𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐂𝐎'𝐒 𝐊𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍

➪ NINE

"And who's this? She's beautiful and young" the man moves his eyes to my chest before anything and like a little kid I want to hide behind Nicco. I want to hide myself from him, giving him zero access to look at me or my body.

"This" Nicco slides his hand from my waist, swiftly moving in front of me a bit. It's like he read my mind. "This is Sienna. She's attending tonight's event with me" he makes sure his voice is a bit stern and the man instantly gets the message, judging by the look on his face.

He nods. "Well it's always a pleasure to see you Marnicco" is the last thing I hear him say before he turns around and acts as if a piece of art all the way on the other side of the room is so intriguing.

Nicco curses under his breath as he looks in his direction. "Are you alright, darling?" He turns to me, his jaw clenching subtly. I can tell that the small encounter had made him a bit angered but he does well with controlling his temper.

"I'm fine. He seems like a douche" I say.

Nicco nods quickly to his own defense. "See? Told you I didn't like him. Old pervert. He's like fifty" he shakes his head, swiftly taking my hand.

"You're calling him a pervert? I wasn't born until you were in your double digits" I say and he cracks a small smile. There he goes. Smiling Nicco. A happy Nicco. The Nicco I like best.

"Whatever. It's not my fault that you are younger than I wanted, but I wouldn't change a single thing about you" he pulls my hand up and gently kisses my knuckles before looking into my eyes. "You're perfect love".

"Thank you." My stomach does this weird thing where it flutters a bit but I ignore it because soon there is someone else approaching us.

Nicco gently lets my hand go.

"We'll look who we have here. Self made has never been so arrogant. How have you been?" The man has a small beard, probably only a few days of not shaving. His suit is black, a white under shirt, and he smells like lavender.

Nicco smiles gently. "I've been fine. I won't ask how you've been because I don't care" the two both chuckle before Nicco shakes his head. "No seriously, how have you been?".

"Great. Great. Things with the bars have been running well. I get a new call every night that someone got into a fight but I'm not complaining" he chuckled and Nicco nods, stepping to the side.

"This is my sweet girl, Sienna" he introduces me to the man who smiles deeply.

"Well hello, Sienna" he takes my hand and does a small bow to me, making me smile a bit. I've never had a man do that before. It feels- well it feels great. I feel as if I'm being treated with much respect.

Nicco's smile turns into a fake and forced one as he chuckles lightly. "Alright that's enough" he gently takes my hand away from the man and holds it.

The man chuckles, fanning Nicco off. "I'm Brad. It's so nice to meet you. Have you guys had a chance to look around? There's some lovely pieces here tonight" he says.

I notice that he has a dimple like Nicco. And also that he may have used some type of makeup on his neck. Nicco shakes his head.

"Not quite, we've just arrived" he tells the man and he nods.

"Better hope I don't buy everything before you get the chance" he tells Nicco with a smile before walking away.

Nicco chuckles lightly as he shakes his head. "He does bars. Owns a few over the span of three states" I notice that he is keeping me informed and I like it.

But I'm also noticing a pattern.

"Each of you guys have a thing that you do? Yours is restaurants, your brothers is hotels, and his is bars" I say and he nods, gently guiding me towards the first piece of art.

It's a painting. Sensual. A silhouette of a woman, on her knees, her back arched with her calves nearly pressed onto the backs of her thighs. Her air is long, her breasts small.

"Good girl you catch on so easily" he smiles. "But yes. That guy over there, his name is Harrison. He does gyms. And that guy, Arnold, he does bakery's".

I love the way he speaks about this to me. Not in a bragging way, but in a 'I want you to know' way. It's highly attractive.

"Have you ever thought about doing anything other than restaurants? I mean before you even got started" I follow closely as he slowly walks along, eying each piece of art as he does.

"Actually, yes. I had a few thoughts. Clubs, bars, ice cream shops" he smiles as he speaks "but hotels were my original plan. Ever since I was younger".

"Really?" I ask and he nods. "So what happened?".

"I had a dream one night that if I did restaurants instead I would meet a beautiful woman and we'd start dating and fall in love and all that" when I realize he's toying with me I peek up at him, smiling through my lashes, just to see that he's already looking down at me.

"I want the real one" I say and he chuckles lightly.

"Well I had a vision. I've always loved black and gold together and wanted to incorporate that with whatever I did. Hotels aren't really the place for everything to be so- dark. Everything is bright and friendly. So I thought that if I did a restaurant I could do whatever I wanted" he tells me.

I hum. "So did you give your brother the idea about hotels?". I ask and he shakes his head.

"My brother and I were only apart of our own success. We purposefully didn't take any pointers from each other on what to do with our brand because we wanted it to be our thing. We accomplished it ourself".

I smile and nod as I look up at him. "That sounds great. At least everything is how you wanted it. And your restaurant is lovely".

He raises an eyebrow. "Really? Because you haven't been back ever since I first laid eyes on you." He smiles gently, tracing his eyes along the tiny sculpture. It's a man, his skin is as clear as glass, his hair fuzzy brown, his cheeks red.

"What were you stalking me?" I ask.

"I'd never tell you".

X

"Please. I want you inside me"