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“Business venture?” Piper asks, looking at me in askance. “Why don’t I know about this new business?”
Piper had moved into my house almost a year ago, and she knew practically every detail about my life except the family business. I protected her from that by keeping it away from home and allowing my soldiers to perform most of my dirty work these days.
“Family business,” I say, leaning down to kiss her.
She takes a couple of steps back, and I miss my aim. I bite my bottom lip to keep from laughing.
“Luna knew about it.”
“That’s because Massimo doesn’t protect her the way I protect you. She shouldn’t know anything about the family business,” I lie.
My brothers are as protective of their women as I am.
“Then why are we here tonight if we shouldn’t know anything about the family business?”
“Well, I’m trying to keep this one on the up and up, but...do you trust me?”
Her eyes widen, and then she frowns. “Baby, you know that I trust you.”
“Then trust me on this too.”
She sighs deeply and wraps her arms around my waist before laying her head against my chest.
“I’m sorry, Marco. I will always trust you. I didn’t mean to make you feel as if I didn’t. It’s just...it’s not always easy to be left out of things. It reminds me of another time when I couldn’t trust the man I was with.”
Her ex-fiancé, Kenneth, had done enough to make her mistrust any man. “I’ve never given you a reason to doubt me. No matter how horrible the truth is, I’ve always told you the truth and always been honest with you. I’m not about to stop now.”
“I know,” she says, caressing my face. “Forgive me?”
I lean close to her ear and whisper, “I forgive you. But don’t think that means you won’t get your ass spanked tonight.”
She shivers. “Mmm, I look forward to my punishment,” she purrs.
Gino chooses that moment to return and nod. “All is well, Boss,” he says.
Looking down at my lady, I ask, “Are you ready?”
“Always,” she says, smiling cheekily up at me, and I know she’s not talking about tonight’s event but the punishment I promised her later. My lady loves the feel of my hand on her ass and beats me home every night.
Despite our house staff being in attendance, she’s always waiting pantiless for me in our bedroom. She’s the first thing that receives my attention when I step inside. My staff knows not to bother me when I run up the stairs to see my woman.
After eating her out, I give my attention to whatever else warrants it. We might not make it home tonight before I feast on her. I’m already famished just watching her hips sway in her lace gown.
We step up to the black glass double doors no sooner than hired staff open them for us.
“Surprise!” everyone shouts as the servers greet us with “Welcome, Mr. DeLuca, and Ms. Chambers.”
“Thank you,” I say as my eyes remain on Piper.
Her mouth is open wide, and her eyes are tearing up. She’s not a woman easily given to tears, so I know her emotions are overwhelming. She’s taking in the leather chairs and couches, the marble stations, and the gleaming stainless-steel equipment. Her eyes pore over the photographs of clients she’s branded through the years and whose images hang in black frames on the exposed brick walls.
Piper looks up at the bright lights hanging overhead from the exposed beams and then at all the guests gathered; my siblings and their significant others, her staff from her original shop and their significant others, her best friend, Rashida, and her boyfriend, Nolan, her friends Kortland and Toya Paxton, and her brother Grant and his wife, Samaria.
Unfortunately, her parents haven’t welcomed me with open arms like my sister-in-law, Mila’s, welcomed my brother, Alessandro. Her parents were more understanding since they’d come from a life of crime.
Piper’s parents, on the other hand, are a church deacon and deaconess, and they serve on the hospital board and the community outreach board. They’re basically fucking do-gooders who look down their noses at everyone else. I know she loves them, but they turned it down when I sent them an invitation.
That’s okay by me because she’s surrounded by people who love and care for her. There are several other business owners in the area in attendance. They too have bought their significant others, and the shop is crowded with people waiting for the party to start.
