The Carrero Heart - Beginning (Friends to Lovers)

“You know we can’t really plan a wedding while lying naked in bed and doing nothing except having sex all day.” Arrick nudges me in the butt with his groin and wakes me out of the semi slumber I was heading into.

We stayed up all night, having some bedroom acrobatics and now most of the day we have seemed to repeat it. The only time we did get up was for food that he cooked nakedly, and we had to revisit the couch and some of the apartment surfaces to remember how good sex on them was. It feels like we have gone back in time to our first weeks together and have a renewed hunger for it all the more.

Getting engaged really does rock.

“You know I can tell Leila she has a wedding to plan, and we can stay in bed.” I yawn and push back against his groin wiggling expertly until he grows hard once again and smile to myself at how easy he is. Arrick kisses me on the cheek and smacks my ass a little harshly.

“Keep that up and we won’t get out of bed for the actual wedding either. You can’t leave Leila in charge… she will make everything pink, glittery and we’ll have an Ed Sheeran wedding march.” Arrick is in good spirits still and scoops my hand up to kiss the knuckles one either side of my new ring.

“That all sounds fine to me… besides, you told me our song is an Ed Sheeran song.” I turn on him and let my fingers loose on the appearance of his five o’clock shadow, running my fingertips along the masculine jaw with pleasure.

“Okay, so maybe it is, but I don’t want pink and you’re enough sparkle in one wedding party, baby. I like when we cut down on the glitter.”

“Ughhh, I do not understand your weird anti-glitter standing… you live with me. How can you be so against the sparkle?” I huff and throw him my best frowny look, but he only prods me in the space between my eyebrows.

“Because I live with you… You are the reason I am anti sparkle. Overexposed and it’s killed my tolerance.” Arrick then flicks me in the same space and gets a serious glare this time and an ouch.

“Asshole.”

“Princess… Queen of all things sparkly.” He smiles, and this time makes a move to get up, much to my protest.

unit without a backwards glance. I have no intention of letting

everything we want shipped back here, clothes and everything, and I need to speak to our housekeeper about her contract and Boris too, your driver. Secondly… we also need to tell our families about our happy news and start the ball rolling on you know… an actual wedding. We have to register for a marriage license, Sophie, and we need to throw cash at whoever it is to fast track a wedding in under three months. We need to book some flights and I also need

in one engagement my sweet gentle boy turns into Jake Carrero… bossy, in control, throwing

going to work.” I point out rather sassily and cross my arms as I sit up

not?” Arry regards me with a look of complete confusion. A hint of nervousness that maybe I rethought my

Carrero, with your bossy pants on. This is me… you have only no chance

in the

rather stubbornly and I wonder if this is a sudden

boss to you?” I narrow my eyes and for the first time wonder if old fashioned Italian upbringing has a whole set of new rules regarding marriage that Arry has never put into play as just boyfriend. I’m not sure I

down on the bed, pulling me closer by the ankle and rests

of what is mine. I’ve spent a lot of time this past few days thinking about my priorities in life and it comes back to the same thing always. You.” He looks like he means it and I watch him silently. “As soon as this merger is signed off and the real work starts of combining two businesses, I’m cutting myself out of Carrero Corp to only a five percent share hold. That means no more say in the decision making and no more equal responsibility in how things run. I’m bowing out to focus on us, my fight career, and our future. My five percent makes sure our future kids will still have something to inherit and be financially secure. If they want a bigger cut of the business, there is a clause that they get my share of control back on their twenty first birthdays and will be split between whatever kids want to step up to the plate in business.”

disbelief, not sure what I am

family business, it’s more than a feeling of responsibility, he loves it and takes great

they were my resignation of a third of control, Sophie. I handed them to my father before I

have no actual words, like my normally laid back and go with the flow boy has taken a run and jumped off a damn cliff and this crazy imposter ranting about cutting himself out

more excited than you about it anyway. You always make sure I’m cared for in your absence in the form of Janetta and Boris. You always put me at the front of everything … I do not need you to resign! … We need to come home and go back to our lives from before. No more Paris, no more commutes. We can be like we were.” the panic rising inside of me, knowing how immense a deal this is. This isn’t just about him cutting out of something he loves doing. This is about hurting his relationship with his father and possibly Jake too, although I’m sure Jake will be more understanding. Giovanni, however, will not. This is something he built for his sons to carry on and it has always been known that eventually he would hand his control to his sons to run the business in a fifty split they would pass onto their own kids. Arrick cutting out to be nothing more than a shareholder will cause a huge rift and no longer being part of the loop will be

career over Carrero Corp, he still kept his hand in and on top of things, he was never out of the loop. He went to college to learn business, so he could be a part of his family’s empire. He is a Carrero

never wanted to lose you and these past few months… I’m losing us! Why did you never tell me you hated the people at school?” Arrick looks pained and I realize that little comment must have been sitting there in his brain since yesterday. He has been mulling it over, even though we talked it all out and it’s all part of the reason he thinks this