Page 106 of The Boss

“God,” I groan, “why?”

“Because it’s fun and it loosens you up. As you said, you need to chill out more,” he says.

“Why do I tell you these things?”

“I think it’s because of my charm and good looks,” he winks.

“Does that work on my sister?” I pause, then add, “Don’t answer that.”

He just smiles.

It’s good to have him back. I almost thought we never would. There were so many nights I stayed up thinking what would happen if we couldn’t find him or if something happened to him. How would I tell my sister that the man she married, the man our father arranged for her to marry, was gone before they got started? Luckily, I don’t need to think about it anymore.

“Have you talked to the therapist Ness found?” I ask.

“Yeah, right now I’m speaking with a psychiatrist once a month and a therapist once a week. The psychiatrist doesn’t think I’ll need anything more than therapy sessions as of now, and if I don’t need anything else within the next three months, then I just see the therapist as long as I need to.”

I swallow. I know the mental toll this took on everyone, but his was obviously the worst. He experienced the torture. My sister knows, being in the medical field, what to do; that’s why they make a great pair. They complement each other and push each other in the right ways.

“Okay, that’s good,” I reply.

“We need to go back to the conversation with Juliet,” he says.

“Why?” I ask.

“Because you’re known to be a hard-ass and a dick at times, so you can’t fuck with her.”

“I’ve been in love with her for ten years,” I admit to him.

“That long, huh?”

“Yeah… That long.”

He leans back in his chair and puts his hands behind his head. “Answer me this then: why did it take you so long?”

“I was scared,” I admit. “Scared she would say no. Scared she would walk away if I was a dick. To be totally fair, when we slept together over a year ago, I didn’t try hard enough.”

“I’m sorry—” He looks at me blankly. “—you two slept together? When?”

“The night of my dad’s funeral.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, the next morning, though, I think we both had a moment of realization of how that could change a lot, and then never acted again on our attraction until now,” I say.

“I see.”

“What? Nothing else?” I ask; he always loves to get under my skin.

“Nah, seems like you’ve finally gotten your head out of your ass.”

“Thank God.”

I decide now is a good time to change the topic.

“Drew’s already working on finding who was messaging her, and Henry helped with the real estate stuff. What I need your help with is the contract Juliet and I have been doing on our own for months. I still have no clue what I’m looking at, but all I know is that if everything looks good, we’ll be able to start Esposito Enterprises before the end of the year.”

“Why are we calling it Esposito Enterprises again?” he asks.