Ruined By My Brother's Best Friend (by Silverwriter) novel Chapter 275

ARABELLA’S POV

I sucked in a breath, the intensity of his words almost making me gasp in shock, but I held it in, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing how affected I was.

He wanted to touch me?

I felt heat form between my legs with each passing second his hand remained on my waist, his touch feeling dangerously addictive.

But the moment I recalled our little back-and-forth at the gala, I slowly pulled back, making a show of letting our lips brush before pulling away completely.

“Too bad I won’t let you.” I mumbled, holding his gaze as he watched me.

My words didn’t unnerve him, and calmly, he let his back rest against the seat. “You won’t?”

I scoffed. “Exactly what I said.”

His lips twitched, and a look of dark amusement played in his eyes. “We’ll see about that, Arabella.” He said, “we’ll see.”

The rest of the drive was silent, so much so that I eventually became bored of it, and I suddenly had the urge to use the phone he gave me, but I wasn’t ready to give up the fight yet.

I wasn’t going to use a bugged phone.

Simple.

The car slowed in front of a restaurant, and I peeked out the window, taking in the sight of the luxurious building.

The driver killed the engine, and then Alvise got out of the car, taking his time to speak to his guards, who, of course, had followed behind us.

Before I could gather my thoughts and calm my nerves, my door was opened by one of the guards so l stepped out of the car and took a deep breath, letting the cold Moscow air take some of my nerves away.

The effort went to waste when Alvise approached me and nodded toward the restaurant. “Let’s go.”

We walked side by side, and I followed him almost hesitantly. “Do we really have to do this?” I asked as he opened the door and I walked in.

He ignored my question and moved ahead of me, grabbing the attention of everyone almost immediately, like he always did.

I bit my lip as their gazes landed on me, and I had the sudden urge to run back to the car, but I shrugged it off and focused on appreciating the grandness of the restaurant.

Alvise stopped at a table more secluded from the rest and pulled out a chair for me. I sat down, releasing a sigh of relief, happy to have escaped everyone’s scrutiny.

74

12:30 Wed, Sep 16 M J’ •

Ramed By My Brother’s Best Friend

I picked up the menu, excited to see there were a lot of Chinese food options on it. “Is this a Chinese restaurant?” I asked, looking up.

My heart skipped a beat as I caught him already looking at me. “It’s not. That’s a personalized menu,” he

said.

I gasped. “A personalized menu?” Heat crept up to my cheeks, stupid butterflies fluttering in my stomach- like I was still in high school. “You made them personalize it… for me?”

Alvise didn’t respond, but he didn’t need to. I already knew the answer to my question.

He did it for me.

Even though I was a mess inside, I tried to act like I wasn’t affected. I loved Chinese food, and he knew i and I’d noticed he mostly got me Chinese whenever he bought me food.

A waiter walked up to us with a bottle of wine, and after pouring it into our glasses, he took our orders before leaving.

A thought crossed my mind, and I flicked my gaze up to Alvise, who was now busy on his phone.

“Alvise?”

He looked up, raising a brow as he waited for me to speak.

“You opened a restaurant back in London… a Chinese restaurant…” I rubbed my now slightly damp hands. on my dress. “Why?”

He cocked his head to the side. “You don’t know?”

What did he mean?

“No… I don’t. That’s why I’m asking.” I mumbled. “I always wondered why you opened a Chinese restaurant.” I said, giggling at the thought. “It was so random.”

“It was for you.”

My breath caught in my throat, and my mouth fell open, his words echoing in my head until they were all I could hear, and even then, I couldn’t believe it.

“You… did it… for me?” I choked out, shaking my head in disbelief.

Blue eyes stared back at me, bored and lazy, like he didn’t just say something that completely unnerved me. “Did you really think it was just for business?” Alvise asked, looking genuinely curious.

I felt stupid because now that I thought about it, it had been so random.

But never in a million years would I have thought I was the reason.

“I actually did.” I breathed.

He stroked his chin, but he didn’t say anything else.

“Stop looking at me like that.” I said breathlessly.

པཔ veu, Sep 10

Rand By My Brother’s Best Friend

“Like what?”

didn’t stop.

“Like I’m clueless.” I gritted out.

Alvise shrugged, unbothered. “You are.”

I scoffed. “Have you forgotten how you treated me? You were barely talking to me, and whenever we happened to be in the same space, you would glare at me so much, I felt like burying myself underground.” I shook my head at the thought. “So… Can you see how it was unlikely for me to think you would open a restaurant… for ME?”

“No, I don’t.” He said, an unfamiliar look passing through his eyes, one that was gone just as fast as it came.

I could tell he wanted to say something else, but he didn’t, and the look on his face told me he wanted me to drop the subject, so I did.

To bring up another conversation because it suddenly got quiet, and I had a question that had been bugging me, I asked, “Why are you so serious about this?”

“What?” He asked, searching my face.

I released a tense breath and gestured between us. “This. The marriage…”

“Because I want to.” Alvise cut me off, his voice hard at the edges.

My pulse quickened, and I chuckled to keep him from seeing how much his words destabilized me. “So… what next?” I joked. “A honeymoon?”

Alvise wasn’t amused.

He nodded. “Yes,” he said, tapping a finger on the table as his next words made my eyes widen. “We’ll be going on one soon.”