When my hair stylist, Eliot, sees me walk through the door he whistles. “Damn, girl. Was your hubby bad or very good?”
Blushing, I shrug. “Very bad.”
“Mm, mm, they just don’t get it, do they? It’s always the quiet ones. We might not be loud but when we want to make them pay, do we roar.”
Laughing, I shake my head. “You’re quiet?”
He gives an exaggerated shrug of one shoulder. “With my hubby I have to be. He is such a straight boy. I think he still hopes one day he’ll wake up and won’t like men anymore.”
“I’m sorry, that’s awful. You deserve someone who’s all in.” I love Eliot. He’s so sweet.
“Don’t we all. I don’t mind, really. He loves me loads, he just ha
s all those midwestern North Dakota ideas of what a ‘real’ man does and doesn’t do.” He rolls his eyes.
“I’m working on him. In five years he’ll be rocking pink dress shirts without any irony and using product in his hair on the daily. Okay, sweetie, you ready to take the plunge this time?”
I freeze at the question, cutting my hair to a chin-length bob. What the hell? I nod.
“Keep your eyes closed and trust me. I would never do you wrong.”
Forty-five minutes later I open my eyes and gasp. I’m almost a different person. My face isn’t quite as round, my nose fits my face more, and I don’t know, I just look different. I love it. “I am so sorry I doubted you for a moment.”
“It’s all good, precious, I understand completely. Now go work it and make your hubby pay for being bad.”
In the nail salon, only a few doors down from Eliot’s salon, I get a wave of oohs and ahs over my hair and dress. I don’t like fake nails. I do, however, like having them shaped and painted here. No matter what polish I get, at home it’s always chipped and fading after the third day, as opposed to the two weeks it lasts when I get it done here. Ever since I stopped in on a whim to kill time after I saw Eliot the first time, I’ve been back every other week.
When I’m done, I call Everett to pick me up to drop me off at Pop’s. I don’t have to wait long. As I get into the SUV Everett’s eyebrows go up.
“Looking beautiful today, Mrs. Sabatini. It’s been a while since Mr. Sabatini has had his blood pressure checked. Tonight is as good a night as any. He’s already at his father’s home.”
Blushing, I simply murmur “thank you.” I get out of the raised SUV, very carefully. I’m wearing the halter dress. The red one with the plunging neckline and open back that screams I’m not wearing a bra.
As Lydia had said, I have great tits. They are high and firm without a bra. The night I had put the dress on for Dominic’s family, I had worn what amounted to pasties to obscure if I caught a chill. Tonight I’m not wearing them. I also went back to the seamstress and had the hemline raised to my knee, so the thigh-high slit on one side was more obvious with every step. When I did it I wanted to wear it while we were in Paris. Chloe had taken one look at it and thrust it at me with glee.
Before I reach for the door, it’s opened by Pop with a smile that could best be described as devilish. “Ah cara, how beautiful you look tonight. My son is a lucky man.”
My stomach flips as he chuckles. I’m barely through the door when intense heat washes over me. Pasting a smile on my face, I press a kiss to Pop’s cheek. I’m pretending I don’t see Dominic’s thunderous frown—holy shit, did he just growl at his own father? The glint in Pop’s eyes tells me he did.
“It smells delicious. What’s for dinner?” The words come out of me in a rush.
Pop’s arm slips around my waist as he guides me into the kitchen. “So many good things. One of them, your favorite canederli.”
I’m pretending to ignore Dominic as we pass him in the doorway of the kitchen. I don’t see his hand snake out at me. I do feel him grab me around my arm and yank me against him.
Luca laughs. “Sorellina, nice dress. I get why Dominic is always looking tired every time I see him.”
I blush as Dominic thrusts me into a chair at the table. He lets me go to whip off his suit jacket, dropping it over my shoulders. Annoyed, I try to take it off. His hands come down in a punishing grip on both shoulders.
Leaning down, his mouth is grazing my ear. “If you take the jacket off, I will take you to the bathroom and give you the spanking you are begging for. Right where Pop and Luca can hear it. Leave it on and it can wait until we get home. The choice is yours.”
Eyes down, blushing down to my belly button, I slip my arms into the silk jacket. “Pop, may I please have a glass of Pinot. A big one.”
***
Regina
On the drive home a few hours later, I can feel Dominic seething. I accidentally make it worse when I get out, trying to do it before he gets to my side, just in time to flash him my ass. A curse word slips out of him at the same time he grabs me and hauls me after him.