Page 55 of The Pretender

Deo bends forward, brushing his soft lips against my earlobe. “Your pleasure is mine. Don’t forget that.”

A flash of heat moves through me, straight to my cock. I’m left speechless as Deo winks and moves across the room to help his cousin and nonna with the boxes.

What a surprise he’s turned out to be.

I watch him for a minute then turn my attention back to my task. I’ll start with the year-to-date numbers first since it’s early in the year then work backward. This task alone could take months, which gives me plenty of time to figure out what to do with my situation back home.

For now, I’ll just pretend this is my new life and push away the shadows threatening to creep in.

SEVENTEEN

amadeo

Three daysinto unraveling and rebuilding the family business, I’ve finally got a handle on the backlog of paperwork. We’ve got a plan for filing going forward, and I’ve finished reviewing the last few years of tax returns. The verdict? Not pretty.

The door to the office opens and my mom enters, carrying a basket and a tray with her. “Morning, boys and theys.”

Balt looks up from the laptop and smiles warmly. What a huge help he’s been, going over his findings every afternoon and teaching me what I need to know to understand our finances and accounting practices for when he’s gone.

“Good morning,” Balt says. “It’s a cold one today.”

Mom nods. “And getting colder. More snow in the forecast too. At least your commute to work is easy.”

“Preach,” Brogan says, tucking their hair behind their ear. “I smell something good.”

Mom, smiling, walks over to the desk where Balt is working and sets her tray down. “I made blueberry muffins and hot chocolate. Come eat. They’re still warm.”

“Oh my god, yes,” Brogan says, rising from the floor where they were stacking files. “I love your blueberry muffins.”

“Thanks, Mom. They smell good,” I say.

She smiles, but her eyes are trained on Balt. “You’ll have some?”

He nods. “Definitely.”

“I was worried when we first saw you that you didn’t eat much. You’re a little skinny.”

“Mom,” I complain, already munching on a muffin.

“You too. That city drained you. You need some meat on your bones.”

“My weight is perfectly acceptable and Balt is a god among men, so settle down, huh?”

She laughs. “A god among men, huh?”

Balt shakes his head, focusing his attention on the basket of goodies. “Thank you for breakfast.”

“And such a gentleman,” Mom says. “How’s it going in here?”

“We’re making progress.” I glance at Balt. “Lots of it, right?”

Balt nods. “I’ve got the year-to-date numbers sorted and identified the best program to use. The next few weeks will be focused on getting the information loaded and then working on an operating budget.”

“And Brogan and I have a good plan of attack to get the most important files digitized,” I add.

Mom nods, glancing around the office, but as I study her face, I notice her eyes tearing up.

“What’s wrong, Mom?”