I love when characters discover new kinks.
It’s Sunday at 7:00 and we’re sitting down for the meal with Dante’s family as outlined in the contract for the first time. After Dante’s act of jealousy with Gabbi and the subsequent transcendent sex a few days ago, Dante pulled his disappearing act again. I haven’t seen him, haven’t even heard from him beyond the text reminding me about dinner tonight. We even came to his parents’ house separately.Honestly, I don’t know why I was surprised. This is Dante’s MO. He lets a little bit of his feelings out and then proceeds to do everything he can to deny it. It honestly isn’t surprising, just…disappointing.Too bad for him, he missed the window where I was ovulating, so there’s no more guaranteed sex for him this month.I’ve made the decision that I’m not going to deny myself from having sex with Dante. A girl has needs and Dante definitely knows what he’s doing in the bedroom. But I’m also not going to feel obligated to have sex with him outside of the contract mandates.Why sh
The don stares at me and, on the inside, I’m freaking the fuck out. The man is SCARY and he’s put me in charge of a major deal for his company. And if there’s anything that I’ve learned about people who your making you’re making money for, you DON’T FUCK WITH THE MONEY. But on the outside, I keep my placid, calm business mask on. Don’t ever let them see you sweat. Wiping his mouth and taking a sip of wine, the don asks, “And why aren’t you pursuing a relationship with Gabriele? You were in love, weren’t you?” I put my fork down and wipe my mouth with my napkin, buying time to ease the anger that spikes within me. Pushing back in my seat, I look towards the don, “I would love to say that that information is none of your business, but I guess you could argue that any extracurricular relationship that I were to have would be your concern most of all.” Dante grunts at that and I can feel his glare on me. But I ignore him. Kind of like he’s been ignoring me since we had sex.
I’m so glad that I have a driver with me tonight so that I can spill my guts out to Grayson and Emily on the way home. I tell them everything: how pampered Rocco and Bianca are that they couldn’t even help their mom in the kitchen, how lovely Emilia is, how Rafel put me on the spot about Gabbi, and then how Dante and Bianca cornered me in the bathroom. “Son of a bitch! I seriously can’t believe that you got stuck with such a rotten family!” Emily squeals into the phone. “Seriously, Em? They’re fucking mafia. And you don’t turn out a son like Dante without being messed up yourself. I’m just sad that this is your life, Q. You seriously don’t deserve this,” Grayson says. “If it wasn’t for my father’s debts, things wouldn’t be like this. Honestly, if it wasn’t for Stefan and the company, I’d let him just deal with it. I mean, it’s not like he really cares about me if he’s willing to sell me off to a mafia family without even consulting me,” I tell them. If there’s anything t
“How ya feeling there, boss?” Grayson asks me as I walk in the door at 11 instead of my usual 7:30. “Fuck off,” I whine at him while holding my head and swigging the coffee in my hand. He just laughs. Grayson has nursed me through plenty of hangovers throughout our college careers. He knows how much of a bitch I am until I can get some food down. But that can’t happen until the headache eases. I walk into my office and hit the the switch to put the shades down. Normally I love the floor to ceiling windows that take up one entire wall of my office. It’s soothing and beautiful. Right now? I want to shoot down the sun with how much the light hurts my head. I have the recessed lighting on a low setting so that I can see, but I don’t want to poke my eyes out. Sitting down in my office chair, I take off my coat and, quietly, drop my bag and purse to the floor. My head falls into my hands and I groan with the pain. Grayson opens the door. “Hello, babes. I’ve got Gatorade
Well, at least if I’m going to be at the most awkward meeting in history with the siblings of my fake husband I’m doing it at a really good seafood restaurant. The siblings took me to Narea off of Central Park. I’ve been here countless times with my family when my mom was alive. It was her favorite restaurant. We haven’t been here for a while, but the familiarity of the building, the restaurant, and the aromas coming from the kitchen bring back a ton of good memories. Bianca rambled the entire trip to Narea and it nearly killed me. At least not much was required of me with conversation. I honestly think that I could have been a mannequin and the conversation would have gone on as if I was there. What I did find interesting was the subject of her rambling. She was detailing everything that had gone after I left last night. “You have no idea how pissed Mamma was when Dante and I came back in the room without you and Mario had to explain that you had left. She yelled at eve
It hurts. Why does it hurt so bad to see Dante with another woman? Granted, she’s all over him and he looks like he’s politely trying to stop her from touching him. But that still doesn’t explain what he’s doing with her. Why are they out to lunch? “Quinn, I’m sure that there’s a good explanation,” Rocco says from behind me. “What the fuck explanation could he have, Rocco? There is no good reason that our brother is with her, all cuddled up at a corner table,” Bianca spits out. Huh. That’s an interesting development. She’s taking my side in this. I turn back to our table, taking up my napkin from my lap and wiping my mouth with it to give myself time to compose my face. To slide the mask that I seem to wear around this family more often than not back on. Both Rocco and Bianca are watching me and I know that they see the change in my demeanor. It causes Bianca to smirk and Rocco to throw an anxious look towards his brother. “What’s her name?” I ask, though my ques
It’s Thursday. I have yet to go home. I’ve stayed here every night, working. Anything that I needed, I either had Grayson or Emily get for me. I’ve been able to use the company gym and my office is plenty big and fully stocked, as is the staff kitchen. Honestly, there’s really no reason for me to leave the office. Other than, you know, having a life. But here, inside this building, I don’t have to worry about Dante getting to me. I don’t have to talk to him. He’s still calling constantly, at least once per hour. Texting the same amount. I don’t respond to anything. Grayson had been refusing to take messages from Dante and even cussed him out a few times at the beginning of the week. Now, he just picks up the phone, says “She’ll call you when she wants to,” and hangs up. Dante has sent flowers by the bucketful. Lily of the Valley. Pink baby roses. Blue hyacinths. White orchids. Pink carnations. White and pink tulips. They seem like an odd mix of flowers and I’m not sure
It’s Thursday. I have yet to go home. I’ve stayed here every night, working. Anything that I needed, I either had Grayson or Emily get for me. I’ve been able to use the company gym and my office is plenty big and fully stocked, as is the staff kitchen. Honestly, there’s really no reason for me to leave the office. Other than, you know, having a life. But here, inside this building, I don’t have to worry about Dante getting to me. I don’t have to talk to him. He’s still calling constantly, at least once per hour. Texting the same amount. I don’t respond to anything. Grayson had been refusing to take messages from Dante and even cussed him out a few times at the beginning of the week. Now, he just picks up the phone, says “She’ll call you when she wants to,” and hangs up. Dante has sent flowers by the bucketful. Lily of the Valley. Pink baby roses. Blue hyacinths. White orchids. Pink carnations. White and pink tulips. They seem like an odd mix of flowers and I’m not sure