Page 19 of Fearless to Love

I added the scrambled egg, sausage with peppers and onions to the grilled tortilla and wrapped it up. “I work from home and I don’t plan to write today, anyway. You’ve thoroughly exhausted me and all I want to do is laze about and read all snuggled up in my library. Plus, I love to cook and it’s nice to take care of you after you took care of me.”

Long arms wrapped around me as lips met the juncture between my neck and shoulder. “I like you taking care of me too. If I wasn’t already late, I’d be happy to exhaust you more, but sadly that’s going to have to wait. I have to work tonight, and I won’t get out of there until late.”

Even with him behind me, I could feel he hated the idea of leaving. Turning around in his arms, I wrapped my arms around his trim waist. “If you’re not too busy later, I could bring you dinner and you could give me a tour of your place.” I bit my bottom lip, hating that I’d been in such a funk since Tommy and I stayed home most nights except for working at Rocco’s and my once a month dinner with the gang. Was it too forward of me to invite myself over to his place?

“I’d love nothing more than for you to come by and see me. Maybe I can even convince you to stay the night.” He raised his eyebrow in question.

He didn’t have to ask me twice. I was dying to see where Dante called home. “I would love nothing more.” As much as I hated it, I slipped out of his arms and wrapped the burrito in aluminum foil. I handed it over to Dante along with a travel mug full of coffee. Reaching up on my tippy-toes, I leaned my body into his as I kissed him. “Have a good day at work.”

I watched out the kitchen window as he pulled out of the driveway and onto the road. Damn, did I have it bad. At least now that I knew I was going to see him tonight, I had a little more pep in my step. Tonight I was going to put on my sexiest lingerie and have delicious sex with my boyfriend.

I squealed and ran up the stairs to find the perfect outfit.

Chapter Nine

DANTE

When I arrived at Flux, Franca was standing outside with her hands on her hips, tapping the toe of her lethal heels. The moment I got out of the car, she started in on me. “You’re lucky that I assumed you wouldn’t be making it in this morning, so someone was here to meet the smelly delivery men.” Her deep frown showed just how much she enjoyed said delivery men. “You didn’t even bother to change your clothes. What are you, a barbarian?”

I snorted before I went to my closet and pulled out a new outfit. Working at a nightclub you never knew what was going to happen and more than once I’d had entire trays of drinks spilled on me. There wasn’t much worse than having a group of women’s fruity drinks causing your clothes to stick to you for the entire night.

“I guess last night was a success?” She pried as she sat down on the couch in my office.

A grin spread across my face as I leaned my elbows on my desk and rested my chin on top of my hands. “A huge success, and if you play your cards right, you might meet her tonight when she brings me dinner.”

“Did you tell her to bring me dinner as well?” When I only shook my head, Franca looked affronted. “You better call your little plaything and tell her I deserve dinner after watching this place for two fucking nights.”

My eyes narrowed at her. “Don’t call her that. Lily’s my girlfriend and you’ll be nice to her or else you’ll be working every night.” It was an empty threat, but I didn’t want her to be a bitch to Lily or she’d never come back to Riverside to see me. Now that I’d spent two nights in Lily’s bed, I was desperate to find a night manager so I wasn’t here all hours of the night and could have my little siren next to me each night.

Franca’s eyes widened as she sat back. “I’ve never seen you like this, big brother. Are you finally ready to settle down? Is this Lily the one?”

Since the moment I met her, I’d felt something instantly with her and wasn’t willing to let my opportunity with her pass me by. I did believe she was ‘my one,’ but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to admit it out loud yet.

“Oh my God, Dante,” Franca shrieked in her seat. “You love her. How is that possible?”

Lifting a shoulder, I picked up one of many stacks of papers in front of me. “When you find the right person, it only takes a moment.”

“Well, now I can’t wait to meet her.” She stood, walking to the door. “I’m going to go home and sleep for the next few hours, but I’ll be back. If she comes before I’m here, call me so I can get my eyes on her.” Giving me a wave, she left without a goodbye.

For the rest of the day, I sorted through the delivery Franca had accepted and read through more unqualified resumes that left me thinking I’d be spending the rest of my life here instead of with Lily. It wasn’t until there was a knock on my door and one of the waitresses peeked inside that I stopped. I’d been trying to get as much done as possible so I could visit with Lily when she arrived.

“Mr. Ricci, there’s a woman here to see you. She said you’re expecting her.” The redhead looked nervous. I had lost my temper the other day when she kept fucking up every order that she took, but I didn’t think I’d been that bad.

“Thanks for showing her back. Lily is always welcome here.” I couldn’t remember her name and I’d have to rectify that soon. We’d had a lot of turnover since my business partner left.

Lily stepped into my office like a hurricane. She wore dark skinny jeans with black heels that accentuated her legs in the best possible way. I wanted to wrap them around my head and have her for dinner. Not only that, but the halter top she had on made her breasts seem fuller, begging for my hands to squeeze them and for my teeth to nip at her beautiful nipples.

Spinning around in a circle, Lily licked her red lips. Fuck, she was unbelievably hot tonight. “I take it you like what you see?”

“I more than like what I see. I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to finish working tonight with an erection that won’t go away until I sink into your sweet heat,” I growled out as I stepped out from behind my desk and prowled toward her. “Let me taste those lips before I go crazy.” I crashed my mouth to hers, uncaring that I would most likely smear her lipstick all over her and me. I couldn’t wait another moment to have her in my arms, for us to be connected, and to taste her. Our teeth gnashed as we dove into each other. We were all lips, teeth, and tongues as we tried to forget about the hours we’d been away from each other.

The office door swung open and hit the wall. “Are we now allowed to have sex at work?” Pulling apart, I scowled at my sister. Franca stood at the door with her gaze laser locked on Lily as she looked over every inch of her. “She’s not bad, but I don’t see why you’ve lost your head over her.”

Moving to the door, I slowly started to close it. Right before I closed and locked it, I let my irritation show. “I’m taking my dinner break now. Don’t bother me unless there’s an emergency.”

I stood with my forehead against the door for a moment trying to rain in my anger. I knew that Lily had some self-esteem issues because of her ex, and I hoped to all that was holy that she didn’t let my sister’s remark cause her to start questioning my motives. When I heard rustling behind me, I turned to find Lily pulling out multiple containers of Chinese.

Making my way toward her, I pulled her back to my front and wrapped my arms around her. “I’m sorry about that. My sister is anti-love, and she’s never seen me like this before, so she doesn’t know what to think.” I kissed the top of her head. “Thank you for bringing dinner.”

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