Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 37055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 185(@200wpm)___ 148(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 185(@200wpm)___ 148(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
Snaps for forward planning.
The frustrating part is Rossi. Damn, that guy is one gorgeous motherfucker.
In the four weeks since the dinner at his place, I’ve been twice more, and we only broke one of those times. It was risky, but I couldn’t keep my hands off him. I’ve been jerking off more than any young, red-blooded man should have a right to.
The only things getting me through are obsessively keeping one eye on the date and filling my schedule with as much work as possible.
If I stay back later than everyone else, it removes the temptation to sneakily go home together.
This much resisting temptation had sure as shit be about to pay off.
I’ve been a good boy. Someone reward me.
The problem is, Whitney has been good too. When I’m eating lunch and flirting up a storm with Rossi, she’s running errands. When I’m distracted during our twice-weekly intern huddles, she’s asking perceptive questions.
It’s making me antsy.
But Mr. Rossi has said more than once that I’m doing a great job, and he’s lucky to have me, and I have a knack for this work. He’s spoken to the partners about me, and if it was up to him, I genuinely believe he’d hand me the job.
I have no idea if his opinion of me will suddenly change when he finds out I’m the one his son has been seeing. Because even though we’re refrained—mostly—from hooking up, we’re on the phone to each other every night. I leave dumb little doodles on Post-it notes for him on his desk. We text nonstop, and he gives me butterflies, and on the very rare occasions we’ve been in the bathroom at the same time, he’s backed me into a stall and kissed me stupid.
He’s making me want this job, not only because I love it but to prove that I’m worthy of him. After leaving his big family home, I go back to my dump of an apartment and have to remind myself that we all start somewhere.
When he brings me lunch or sneaks a gift into my bag, I have to remind myself that if I get this full-time job, I’ll pay him back for it all and more.
He’s not planning on working when he starts his MBA, so he won’t have an income. Then it’ll be my chance to spoil him.
And since Rossi couldn’t care less about any of that, it just makes me want it more. To have my own place he can visit without needing a tetanus shot, to be able to treat him to dinner and buy nice clothes for when we go out, and to be able to hold my head high for the day I meet his nonna as a friend.
Which I’ve already told him I’m one hundred percent on board with.
His parents are the important ones, and I’ve been through enough situations in my lifetime to be able to play it straight for one old lady.
There’s only three more days of this internship, and I’m gagging for it to be over.
Sure, Rossi and I won’t get to see each other every day, but we’ll finally get to be a real couple, which will more than make up for it.
I’m buzzing.
My energy is high.
And when I arrive at work on Thursday, I’m grinning so hard I get odd looks in the foyer. Whatever.
Two more days to make it count. Two more days to prove I’m the man for the job.
The morning is back-to-back meetings, two of them where Rossi, Whitney, and I are sitting in with the entire board. It’s intimidating as hell, and I’m regretting wearing my floral tie, but I swallow back the nerves and note take like a champ.
I skip lunch to research so I can run Mr. Rossi through my advice once we’re back in his office. He always likes to test me out to see if we arrive at similar conclusions when it comes to investment options, and I want to be as prepared as a stripper’s routine today.
I’m finishing up my spreadsheet when Carla taps on the doorframe of the empty meeting room I’ve hidden away in.
“Once you’re done in here, come join us in meeting room one.”
A chill passes over my whole body before excitement surges through me. We haven’t been in that room since orientation, and it can’t be our usual meeting because that happens first thing in the morning.
Is this it?
I’m so nervous I could puke.
“Everything okay?”
She winks. “Might want to beat the partners there.”
Fuck a duck. This is it.
I scramble to get my shit together, and even though lunch isn’t supposed to be over for another five minutes, Rossi and Whitney are already there when I arrive. It immediately gets me flustered, but then Rossi gestures to the seat next to him, and as soon as I’m in his presence, I calm.