Loving Gigi (25 page)

She made a pained sound. “I’m sorry about that. No matter how upset I get, I don’t throw things. I don’t know what came over me.”

“You were angry.”

“Yes.”

“And scared.”

Gigi was quiet for another long pause, then she admitted softly, “Yes. I didn’t know what to do when you said my love didn’t feel right.”

“I didn’t—” Kane stopped himself. This wasn’t about being right or wrong. He loved her and was willing to meet her more than halfway if she needed him to. “I didn’t express myself well last night. I know what I want, Gigi. I want you. I love you. Pack an overnight bag. I want to show you something, and I don’t think you’ll want to leave once you see it.”

“I can’t go anywhere. I have Annelise with me,” Gigi said slowly.

“Bring her,” Kane said firmly. “Tell her to pack an overnight bag, also. I know you don’t like surprises, Gigi, but give me a chance to show you what I failed miserably at explaining last night. I’ll be by to pick you up in an hour.”

“I didn’t agree to go.”

Kane wasn’t about to let that stop him. “One more thing. What’s your favorite flower?”

“I don’t know that I have one.”

Kane didn’t hesitate. “You remind me of white roses: honest, loyal, strong.”

Gigi laughed softly in self-derision. “That’s the me I want to be.”

A year ago Kane wouldn’t have understood what she meant. He would have seen her uncertainty as weakness. He used to think he had all the answers, but Gigi had opened his eyes to how much he didn’t know. Yes, she had emotional scars and fears left over from her childhood, but they only made her more beautiful to him. “I’m on my way now.”

Kane hung up. He wasn’t giving himself a chance to say anything that would stop her from flying off to Slater Island with him. She might think she didn’t need him to prove anything to her, but she was wrong. That’s what had felt wrong.

He wouldn’t settle for being less than her hero.

‡

G
igi didn’t know
what to expect when Rocco, her security guard, called to announce Kane’s arrival. Her stomach was doing somersaults. Part of her wanted so badly to believe this was the beginning of a real future with Kane. Part of her froze at the idea of opening her heart to him again.

Annelise was beside her with her overnight bag. “Are you going to open the door when he knocks or barricade it?”

Gigi looked across at her friend. “Am I that transparent?”

Annelise gave a knowing look. “You can do this. I’ve seen you handle feisty customers with ease. Do you remember during our freshman year at Kensington Academy when they announced they were no longer allowing students to choose their own roommates? You fought all the way up to the headmaster and won. You, Gigi. Most of us called our parents and had them contact the headmaster, but you took on that battle yourself.”

Gigi grimaced. “My mother had enough on her plate. She was already working a second job to pay for my schooling.”

“That’s my point. You’re stronger than you think. You’re also the kindest and most loyal person I know. You deserve this. Yes, you had a tough childhood, but it made you who you are. You don’t have to wish you were a white rose, you are one.”

Annelise’s pep talk was interrupted by a knock on the hotel room door. Gigi shot her friend a grateful smile and said to herself, “I am a white rose.” Annelise gave her a thumbs up. Gigi squared her shoulders and walked over to open the door.

Dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt that accentuated his muscular chest, Kane stood there proudly holding the largest bouquet of white roses she’d ever seen. It wasn’t just the flowers, though, that moved her the most. It was the expression in his eyes. Every bit of emotion she’d yearned to see in them was openly displayed.

He handed the flowers to Annelise, took Gigi’s face between his hands and gave her a kiss so tender tears filled Gigi’s eyes. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back with all the questions, the yearning, and the love churning inside her.

“I’ll put these in water,” Annelise said dryly from behind them.

When the kiss ended they stood there in each other’s arms, breathing heavily and unable to look away. One of his strong hands was buried beneath her hair. The other still cupped her face, and he wiped away one of her tears with his thumb. “Don’t run away again, Gigi. This time stay, and let me show you why we belong together.”

“Call me when you get back,” Annelise said from beside them.

“No,” Kane said firmly without looking away from Gigi. “Come with us. We’re staying overnight, and you should be there tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Annelise said slowly. “Listen, I love you, Gigi. I’d do anything for you. And I like you, Kane. But this has that awkward, third wheel, I don’t want to be trapped while you two maul each other, feel about it. I’m perfectly fine waiting here until you come back.”

Kane stepped back, took one of Gigi’s hands in his, raised it to his mouth, and kissed it lightly. Then he turned to Annelise and smiled. “I can control myself.” He gave Gigi’s hand a gentle squeeze and met her eyes. “Especially since I’m hoping for a lifetime of mauling.”

Gigi’s breath caught in her throat.
Did he just say what I thought he said?
Her eyes flew to her friend for confirmation. The approving expression on Annelise’s face confirmed that she had.
Holy Moly. He’s going to propose. And if he wants Annelise there, it means he has something planned for how he’ll do it.
In a slightly strangled voice, Gigi said, “Annelise, please come with us.”

Annelise picked up her overnight bag and shook her head in amusement. “I’ll go, but you two need to keep your hands off each other, or I swear I’ll throw a glass of water on you both.”

Kane barked out a laugh.

Gigi squeezed his hand between both of hers. “She’d do it, you know.”

Kane pulled Gigi to his side for an affectionate hug. “I bet she would. I like you, too, Annelise. Now let’s go. I have a helicopter waiting for us on the roof.” While still holding Gigi’s hand, Kane picked up her luggage.

Even though the destination had zero chance of changing her mind, Gigi asked, “Where are we going?”

They stepped out of the hotel room and took an elevator up to the roof. Kane waited until they were bent over and rushing beneath the spinning blades of the executive helicopter before he answered. “Slater Island.”

Gigi was already seated beside Kane inside the lavish silver and ivory interior by the time his answer sunk in. Did he have to choose where she’d made a fool of herself? If he was going to propose she could think of a thousand places she’d rather go. She didn’t want to think about how she’d felt at her brothers’ weddings, toward him or toward them. Couldn’t they put all that behind them? “I’d rather not go there.”

From a seat across from her, Annelise looked on with sympathy. Moments like that made Gigi glad she told her friend everything. She didn’t have to explain herself to Annelise. Gigi turned to Kane and hoped she could make him understand as well. “Especially if you’re about to do what I think you might be about to do, let’s not do it on that island.”

Kane studied her expression closely. “You don’t like Slater Island? It’s where we met.”

Gigi looked away in embarrassment. “Have you forgotten how that went?”

Kane shook his head and laced his fingers with hers. “All I remember about that night is meeting an incredibly sexy Italian woman who would haunt my dreams for the next three years.”

Gigi’s eyes flew back to his. She blushed, but with a mix of hope and excitement. She challenged him, hoping to hear a version that would make it all right. “You turned me down. And you laughed at me when you did it.”

He kissed the knuckles of one of her hands then said, “I laughed at myself for not seeing how young you were. Trust me, there was nothing funny about walking away from you that night. I wanted you then just as badly as I do now.”

Annelise cleared her throat. “We are quickly approaching the intersection of ‘this is awkward to listen to, and I wish I hadn’t come.’”

Gigi and Kane exchanged a guilty smile and most of Gigi’s anxiety slipped away. They turned back to look at Annelise and said in unison, “Sorry.” Then glanced at each other and burst out laughing.

Annelise rolled her eyes. “I’ll give you two points for being adorable together, but don’t forget I’m here and armed with a water bottle.”

*     *     *

Kane watched Gigi
and Annelise laugh together over her comment, and he knew bringing her had been the right choice. Their friendship was a source of strength for Gigi, and he wanted that to be part of his future with her. His parents had always maintained that love wasn’t competitive or limiting. Not when it was right.

It was amazing how advice he’d brushed off before suddenly fit. Annelise had offered to stay behind. He could have agreed with her, and the ride over to the island might have involved a whole lot less clothing. It might have been a night to remember, but it wouldn’t have been what Gigi needed.

For the first time in his life, the needs of a woman overshadowed his own. That didn’t mean he didn’t want her so much he ached for her, but it did mean her happiness came first. In the past, he’d used the word love with a couple of women. He’d walked away from them. They’d walked away from him. He’d always moved on easily, and now he understood why.

He loved Gigi. He shook his head. The word love couldn’t fully express how he felt about her. Which was why he was taking her to Slater Island. He needed to show her.

Out of respect for Annelise, Kane brought up more mundane topics for discussion. They spent the next couple hours talking about the places Gigi and Annelise had visited and where they might enjoy going.

When they finally approached Slater Island, the pilot did as Kane had instructed and circled the bluffs where the Andrade homes were. Kane leaned over Gigi. “Do you see those mansions?”

She tensed against him. “I see them,” Gigi said and turned away from the view of them. Her eyes were wild with a panic he was beginning to understand. “You’re not showing me anything I haven’t already seen.”

“The last time you were here, you felt like you didn’t belong, but you did,” he said softly.

“Can we go somewhere else, Kane? Please.”

Kane took her chin in his hand and gently turned it back to the window. “When you look down there you see four Andrade homes, but I see five. That last house, the one just before the curve of the bluffs, that’s yours, Gigi. Max bought it for you. It’s been waiting for you all this time. If you need proof your brothers love you, it’s right there. When they planned a place for their family to gather, they planned for you to be there with them.”

Gigi looked at the houses, back at Kane, back at the houses, then at Annelise before focusing once more on the mansion Kane had pointed out to her. “When did he buy it for me?”

“Back when he first learned you existed. They’ve debated telling you about it often, but they were waiting for the right time to surprise you with it. Your family is having a large Andrade gathering here tomorrow. They’re planning to make the announcement to you then.”

“That’s why they invited me.” Her voice was shaky with emotion.

“Yes, and because they know I intend to propose to you tomorrow.”

Her eyes rounded with surprise. For a moment she was stunned into silence, then she asked, “Tomorrow? Not today?”

Kane flashed her a gentle smile. “Not today.”

Gigi brought a trembling hand up to her lips. “Then why are we here today?”

“Because there is something in your house down there I want you to see before I ask you to marry me.”

Gigi looked across at Annelise who shrugged as if saying she had no clue what he was referring to. When Gigi met Kane’s eyes again, she was smiling even as her eyes shone with tears. “You don’t need to prove anything to me. I love you, and I’m so sorry I doubted you.”

He put a finger up to her lips. “I know, Gigi, but let me do this. It took me a while, but I understand now. With me, Gigi, you’ll never have to wonder, you’ll never have to doubt, you’ll never have to wish again. You’ll know I love you. I’ll spend the rest of my life happily showing you.”

Gigi took his hand in hers, held it to the side of her face and gave him a teary smile.

From the other side of the helicopter, Annelise sniffed loudly. “I brought a water bottle, but I didn’t bring tissues. You guys are killing me here.”

‡