His Dirty Demands (Dirty Billionaires 1)

Alicia

“Are you sure Dante really won’t mind I’m crashing in his home?” Bethany asks for the tenth time.

“Yes, I told you he’s just bummed he’s out of town for Thanksgiving. He really wanted to meet you. However, there is no way if Dante were here Cesare would let you stay with him. Cesare wants to put in a Murphy bed in my room for Christmas so you can stay with us.”

“Why wouldn’t Cesare have let me stay with Dante here?”

“Because Dante is a manwhore. I’m pretty sure it’s an ingrained reflex for him to hit on a woman. And he wouldn’t have been able to stop himself from trying to get into your panties.”

Bethany blushes as she shakes her head. “Yeah right, like a guy that hot would want my chubby ass.”

I tilt my head. Bethany is the same size as me except she’s shorter, only five foot four, an annoying height as she’s just out of petite but doesn’t always fit in the average size. All of her pants and jeans have to be hemmed to fit. She is a beautiful young woman with reddish-brown hair and a heart-shaped face. With her small nose and cupid’s-bow mouth combined with her hazel eyes, she’s been approached on the street. “Don’t put yourself down like that, you are beautiful. Dante also prefers women with curves, so there’s that and the main reason Cesare wouldn’t let you stay here if Dante were here.”

She yawns as she lies down on the be

d. “It’s a moot point anyway since he’s not here. God, I’m exhausted. I feel like I could sleep for a week. Have I told you yet I’m only going to be able to be here for three days at Christmas?”

“What?”

“So I didn’t.” Her eyes close. “There’s a project I’m working on in a team. Believe me, I wish there was a way around it, but we have it planned Christmas Eve and Christmas off, back to school the day after Christmas and back at it while we hopefully have the labs to ourselves over break. Also remember the master’s program is way different than undergrad without all the breaks.”

Groaning, I lean against the door. “I guess this is the reason why people with a master’s degree make the big bucks they earn it upfront. I’ll let you take a nap. Come on over when you’re up.”

She nods as she kicks off her shoes and wraps herself in the covers. With a last look, I turn off the overhead lights and turn on the bedside table lamp so she won’t wake up in the dark.

In the condo it feels empty, Cesare is working late to cover for Dante being out of town. Dante’s latest relationship is getting serious, and her father is having health issues. She wanted to go home to Dallas to be there for Thanksgiving, as her family was sure it would be his last. Cesare and Enzo were surprised, saying it was the first time Dante had been so involved with a woman before. It’s disappointing he wouldn’t be here for Thanksgiving tomorrow, but we’re all trying to be supportive. I’m just annoyed I haven’t met the woman yet. Enzo’s the only person to have met her, and his opinion was he hoped Dante came to his senses because the woman was more interested in his money than Dante.

Cesare isn’t exactly excited about the holidays, saying he and his brothers usually just had a lasagna and watched movies at Dante’s for Thanksgiving, and for Christmas they ordered Chinese and again spent the day watching movies at Dante’s. I told him too bad, Thanksgiving and Christmas was the only time Bethany and I always spent time together and we made a big deal out of it. Although I didn’t admit we usually made a chicken instead of a turkey, but we still had dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans with ham and bacon, scalloped potatoes and candied yams, with pumpkin pie and cherry pie for dessert.

With a sigh he gave in, saying if it made me happy then so be it. He suggested a ham as well as a turkey in case people didn’t want just turkey. Hannah, her daughter Ruthie, and her brand-new granddaughter will be coming, as with the new baby both women were too exhausted to cook. Lydia is also coming, as she hadn’t had any plans. I invited Claudine as well; however, she and her husband are going to their son’s home in Wisconsin for the weekend.

While I love cooking, I’m not a baker, so the two pumpkin pies and two cherry pies have been delivered along with the groceries I’ll be cooking and a lasagna I had delivered from Giordano’s, for Cesare.

I begin the prep, I’m going to have to be up by five to start, and since I’ll be half awake, I don’t want to have to worry about doing everything in the morning. The dressing I make is a combination of cornbread and white bread dressing. For the white bread I’m going with already seasoned dried stuffing, the cornbread I’m making from scratch. Since we have double ovens tomorrow should go smoothly.

My cell phone ringing startles me. It’s Cesare. “Hi honey, when are you coming home?”

“I’m leaving now. I thought I would pick something up on the way home. Any requests?”

“Porters sounds good to me right now.”

“Porters it is. I’ll call in the order now and should be home within a half hour.”

“Okay, see you soon.” Before I hang up, my phone is ringing with another call. It’s Lydia.

“Hi, I was calling to see if I can bring anything tomorrow. I’m good for anything prepackaged from the grocery store.”

“No, unless there’s something you want.” I list off what I’m making.

“Wow, that all sounds yummy. My mom was a Boston Market kind of mom, so that sounds like a spread made in heaven. Can I at least come over and help? Or I can drink wine and give you the scoop on my pain in the ass clients. You’re like the only person I can tell because I know you won’t blab to anyone.”

“If you want to come over early that’s cool. It will be nice to have someone to drink wine with.”

“What’s the matter? You sound on edge. Are you okay?”

“I just...you said we’d be married by the end of the year, and he still hasn’t even said he loves me. I love Cesare but he’s driving me crazy. I’m just kind of losing patience with him.”

“Have you told him you love him?”