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Dom scrubbed his hands over his hair with a sigh before pulling them down his face. “For starters, what kind of role would you have in the company? Would you keep leading teams, or do you want to take over more of the management?”
“I’d like to do both. I’m happiest running teams, but I can take on some management duties if it helps spread the load.” Finally, they were having a conversation about how this would work. Surely Dom wouldn’t dismiss the plan without giving him a chance to compromise.
“How do you see the balance of power at the top?” Dom still wasn’t looking him in the eye. He intently pushed his pork roast around his plate with his fork.
“Look, Dom, I can’t buy out the whole business, and I don’t want to. I want to keep working with your kids and Seth to make Valenti Brothers strong. I just want to have a say in how it gets run. Like you said, I’m the one who best understands what Valenti Brothers is about. Quality work, under budget.”
“Does your relationship with my daughter compromise your ability to work together rationally?”
That one hit Adrian a bit higher, right in his solar plexus, knocking the breath out of him. He was still fighting, but it was getting harder to breathe. He and Sofia were still figuring things out. Was Dom going to toss out this plan because he didn’t like Adrian dating his daughter? That question slipped from his lips before he could stop it.
“Do you have a problem with me dating Sofia?” Even saying it out loud scraped at Adrian’s heart, torn between affection for the man he loved like a father and the growing attraction he felt for his daughter.
“No, son. She couldn’t do better than you. But I know how hard it can be to work alongside the woman you love. It’s not for the faint of heart. Have you thought about how you’ll handle that?”
“No, but I’m sure we can figure it out.”
Dom looked up at that with a wistful gaze. “God, I wish I still had that optimism. Maybe it is time for me to step away. Adrian, it comes down to this. How can I make you a partner and take part of my kids’ company away from them? I would in a heartbeat. You have to know that. I trust you to run the building side of the business more than any of my kids at this point, and I hope to God you’ll stay, but it’s not just my decision. I’m getting pushback on this.”
Adrian had temporarily dropped his guard and the jab landed solidly, rattling his confidence. “Who is against it?”
“Sofia keeps butting heads with me whenever I try to talk with her about it. She just told me she wants to run the business with her siblings and her cousin. So as much as I hate to say this, I think the answer has to be no.”
There it was, the knockout combination. Being told no was bad enough, but having the reason be the words of the woman he was falling for knocked him out. He scrambled to recover, but his back was firmly on the floor. How could Sofia turn on him like that? It couldn’t be true. Surely Dom had misunderstood.
“Don’t say no yet. Give me a chance to convince her. Let’s pretend we didn’t have this talk. I can’t believe that she would say that.”
“I’ll keep an open mind, but she is pushing me to decide before we get the new show launched.” Dom held his hands out as if they were tied, which pissed Adrian off. His were the only hands thatweren’ttied in this unholy mess.
Adrian could see his dreams slipping away, but he wasn’t ready to give up yet. “Let me talk to her.”
“Good luck, son. She takes after her mother. You’re going to need it.”
Dom quietly rose and headed for the kitchen, where his real kids were clanging dishes in the sink, leaving Adrian alone and still firmly on the outside.
Had he misjudged her completely? Had he given his heart to someone who didn’t respect him? Was his dream of stability for his family and his friends going to blow up in his face because he couldn’t keep it in his pants? What the hell was he going to do now? He knew how to build walls, so he steadfastly began to build one to protect himself while he figured out the answers.
* * *
Sofia was unnervedby Adrian’s silence. When she’d come back inside, he’d been sitting alone at the table, quiet and withdrawn. Waves of hurt were rolling off his hunched shoulders and crossed arms. What had happened while she was getting her shit together outside? Honestly, she didn’t know if she had the emotional energy to handle one more round on the roller coaster tonight after her fight with her father.
She was a grown-ass woman. Why was it so hard to stand up to her dad when she knew she was right? If it had been any other boss, she’d have calmly and coherently laid out her argument. Sofia hated that her knees and her voice still trembled when her daddy got mad. It was exhausting.
And now here was another man in her life, clearly angry about something. They climbed into her car, and Adrian still hadn’t said a word. When she couldn’t take the wall of silence any longer, she chose humor as her hammer of choice. Hopefully she could get him to laugh off whatever her mom or dad had said, and get back to the happy vibe they’d had before they came.
“Well, you made it out alive. That’s better than most.”
Adrian grunted.
“Come on. It couldn’t have been that bad.”
He huffed out a breath and kept his eyes glued to the window.
“You know, that whole grunting instead of speaking thing is really only sexy when Tom Hardy does it.”
No response. Not even a twitch of his dimple. So much for humor. She reached for the jackhammer of details.
“Are you worried about the contract? I convinced Jake to let me have it back. I think we can bargain for better compensation for your guys since it’s going through the network this time.”
