Chapter 6Two hours into his meeting and Colin couldn't help but think about how his son was out and about in town with that woman. Her face kept popping into his mind every time his eyes wandered to the window - wavy black hair, her beautiful emerald eyes.
His favorite colour, really, was green. He had been so pleased with her eye colour that it even hurt him go admit. The two were somewhere out there. He wanted to join them. He wanted to be with her; to be close to her. He wanted to hear the sound of her voice and the echo of her laughter; the way she said his name. It made him smile as he thought of how she couldn't pronounce 'Romano' like an Italian. It made him want to teach her the language.
He shouldn't. He had told himself he wasn't going to. He couldn't let himself be distracted by a woman. They were all the same, after his money. Just because he was in a different country, didn't make it any different. This was a battle he had to win. For himself. For Riaz. He couldn't want her!
Twenty minutes later, he was out of that board room. It was half past noon. Deciding against lunch with fellow businessmen because he wanted to see Aria again, he called his son's bodyguards. One look wouldn't hurt him, right?
***
From the Romanos' penthouse, Aria and Riaz had swung by Gianni tower. Riaz didn't mind, after all he was out to explore places. She wanted to see how the summer collection was being set up. Callie was working with some of the models in the dressing room. The clothes' racks were empty. Apart from Callie and the models present, they weren't that many people in the room. Once Callie spotted her, she called out and dismissed the ladies then walked up to the pair.
"Hey. What are you doing here?" Callie asked. Then spotting Riaz beside her best friend, she added, "and who's this little guy?"
"He..." Aria laughed as she thought against it. Callie was bound to jump to conclusions. "Kiddo, you wanna tell my friend, here, who you are?" she spoke to Riaz.
"Hi. Riaz Romano. What's your name?" the boy said confidently.
Callie's eyes bored into Aria as her brows furrowed.
"Oh!" she exclaimed aloud as she noticed the resemblance between the son and his father. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me, Aria."
The only thing she wasn't doing right then was jump up and down.
"I'm Aria's best friend. Name's Callie."
Riaz smiled at her.
"Aria, you have some major explaining to do."
"Not now, Callie. Riaz and I have plans, don't we, kiddo?" Aria said. She pulled him to leave the room, realizing how much of a mistake it had been to bring him with her to Callie.
"Run, Aria, run. Let's see if you'll move out of town, too," Callie shouted after them. Aria pretended not to have heard.
"She's psychotic," Aria said to Riaz as they stepped into the elevator. "Don't pay attention to any word she says." He laughed. "Let's go by my office then we'll hit the streets, ok?"
"It's cool," Riaz replied.
She thought about how less of a pushover he was. He had a freaking credit card to himself. What was its limit? A billion dollars? Most rich kids were snobs. And then there was that difference in the way he spoke as compared to his dad. Riaz lacked the Italian accent.
"Hey, where do you school? Italy?" she quizzed.
Riaz laughed. "I know what you're thinking. It's the accent. It's not hereditary, you know."
That made her smile. "You can't blame me for asking." Especially when Colin had been persistent about her saying 'Romano' with the accent.
"Yeah, I school in Italy," Riaz spoke up.
The accent wasn't hereditary but the eyes were and the hair - definitely his father's son.
"Hey, don't start comparing okay!" He warned as though he knew what she was thinking.
"Oh, shut up." She smiled.
The elevator doors opened.
"If your office sucks, consider yourself fired," Riaz said as he ran out ahead of her.
Fifteen minutes later, she was digging into her files and folders on the shelves.
"How is it you've got a computer, a scanner and a printer around here yet you still store papers?" Riaz asked her.
He was seated behind her desk playing games on a gadget.
"I like old school. Most times I draw on paper."
"But you've got a scanner!"
"That doesn't mean I throw away the hardcopy. Consider them as back-ups."
"Whatever," he grumbled. "What is it you're looking for anyway?"
"A dark green folder. Should be marked 'A.K. Summer'. I didn't make a copy of that."
"Which ones are the back-ups again?" He made Aria laugh.
She was still looking for the folder and Riaz was still playing his game when someone posed at her door frame and none of them spotted him until he spoke.
"Well if it isn't the famous Aria Kressley."
She paused for a while as she looked at him, studying him was more like it.
"Liam?" He had his mother's eyes.
"Don't tell me any longer and you would've forgotten me." He smiled. He was definitely good-looking.
She chuckled and went back to looking for her folder as she spoke to him, once in a while looking at him, "I cannot be held responsible for that."
"You can't be held responsible for anything!" came Riaz's comment. All eyes were on him.
"Who's this?" Liam asked as he withdrew his hands from his pocket and stepped into Aria's office approaching her desk.
"Riaz Romano." Riaz took a second to look at him and introduce himself before reverting his attention to his game.
"Oh," Liam said. "I heard about that. Rich Romano's in New York."
"Yes he is."
"And you're with his son. Thought you were his stylist. His nanny, too?"
After that remark, Aria halted her search to frown at Liam.
"I'm sorry. Who needs a nanny here?" Even Riaz had paused his game to comment.
With the stern gaze Aria had on him, Liam had to apologize. He raised his hands in an attempt to show his remorse.
"Sorry."
No one spoke a word after that.
"Morgan sent me here for the papers."
"You mean your mom," Aria replied.
"Yeah. Her."
"I can't seem to find it," she said as she quit the search. "She had said if I could, she'd like to see it. Unfortunately, I can't seem to see it. Or remember where I put it. Could you tell her that?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Let's go, kiddo."
"So I heard you're off work while," he pointed to Riaz, "he's in town. Care for lunch?"
"I don't think I can make it. Nanny duty. Let's go, Riaz."
With that, they both left.
"What's up with him?" the eight year old asked once they were out of his earshot.
"I wish I knew."