Chapter Four
Marco
Marco sighed as he walked down the hallway to the Butterfly Room, as Mary so affectionately called it. He needed to apologize to Kai. What he'd just said was so wildly inappropriate and not at all true. He wouldn't punish Kai.
Not without his permission first anyway.
Marco shook his head, he was so attracted to Kai that it seemed to consume him.
He thought about Kai constantly. When Kai had shown up for his first day of work Marco should’ve placed him with Heather like normal but he just couldn’t.
So, he’d started training Kai himself. Kai picked up on the job very fast. Kai had a lot of experience working in restaurants but there’s always minor differences between restaurants and Kai didn’t seem to have any issues adjusting.
Marco didn’t need to be attracted to his sassy little waiter though.
Marco hadn’t been on a date in years. He’d played with some Littles in the club and had one night stands but he hadn’t been in an actual relationship for years.
He’d been too busy trying to keep his Nonno’s restaurant afloat to be in a relationship with a Little or anyone for that matter.
Kai was most definitely a Little. Marco had seen little bits and pieces of it the last two weeks.
He’d heard Mary and Kai’s talk about her goat stuffies.
Kai’s reaction to being told to drink more water and Marco’s threat about a spanking seemed to confirm at least Kai was a sub if not a Little.
Marco knew he couldn't have Kai as his Little.
They worked together so that would be completely inappropriate.
He was having a harder and harder time convincing himself of that the more he worked with Kai.
Reaching the door of the private dining room Marco opened it and was greeted with a smug smile from Parker and an assessing stare from Grant.
Parker and Grant were brothers who had invested in his family's failing restaurant a few years ago. They were also Portland’s biggest crime bosses.
They pretty much had their fingers in every criminal pot you could think of.
At the time it had seemed like he was selling his soul to them but they’d never once asked him to do anything morally or criminally wrong.
It seemed like they just wanted a safe place to take their younger sister every month.
A few times they held “meetings” with “potential investors” but during those “meetings” Marco always stayed in his office.
A few times they had dinner but normally both parties left after the meeting concluded.
“Marco!” Marshie called out, smiling.
“Hey, Marshie,” Marco said, warmly. Normally Marshie was very shy and didn’t speak up much but under the care of her Daddies she’d started being more outgoing.
“How is my favorite Little today?” Marco laid down the menus though he knew their orders by heart.
“I’m not your favorite Little!” Marshie announced with sparkling eyes.
“Oh? Why not? Don’t you like me? How you wound me!” Marco made a choking sound and clutched his chest.
“No, that’s not it! I’m my Daddy and Papa’s favorite Little. I can’t be yours. They won’t be happy with that.” Parker scoffed at that and Marco ruffled Marshie’s hair.
“That is so very true. Of course, if I had a Little as precious as you I’d want to keep him all to myself. Would you three like your usual?” Marco was already writing their order down as Parker nodded yes. Parker lifted his wine glass up to his eye level and swirled it around.
“How has the holiday season affected your ability to do paperwork?” Parker asked.
“Not really,” Marco hedged. “Though I have been training a new employee so I haven’t had much time for paperwork..”
“Hm… well, I need you to stay late here next Monday. I have… some investors I’d like to treat to good Italian food while they are here.
” Marshie looked a little nervous but Marco knew the drill.
Sometimes Parker and Grant treated their “investors” to a good meal while having the benefit of no listening or recording devices either party might have.
Parker had paid to put a dampening device in this room a long time ago for this exact reason.
“This weekend has been very busy and I haven’t had a chance to do paperwork so staying late Monday would be a good idea.
Enzo will be happy to have a chance to earn extra money as well.
” Parker nodded satisfied and Marco left to ring in their order.
He checked in with Mary and made sure she had everything she needed.
He pretended to listen as he really stared at Kai.
Marco needed to apologize for his comment.
He also needed to stay very far away from his sexy server.
Work and relationships didn’t mix very well.
Maybe he should pass off the rest of Kai’s training to Ted?
Though it seemed like Kai was already fully trained.
As soon as the thought entered his head Marco discarded it.
As much as he knew being around Kai was a bad idea he couldn’t help but torture himself.
“Is that alright?”
“Huh?” Marco blinked at Mary who was smirking at him.
“I said, is it alright if I finish the order? It seems to be a bit slow at the moment. I just need to type it into Restaurant Essentials.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s fine. I’ll keep an eye on things up here. It should be fine to turn the sign to ‘seat yourselves’ for now.”
“Kai is very competent isn’t he?” Mary asked with a small smile as she followed his line of sight.
“Yep, he’s gotten the hang of how we do things here. He’s a good employee,”
“Mm-hmm, he’s also pretty cute don’t you think?” Marco narrowed his eyes at Mary who had a shit eating grin on her face.
“Better be careful, I might let that slip the next time I see Donnie.” Mary gasped but then nudged him while rolling her eyes.
“Everyone knows you like him. You’ve never been so involved in a new employee’s training.” Mary patted his arm and walked towards the office.
Was he being that obvious?
As Kai passed by him with a smile Marco had to sigh.
He wasn’t known for his subtlety and the day Heather had come up and introduced herself as Kai’s trainer Marco had immediately interjected and set himself up as Kai’s trainer.
Of course his employees were gossiping about their boss and the new waiter.
The kitchen bell rang and Marco forced himself to stop thinking about Kai and his small waist, round bottom and lush lips. Maybe a visit to The Play Spot would help him get Kai out of his mind.
Yeah, right. Like that’s gonna work.