Chapter Nineteen
Maria
Dominic: You and Allie talk any more about us?
Maria: No, and honestly, I’m glad she flaked on yoga because I have a lot of work to do so I headed back into the office.
Dominic: Don’t forget to tell your family about the shoot.
Maria: You’re right. I have to tell them. I’ll do it today.
Dominic: Maybe don’t tell them about the chess game.
Maria: That chess game is dying with us.
Dominic: I don’t care as long as I get to replay the memory of you sitting on my lap and riding my cock over and over again, especially the part where you came.
Maria: Are we going to start sexting now?
Dominic: LOL. No. Get back to work.
Maria: You did this on purpose because now all I can think of is your cock.
Maria: And now you’re not going to respond. Great. You suck.
Maria: Not even that got a rise out of you?
Maria: Fine. I’m getting back to work but just know this: I’m going commando.
I opened my bottom desk drawer and slid out the dummy binder, which was basically a very rough draft of what would be the final copy of the issue. It was easier to envision the entire thing this way, though, and I was able to leave sticky notes—what Mom used to refer to as love notes—on the pages for the team to preview. It was a lot more efficient than I was making it sound.
Granted, this was the first time I’d be seeing it from this perspective, but I was really excited to dive in. Especially knowing I’d been part of most of these pages, layouts, and overall decisions. This issue really did feel like my baby, and, it turned out, I wanted the job, the title of editor-in-chief, more than anything.
I began flipping through the pages, my eye almost immediately catching a text box that was larger than the others. I pulled out a sticky note and was just about to jot that down and paste it on the side of the page when a knock sounded on my office door.
I looked up and smiled, shaking my head as I motioned for my dad to come in. “Dad, what are you doing in the office on the weekend?”
He raised a brow. “I’m always here.”
“Well, you don’t have to knock. You know that.”
He grinned, speaking with his hands. “And you don’t have to come into work on the weekend.”
This time I raised a brow. “I needed the distraction.”
“Fair enough. About this door knocking,” he said and smiled, “you’re going to be editor-in-chief and with that comes respect. Everyone will be knocking on your door. That includes me. No special treatment.”
I chuckled, leaning back in my chair. “You’re the owner.”
“Eh, semantics,” he replied, sitting down in one of my guest chairs. “How has everything been going? I wanted to check in on you.”
“It’s going well actually. Everything is on track. I spoke with the ads department and ad layouts are being finalized this week, so by early next week we can start to plug them into the rough draft.” I slapped the binder and sighed happily. “This is like a dream, Dad. I know it’s a lot of work. It’s also a lot of pressure. Trust me, I feel all of that. But it’s also so rewarding, and I love what I do so that makes it easier.”
He nodded, playing with the Italian horseshoe ring on his finger. “It was the same way for your mother. She could go all night and then do it all over again in the morning. This magazine was her life, and somehow she always managed to make time for her family.”
I shook my head and rested a hand on my cheek and an elbow on my desk as I listened to him talk about Mom. “She did the impossible and found work-life balance. One that didn’t have her miss out on anything.”
“You know, I had a dream about her the other night,” he said not for the first time.
Dad had been fortunate in that he’d dreamed about Mom many times since her passing. I had once or twice, but no more than that. Even my sisters, especially Bianca, had dreamed about her more frequently. When we had been younger, Mom had told us that when we would dream about someone who had passed it was because they were visiting, checking up on us to make sure we were okay. I always thought that was sweet, so I’d chosen to believe it.
“You didn’t go asking to hear about that, though, did you? And I didn’t come here to bother you with my dreamland,” Dad retreated, getting up and tucking the chair in.
I put a hand up. “You know you can talk to me about your dreams and Mom anytime. I love hearing about them. Did she talk to you?”
He shook his head. “Not this time, but I like to believe she was saying everything that needed to be said just by being present.” He rubbed his temples. “I wish I had more time with her, but, for whatever reason, her time wasn’t meant to last longer.”
My eyes burned, and I felt tears fill them. “She’s watching over us.”
“I know, Maria. I know.”
After a beat, I sniffled and tried to rein it in. “Okay, well, I actually have something to tell you. It’s about Dom.”
He furrowed his brows. “Hold on a minute on that thought, if you don’t mind. I wanted to talk to you about your old position.”
“Fashion editor?”
He nodded. “Finding a replacement isn’t going to be easy. I was hoping you could help me interview candidates. I tried Perla and Allie first just in case, but they both said no. I even tried Bianca, although Lord knows why. She said no, too.”
I pursed my lips and strummed my fingers on the desk. “What about Jade?” I knew what you were thinking, by the way—holy hell did Maria just think about Jade and suggest bringing her into the Morelli circle even more by having Jade replace her at the magazine? Yes, I knew what I was saying, and I was really okay with it.
“What about her?” A puzzled expression came over him, and his eyes narrowed.
“Last I knew she was unemployed and unsuccessful in her hunt for a job. Maybe she’d be interested.” If I knew one thing for sure it was that this was what Mom would have wanted—all of her daughters to have a chance to work at her publication. She wasn’t here to make that come to pass, but I was, and I wanted to do that for her. And Jade. Bellissima was her legacy, too.
He slowly nodded, crossing his arms as he seemed to give the idea some thought. “All right then. Ask Jade and schedule a time for us to meet with her. Have her email her resume over, too. I need to know what kind of experience she has.” He scratched his chin. “You know, I’m kind of surprised you thought of Jade for the job. Last I knew you two weren’t on the greatest of terms. Not that I’m questioning it. Your mother would be very happy that her daughters are getting along.”
I shrugged, smiling. “She’s family, and Dom helped me see things clearly.”
He snapped his fingers and widened his eyes. “Yes, that was it. What were you trying to tell me about Dom earlier? Before I brought up your replacement, or lack thereof.”
Oh, right, that. I should tell him. He was going to find out eventually, and it would definitely be better if he found out from me than walking in Times Square and seeing our naked bodies on a billboard or something.
All right, I was going to do it.
Well, not right now.
I brushed him off, waving a hand between us and gesturing for him to move past it. “Never mind. It’s not important.”
He studied my expression. “Are you sure?”
I nodded, swallowing. I’d tell him tomorrow. Mmhmm, certainly tomorrow. It just seemed like a weird conversation to have with my father and it turned out I needed a second before I said anything. I should start with my sisters first. Yeah, that would be easier. Well, minus telling Allie and Jade because they were definitely going to make it out to be something it wasn’t. As soon as Allie had found out about us, I knew she was expecting more than it was. I mean, her whole reaction was evidence enough.
“I don’t know what you and Dom are waiting for. I’m not getting any younger, Maria, and I’d love some more grandkids. Plus, Isabella is getting to that age where it’d be nice if she had a sibling. You don’t want too large of a gap. It makes it more difficult for them to get along when there’s—”
Ohmigod. This was ridiculous. What was it with this family? Dom and I were not together. Or getting together. At least, not in that sense. End of story. For any of you who thought we were, sorry, but we weren’t. We were sleeping together, that was it. Geez. “I’m modeling naked with him in a campaign shoot,” I blurted out, hoping it would end this babble about me and Dom being such a sure thing that Dad was merely waiting for the day we’d give him more grandkids. Try never, Dad. We were never having kids together.
His face turned beet red, and I could have sworn I saw smoke coming out of his ears. Oh, yeah, he was fuming. It was probably the part where I’d mentioned being naked. Yep, it was one hundred percent that. “What?” he practically roared. “No daughter of mine is going to be photographed naked for the whole world to ogle.”
“Dad!” I admonished, hoping he’d simmer it down. He was making it seem a lot worse than it was. “It’s not like that. Our bodies will be on top of one another, so we’ll be covered. Dom would never let me do something like that. You know him.”
His jaw twitched, and his face wasn’t getting any less red. “For a second there I was going to punch the living daylights out of that kid. How did you get involved in this anyway? You’re not a model, and you’ve never shown any interest in it before.”
True. He had a point. I cleared my throat, rubbing my neck as I considered my next words carefully. “Listen, Dom is such a good friend. He does a lot for me. He needed someone to do this with him, so I offered to help as his friend.” Maybe not the whole truth—I left out a few details of how I’d come to terms with doing it—but, in this case, I felt it was okay to paraphrase.
“As his friend,” he echoed. Then he slumped his shoulders, his body becoming less rigid and the color coming back in his face, the red dissipating. “That’s nice of you. And I suppose you know what you’re doing.”
“Of course,” I guaranteed, nodding. Let’s be real, lately, I hadn’t a clue what I was doing where Dom was concerned. It was like I was walking on a tightrope and I truly feared that I was going to lose my balance and fall. Our arrangement was great, don’t get me wrong, but it had been having its moments as of late. Maybe because I was breaking one of my own rules. Truthfully, I wasn’t entirely sure where my head was at.
I chalked it up to it being life, though. I mean, what didn’t have its moments? Every situation was complicated, ours was just a little more so. But it worked for us. We had no regrets. And nothing had changed between us. It hadn’t ruined our friendship.
What scared me was that I feared I might be in danger of screwing things up. Emotions couldn’t get involved. It would make things too difficult, and then who knew what would happen? I loved rules, always had. That was why I’d made them. Because rules never ceased to amaze me. When rules were part of the scenario, what could possibly go wrong?
Only, I had to wonder if some rules were made to be broken. We weren’t the same people we were when we had agreed to those rules. Things had. . . changed. Life moved on, right? So would it have been so bad if I let myself lean into whatever it was I was feeling for Dom?
I questioned everything all the time. I followed rules. And I never liked to poke the bear, so to speak. For some reason, I couldn’t resist the urge to poke this one, though. Why was Dom causing such a visceral reaction in me? I was always attracted to him, but this ran deeper somehow.
I didn’t know. Maybe I was looking into things too much.
Meanwhile, I had a full analysis on all that, and Dad was still in my office. He gazed down and checked his watch, nodding as a thought obviously ran through his mind. “I have to go. I have a meeting to get to, but be careful,” he warned, his tone ominous.
I angled my brows, shaking my head as I tried to understand what he was saying. “If you’re talking about this shoot, then don’t worry. It’s not a big deal. Really.”
“Maybe it should be. Everyone’s story has to start somewhere.”
I cringed. None of that sounded right coming from him for some reason. It was reminding me of the days when he’d tried to have conversations about boys and their intentions with me. It was awkward then, too. “Please, Dad. Dom doesn’t have feelings for me. Not like that.”
He couldn’t, could he? Nah. If he had broken one of our rules and started feeling things, he definitely would have said something. Or at the very minimum, I would’ve been able to tell. Oh, shit, but if that was true, and I was having maybe-feelings (that was what I was calling them for now), then by that same logic, could he tell?
I shook my head. Dom and I talked about most everything. Should I tell him about my whatever-they-were feelings? Ugh. I didn’t even know what to call it, so right off the bat that felt like a terrible idea. You know what? I was chalking all this up to nothing more than some residual effect of feeling the high from the orgasms he’d given me. Perhaps I was misinterpreting everything, and I was just lusting after the man who finally did what no other man could do.
I bit my lip as Dad turned on his heel to leave. “He can have any woman he wants, so why would he ever choose me?” I called out.
Before he opened the door, he answered, “Your mother would have had a better answer for you, but all I’ve got is my warning that the friend zone is not as safe as you think it is.”
When he was gone, I grabbed my phone and leaned back in my chair. Before I told my sisters about the shoot and opened that can of worms, I figured I’d see if Jade was still looking for a job and how she felt about coming to work at Bellissima .
Maria: How’s the job search going?
Jade: Not too shabby since I finally found one.
Maria: Oh.
Jade: Don’t be disappointed.
Maria: Oh my goodness, no! Well, a little sad. We’re looking for a fashion editor, and I thought of you.
Jade: Ha! That’s laughable. Why would you think of me? I didn’t even know what Bellissima was before I met you guys.
Maria: It’s your legacy. You deserve to work here just like the rest of us.
Jade: Bianca doesn’t work there.
Maria: That’s because she’s not cool.
Jade: Or too cool depending on how you look at it. She did start her own wedding dress label.
Maria: All right, so she is pretty cool. But she did work here for a while. So can we convince you to quit your new job and come work with us?
Jade: It’s tempting, and I might’ve jumped at it had I not already accepted this other job. Because yours might be ten times better than this one, even if it is all about fashion, a topic on which I know zip.
Maria: Why do you say that? Something wrong with that job?
Jade: Nah, not the job. That’s great. It’s the boss.
Jade: He’s my ex’s older brother.
Maria: Oh.
Jade: There’s that “oh” again. I’m beginning to think there’s a lot more behind that one word.
Maria: Sounds complicated.
Jade: You would know.
Jade: Sorry. Just thinking about how you and I seem to get in complicated situations.
Maria: Or put ourselves squarely in them.
Jade: Maybe we seek the drama.
Maria: I prefer drama to stay in my TV shows, but I can see why you’d think that.
Jade: LOL. I asked him if it was going to be a problem, but he assured me it wouldn’t.
Maria: Are you attracted to him?
Jade: He’s hotter than my ex, let’s just say that. But he’s. . . untouchable? Yeah, let’s go with that.
Maria: Is he married?
Jade: No. He’s very much single. An eligible bachelor. He doesn’t like me like that, though. Trust me. I dated his brother. He barely tolerated me back then.
Maria: Got it. So, what are you doing with him?
Maria: Okay, that came out wrong.
Jade: I got you, don’t worry. I’m his personal assistant.
Maria: Sounds fun.
Jade: The pay is generous. Plus, I get benefits.
Maria: Probably not the same benefits I have with Dom.
See, I could be funny, too. Okay, saying that I was funny probably made me less funny, didn’t it?
Jade: Nope. These are just regular, boring job benefits. Although, having dental insurance does turn me on. You know, since I haven’t had it for a hot second.
Maria: Not bad.
Jade: See. That’s why I want to keep the job.
Maria: I actually have something to tell all of you, so I’m going to go to the group chat I have with our sisters so it’s easier. I’ll add you. Give me a second.
I scrolled down and clicked on the group chat my sisters and I had, only to see that Jade had, in fact, already been added. Must’ve been by Allie. Not that I had a clue where I had been when that happened, but let’s be honest, I’ve kind of been in my own world lately.
Simultaneously, Jade replied back.
Jade: Allie already added me. I hope that’s okay.
Point for me because I knew it was Allie.
Maria: All good.
I went back to the group and typed.
Maria: Dom invited me to model with him in a cologne/perfume campaign shoot.
Bianca: WHAT? Green with envy over here. Why didn’t he ask me?
Oh, I don’t know, maybe because it’s a naked shoot, and Knox would have his head on a silver platter if he had asked you.
Allegra: Because he asked Maria, and she obviously said yes.
Bianca: Kiss my ass, Allie.
Jade: Oooh! That’s going to be so much fun.
Perla: I’m sorry, but why is no one addressing the real question—you actually accepted his offer?
Allegra: Do you feel like you don’t have all the facts?
Shit, look at Allie stirring up trouble.
Perla: What? No. Well, I guess yes. Why are you doing it, Maria?
Maria: Because he’s my friend.
Allegra: Sure, that makes sense.
All right, Allie, you’re getting on my last nerve.
Maria: It does.
Bianca: I guess so. Well, I’m happy for you and the sexy professional photos you’ll get. Between you and Perla, I’m feeling very left out.
Oh, yeah, I’d nearly forgotten about that—Perla’s husband was a photographer, and when they first got fake married, Perla insisted on having him photograph her. We’d all seen the photos, and let’s just say they were very sexy, which made it understandable how it had been that moment that had led to a shift in their marriage, going from fake to something real.
Jade: Yeah, same.
Maria: There’s one more thing. It’s not a big deal, but I don’t want you to be surprised when you see the photos.
Bianca: You’ll be naked?
How did she know?
Bianca: Just kidding.
Allegra: No, Maria would never do that. Would you, Maria? Would you ever let your BEST friend see you naked?
Jade: Stop! No way.
Thank you, Jade.
Maria: Actually, yes, we’ll be naked, but our bodies will cover each other’s more private parts, so it’s totally fine.
Bianca: I knew it! I knew they’d be naked. You said cologne, so of course they’d have the models be naked.
Perla: Why is that an “of course” sort of thing? You can wear clothes and a fragrance. In fact, people do it every single day.
Bianca: It’s great marketing if the models are naked.
Maria: That’s what I said. And Dom, too, actually.
Perla: Are you drunk, Maria?
Maria: Okay, why is that always a question?
Dom had asked me something similar when I texted him my good news about the editor-in-chief job.
Perla: Because you’re my sister, and I know you, and I know without a doubt in my mind that you would never voluntarily model in the nude. But Dom doesn’t force you to do anything. He’s not like that. So, what’s going on?
Maria: What? Of course not! Dom wouldn’t push anything. He asked. I accepted. Simple as that.
Allegra: So this will be the first time you see each other naked?
Ughhh. That did it. I went over to my separate text with her and sighed as I typed out a message and hit send.
Maria: Allie, stop stirring up trouble.
Allegra: Rude. You’re the one lying to our sisters. And now I’m lying to them. You’ve made me an accessory to your crime.
Maria: It’s not a crime. You need to stop watching crime shows. And it’s not a lie.
Allegra: It’s a lie of omission.
Allegra: Fine. I’ll let it go. I just hope you know what you’re doing with Dom. Don’t get burned, that’s all I’m saying.
What was today, the day to warn Maria? I knew what I was doing. We knew what we were doing. We as in me and Dom. It was enough for us, so why couldn’t it be enough for them?