Chapter 24

Chapter 25
Emil's POV
Antonio and Marco were going on and on about their costumes for the party tonight and their excitement was quite evident, Antonio was gesticulating wildly and Marco was listening with a smile on his face.
"So what are you wearing tonight Emil?" Antonio suddenly asked me.
Marco's attention also turned to me and he and Antonio sat there waiting for my answer.
I cleared my throat and said "I am not sure, perhaps I will just go in one of my suits"
Antonio looked like I had shot him in the foot and Marco shook his head in what could only be called a disappointment.
"Is there something wrong with that?" I asked.
"Of course Emil, I know you do not like parties but you could at least try to put in some effort" Antonio said.
"I am glad you said it yourself, I do not care about parties so what reason will I have to put in efforts for them?" I said and returned my attention to the never ending papers on my table.
Marco scoffed and said "I heard you took your bride shopping, what stopped you from getting something for yourself as well"
Antonio chuckled in a mischievous manner before he said "It will appear the Don and the Donna are getting close"
Marco also chuckled and said "Rumours have it that they shared a room last night.
I put down the paper I was pretending to read and finally raised my head to look at them.
They both wore matching grins of mischief on their faces and their eyes held volumes of trouble.
"Don't you both have work to do?" I asked.
They both shrugged their shoulders casually "Not really, only you have decided to work on a day as joyous as this" Marco said.
"Emil, you should let go sometimes, have some fun, you should be thinking about how beautiful your bride will look tonight and how you will dance with her much to the envy of every man in attendance of tonight's ball" Antonio said with glee.
"My point exactly, you took the words right out of my mouth brother" Marco said we he patted Antonio on the shoulder.
"I am only going to this party because you two blew it out of proportion, I will not even be in the situation if you had not decided to tell everyone we were having a ball" I said.
"We talked about this already and we agreed it was a splendid idea since it made everyone so very happy" Antonio said.
"You know what? I will wear anything I want to the party and that will be the end of this discussion" I said.
They were quiet for a while then Marco said "Good thing I thought to get you a mask at least"
"Get out of my office" I said, I had had enough of them, they were never going to let me have any peace.
Laughter filled the room as they stood up and headed towards the door.
"See you later Emil" Antonio called out before closing the door behind him.
Silence finally descended and the thoughts that had been on my mind before they dragged me into their conversation concerning costumes and parties.
My had been plagued with memories of the previous night, the night spent with Andrea, I had tried to stay away from her last night, after our kiss in the dressing room, I could not get her out of my mind, I had tried staying away from her by burying myself in my work and that had only worked till the sun went down and then things went south from there, I kept catching whiffs of her scent in the air and I decided to silence the thoughts in my mind with a glass of whiskey, I was counting on it to numb my mind but it only ended up hightening all my senses and by the time I had almost drained half of the bottle, I could not control myself anymore, my body wanted her more than it had ever wanted anything before and so I had left my study and found my way into her bed.
I could not the image of how she looked in my arms out of my mind, how beautifully her face had contorted while I pleasured her body, Andrea was beautiful, more beautiful than any woman I had ever been with.
I had been with my own fair share of women but they had simply been a means to pass time but her, she was everything a woman was supposed to be, she captivated me the way was a woman was supposed to captivate a man.
She had fallen asleep from exhaustion and I had watched her sleep for a while before sleep finally took me, I had woken up at some point in the earliest hours of the morning with my head pounding and my body still yearning for her touch.
I had left the bed like a man being chased, it had a full hour of a cold shower to calm myself and I had made sure to avoid her since then, it was beginning to seem like I could not trust myself around her.
And now there was the issue of the ball tonight, I could not avoid her for long, we were bound to spend time together whether I liked it or not.
I glanced over at the heavy grandfather clock on the wall and it was past noon, the party was starting by 6pm tonight and the guests had began arriving, it was best if I went out to start greeting them, many of them were old friends and long time business partners.
I ran a hand over my face and let out a deep breath, I had to get Andrea Severino out of my mind for now, that is until I had to see her later tonight.
With that thought in mind, I stood up and left the study.