AllFreeNovel
Share Us
If Dom needed Adrian on board, there was very little to think about. He might be uncomfortable with the idea of being on camera, but he’d do it anyway.
After his own father had been deported, he’d had to grow up fast. The first man to give him a chance had been Domenico Valenti. If there was anyone in the world who deserved his loyalty outside of his family, it was this man. He’d become something of a surrogate father in the years in between, giving Adrian a taste of the approval and stability he’d craved.
Adrian could see the potential. And if business boomed, well, that was good for everyone. If he could just see his littlest sister through college, he’d be free and clear to start his own family. Obviously, he’d need to find the right woman first, but he hadn’t even been looking. Time for that to change. Maybe.
His mom was comfortable in her house, which he owned outright. When the foreclosure had gone up on his block, he jumped at the chance and bought the dump cheap. Renovations made possible by Valenti Brothers’ overtime paychecks and his own hard labor had made the house livable, and as the girls began working, he’d had more cash to pay off the mortgage. It was small and not in the greatest neighborhood, but it had ridden the rising tide of home prices in the area anyhow. He’d already gained enough equity to consider approaching Dom about buying in. He loved his mom and sisters, but he wanted his own place, a wife, kids in the yard. He was thirty, and feeling the pinch to get started. He’d delayed as long as he was still needed to play big brother for his sisters, but the prospect of more money pulled his own dreams into sharper focus.
“I’ll talk to Sofia. Thanks, Dom, for thinking about it.”
“If there’s anyone in the world who’s earned it, it’s you. But I’m not the only decision maker. We’ve always been family first, but there’s no reason that can’t change.”
* * *
Everything was changing,and Sofia could barely keep up. As she’d predicted, the contracts for the show had landed on her desk with a disheartening thud. Her father had dropped them off Monday at the end of the day, and she had deliberately not looked at them or him. Tuesday morning, though, they were still waiting. Armed with her coffee and fast food breakfast sandwich, she dug in, looking for any opportunity to turn this tide in her favor.
The contract for the pilot and sizzle reel seemed pretty straightforward. The crew would follow them around job sites, the office, and family functions. The production company would retain rights to use any footage gathered. Each main actor would receive a per diem payout, but ancillary talent wouldn’t be compensated beyond a normal salary. They’d negotiated a twenty-five percent fee paid back to the production company on any branded merchandise lines they might do, but since they didn’t have anything of that nature going, Sofia wasn’t too bothered by it. The ten percent of increased business profits was more worrisome, and she made a note to discuss it with her dad. The production staff would approve the homeowner’s designer for the projects, and Valenti Brothers would handle the construction.
Sofia drew a line through that part of the contract.
“Sofia Valenti will do the initial designs for all properties and have first right of refusal, subject to approval by the production company and homeowners,” she muttered as she wrote. This was it, her window, her chance to shine. To show her dad that she had the chops to do more than paperwork. To reclaim her creativity. If she had to be sneaky to get her shot, then so be it.
When Adrian knocked on her partially open door, she jumped like a teenager caught cheating on an exam.Guilty much?She wouldn’t have to do this if only her dad would listen.
“Adrian! You startled me.”
“Sorry,querida, I didn’t mean to. Dom said you’d walk me through the TV contracts. Is now a good time?”
She pushed aside her irritation over the casual endearment. She spent her days around construction workers. She’d certainly gotten worse. She wasn’t going to let him fluster her, even if those golden brown eyes had a tendency to throw her off. It was criminal for a man to have lashes that long. He folded his long, rangy frame into the chair across from her desk before she’d even summoned an answer. When he crossed his arms and his biceps flexed beneath the short sleeves of his T-shirt, Sofia’s mouth went dry and her thoughts scattered.
Down, girl. He’s not for you.The truth of that statement helped her find the thread.
“Sure, make yourself at home.” Her sarcasm was wasted. He just grinned at her.
“Got any coffee?”
“Yes, I do.” She raised her full mug along with her eyebrow and took a lukewarm sip. “If you want a cup, there’s some in the kitchen.”
“Good to know. I’m dragging today.”
All she wanted was to win one point with him, one little jab to land home so she could feel like she’d stood up for herself. He hit all of her nerves, and he didn’t even seem to notice. Maybe he was just used to women jumping to do his bidding. She let her irritation creep into her voice. Otherwise it would build up inside until she snapped at some poor, unsuspecting whipping boy. No, much better to point her anger where it belonged. “Oh? Late night? You should know better than to go out partying on a work night.”Damn it. Where had that thought come from?Now she had a picture of him out with some beautiful, faceless woman with an itty-bitty waist and mile-long legs at some club. Of course that’s the kind of woman he’d date. His beauty equivalent. Not that she was jealous or anything.
Damn it, again.Sofia’s subconscious kept betraying her. Her own recent drought was weighing on her heart, but that wasn’t his fault.
Not his problem to solve either, she firmly reminded her racing pulse.
“No, just family stuff, and then finding out about the show, and pitching my proposal to your dad. Yesterday was a roller coaster.”
Sofia rummaged in her snack drawer for a second and tossed a Kit Kat in his lap. His eyebrows rose in question.
“Gimme a break…” Sofia sang the Kit Kat theme song. “You looked like you could use one. Now what’s this proposal?”
He grinned and snapped into the crispy chocolate. “I told Dom that I want to buy in when he retires. I want to help run this place. He said he’d think about it.”
Shock pushed Sofia back in her chair. She’d always assumed Valenti Brothers would stay in the family. It was a family-owned and -operated business, after all. She had been counting on her siblings and cousin understanding when she hired on office staff so she could tackle more design projects. Would Dom sell the business to Adrian outright? Would Adrian become her boss? Or would they have to learn to run a business together as part of a five-way split? She couldn’t deny that Adrian was an extremely talented and loyal employee, but if he had more control of the company, it would change the dynamic drastically. Would his casual “baby” and “beautiful” endearments take on a different tone? And since when did her father make big decisions like this without consulting the family first? Yesterday a TV show, today a new partnership? What was going on? Why was he changing so many things at once?
“Do you have a problem with that?” His deep voice pulled her from her scrambling thoughts.
She grasped at anything she was thinking that would be appropriate to say out loud. “Uh, no, but isn’t this kind of sudden?”
