Dominic

I pulled up to my favorite Italian restaurant and tossed my keys to the valet boy. 

“Mr. Voss! Good to see you. Enjoy your lunch!” 

I nodded to the kid, a towhead not a day older than nineteen. I’d seen him here many times, but never actually learned his name. Maybe if he’d wear a nametag, I wouldn’t have that problem.

Inside the restaurant, the air was loud with chatter and the clatter of dishes. My lip curled up as annoyance rolled over me. I was still feeling bristled from dinner with my family yesterday, and knowing that Enzo was bound to demand a round of twenty questions. I strode up to the front desk and flashed my card. “I want the private room. No music.” 

“Absolutely, Mr. Voss. The party currently occupying it should be done any minute. Are you okay with a five to ten minute wait? There are a couple of empty tables in the main seating area if you want to be seated right away.” 

My eyes flickered to the obnoxiously busy room and shook my head. “I’d rather wait and eat my meal in peace, thank you.” 

The hostess was rather pretty, and out of habit I glanced at her ring finger. Empty. I opened my mouth to begin the ‘are you single’ dance when I remembered I was supposed to be engaged. That was going to take some getting used to. I sat down on the bench and checked my watch to see how late Enzo was so far. To my surprise, he still had five minutes. 

And to my further surprise, he slipped in one minute early. “Heyyyy, there’s the groom! I’m so happy for you, man. I can’t wait to hear all the details!” His energy made me tired, as did having to keep up the charade. But I put a smile on my face and shook his hand. 

“You will, soon enough. Let’s not disturb the whole restaurant, though.” 

“It’s so loud in here I doubt anyone can even hear us.” He elbowed me in the side and smiled at the pretty hostess. She smiled back and tapped away at her little screen, then looked up and waved us over. 

She led us to the room in the back corner of the restaurant and handed each of us a menu. “I’m going to have the lasagna and a glass of red. Whatever’s open right now.” I didn’t even bother to accept the menu. There was no point. I always ordered the same thing. 

Enzo, however, poured over the menu like he’d never seen it before. Which he also did every time we came here. “I’ll give you a few minutes.” The waitress gave Enzo a wink and exited the room, closing the door behind her. Glorious quiet overtook us and my muscles finally relaxed.

“So. Tell me how it went down with your grandparents. Did you get the rod for not doing things the traditional way?” 

My eyes rolled back in my head and I exhaled until my lungs threatened to collapse. “Yeah. I got the ‘You didn’t even bring her home first, Nicky! How are we supposed to know this woman is good enough to be a Voss? Have you done a proper background check on her? How do you know she’ll be able to handle a family dinner if she’s never been to one?’ lecture for about 45 minutes yesterday morning, and when I did bring her over last night, they acted like she wasn’t even there. I’m surprised she didn’t rip my head off and throw it in the nearest dumpster fire when we finally got out of there.” 

“Wow, they even pulled out the childhood nickname? You’re in deep crap, brother. The real question, though. Do you still get your inheritance?”

I scowled and felt my lip twitching. “It didn’t come up, so I damn well better. As successful as Voss Enterprises is, I still have a way to go before I clear the loan I made against it to open the business. If my grandparents revoke what my parents left me, we’ll all be in the mire. Then again, if we make the deal with the Kingsley Group, we’ll recoup the startup costs in less than six weeks.” 

Just in time to get rid of the baggage I had to acquire to get the deal in the first place.

The waitress returned with our drinks, took Enzo’s order, and disappeared again. I slowly sipped my glass of wine, imagining the load of stress that would fall from my shoulders when I could fully repay the bank. Then I wouldn’t be beholden to anyone anymore. If my family wanted to cut me off, so be it. 

“Don’t you nearly have enough to pay back the loan in your bank account already? I was pretty sure you told me this time last year that you’d be good to go by this time this year.” Enzo drained half his glass while my lips tightened into an annoyed grimace. 

“That was the plan, yes. But then we didn’t get the deal with Enmark, remember? Damn Lucian Drake stole the contract right from under us. Made promises he couldn’t possibly keep, but then somehow managed to. Lucky bastard.” 

Enzo’s nose wrinkled. “Oh, yeah. You couldn’t golf properly for nearly a month after that one. Kept hitting the ball way too hard.” 

“Yeah, because I kept imagining his stupid, smug face on it.” Was I still sour about the whole situation? Yes. But I managed to laugh about it now, as Enzo mimicked beating the ground with a golf club. “Doesn’t matter now, though. We’re going to get this Kingsley contract and be set for life. For multiple lifetimes.” 

“Damn straight!” He slammed his fist into the table, drained the rest of his glass, and wiped his top lip with the back of his arm. Like the uncivilized barn animal he was…But I ignored his lack of manners like I always did. Best friends, what can you do?

Our lasagna and carbonara arrived within ten minutes. Honestly, I thought there was no reason it should have even taken that long to scoop pasta onto a plate and bring it to us. It might have been my sour attitude speaking, though. 

“How about your love life, Enzo? Have you worked up enough balls to ask Rebecca out? You know she’s absolutely desperate for you to. The way her face lights up every time we walk into the club is almost pathetic.” I pointed at him with my fork before using its edge to cut another bite of lasagna.

Enzo shook his head and spoke around a mouthful of penne. “I told you, I’m not asking her out.” 

“Yeah, yeah, you and your theory about having no one to flirt with at the club when you break up. You’ve told me the same thing half a dozen times. But dude, there are plenty of other women who are there on a regular basis. And who knows? Maybe you’d actually end up settling down.” 

His nose wrinkled again and he shook his head vigorously. “Nah, bro. I’m not the type. I think this whole wedding thing has started going to your head. You’re starting to sound like my dad.” 

I just snorted and continued eating my lunch. The wedding wasn’t changing a single thing. I was still me, and would still be me when it was over. Just a much, much richer version. A smile spread across my face as I imagined my grandfather’s expression when I presented him with a check for the full two billion dollars. He made it no secret that he thought I’d never be able to pay back the loan, and that I’d eventually end up penniless. 

But the joke was on him. Even at the current rate, Voss Enterprises would generate enough profit for me to repay my grandparents in five years, ten worst-case scenario. Unless I kept spending money on things like this stupid wedding, I supposed…but it would have dividends. I just had to keep telling myself the plan would work. 

Until then, I’d just continue watching my bank account fill up until it reached the goal. 

“So what about the honeymoon?” Enzo interrupted my thoughts with another mostly-understandable sentence around his pasta. He chewed, swallowed, and continued. “Rumor is that you’re taking her to Hawaii?” 

“Yeah. We’re taking the jet over to Maui for a week. I’ve got a resort bungalow on the beach reserved. Plenty of activities to do while we’re there, so I’m not too worried about Viv getting bored.” 

Enzo snorted and waggled his eyebrows. “It’s your honeymoon, Dom. There’s only one activity you really need. If she gets bored of that, then I’m taking away your man card.” 

For half a moment, I was about to remind him that I’d be getting exactly zero sex on this honeymoon. At the last second, however, I caught myself. I went for the nonchalant wink, followed by a long swig from my glass to let the moment pass. Truth be told, I couldn’t stop my brain from conjuring up a fantasy of Vivianne in my bed. A very short one that I immediately cut off, but not before my stupid dick shot up in response. 

That was just great.