She sighs and hugs me. “I can handle myself, you big sexy giant. I could handle being here alone.”
“You could.” I agree. “I couldn’t. I would have spent the whole time worried about you, wondering if you were lonely, wondering what would happen if someone broke in.”
She kisses my chest. “I love you.”
“Tu sei tutto per me,” I answer.
“I’m going to have to start learning Italian.” She teases, turning around to work on the food.
I see her making a pizza and smile. She glares at the dough, and I help her smooth it out a little more as she laughs, fighting me for it. Kneading a pizza with Sophie is probably one of the hottest nonsexual things we’ve ever done.
I kiss across her neck as she pours the sauce on and sighs. We’re the luckiest men in the world.
Once it’s in the oven, my exhaustion kicks in. “I’m going to take a nap.”
“Okay.” She bids. “Sweet dreams.
When I wake up, it’s to Gunner smacking me. I groan and grab him in a headlock. We wrestle until Nick pulls us apart. “Not in front of a lady.”
“Why not? We wrestle with her plenty.” Gunner chuckles. “Anyway, I want Bella’s answer. Pay up.”
I groan and pull myself off the ground. “Bella said yes.”
“Yes?” Gunner asks, looking to Nick with a huge grin.
“Yeah.”
Sophie squeals and I see Holden picking her up and spinning her. Good to know I’m not the only one that’s happy with the results. Nick claps. “We’re celebrating.”
Sophia serves her pizza, Holden opens the wine, and then we’re all talking excitedly. Sophie gasps. “Oh god! What am I going to wear?”
“Well, it’s in Hawaii,” Gunner says around his pizza.
Sophie looks at each of us, then shakes her head. “What? We just went to Italy. We can’t go to Hawaii. What are you guys thinking!” She stands up. “I have to stay.”
Nick pulls her into his lap and kisses across her neck. “Nope. Roman worked too hard to get you the yes. You’re coming with us.”
“Or what? Going to tie me up and put me in my luggage?”
“Half of that is appealing.” Gunner eyes her hungrily. “Very appealing. We have rope somewhere.”
“I’m serious.” She argues. “We can’t just leave.”
“We own the company. It’s a long weekend with this long week of long hours ahead of us. Another week and a half of long days, and we’re good. There will be a few calls and maybe a few hours worth of work. We will handle it.” Holden reassures her. “We’ve been planning.”
She narrows her eyes. “We’re supposed to be equal, and you guys keep leaving me out.”
“Sophie,” Nick whispers something in her ear.
She huffs. “No. That excuse isn’t going to work forever. You can pamper me, take care of me, and I love it. But I need to know things. I deserve to know things and to be a part of making choices. I’m tired of not having a say.”
“Sophia.” Nick loses his hold on her, and she leaves for her room.
Gunner bites his bottom lip and watches after her. I pat his arm. “She’ll come around.”
“I mean … She has a point.” He murmurs. “We make every decision without her assuming she’ll go along. I don’t know if it’s because she’s young or if it’s because we’re the guys, but … we worship her, enjoy her, love her and never let her take control.”
Holden rubs his jaw. “Do you think she’ll come to the wedding?”
“She will,” I say. “She will. And when she comes, she gets to make plenty of choices. We’ll clue her in on everything.”
“All of it.” Nick agrees.
Because we can’t lose her, it goes without saying. I clear my throat, and Gunner and I put things away. He looks at me for a long moment, and I can still feel some rift between us. I don’t know what it is, the same thing that’s been here since we moved in.
Maybe just two doms wanting the same woman? Maybe it’s more, but I have a feeling a lot is going to come out on this trip, and I don’t know if we’re ready for it.