My fork hit the plate with a resounding clatter.
“You’re what?” Dalessandra and I said together.
Dominic placed a hand over mine, but his attention was on his mother.
“As of last night, Ally and I are in a relationship. You’re the first to know. Well, besides a Romanian woman who broke into Ally’s house.”
I felt like I was having an out of body experience. I was floating up toward the ceiling and looking down at this scene with a distinct feeling of what the fuck? I imagined people who were hit by buses felt the same kind of detached bemusement on their way off the mortal coil.
“You are not resigning,” I said a few decibels louder than I intended.
Brownie trotted into the room, Dominic’s underwear dangling out of his mouth.
“I am,” Dominic insisted. “Ally will stay on in her current position for whoever you appoint to take my place until Greta comes back. If Greta chooses to leave or retire, Ally can continue on in the position permanently. If Greta prefers to stay, I want you to find Ally a suitable placement with the salary she has currently.”
“You can’t just make decisions like that without consulting me,” I choked, valiantly trying to wrench my hand free of his so I could smack him upside the head.
“Or me,” Dalessandra agreed. She was handling it better than I was, slicing up a dainty portion of tomato and egg.
“You hard-headed, bossy, alpha—Brownie, put those down!” The dog shot me a guilty look and ran out of the room, underwear flapping. “This is not how a relationship works. You don’t just make all the decisions and expect me to happily go along with it!”
“Ally is absolutely correct,” she said, picking up her tea.
“This is the only way this works,” he insisted. “I’m not willing to put you through another scandal. Or drag Ally’s name through the mud.”
“A consensual relationship between two people who care very much for each other is not a scandal,” she said.
“It’s still fodder. There will be rumors. People will say things,” Dominic pointed out.
“Of course, they’ll say things,” I snapped. “You can’t control people’s reactions.”
They were both ignoring me, and I wondered if perhaps I really had ceased to exist. Maybe a bus had plowed through Dom’s townhouse, and I was the last to know.
“I do not accept your resignation,” Dalessandra told him.
“You’re not fucking firing Ally,” he said.
“Of course not,” she agreed.
“Can either of you two see me? Am I invisible?” I yanked my hand free from his grip, but Dominic grabbed my thigh under the table and held me in place.
“First of all. How serious are you? Is this just sex, or is it more serious?”
“Once again, this is a conversation that should be had with me first, not your mother or our boss.” I was screeching.
“We had the conversation. We’re together.”
“Darling, if you’re not willing to put up with a few bloviating windbags and their blind speculation, then I have to wonder just how serious you are about this relationship,” Dalessandra said.
“We’re serious enough. End of story,” he said calmly. “I’ll announce my resignation today.”
“No, you fucking won’t, you egotistical jackass,” I snapped.
“You’ll do no such thing,” Dalessandra insisted much more politely. “I suppose keeping this quiet is not an option?”
“There isn’t going to be a relationship to keep quiet about in a minute,” I said through clenched teeth.
It would be my shortest relationship on record.
“I’m not hiding this,” Dom said quietly. “I don’t think I could even if you asked me.”
Okay, coming from Dominic Russo, maybe that was kind of a swoony thing to say. It wasn’t a declaration of love, but it was real. These feelings felt real.
But still.
Dalessandra nodded. “Well, that settles that.”
I fought his hand off my thigh and stood. “Look, Russos. I am not a minion. I am a human person with feelings and opinions and decision-making capabilities.”
“Your decision-making capabilities have you living in a water-damaged icebox,” Dominic said.
Oh, if he wanted a fight, I was happy, thrilled, to wade in swinging. “Up until last night, your permanent stance was you didn’t want to have anything to do with me!”
“I am trying to save you both from another scandal,” he growled.
“I don’t need to be saved.” Dalessandra and I blinked at each other as the words came out of both our mouths in unison.
Dominic took a breath and let it out slowly. “I am offering a solution that puts all the problems to bed,” he argued.
Dalessandra spoke first. “That policy was designed to protect employees from predatory power plays and the workplace from disasters like your father left us with last year.” She shot me a look.
“What exactly do you suggest?” Dominic asked, annoyed.
“I suggest you disclose your relationship to human resources and the rest of Label’s senior management, myself included. Let us worry about how to deal with it.”
“I willingly ignored the fraternization policy. How do you think they’re going to deal with it? It’s grounds for termination for both of us. And Ally can’t afford to lose this job. If I leave, no one has to know why.”
“Everyone will know why,” I said, regaining my voice. “You think just because you didn’t confirm any rumors about Paul Russo that they just went away? This is the problem. Sweeping secrets under the rug doesn’t help anyone. The rumors are usually worse than the truth. People know about your father, and they’re going to find out about us.”
Dalessandra paled visibly.
“You think rumors are worse?” Dominic asked icily. “Are the rumors worse than my father locking an intern in a conference room and putting his hand up her skirt until she cried? She’s in therapy three years later because he thought he could take what he wanted. I read every affidavit, and believe me, the rumors don’t do the bastard justice.”
His pissed-off vulnerability snuck up on me and gripped my heart. I reached for him, intending to put my hand on his shoulder, but he rose. “I’m taking the dog out,” he snapped and disappeared out the back with Brownie, who was still carrying his underwear around like a trophy.
An awkward silence descended.
Dalessandra took her tea to the window that overlooked Dominic’s backyard. “He cares very much for you,” she mused.
I snorted.
“I hope you can see beyond his high-handed actions,” she continued. “There is no one in this world I would rather have on my side than my son. He’s fiercely loyal, protective.”
I’d seen both those sides of him.
“I hope you don’t see him trying to resign as him choosing me over you.” The bonds between parents and their children shouldn’t be so fragile.
She turned to face me, a smile playing on her lips. “Darling, I think this is the first time that Dominic chose himself. I’m ecstatic.”
I joined her at the window. “I don’t want him to have to walk away from Label. Not for me,” I told her.
“I have a potential solution in mind that I will present to the powers that be.”
“Are you firing me?” I’d understand. I’d caused a lot of unnecessary drama for an admin. And I’d seduced my boss in direct disregard of company policy.
“No.” She laughed. “But if you’re open to being reassigned within the company—at your current salary level, of course—I believe we can minimize the fuss.”
A flicker of hope lit inside me. “As long as I don’t report directly to Dominic?”
“Precisely.”
I blew out a breath and nodded vigorously. “That would be great.”
“I don’t know if they’ll allow it. We could have been destroyed by what Paul did, and this might stir up memories amongst the staff. There will still be talk and speculation. There is always interest in any woman Dominic dates, but this situation is rather salacious,” she said, choosing her words carefully.
“I can handle it,” I assured her. “It’s better to be honest about it anyway. Makes whispering about it harder.”
“I suppose we’ll find out,” she said quietly. “Not everyone can face the whispers.”
Something tickled at me. Some of her previous comments gelled into something nebulous. Dalessandra was hinting at something.
“I think the Russos have paid enough penance, don’t you?”
She glanced my way and raised a questioning eyebrow.
“I mean, you both have worked hard to clean up your ex-husband’s mess and to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
“We’ve made strides,” she agreed. “But I’m not convinced it’s enough.”
“If anyone owes a debt, it’s Paul. He committed the crime, but it seems like you and Dominic are the ones who paid the price.”
“My son doesn’t deserve to carry the burden of his father’s past mistakes.”
“Maybe you should start thinking about the future instead of the past,” I suggested.
She gave me a quizzical look and then turned back to the window.
We watched Dominic pick up a tennis ball and toss it across the frozen yard for the joyful dog to chase.
“Would you have let him hide it? If that’s what he wanted to do?” I asked her.
She sighed. “I’d told myself I was done lying for the Russo men. But Dominic is not his father.”
“He most definitely is not,” I agreed. “He didn’t start this, Dalessandra. I want you to know that. He didn’t pursue me or strongarm me into it. If anything, I did the convincing.”
“I would do anything to protect my son’s happiness. I have a good feeling about you and him, but…” She turned to face me again, holding eye contact so there was no mistaking her message. “Dominic is a wonderful man with a very soft heart hidden under layers of armor, and if you hurt him or take advantage of him or play on his insecurities, I will be very disappointed in you. And angry.”
I didn’t mean to smile, but I was. “I’m glad you love him. And I promise you I’ll do my very best to protect that soft heart he tries to hide. He’s a good man. You raised a good man.”
She nodded her approval. “Good. Then we’ll protect him together.”
“Team Dominic,” I agreed. “Unless he insists on continuing to boss me around. There’s no hierarchy outside of the office.”
“You be sure to remind him of that,” she said with another smile. “So, shall we chat about what happened to your lovely face?”
