wake up. Almost as if she had been living a dream until up to this point.

Looking at Javier now, she could not decide what to do let alone say to him. He waited for her patiently, she could see it in his eyes that he did not want to frighten her. So in the end, she summoned all her reserves of courage and simply told him the truth. “I don’t know. I am not sure.”

If he was affected by her answer, he did a really good job at hiding it as he shrugged then gave him a small smile. “Okay. Good thing we have fifteen hours flight between here to D.C.”

“I am sorry. I know I should have known by now what I want but I am just confused.” Her voice was trembling and she turned her back on him, covering her face with her hands, shaking. She heard him take a step towards her then he halted. Then she heard him coming closer to her and felt his lips on top of her head.

“It is okay, Ella. You do not have to decide now.” He rubbed her upper arms up and down in an effort to soothe her. “I know you wish to have someone who loves you and I know that I am not capable of love. So I kinda get it that I am not the best offer but just know that I will always treat you with respect.”

She wanted to scream that she wished he knew that he was capable of love if only he was willing to open his eyes and his heart. She knew it by heart that he could. Yet she was also fully aware that arguing with him about this now would not make any difference so she kept her mouth shut and nodded. “Thank you.”

After a moment, he dropped one hand while the other caught her chin and lifted it up. “I have called the airport and bought us a ticket home. We still have time to have a meal before we catch a flight. What do you want?”