Desired: Love in London Series 3: New Adult Romance Read Online Free Page B

channels. She was still tired from her restless night, so gave up on the TV and decided to take a long bath and then retire for bed.
    As she passed her bedroom, she noticed her phone on the bed, realising she hadn’t checked it all day. It was obviously still on the vibrate function from this morning as she hadn’t heard any calls.
    Retrieving her phone, she was shocked to see that she had over fifteen missed calls on the display. She quickly swiped the screen and saw that besides her brother, the remainder of the calls were from Gino.
    Mia sank back onto her bed, clutching her phone. The little icon on the corner of screen was indicating a voicemail alert. She knew it would be him, but didn’t have the strength, nor the courage to listen to the message right now.
    Tomorrow, she decided.
    She would take her warm bubble bath and then deal with Gino tomorrow. Never in her life had she experienced such heartache and the thought of hearing his voice tonight would break her further. She tossed her phone onto the bed.
----
    S he woke early the next morning. Yawning widely, Mia stretched but as soon as she opened her eyes, the feeling of dread settled all over her once again. She groaned and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping for another blissful moment where she could close her eyes and forget that Friday night ever happened. Failing miserably, she realised it was no use so she dragged herself out of bed.
    Following a modest breakfast, she sat at her table, looking at her phone. With a deep breath, knowing she couldn’t prolong it any longer, she hit the voicemail button and listened to her messages. Three messages from Gino, getting increasingly more desperate with each one, pleading to speak with her. She sighed as she put down her phone and looked at the time. It was just past nine o’clock. Now or never. Mia felt her heart rate pick up as she located his number through her contacts and hit the dial button. After two rings, she heard his voice.
    “Mia. Thank God, I was so worried about you.” His voice was filled with concern.
    “Gino. I got your messages.” She tried her best to sound impersonal.
    “Please, Mia. Can I come over? I would really like to speak with you.”
    She was silent for a moment. Listening to the pleading and agony in his tone. As much as she wanted to scream and tell him to get lost, she couldn’t bear to hear him sound so obviously distressed.
    “Mia? Are you there?”
    “I’m here, Gino. Okay, fine, come over.”
    “Thank you, Mia.” She could hear the relief in his voice. “I’ll be there shortly.”
    “Bye, Gino.” She hung up.

    G ino’s flat was in a very trendy part of East London, so she knew it would take him just over half an hour to drive over on a Sunday morning, when the traffic would be light. She drained her coffee and took a quick shower to freshen up, wanting to look her casual best to unconsciously show him what he was missing. Flicking through her wardrobe, she found her favourite dark green wool dress, which emphasized her jade green eyes.
    Holding it up against her as she looked in the mirror, she was satisfied with her reflection and quickly slipped it on. Then she ran a brush through her straight brown hair and applied some light make up. Thankfully, her face didn’t look blotchy like it did yesterday and with the help of some eye drops, her eyes no longer looked bloodshot either.
    Just then, she heard her door buzzer. She froze, as her heart began to pound against her ribs. Could she really face him? He was here, right now, probably about to tell her that he was getting married. Once again the buzzer sounded, snapping her out of her paralysis. She forced herself to take a few deep breaths and then quickly released the lock.
    Mia heard his footsteps pounding on the stairs — it was clear he was running. She stepped back slightly and then he came into view, his grey eyes blazing into hers.
    He looked like he hadn’t slept as he had deep shadows under his eyes and his