His

First date

Drake pulled Julia into their fathers office.

"Papa what's this about Julia marrying Anton's son. Is this some sick joke. Hello to you too son and no it's not a joke. To make the alliance stronger between our families years ago myself and Anton made an agreement to marry my first daughter to his first son or vice versa. There is no way you can do this to Julia, doesn't she deserve a chance to find love for herself. You don't even know what kind of man this Armano is. I have spent lots of time with Armano he will make a great husband for Julia. This is the least she could do for this family and you son will do well to remember who is in charge." Luca sat back in his chair and grabbed his cigar out of the ashtray, he puffed it a few times and made rings out of the smoke. Julia just looked around, she hadn't said a word. She always hated coming into her fathers office. The room was all dark tones and dark wood. It felt so cold and unwelcoming. The only good thing about the room was the bay windows that looked over the garden in the backyard but he always kept the curtains drawn so you couldn't see the view.

"Papa there has to be another way. I thought you and Anton already had a strong alliance seeing as you've been friends for most of your lives. You are right he has been more like a brother to me which is even more of a reason to bring our families together. Julia will marry Armano and that is final." Drake and his father had a staring contest until Drake relented. He turned to Julia with a sad look on his face, "I am sorry Star I wish there was something more I could do. It's not your fault big bro and Papa is right it's time I did do something for the family." Julia stepped around her brother and faced her father. Squaring her shoulders she said, "I will marry Armano for the sake of the family but I will never forgive you for this." And with that she turned and started to head out of his office. "Julia...she stopped but didn't turn around, wear something nice for dinner tonight Anton and his family will be joining us for dinner."

Julia didn't even acknowledge her father she just kept going. Making her way to her room she threw her gym bag down and walked into her en suite bathroom and started the water for a bubble bath. She walked back into her room and sat on her bed. Besides the beach her room was her second favorite place to be. Everything in her room was lively and bright. Her favorite color is yellow. Yellow accents are everywhere around the room. Hanging over her platform king size bed was a gigantic portrait of a sunflower, her favorite flower. Julia flops back on her bed and stares at the portrait. All her life she was a sunflower always in the background never really seen. Now her father is putting this big weight on her shoulders, bringing her center stage and she hates it. Is this supposed to be a meet and greet type of dinner she wondered. Groaning she gets up and heads to her closet.

What to wear what to wear. She pulled out a magenta halter top dress it came to about her knees she scrunched her face at it. "Go big or go home right." Julia says as she puts the dress back and pulls out one of her favorites. It's a floor length backless gold dress white lace trim on the bodice and straps. It hugs her body just right. She pairs it with the new pair of white and gold pumps from Louis Vuitton she bought last week. Now that she chosen what to wear how does she want to style her hair. Up or down, bun or fishtail halo. She goes with the fishtail halo with two pieces hanging from the sides to frame her face.

Finally settling on hair and clothes time to shower then do her makeup. As she showered her thoughts went back to the guy at the beach. The way his face changed when he heard her name. If that was Armano he doesn't seem to happy about the whole arranged marriage thing either. Maybe they can come to their own agreement, something that will benefit the bothe of them. Julia finishes her shower and steps out. She grabs a towel and starts drying herself before applying her lotion and perfume. Once finish with that she sits in front of her mirror to do her makeup. She chooses gold and black for eyeshadow, using the black eyeliner for a dramatic wing to bring attention to her eyes.

Taking one last look at herself in the full think mirror she thought to herself he did say dress my best. With that in mind she headed down stairs for the dinner. As reached the foyer the doorbell rang. Dana rushed to answer it. "Hello Mr. Luciano how is your evening.". Julia stopped in her tracks, the guy from the beach walked in right after Anton. He was dressed in a navy blue suit no tie. The top two buttons were undone so you can get a peak of his tattoos. His hair was pushed back but you can tell he was running his fingers thru it.

Anton saw Julia first..."don't you look lovely." He stuck his hand out and when Julia placed her hand in his he brought it to his lips and kissed it. "Doesn't she look lovely Armano?" When Julia turned her eyes to Armano he was clenching his jaw so hard she thought it would break. Armano stepped forward with his hand out..."yes she does." As he leaned down to kiss her hand he stared directly into her eyes with a look Julia couldn't decipher causing her to blush. "I'll show them to the dinner table Dana...Julia said. "You would follow me." Julia could feel Armano's eyes burning into her back as she walked. Here goes nothing she thought.

"My father will be with us shortly would you like anything to drink while we wait. Yes I'll have a scotch anything for you Armano...no thanks." He hadn't taken his eyes off of Julia yet. Julia went over to the mini bar that was set up in the dinning room and poured two fingers of Scotch in a tumbler. "And she has manners...I think you lucked up here son." Julia opened her mouth to retort his comment but she stopped herself. Your son will never have the chance to find out if he was lucky or not because I won't be here four more weeks Julia thought to herself.

"Anton my dear friend." Luca came in with his arms spread and embraced Anton in a hug. "It's good to see you too my friend" Anton said. "Come let's go to my office and go over a few things and let the new couple get to know each other." Julia watched as her father and Anton left the room. Avoiding eye contact with Armano she walked over to her place at the table and sat down. Armano just wandered around the room looking at all the pictures and paintings on the walls. "So are we going to talk about the elephant in the room or are we just going to sit here and act like the other doesn't exist. You knew who I was at the beach earlier didn't you? No I knew your name but I didnt know it was you. Your reaction to hearing my name gave it away. Did you know who I was." Julia looked away from him..."I didnt know who you were either but when you said your name I figured that you could possibly be the same guy." Julia hadn't payed much attention to Armano movements so when she looked up he was sitting right next to her. He reached up and twirled her hair around his finger.