by BWWM Club
“It’s all right. It’s just a little prick,” said Janet.
“Well now, that’s needlessly insulting, don’t you think?”
Marco looked so affronted that Janet burst out laughing.
“Oh, my God. You always could make me laugh, Marco,” said Janet, finally.
Marco looked very please with himself.
“You have a lovely laugh. It’s full and loud, and filled with joy. It’s not in the least ladylike.”
Janet wondered if there was a compliment in there.
“It’s not ladylike?”
“Well, ladylike laughs sound like tingling streams and babbling brooks.”
“Ladies laugh like flowing bodies of water?”
“That’s what it says in all the books,” muttered Marco.
“What kind of books have you been reading, Marco?”
Janet bit back a grin. She had a feeling she knew.
“Oh, nothing.”
“You like romances.”
Marco looked mortified. Janet was delighted. Here was the weakness of Marco Graziani the invincible. He read romances.
“Of course not!”
She had always been able to see through his bluster.
“It’s either romances or Cosmopolitan, Marco. I’ve never read such nonsense anywhere else in my life.”
“Shouldn’t we get going? We’ll lose our reservation.”
Janet laughed again.
“Fine, I’ll drop it. But if you get cute during our business negotiations, just remember that I have absolutely no scruples or morals about using every weapon I’ve got at my disposal,” she warned.
“You know what are excellent weapons – those tits of yours. And that ass. You could rule the world with those.”
Janet grinned. Things were oddly not awkward. She was glad.
“Maybe I’ll make you my general if you’ll stop distracting me and let me finish your shirt.”
“Can I be your general and illicit lover?”
“I thought that was part of a general’s job. To satisfy the queen in every way.”
“I wouldn’t mind that job at all.”
Finally, Janet managed to finish sewing the buttons. Marco reached for it, but she pulled it away.
“If you don’t want me to get dressed…”
The suggestive tone made his train of thought very obvious.
“Idiot. I need to press this. It’s completely wrinkled,” said Janet, walking to iron the shirt.
Feeling his heart fill with affection that he refused to name, Marco watched as Janet ironed his shirt carefully. She handed it to him.
“There. Now we can go out to dinner,” said Janet, and smiled at him.
Marco felt as if he had already had the most wonderful evening of his life.
“Yes, let’s go out to dinner,” said Marco.
Janet led the way out of her house once he was dressed. They had noticed only when he was pulling on his jacket that they’d never gotten around to taking off his socks. That had made them giggle helplessly for a while.
Janet stopped short when she saw the car parked outside her apartment. It was a limo. Marco had come to pick her up in a limo.
“Wow, were you trying to impress me?”
Marco grinned.
“I didn’t want to have to drive. Jimmy will take us wherever we want to go, and it means we can both have wine. And maybe I wanted to impress you a little bit,” said Marco.
Jimmy, a hulking giant, opened the door for them.
“Umm, thanks, Jimmy,” said Janet, a bit intimidated despite herself.
“You just enjoy yourself, miss. You’re in safe hands,” said Jimmy the giant, a surprisingly sweet smile on his face.
Janet decided instantly that she liked Jimmy.
“I think I am,” she told him, returning that smile.
Jimmy looked pleased. He had been with Marco for a very long time and rarely approved of the women Marco spent time with. He had been most displeased when Marco had got engaged to Maria. He had not liked Maria at all. Jimmy had complete faith in his own judgment.
This young lady, now, she looked like she was nice and would be good for Marco. She didn’t bow and scrape to him. Marco would get bored of anybody who couldn’t stand up to him. She wasn’t trying to play it cool, either, and that won her points in Jimmy’s books. Anybody who wasn’t impressed with Marco’s limo was a fool, as far as Jimmy was concerned. Trying to hide it meant that they were playing games. Jimmy had no time for people who would play games like that. They were no good for Marco.
Jimmy would never let anything but the best get near him.
“Wow, Marco. This is awesome!” said Janet.
She didn’t care if she seemed unsophisticated. She had been in limos before. This one was completely over the top.
There was champagne and there were roses. There was also an entertainment center, excellent seats, a fridge with all kinds of snacks and even a coffeemaker. She hadn’t even known that limos could have coffeemakers. But why not? You could never predict when you might need a good cup of coffee.
Marco watched Janet as she pressed buttons and explored the space. He had wanted to impress her. The thought made him feel just a bit ashamed now. He had been willing to woo her using his wealth. That was unfair to both of them.
But Janet wasn’t particularly impressed by his wealth, Marco noticed. She was just thrilled to be going on the ride.
Marco suddenly realized what this reminded him of. It was exactly like the time they had gone to the carnival. Janet had been exactly this thrilled with the rides and the contests. She had taken part in everything.
He could even remember how he had been a bit mortified when she had won a giant teddy bear for him, and he had only been able to win a whistle for her. She had a mean right arm, he had discovered. Marco wanted to find out if she still had that right arm. She obviously still had that childlike enthusiasm when she let her guard down. Marco wanted her to never have that guard up when he was with her.
He wanted her to depend on him. He wanted to keep her. He wanted her to be his. That, as far as he was concerned, was the end of the story.
“So, you’re really rich now, huh?” asked Janet.
Marco grinned at her.
“Would you like to date me for my money?”
Janet laughed.
“You have more money than I would know how to spend, Marco. More than I can imagine. My ambitions are considerably smaller than that.”
Marco slipped his arm around her shoulders and settled back next to her.
“What are they?”
Janet looked wistful.
“Oh, things everybody wants, I suppose. I would love that little cottage with the garden that you were talking about. I would love to be able to travel a bit more. Maybe start my own business of some sort. But they’re all pipe dreams, really. I need to work for a living, and I’ve got a good job. I enjoy it, too. So I really do have it much better than most people.”
“What kind of business would you like to start?”
Janet glanced at him and looked away.
“I’m not looking for investors, Marco, so you don’t have to ask me that. I wouldn’t take your money, anyway.”
Marco felt resentment rise in him. But he pushed it down. She hadn’t forgiven him completely. That was fine. He had time and ways to make her forgive him.
“I’m not offering it, am I? So tell me.”
Janet sighed.
“I would love to start an animal shelter, actually. That isn’t much of a business. So I don’t think it would be a profitable venture, and I need to earn a living, so that one’s out.”
Janet said it without rancor.
“You used to love puppies.”
“I still love puppies. Who doesn’t love them? They’re cute and wriggly and love you all the time!”
Marco wished he could buy her all the puppies in the world.
“What kind of puppies do you like?”
&nbs
p; “The canine kind. No, I have no breed preference. When I finally have the time to get a puppy, I’ll rescue one. I would never buy one,” she said, firmly.
Marco smiled. This had been one of Janet’s pet causes even when she was in high school. It was nice to know how much of her had stayed the same even when she had grown up.
“You would do a wonderful job with a puppy.”
“I probably would end up being trained by the puppy instead of the other way around, but it would probably be worth it.”
The conversation was getting too intimate for Janet’s preference. Janet didn’t want to open up to him again. This just reminded her of how much she had given him. She hadn’t kept any part of her safe. That’s why she had been so completely shattered when he had left. She couldn’t let herself be in that position again. She wouldn’t let herself be so hurt again.
Deliberately, she turned the conversation back to Marco.
“So, tell me how you became a billionaire. The last time I saw you, we could only afford sandwiches for dinner, and I had to pay half,” she reminded him.
Marco laughed at the memory. It was bittersweet. After they’d had greasy sandwiches, they had spent the evening in his old car. He wondered where that old car was now. He hoped some teenager had it.
He had wanted to make love to her in that car that night, but he had held back because she had been too innocent. She had been too pure. He had been too desperate. Still, he'd had her in his arms, and it had been heaven.
Now he knew just how far he could soar into that heaven when he was inside her.
“Hard work, a bit of luck, good timing and smart investments,” said Marco.
Janet gave him a hard poke.
“Go on, don’t you want to brag?”
Marco grinned.
She was irresistible, he thought.
“Well, when papa died…”
Janet’s face froze.
“Your father died? Marco, I never knew that. I never read anything about him, but I just assumed he and your mother were retired and living the kind of life they’d always wanted. You know, in an intimate little neighborhood, with a restaurant, without worrying about breaking even. Probably giving food away far too often. That’s how they were, here.”
There was sadness in Marco’s face. Grief was still evident in his voice.
“Papa died nine years ago, Janet. He didn’t even get to see the business take off and become so successful. He passed away right after we got our first big contract. We celebrated, all of us. We were so happy. There was singing, and dancing – we partied! That night, he passed away in his sleep. It was overwork. For a long time, I resented the company for taking him away. He had put everything he had into it. I thought he was working me too hard, but he worked himself so much harder!”
Touched, Janet placed her hand on his and squeezed it.
“I’m so sorry,” said Janet, knowing how inadequate the words were. What could she say? There were no empty words of sympathy that she could turn to. However much she had admired Marco’s father, she hadn’t been close to him. She had never lost anybody so close to her, except for her grandfather. He had passed away peacefully in his sleep when he was eighty-seven, so the grief she had felt then was so different from this.
Marco had obviously never made peace with it, and she didn’t know how she could possibly help him, no matter how much she wanted to.
“I can’t imagine how hard it must’ve been you, Marco. You always looked up to your father.”
“Well, things weren’t quite so pretty towards the end. The pressures of the business was just too much, sometimes. We said many hard things to each other. I thought he expected too much of me. I felt like he refused to give me a choice. I thought I wouldn’t want to be in a family business. I wanted to strike out on my own, make my own name.”
Janet was silent for a minute.
“You did,” she pointed out, finally.
Marco looked at her and his dark eyes were tortured.
“I did, and now, I wish I could have done it with him.”
Without a word, Janet turned to him and held him. She stroked his back gently, and without saying a word, she gave him the comfort he needed. He rested his cheek on her head and held her tight. Somehow, he felt that he might find peace in her arms, too.
Chapter 6
Marco hadn’t known that all of that had been lurking in him still. He had thought he had moved on.
He had never told anybody most of what he had just told Janet. He had never admitted most of it to himself. He had driven himself hard, achieving more and more, for his father. It had been his father’s name to make their company famous. He had wanted it to be in every American home, a touch of Italian mystery in their lives. So now he had done it, and he wished, more than anything, he could have shared that vision when his father had been alive.
He held Janet until he felt the sharpest edge of the pain fade away.
There was a tap on the partition between them and Jimmy.
“Marco, if you don’t want us to get a ticket, you’ll have to step out or I’ll have to drive around the block again.”
Janet was startled. How long had they been in there?
“Again? You’ve already circled the block?”
“About six times,” confirmed Jimmy.
Janet wondered at how quickly time had flown with Marco.
She felt those warning bells ringing at the back of her mind. This was dangerous. She was getting far too attached to Marco again. Her plan had been to have sex with him, and be friends. Well, she had definitely had sex with him. It looked like they were on their way to being friends. But it also looked very much like she was developing feelings beyond friendship for him.
She would have to put a stop to it, Janet told herself. It was just an echo of everything she had felt for him so long ago. Now, when he had opened up to her, she had felt as if she was that girl again, listening to his dreams and his despair.
So she would remember that they were both different people now, and she would hold herself back.
They were seated at a corner table – Janet had always preferred that, remembered Marco – and were given a wine list.
“The lady will order for us,” said Marco, surprising Janet.
Well, apparently they were taking turns ordering for each other. She could live with that. Remembering what he had always liked, she stayed away from the Italian and ordered him a steak. She ordered herself the fish.
Marco raised an eyebrow at her.
“You’ve always been disdainful of Italian food outside of your own home or restaurant,” Janet pointed out.
“Yes, I know. I’m just surprised that you remember that.”
Janet looked away.
“I remember everything, Marco. It doesn’t mean that I feel the same way. I remember how you left, too.”
Her words and voice were much sharper than she had intended it to be. Janet knew she was angry with herself, not with Marco. She had felt her heart soften when she held him. She couldn’t allow that to happen, so she had been cruel now. Needlessly.
“I’m sorry, Marco. That was uncalled for,” said Janet.
Marco shook his head. His face had hardened.
“I’m beginning to realize that you will always remember that. You will remember that much more clearly than everything we had. Or what we just shared.”
That put Janet’s back up.
“We had sex, Marco. And we have remembered that we used to be friends, too. We can be friends, and we can be lovers. I would welcome both, to be quite honest. But you cannot expect more from me. I gave you more once. I gave you everything once. No matter your reasons, the pain I felt when you threw it all away… I’ll never forget that. That’s another thing I remember. I decided, all those years ago, that I would never give anybody the power to hurt me like that again. Now, just because you’re back in my life and you’ve decided you want me, I’m not going to give you my heart again.”
Marc
o was completely silent for a minute after Janet finished her speech. Then, to her astonishment, he grinned. It was that old boyish grin that had always made her want to hug and kiss him until she was breathless.
“If you’ve decided all that, then there’s no reason for you to be worried about anything, is there?”
That logic, Janet had to admit, was irrefutable. If she was so certain about all that, she didn’t have any reason to be worried at all. So why was she worried?
“Well… No,” said Janet, suddenly feeling like she was at a disadvantage. How had that happen? Marco was just too good at this.
“Then why do you look so worried, Janet?”
Marco reached for her hand, holding it firmly in his. His fingers drew little patterns on the palm of her hand. They stroked the delicate skin of her wrist, sending tendrils of excitement through her body. She felt as if they were tightening around her.
“I’m not worried,” she managed to say.
“Now you’re lying to me. Why’re you lying to me? Or is it yourself you’re lying to?”
His voice had gone down to a seductive murmur that made her want to whimper. She was getting more and more turned on by the second.
“I’m not lying.”
“Shush. You’re lying again now. What does it mean when you lie about lying?”
Janet wanted to tell him that he wasn’t making any sense. But nothing at all was making any sense to her at the moment. All she could feel were his fingers. She felt like she was being seduced with just his fingertips. Her lips parted. Her breath came quickly through them.
“You’re so beautiful, Janet. I’m having dinner with a beautiful woman. One that I admire, inside as well as out. I plan to enjoy every minute of it. I plan to enjoy you. Whatever it leads to is in both our hands. But we don’t have to worry about that. We can just be here, in this moment, and feel, now,” said Marco, and raised her hand to his lips.
He didn’t kiss the back of her hand like she expected. He turned her hand over and kissed the palm of her hand. His tongue slipped out and she felt that wet contact in the center of her palm, and felt her body tremble. His lips moved to her wrist, kissing it delicately, licking it gently, grazing his teeth on it until she whispered his name.