Page 128 of Blinded By Hate
Hayden says something in Italian to the hostess and the way he talks so smoothly impresses me. I never knew he learned how to speak Italian. He never told me. I’ve always loved Italian, it’s so romantic and beautiful.
She nods her head and grabs two menus before she walks off. Hayden grips my hand in his and follows her.
She takes us towards the back of the restaurant where it’s more quiet. We walk through the balcony doors and she takes us past all of the tables where people are dining. We walk upstairs and end up in a private section of the restaurant. There is a table placed in the middle of the balcony separate from the other tables. A giant peony bush is behind the table and there is a clear view of the city in front of us.
“Hayden,” I whisper so low that he probably can’t hear me. The hostess places the menus on the table before saying something in Italian and leaving. Hayden pulls me towards the table, pulls out my chair so I can sit. He takes his seat in front of me and grabs my hand over the table. I take a look around us again to admire the setting. “You did all this?”
Hayden nods his head. “You deserve only the best and I want to give you that without you being scared.”
I smile at him and run my thumb against his fingers on my hand. “I’m not scared of you. I’m scared of the past happening again, but this time worse.”
“I won’t let it. Things are different this time. Working with Killian has given me a lot more security and I trust Killian like a brother because essentially he kind of is one to me.”
It’s like I’m falling in love all over again with Hayden but at the same time did I ever stop?
Those butterflies in my stomach have come back and it feels like I’m always smiling whenever I look at Hayden and Junior.
“I want to believe you. It’s just hard sometimes.”
Hayden nods his head. “How’d you like the car?”
“It’s fun. Is it yours?”
“Yea. Whenever you want to go for a drive, I’ll give you the keys anytime.”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “You trust me?”
“I trust you with my life, princess. I can trust you with a car.”
A waiter eventually comes to our private balcony. He is holding two waters and he starts speaking in Italian. Hayden and him speak to each other before the waiter nods his head, takes the menus, and leaves.
“I didn’t know you could speak Italian,” I say to Hayden before taking a sip of my water.
“I learned it over the years from Rowan and Killian. They both taught me. They said if I was going to be a part of the family I had to learn it along with other languages.”
I smile before asking, “Say something to me in Italian.”
Hayden smirks at me before saying, “Ti amerò per sempre. Che si tratti di questo o di un milione di altri. Che tu ti ami o no, ti amerò per entrambi. Niente al mondo potrà mai farmi smettere di amarti. E non vedo l'ora di farti la proposta un giorno, così capirai che sono qui per restare per sempre,” with a smooth tongue.
I have no clue what he said but I swear it made my core pulse and my stomach fill with even more butterflies.
“What did you say that was so long?”
Hayden leans back in his chair and stares me down with lust in his eyes. “You look very beautiful tonight.”
“That was a lot of Italian words for not a lot of English words,” I say, making Hayden’s smirk widen just a little, almost turning it into a smile. The waiter eventually comes back with two plates of food. He slides a rigatoni bolognese my way and then what looks like steak and gnocchi in front of Hayden. “You already took our orders?”
“Yeah, when he brought the water.”
“But we didn’t even look at the menus.”
“When I was looking for restaurants I was also looking at menus to see what you’d like and I saw they had rigatoni here and a nice setting so that’s why I chose this place. I already knew what you were going to get so that’s why I already ordered that for you.”
“And what if I didn’t want rigatoni?” I ask with a teasing smile.
“You love rigatoni. Every time we went to an Italian restaurant you would always order rigatoni with a side of ricotta cheese.”
My jaw wants to drop because of how much effort he put into this and also how much he still knows me after so long.