“It’s stupid and I shouldn’t have done it,” I apologized, letting out a heavy sigh. Here went nothing; the start of me facing my fears. “The last time I was at the eye doctor was the first time I’ve ever needed glasses. I only need them while I’m reading or working on the computer, but I suppose I see them as a sign that I’m not getting any younger.”
“I don’t see why that’s a problem.” He tugged at the hem of my shirt and slid his hand along my bare skin. His fingers twirled through the coarse hair on my chest. Yet another reminder that I was older than him, because where his body hair was the same dark brown as the hair on his head, mine was starting to sprout silver patches. “I happen to go for older guys, so from where I’m sitting, it’s a good thing that you’re the age you are.”
“That’s sweet of you to say,” I told him. Testing the waters, I pulled him onto my lap. Without resistance, he twisted so he faced the opposite direction, this time resting his hand at the back of my neck. I cupped the side of his face and brought his lips down to mine. The kisses tonight weren’t as searing or frantic as Sunday; they were slow and tender. Frankie wiggled around on my lap, smiling against my lips as my dick plumped against his ass. If the brat kept that up, we’d never get any talking done. I broke the kiss and shifted him lower on my legs. “As tempting as you are, I do still want to talk tonight.”
“I told you I’m fine, Calvin,” he grumbled. “I’m not going to freak out again the way I did the other night. Things were overwhelming for me and I didn’t know what you expected me to do.”
“I felt the same way,” I admitted, holding my breath to see how he’d respond. Frankie simply tipped his head to the side in question. “I should’ve told you this sooner, but I’ve never actually been in a relationship like this before. I’ve talked to people about it and done research of my own, but you’re the first person I’m trying to explore the lifestyle with. If that changes things, I completely understand.”
“Why would it?” Frankie seemed genuinely confused as to why I thought he wouldn’t want to be with me now that the truth was out there. “I’ll admit, I sort of wondered a few times because you seem as nervous as I feel, but that didn’t scare me. If anything, it proved you weren’t trying to force anything simply because you thought it’s the way things were supposed to go down. And it’s kind of cool, knowing that even though you’re an old man, there’s something I can do with you that’ll be a first for you, too.”
“You’re amazing,” I whispered.
“Yeah, I know.”Cocky little shit.We both laughed and the tension of a minute earlier was broken. “We have some regulars at Marino’s who are super open about being kinky. If you want, I could ask them if there’s anywhere we could go to learn together.”
Well, that made the next part of this conversation easier. I was worried Frankie would want anything we did to be solely behind closed doors, but I’d read about a club that held an open house one weekend a month. The problem was, it was this weekend and I could only imagine Frankie’s reaction when I made my next request. “What would you think about taking the weekend off? There’s a club not too far from your work that has a sort of Kink 101 night once a month and it might be a good idea for us to go if we’re serious about this.”
Frankie chewed on his lower lip, and I could practically hear him putting together a list of excuses as to why he couldn’t possibly trust his brothers to run the restaurant. “I can ask, but no promises. I know Freddie would welcome me being out of his hair, but I’m not sure Tony is ready to take on a busy weekend without me yet.”
“Have faith in them,” I told him. “It’s not like I’m asking you to fly off to some remote island without cell reception. If there’s an issue you need to deal with, they’ll call you.”
“Is the remote island an option?” He made a show of reaching down to adjust himself. “Because I can think of all sorts of trouble I could get into naked on a beach with you.”
“Maybe if I win the lottery.” I laughed, feeling better than I had earlier about the future. With his promise to ask his brothers to run the restaurant without him for a few days, I let the conversation drop.
We watched two episodes of some vampire drama he was obsessed with before I told him it was time for bed. When I tucked him in, he held up the comforter for me to join him. I knew I’d probably regret it, but I did. And both of us slept like the dead until morning.
10
Frankie
I hadevery intention of taking the weekend off to spend with Calvin. I needed it. I deserved it. Since the day I’d followed Papa into a lawyer’s office to sign the paperwork taking over Marino’s, I’d been shackled to my desk, and it was time for me to start taking back my life. Unfortunately, Friday morning felt like the restaurant was conspiring against my well-laid plans.
First, it was a huge stain on the carpet in the private dining room. If I found out who’d failed to tell me about that until the morning of a huge engagement party, I’d walk away with a chunk of their ass. I shoved past Tony on my way to the office, praying we could get someone in here this morning to clean the mess or tell us it was a lost cause and we’d have to somehow conceal the remnants of red wine on gray carpeting until we could get the flooring redone. So much for having a good week.
Next, Tabatha, one of our best bartenders, stopped and asked to speak with me. Her grandmother wasn’t doing well and she needed some time off to go and see her. I wanted to tell her it was really shitty timing and I didn’t have anyone to cover for her, but even for me that would’ve been heartless; I was pretty sure she’d much rather not have to visit a dying family member.
The rest of the morning wasn’t any better. Minor annoyances piled up to the point I couldn’t breathe. When my phone pinged with a reminder from Calvin to eat lunch, I powered down the phone and stuffed it into my desk drawer. I couldn’t deal with him on top of everything else. Not now. Not when I knew he was going to be upset with me because the first time we were supposed to take this thing we were doing outside the privacy of home, I would be forced to cancel on him.
I was on my way to the kitchen to find out what had Freddie cursing up a blue streak when Tony stepped into my path. “Not right now. I don’t have time for this shit.”
“Yes, you do,” he argued, pushing me backwards toward my office. “Freddie’s taking care of the problems in the kitchen and you need to let him. Remember, you’re supposed to be taking a step back and letting us deal with this shit for you.”
“Doesn’t sound like everything’s cool in there,” I quipped as I heard a steel pot crash to the floor. I hoped like hell it was empty, because we’d wasted enough money this morning calling in the cleaning service on short notice.
“Let him do his thing,” Tony suggested. He closed the door behind us, muffling the noise from the kitchen. “I know it’s not easy for you to give up control, but remember we’re trying to keep you from having a coronary, and we’ll all be better off in the long run once the staff learns who to come to for which issues.”
“Just because I’m letting you and Freddie help out doesn’t mean I don’t need to know what’s going on in my restaurant,” I spat out. God, I wished I could go back in time and stop Papa from forcing me to be in charge. I’d busted my ass in college to make sure Ididn’twind up in this exact position.
“Fuck you, very much!” Tony pushed me out of his way and stormed to the door. “The last I checked, the last name on this place is all of ours. It’s notyoursany more than it was Papa’s. It’s afamilybusiness and that means it’s up to all of us to run it.”
“And yet Papa didn’t need any help with it, did he?” I slammed my hand against the door to keep Tony from leaving. If he wanted a fight, he was going to get one. I was tired and looking for someone to unload on. “When he was here, Marino’s wastheplace to be. People made reservations so they wouldn’t have to wait for a table. There were parties in the private room every weekend. Now, it’s been sitting empty so long we had to go in there and dust to get ready for tonight’s group and there’s a fucking stain that’s been setting into the carpet for who knows how long. He’s probably rolling over in his damn grave at how I’ve let this place fall apart.”
“Woah, wait just a fucking minute.” Tony led me back to the desk. “First of all, yes, Papa did micromanage every aspect of the business. That’s probably why he worked himself into an early grave and left us all here to continue in his wake. But even he wasn’t doing it all the way you’re trying to do. He had Daryl in the kitchen and Uncle Mario helped out up front. Plus, Mama was in here every weekend once we were old enough to be home alone.
“As for business being slower, that has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the market right now. People aren’t going out as often, and it’s harder for anyone who’s not over by the mall to succeed,” he reminded me. I knew that, but I hated it. Hated that people would rather eat bland meals they could get anywhere in the country than try something local and homemade. “We’re going to be fine. Things are already starting to turn around with the changes we’ve been making. Take the weekend to recharge your batteries, spend some time with the new mystery man, and next week we’ll sit down again and brainstorm some ideas.”
There was a knock on the office door. “Come in.”
