Harbinger Of Glory

Chapter 330: Too Much Love!

At that, the room on the other side of the door went quiet.

Leo set the Funko Pop down carefully on the nightstand before moving closer to the door.

The reaction Vittoria had been bracing for didn’t come.

Instead, there was a pause and then the sound of her mother’s voice getting warmer and considerably interested.

"I knew it," her mother said.

"What?"

"I knew it. Come here," she said as she pulled Vittoria closer.

"Was that so hard. I had been waiting for you to tell me."

Vittoria still hadn’t recovered from her mother’s first reaction, but she kept up.

"Is it the same one from the articles? The one called Leo?"

"How did you....." Vittoria tried to ask, but her mother cut her off.

"Just answer me!"

"No," Vittoria said, putting her foot down. "Not unless you tell me how you found out about that name!"

"Fine," Vittoria’s mother said with a sigh.

"I overheard you talking about it with that friend of yours. Gianna!"

"Motherrr!" Vittoria squealed.

"What? I didn’t mean to, but I overheard her mentioning that name one time."

Vittoria clutched her face with her palm, shaking her head before she raised her head to see her mother’s expectant face.

"Yes, it’s him," Vittoria answered the earlier question.

"And you won’t tell me who he is."

"Not yet. And especially not with you snooping around!"

Her mother was quiet for a moment.

Then, "Even if I promise not to tell your father?"

On the other side of the door, Leo heard the pause that followed that and understood what it meant.

He sat on the edge of the bed and waited.

"When I feel more comfortable," Vittoria said.

"But those pictures were taken out of proportion. We weren’t together then. At least not properly."

Her mother sighed, making a concession she found reasonable but didn’t love.

"Alright," she said. "But soon, Vittoria. If not your father, then me. So I can stop these phone calls coming in."

"I know."

"Good."

A phone rang somewhere in the room, and there was a brief exchange, and then the sound of her mother getting to her feet.

"I only came to talk," she said. "Go back to sleep if you need to."

"I will."

"And Vittoria."

"Yes?"

"Whatever packaging that jacket came in, find it."

The door opened and closed, and after that, Vittoria stood in the hallway listening to the footsteps until they were gone.

Then she stood there for another moment just to be certain, and then she came to the bedroom door and pushed it open.

Leo was lying across her bed with the Funko Pop held above his face, studying it against the ceiling light with the concentration of an academic.

He turned his head when she came in.

"Twenty-two," he said as Vittoria pressed her palm flat against her face.

Leo set the Funko Pop down and sat up.

"You didn’t tell me that."

"It didn’t come up when you searched it," Vittoria retorted, knowing what Leo did.

"No, not really," Leo said with a serious expression.

"I wanted to know you in person, not through Google!"

"It came up just now, though," he said as he stood up.

"Through a wall, but still."

She looked at him with the expression of someone who was not finding this as funny as the other person was finding it, and he crossed the room toward her and took her hand.

"Don’t worry about it," he said. "I like older."

At that, Vittoria recoiled, looking at Leo like he had just suggested genocide.

"Twenty-two," she said, "is not old."

"I didn’t say old, I said—"

She hit him on the arm, and he retreated a step, laughing while she followed until he caught her hand again and held it.

"So," he said, settling. "When do I meet the mother-in-law?"

Vittoria scoffed.

"You’re not even close."

"Date me for a couple more years and then we’ll talk," she said as Leo pulled her closer to his face again.

"Not close?" he repeated. "So I have to do more."

"Considerably more."

He looked at her for a moment and then leaned forward and kissed her, and she made a small sound against his mouth that was not quite a protest.

"Leo."

"What?"

"I haven’t brushed my teeth."

"Neither have I."

"That doesn’t make it better."

"It makes it equal," he said, knowing it wasn’t a good argument.

Still, he moved forward, putting his lips on hers as she squirmed away from him, laughing while Leo tried to get all his hands on her.

"When will you be leaving?" Vittoria asked after the two went calm while Leo drew circles on her thigh.

"Tomorrow, but the guys should have already packed. Dawson has booked a tour group for us to explore Italy, but I opted out."

"So do I get you for today as well?" Vittoria said as she pulled Leo, who was leaning over her on his elbow, closer.

"It depends, ma’am. Do you have what it takes to keep me here?" Leo said as he let himself be pulled closer and closer.

Vittoria shook her head before going past Leo’s lips towards his ear.

"It doesn’t take much to keep you happy," she whispered before pulling away from his ear and before Leo could smile, she found his lips and planted a little kiss on them.

"I thought you said you hadn’t brushed," Leo made out.

"Oh shut up," Vittoria said as she grabbed the roots of Leo’s hair and pulled him deeper into the kiss.

"This is too much love, but I am loving it," Leo thought as he let himself fall onto Vittoria while the duo continued exploring the confines of each other’s mouths.

......

"Jake, don’t be dumb," Dawson said after Jake stood beside a fountain like he was going to dive in.

The Wigan players behind him all found it funny, but at the same time, it wasn’t because each one of them knew that Jake would do it without a second thought if he wanted.

"Where’s Leo when you need him?" Nolan muttered behind Dawson, who nodded in agreement.