“No way – you go –“ “No!” I interject, laughing. “You tell me, or I’ll make Kent fire you –“ “Unfair!” Jerome cries, jumping to his feet. “You can’t leverage your sugar daddy’s –“ “I can do as I please! I –“ We’re both silenced, suddenly, by a hard knock at the door, both of our heads spinni
“Ivan,” I say, my voice hardly more than a whisper as I stare at him from the top of the steps. Then, realizing that I’m standing here basically naked in my tiny robe, I clutch the fabric closed at my throat and take a deep breath, trying to figure out what the hell to do next. What is he doing here
“My last phone call with your father didn’t go well,” Kent says, looking away from me and clenching his jaw. I blink in surprise, thinking that the last phone call was when…well, when my father called to tell Kent that I’m a spoiled, ungrateful whore. But Kent was calm and collected when I saw him l
Twenty minutes later, Fay slips out of her room, dragging a little powder-blue wheeled suitcase behind her, dressed in a casual white tennis skirt and an oversized varsity sweater that Kent picked out for her before he left her room. At the bottom of the stairs, both Ivan and Kent watch her desc
Kent says nothing, just turns and storms into his office, slamming that door as well. ____________________________ “So, where are we off to?” I ask, eagerly smiling as I buckle my seatbelt in the front of his car. But while I was expecting words, Ivan’s response is to place a gentle hand on
“Oh my god,” I mutter, my mouth full of crab cake, my eyes almost rolling back into my head with how delicious it is. “This is…seriously, how do they get such good seafood up in the mountains? This tastes like it was caught this morning!” “I think it was,” Ivan replies, equally intent on a lobster
“Seriously, though,” Ivan says, grinning at me. “We’ll just forget about our lives for a couple of hours. Be two totally different people. Leave it all behind. Hi, my name is Rodrigo,” he says, his smile growing as he holds out his hand to shake mine. “Pleasure to meet you.” I laugh at his stupid
I can’t help myself, then, as I turn my face to Ivan, a tiny moan on my lips that he snatches away with his mouth on mine. I kiss him without remembering to breathe, so hungry for him that I forget myself – hungry for his joy, his laughter, his ease and his jokes – the way he lets me escape the r
My dad greets him with such genuine joy and excitement that it makes my heart swell with joy. They talk for a few minutes about Dominic’s day before dad gives him a little nudge back towards the gate where Kent and I are waiting. Dominic gives dad a kiss before running ahead again. My dad waves to
“Papa!” Dominic shouts, startling me out of my reverie as he drops my hand and darts down the road. I look up, a huge smile breaking out on my face again as I see Kent on the sidewalk just ahead. His back is to us as he speaks companionably with the butcher, a heavy bag of his purchases already hung
As I walk down the street towards the little Italian kindergarten, the whispers start around me, as they always do. I listen to all of them, a big German Shepherd padding quietly at my heels. “Is that her?” “Yes, that’s the one – I heard she was her husband’s mistress before he married her – tha
Both Kent and I laugh, but Don Bianci – across the baptismal font from us – snaps his eyes up, perhaps not liking the joke as much as we do. But I just ignore it, because dad’s right, frankly – and it’s too happy a day to care. After the final blessing everyone applauds Dominic – he likes that, bl
“Well, it didn’t seem to affect your first very badly,” Ivan says with a shrug, peering around Kent to where Daniel is laughing with an arm around Jerome’s shoulders. “So…maybe keep it up.” I smirk, squeezing Ivan’s hand once more before standing and moving to Kent’s side, tucking myself against h
“Hey, gorgeous,” Ivan says, his mouth turned up in a smirk as I cross the churchyard, beaming at him. “Look who’s talking,” I say, laughing and reaching for him when I come close enough. Ivan wraps me in a hug, dropping a kiss to my cheek as I hold Dominic a bit to the side so he doesn’t get squis
He laughs, smiling at me genuinely. “Do I make you nervous?” he asks, blunt. I laugh, unable to help it. “Has no one bothered to tell you, in all these years, that you’re a little terrifying, Don Bianci?” He grins and shakes his head at me. “Well, considering what you accomplished, young lady, I
Two months later, we’re all gathered together again. And it is only with frustration that I see Gio and Janeen standing so close together that their arms nearly brush, even though they’re still not together. I roll my eyes, dismissing the problem for a moment as I move my eyes down to Dominic and
It's an incredible night. Kent didn’t lie, not at all, about the food either. I’m shocked by the mountains of dishes that continue to follow each other, one after another, long into the night. After a few hours of it I just mournfully watch the waiters go by because I couldn’t eat another bite if I