XOXO

Her gaze wanders over my shoulder toward the entrance to the break room. “Speak of the devil. Judging by the size of that smile on his face, he had a great time last night.”

Instead of glancing in that direction, I turn to face Dominick.

Wearing a three-piece light gray suit and a black shirt and tie, he raises a hand in greeting when our eyes meet, and I know instantly, that gorgeous, toe-curling smile on his lips is just for me.

Chapter 35

Dominick

Every man on this planet who isn’t staring at Arietta Voss right now is missing out. Her gaze is set to my face, but I caught her checking me out.

I chose this suit, shirt, and tie today because the last time I came to work dressed like this, Miss Voss, tripped her way into my office because she couldn’t tear her eyes away from me.

The same is true now, but it’s not the custom fit of the suit that has her attention. It’s my face, or more precisely, my smile.

I’d fight the urge to smile at her, but that’s a battle I can’t win.

“Mr. Calvetti,” Bronwyn calls out. “Today’s the day!”

Indeed it is.

Today is the day I ask my executive assistant to have dinner with me.

It takes a smattering of applause rippling through the break room for me to realize she’s referring to Clarice Blanchard signing with Modica. That’s monumental, but having Arietta in my apartment while I cook dinner for her is the life-altering event I’m looking forward to the most.

It will be a first for me.

My home is my sacred sanctuary. Only my close friends and family have been there. If Arietta accepts my invitation, she’ll be dining there with me tonight.

“How’s Judd?” I ask because I know him.

By now, he’ll be on his sixth or seventh coffee of the day as he focuses on what could go wrong between now and the moment Clarice arrives.

The same thing happened years ago. It was the day we signed Brooks on as a client. I’d spent the night before with a woman and in my rush to get out of her place I had forgotten my phone next to her bed.

From what Judd told me, she answered when Bronwyn called, believing I was the one calling her from Modica’s office. She masturbated her way through an awkward greeting with Bronwyn before she hung up on her.

I stopped by her place on my way home that night to get my phone.

She held it hostage, clutching it next to her naked tits. The price was another night together. I opted to purchase a new phone twenty minutes later at a store close to my apartment.

Control is something I’ve always craved, but I’m losing it now, and I don’t give a fuck.

Arietta is taking it bit-by-bit, and I don’t know if she even realizes it.

“Mr. Corning has had a lot of coffee.” Bronwyn raises her mug in the air. “I’m sure he’d appreciate it if you stopped by his office.”

I shift my gaze from her back to Arietta. “I have something I want to take care of first.”

Arietta’s brows perk. “Do you need me, sir?”

For the first time in my life, I’m ready to admit I need something. I need her. “Yes.”

That one word is all it takes to lure Arietta in my direction. She takes steady, measured steps as she approaches where I’m standing. She breezes past me and leads the way as we walk down the corridor toward her desk.

***

“I had breakfast with my father this morning,” I explain to Arietta as she shuts my office door. “I always have breakfast with him before I sign a new client to the firm. It’s tradition.”

The celebratory breakfast meetings with my dad began when I signed my first client. As the business grew, I shifted the meetings to those days when I was securing a client with a net worth of more than one hundred thousand dollars. That became a million, then five. Now, it sits above one hundred million.

“Traditions are important,” she says. “How is he?”

Considering the fact that she just saw him last night, I answer with a smile. “He’s good.”

He’s better than good. He was happy that he’d made it back to Manhattan before Clarice signed on the dotted line so we wouldn’t miss our time together this morning. My father may not know any details about my clients or their wealth, but that has little bearing on how excited he is whenever I reach a milestone.

“He’s very proud of you,” Arietta’s fingers slip over the silver bracelet on her wrist. “He tells me that all the time.”

As I step even closer to her, she retreats by just as much.

I stop in place when her ass hits the door of my office. I want to pin her there and kiss her, touch her, fuck her.