Page 97 of Sweetest Sin
“I know moving here wasn’t in your plans,” he says. “But I’m going to make sure you never regret it. And if hiring you to work at one of my hotels makes you happy, then it’s a win-win because any of them would be lucky to have you as an employee.”
“You flatter me.” I wrap my arms around his neck and lean on my tiptoes to give him a kiss. “Keep it up, Mr. Antonov, and you’ll be rewarded tonight when we get home from work.”
I waggle my brows, and he chuckles.
“Oh, really? That’s all it takes?” He glides his hands around to my ass and gives my cheeks a squeeze. “Putting your ass to work was the key to your pretty pussy all along?”
“You know what they say,” I tell him with a laugh. “Happy wife, happy life.”
Today was,without a doubt, one of the best and most exhausting days I’d had in a long time. I’d forgotten how much work went into running a hotel, and I’d never worked in one with this much extravagance. But Vaughn was amazing and didn’t treat me with kid gloves, despite Dominick’s threat for him to be good to me before he left to go to his office downtown.
I shadowed Vaughn all day, taking notes on my phone and learning more from him in one day than half my classes had ever taught me.
Before I knew it, it was lunchtime, and Dominick texted that he would pick up Damien from school and that when I was ready to go home, a car would be waiting for me.
I teared up at his text—because I hadn’t experienced having a partner before—and then got back to work.
Now, it’s almost six o’clock, and I’m on my way home, excited to come back tomorrow. I’ve never minded working—it’s all I’ve ever known—but doing what you love makes it that much better. And I already love working at Hotel Blu. It’s clear Dominick only hires efficient, knowledgeable employees, and a sense of pride runs through me when I remember him showing me my file. He might love me and want me to be happy, but he wouldn’t have hired me if he didn’t feel I was capable.
When I get home, the living room is empty, so I follow the voices into the kitchen, stopping in the doorway to take in the sight in front of me.
Dominick is at the stove with Damien standing on a chair next to him. He’s explaining to Damien how to know when the pancakes are ready to be flipped, and Damien is watching intently.
“Bubbles!” Damien yells loud enough to make me flinch, but Dominick just laughs and nods, not the least bit annoyed by our son’s overenthusiasm.
“That’s right,” he says. “You ready to flip?”
When our son nods, Dominick takes Damien’s hand around the spatula, and the two of them flip the pancake together.
“Yay!” Damien cheers. “I did it!”
“You did,” Dominick agrees, pride in his eyes for something so inconsequential as flipping a pancake. “You ready to do the next one?”
I watch for a few minutes as Dominick and Damien make breakfast for dinner. My heart is so full of love and happiness, and I know there’s no going back. This is our life now. In HarborPoint, with the man I never thought I’d have a future with, but who has quickly become a vital part of my world. But not just my world. Damien’s too. He’s already fallen in love with his dad and become attached, and I could never take that away from him.
“Mmm, it smells delicious,” I say, walking into the kitchen and making my presence known.
“We’re making pancakes!” Damien says, lifting one up to show me.
“Hey, baby.” Dominick leans over without leaving Damien and gives me a quick kiss, causing butterflies to attack my chest. Dominick might be ruthless in other aspects of his life, but in our home, he’s soft and romantic. “How was your day?”
I tell him about everything I learned today while they finish cooking. Then, as we sit down to eat, the garage door opens and closes, and Matteo and Lorenzo come sauntering in. I only have eyes for Dominick, but I would be blind if I didn’t notice how good-looking all of them are. I can’t even imagine the heads they must turn when they go out together.
“What’s up, little man?” Matteo fluffs Damien’s hair and then has a seat at the six-person table next to him.
Matteo is dressed in his usual jeans and T-shirt, making him look more gangster than billionaire with his dozens of tattoos running up and down his arms and across his hands and knuckles. If Dominick hadn’t told me they were business partners and Matteo was worth as much as Dominick, I never would’ve believed the man had money. Dominick says he dresses like that because he handles the streets, and if he walked around in a suit, he’d lose the respect of the men they employ.
While he looks mean, from the little bit of interaction I’ve had with him, he’s a jokester who doesn’t take much seriously. But Dominick says not to be fooled, that his brother is ten times more ruthless than him—and that alone is scary as hell. Because I can’t imagine anyone more ruthless than Dominick.
“Dominick,” Lorenzo says, having a seat at the end of the table. “Mrs. Antonov.”
He nods toward me, and I burst out laughing at his formality.
I don’t know much about Lorenzo besides that he’s best friends with Matteo, he runs a company that partners with Antonov Enterprises a lot, and he has a younger sister that Dominick was supposed to marry before their dad died and they threw the arrangement out the window.
Unlike Matteo, Lorenzo is dressed in a pair of charcoal slacks and a button-down shirt, the sleeves rolled to his forearms. He’s sporting several tattoos as well—a contradiction to the formal attire.
As I glance between the three of them, I find it funny how different they all are, yet they clearly work well together, if their newest expansion project is anything to go by.
