"I must meet her and give my blessings, then you two must be wedded in a church, I and your Nana must hear you say your vow, you then must go on a honeymoon, and then you two will move in and live in this mansion, and that is final." Grandpa Alexandra concluded and went back to his food.
"Grandpa, we agreed not to have a loud wedding, and we cannot possibly live in the mansion with you and Nana, we want our own privacy."
Leonardo argued
"It doesn't have to be a loud wedding, but your Nana and I must witness your church wedding, by the time you two are back from your honeymoon, we would be out of the house, I told you we would like to move to the country home."
After dinner with his grandparents, Leonardo had called Alisha and had told her to come over for a visit to his grandparents, he had also told her they were going to have a church wedding, she was totally against it.
"The only time I will walk down the altar to say "I do" to a man, it would be a man that I love and would want to spend the rest of my life with, not some random man that a contract binds me with and is already planning a divorce before a wedding." She had expressed her distaste.
Leonardo was finally able to reach an agreement with her.
"How did you two meet?" Nana asked Alisha as they sat at the table having dinner.
"Hmm" Alisha stammered and stated to cough
"Have my water my dear" Nana had offered, gently patting her back
"Come on Nana, you are asking her so much questions, allow her eat her meal in peace"
"Leonardo, I just want to know her better"
"Come on Leo, I am fine, allow Nana know all she wants to" Alisha had responded to him, giving him an uncomfortable smile
"Nana, we met at the bar"
"You drink?" Nana had jumped
"No no, I work at a bar"
"I presume after the wedding you will no longer work there, I do not think a proper lady and the wife to a Giovanni should work in such a place."
"Nana, my wife will do whatever she likes to do, either she is married to a Giovanni or not." Leonardo had stood up for her.
Alisha smiled knowing that even if it was a contract that binds them, he could be there to defend her when she needed it, and for the first time that evening, she gave him a real smile.
The rest of the evening had flown by, and they had picked a date for the wedding, which was going to take place in a week.
"Chloe, would you like to be my maid of honor?" Alisha had asked her, as Chloe got dressed for work the next morning.
"Are you sure you want to go ahead with this?"
Chloe gave a concerned look, she did not know the details about the marriage, but she knew Leonardo and Alisha were not in love with each other.
"Yes, I am, we are already legally married by the way"
"Why are you getting married to him?"
"Because we both want to get married"
"I know you do not love him, and I know he is incapable of love either, think about it, he is a Casanova, what if he hurts you, what if he keeps going around sleeping with those skinny women, think about this properly Lisha" Chloe worried about her
"I love it when you call me Lisha, don't worry about me, I will be fine"
"If that is what you want, then I will support you"
"Does that mean you will be my maid of honor?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"No" she said sharply and they both laughed.
Leonardo gave Alisha one of his debit card to get all she needed for their wedding, she was not so excited about the whole turn of event, but then she had signed a contract and she was his employee, she had to do all that he wanted.
Alisha had told her dad, that she was getting married, she didn't want to tell him but Chloe had told her that he would be heartbroken if he discovered in the papers.
She had told him, but told him he did not have to be there, so he could stay with Anna through the surgery.
He had wanted her to move the wedding to the next month but she had come up with an excuse, he was not happy about it, but had given her his blessings.
The wedding had gone smoothly, probably Leonardo had spoken to the minister or out of luck on Alisha's side, the minister forgot to ask the groom to kiss the bride. Alisha had hopped one of Leonardo's flings would appear and stop the wedding, at least that would be a consolation for her brains that were not working.
She stopped believing in love the moment her mother who she thought was madly in love with her father had done what she did to them.
She had vowed never to be like her mother, never to even get married and have a family, but here she was saying "I do" to a random man.
Chloe was the only person she was close to in the wedding, other guest were few but they were from Leonardo's side of the family and business circle. The wedding was short, not exciting, and boring to her.
"Ready for our honeymoon?" Leonardo whispered to her, as if he could not wait to be out of the wedding reception and out of his tuxedo.
"Yeah" she gasped, she was unsure of what the honeymoon held. She knew she was not under any intimate obligation to him, but that did not help her from being anxious of what it held for her.
"Where are we going to?" she asked Leonardo after she had changed her dress into something more comfortable and they had settled in the car.
"You'll see" was all he said and faced his phone
He would not tell her what he had in mind or how long they were going to spend on their trip, so she didn't know what to pack and had ended up packing double outfit for every weather and occasion. Ranging from bikini, to swimsuit, to dinner gown, to casual, to cooperate.
"Wake up, we are here" he said shaking her lightly. She had fallen asleep, shortly after they started the drive.
Leonardo was not paying any attention to her, he kept his gaze on his phone, so she had no choice but to sleep.
"Where are we?" she asked giving her eyes a gentle rub.
"Ocean Palms"
"The beach?" she roared excitedly
"Yeah" he nodded and left her in the car.
"Sweet" she said to herself as she followed him into the hotel. Ocean palms was a beach resort she had heard so much about, and had concluded she could not afford to visit such a place. Even if this was a fake honeymoon. She was going to enjoy herself to the fullest.
"Leonardo Legend, I made a reservation for two rooms" Leonardo said as he got to the reception.
"Hold on, while I check" she said smiling to him sweetly.
"Bitch, he is my husband" Alisha said in her head, as she pretended to look around
"Hmm, sir, you changed your reservation two days ago from two rooms to a single suite" the receptionist said looking at her computer.
"Fuck Alexandra" Leonardo muttered under his breathe.
"Can I swap back to two rooms?" he asked trying to hide his disappointment
"I'm sorry sir, all rooms are fully booked"
"That's fine then, can I have the keys to our suite?"
"Yes please, have it, room 201" Alisha took the key card from her, making sure the receptionist saw the large diamond ring on her finger.
"Oh Mrs Legend, it's nice to have you, please enjoy your stay" she said in a shivering voice, understanding the secret message "Stay away from my man" Alisha was trying to pass.
"Take the couch, I'm taking the bed" Alisha said as she unlocked the door to their suite.
"No way, if you don't like me on the bed with you, then take the couch or the floor for the next one week; I have no plans to be uncomfortable."
Alisha rolled her eyes at him, she knew better than to argue, there was no way she was taking the couch or the floor either.
"I'm going for a walk, don't wait up, call for room service if you want to eat anything, don't order for me" Leonardo said and left the room.
Alisha arranged her things in the closet and went for a shower, when she was done Leonardo was not back yet. She decide to go down and get something to eat, instead of calling room service that night.
She wore a short beach dress and went down the lobby. She found Leonardo at the bar talking to a skinny woman as he and her shared a bottle of wine.
"Hey honey" she approached them, giving Leonardo a light kiss on his cheeks, she sat by his left and took up his glass in her mouth.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting all by yourself, I stayed longer in the bath after you left," she said with a fake smile, as she sipped from his glass again
"Oh hello we have company, hi, I'm Alisha, his wife, and you are?" Alisha asked offering her hand to the woman.
"Hmm sorry excuse me, I did not know he was married the woman said and left with her glass."
"What was that for?" Leonardo asked grabbing his glass from Alisha's hand
"Oh so now you can speak" she said admiring the ring on her finger.
"Stay out of my business, remember you are my wife just on paper"
"We might be a few miles away from home, but remember we are still in California, do you want the press to carry news that you are still a Casanova even while married?"
He rolled his eyes at her, as he gulped down his drink. She was right, if he was going to pick up women; it was not going to be in public, he could not risk his grandpa to think he was still reckless and irresponsible and take away the inheritance from him.
"Smile Mrs Legend" they heard and a flash came on their face before they even got the chance to understand what was going on.
Looking up, Leonardo recognized that the man who had just spoken was a paparazzi, he had taken photo of them, he looked forward to seeing what the caption the papers was going to be tomorrow.
"See what I meant?" Alisha said as soon as the paparazzi left, she stood up from beside him and started to leave
"Where are you going to?" he asked holding back her hand
"To eat" she said and he let go of her hand. He got up and followed her to a table.
They sat and ordered.
"Do you have any plans for this trip?" Alisha asked as they ate, the silence was awkward.
"You can enjoy yourself while we are here for the week, I have some work to do, I will be spending most of the time indoor, I am working on a new branch for the company"
"What would it have cost you to tell me where we were heading to; I didn't pack properly for this trip." Alisha complained
"Use the card I gave you to shop, and don't nag me"
"Gosh, this man is rude" she said under her breath and finished her meal.
Alisha got up from the table after she was done eating, Leonardo got up too and drew her close to his body and planted a spontaneous kiss on her temple.