I felt so guilty all of a sudden. People were so used to me just being around to sort everything out. I was being selfish. “I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with it all yourself.”
“It’s not a problem, baby. You know that. I’m glad to help.” I saw the sincerity in her eyes, and it made my heart flutter.
“Yes, business as usual tonight. I’ll come down in a minute and deal with some of the phone calls.”
She looked towards the kitchen. “I’m not sure Luca will be pleased with that.”
I looked with her. “He can be as pleased or displeased as he wants; I’m not going to pander to his needs simply because he snaps his fingers every five minutes.”
Belinda looked about ready to burst. “My God, having you two around is going to be fun. Do you think you could slap him one again tonight? I think a lot of people wished it had been them you had smacked. Even I thought it was hot. You both look at each other like you want to fuck each other and pull each other’s hair out at the same time.”
I giggled. “Talking of which, shall we head out now?” I was feeling naughty all of a sudden.
“What? Like that?” She pointed to my attire.
“Yes and why not?”
Belinda burst into a fit of giggles. It suddenly felt like we were being very naughty children.
“Come on, let’s sneak out now. Luca’s probably making breakfast, so he won’t notice for a while.”
Very quietly sneaking out the door, Belinda and I scurried our way down to my office. We waved at Tony, and he didn’t seem to know where to look. Poor boy.
Once inside, I released a long, deep breath, and then the laughter erupted again.
As the laughter stopped, Belinda started talking. “You know Jeffrey wants to come tonight.”
“Oh really?”
“Yes. You know what’s going to happen, don’t you?”
I sighed. “Yes, I do. I think I will have to figure something out on that front. Luca doesn’t seem to want to let me out of his sight.” I paused for a moment, thinking. “I have an idea. Once you give me the list of names of who was calling, would you mind dealing with some if I dealt with the others?”
Belinda’s face brightened. “Sure! I would love to.” Then, frowning a little, she asked, “What’s brought this on?”
“I think it’s time I accepted help. I can trust you. I always have. I just don’t like to relinquish control.”
Squeezing my arm, she gave me a sympathetic smile. “I’m always here for you, baby. You know that.”
Realising she always had been, I found myself blurting something I never thought I would. “How would you like to become Manager?”
She seemed startled and looked away deep in thought. “You kind of are already anyway, but we could make it official. I’d give you a pay raise, and if you wanted, you could give up your client list… If not, you could at least shorten the list a bit. That way, you wouldn’t have too much responsibility on your shoulders.”
I thought for a moment she was going to turn me down, but then the shock on her face soon turned into a big, beaming smile. “I would love to. I won’t give up my clients completely because I actually enjoy that side of work. I always enjoy doing this with you, though.”
“I know; that’s why I thought I’d ask. Consider it done then.”
After a considerable amount of squealing, Belinda went through the lists of people who wanted to enquire about tonight. Deciding to just go with the flow, we each in turn phoned them to let them know they were welcome at any time. My girls could then decide who they wanted to play with.
I was about three quarters of the way through my list when I heard a commotion outside. All I heard was, “Where is she?” before he came barging into my office like the bull he always was.
He spotted me in my seat and then my lack of attire. I swear I could almost see the steam coming out of his ears; he looked so mad.
“What are you doing down here dressed like that?”
I put my finger to my mouth and smiled. “I see you’re still shirtless.”
“It doesn’t fucking matter what I wear; it’s you who can’t go round looking like that.”
Abruptly, I stood to attention letting my anger rise. “Don’t you fucking tell me what to do, arsehole.”
Clenching his fists, Luca looked as though he was about to charge. “Don’t make me come round there.”
I looked over his shoulder and found Belinda smiling away. She was obviously highly amused by us. Possibly even turned on.
Staring back towards Luca’s heated eyes, I stood my ground. “I’m not going anywhere. Why don’t you go back upstairs and make us some breakfast? I’ll be up in a minute, darling.”