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The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree…
“Have you ever thought someone had the perfect marriage and turned out to be a lie?” Joey finally asked after a contemplative silence.

Zoe let out a quiet breath and contemplated how she wanted to respond. Whatever

happened with his brother not only spurned his question but his attitude in whole. “Your brother?”

Joey shook his head. Disbelief and disgust couldn’t begin to describe what he was feeling, what the whole family was experiencing. “My brother did a bad thing and hurt a lot of people,”

Joey explained without going into detail, hoping Zoe would somehow read between the lines,

“it’s not something characteristic of him, of any one of us for that matter. But it happened.”

Zoe slowly nodded as she soaked up the information. She briefly thought about prodding for details but decided against it. She would find out soon enough from either Kieran or Tiana.

She knew so much about the family, it was like she was a part of them already.

This was not the time to give her two cents. She was going to be his friend, not a

counselor. “If you need to be alone tonight or for the rest of the week, Joey, I totally understand.”

A small smile lifted Joey’s lips. His other girls would have tried to offer him oral pleasure or some type of sexual favor. Hardly any of them would’ve tried to give him space or an ear to talk to. It was at that moment Joey realized, Zoe was not only different from any woman he had ever dated, but it was going to be a challenge to keep her interested.

“I like your company,” he lightly waved his hand, dismissing Zoe’s suggestion. He

probably should be alone but he didn’t see what good that would do. Eli made his decision, and that was that. Whatever he wanted to do was not going to concern the D’Amatos or Faith and Nathan for that matter. “Besides, what’s done is done. We’ll just have to deal.”

“Your honesty is so refreshing,” Zoe looked over at him, with a pleasant smile. “I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anyone so honest. Well, besides your brother. That must be a D’Amato trait.”

“We tend not to beat around the bush.” Joey shrugged. “There were five of us growing up and Ma spent a lot of time working trying to keep the lights on and food in the fridge. There wasn’t really an option to be quiet or passive-aggressive. Shut up or put up.”

“How was it like being the middle child?” Zoe asked. “Did you get any attention at all?”

“We all had our own interests so it wasn’t a case of someone being ignored in favor for someone else. Nicky was big on academics, so he was always tutoring someone. Kieran was in football and expressed an interest in the military. Eli wanted to become a graphic designer so he was always drawing something. Tony practiced cutting his friends hair before he decided to get paid for it, once and for all.”

“And you?” Zoe asked. “What was your thing?”

“Making money.” Joey gave a half-shrug. “I just wanted to make money. All legal, mind you. No slanging, no banging. I just wanted to make money. My brothers called me superficial and shallow but I was just so curious about it. I briefly contemplated becoming an accountant.”

“But you didn’t…”

“I couldn’t be someone else’s bitch for a living. I wanted to be my own man.” Joey took a bite of food. “I went to college and majored in business. I soaked up everything. How to do a business plan, making SWOTs, researching a business and competition factor. Location, location, location as any realtor will tell you. It was hard. I had more disappointments than successes. I had people lead me on, telling me they believe in my plan, when really they couldn’t care less. I decided for once and all, I’m going to build a business that was going to be so hot, so fresh, something completely new that not only no one saw it coming, but we would have copycats coming out of the woodwork.” Joey smiled as he briefly reminisced the early days of Madre’s success. The highlight was seeing how enthralled his mother was, knowing she had single-handedly created an empire by just doing what she loved. Seeing her smile was worth all of the blood, sweat, and tears. “I just never thought it would be a flower shop.”

Zoe noticed the glimmer in Joey’s eyes. She hoped to have that same twinkle one day

about her fashion line. “You sound very passionate about what you do.”

“Any jerk-off can pose as a CEO and show off a suitcase full of money. Remember the

days of Myspace when people used to do that? Now they’re doing it on Facebook. Now they’re doing it on Twitter. They’re doing it on all types of social media – look at me and how much money I have. I wanted to be
wealthy
. I wanted my family to have an empire. I wanted our new money to become old money. Every dime we make, we donate three cents of it to charitable causes, a lot of it going to my mom’s non-profit. We all know how it was like to go without and how hard our mother had to work just to keep the roof over our heads. We wanted to give back.”

The more Joey spoke, the more impressed Zoe became of him. There was more to him than just the designer labels and fancy rides. “It seems all of you have done a pretty good job of doing that.”

“We try. There’s always room for improvement,” he flashed his trademark megawatt

smile, “let’s talk about you.”

Zoe was a little surprised by Joey’s demeanor but not too shocked that he deflected the topic of conversation from him and back to her. Defense mechanism was her thought and a tactic she had pulled one too many times herself. “What about me?”

“So you want to be a fashion designer but you’re a nanny?” Joey asked. “What happened?”

Zoe took a gulp of the red wine she nursed. What had happened? Nothing. Everything. The moment she went gung-ho on an idea, she would abruptly stop it with the promise to herself that she’ll get back to it one day, someday, whenever the mood suited her. In the meantime, she had seen people who she knew about in the industry, start their clothing lines and walk the runways with mixed success. It didn’t matter if she thought their ideas were horrible or better; the fact they did what they said they were going to do, made Zoe insanely jealous of them.

“You’re gonna laugh at me,” she finally revealed.

“I doubt it,” Joey shrugged.

Zoe took another swallow of wine and dabbed her lips with the cloth napkin. “This might sound weird but I’m afraid of success.”

Joey leaned back and swirled the wine in his glass. He got up with his wine glass and half-empty bottle, and walked over to the sofa, signaling to Zoe to follow him. They sat at a comfortable distance from each other. “Why?” He finally asked her.

That was the million-dollar question. So many reasons and all of them sounded stupid.

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to handle it all. I’m afraid of the ass-kissers who always tell me what I want to hear and not what I need to hear. I’m afraid of those using my success as some sort of vendetta against me and secretly hope I fail. I’m afraid I’ll get so big, I’ll wake up one morning and not recognize the woman in the mirror.” Zoe sighed a laborious breath. “So there it is. I’m afraid of success. Most people are afraid of failure; I’m the special snowflake afraid of success.”

“It’s natural to be afraid of success.” Joey took a sip of wine. “I once was.”

Zoe raised an eyebrow. “You?”

“Me,” Joey concurred.

“You? Joseph D’Amato? With wealth and connections only second to Jay Z, Diddy, and

Donald Trump? The Joseph D’Amato who was on the cover of Business Week just recently?

The Joseph D’Amato who told me just
last night
that he hoped to surpass Tiana’s wealth in a few years? How in the heck were you ever afraid of success?”

“Easy.” Joey put his wine glass down and leaned over to Zoe. He nudged her face to his direction and whispered in her ear. “I stopped giving a damn about what others think of me.”

Zoe briefly closed her eyes and sighed, inhaling his musk and earthy scent. Electricity zapped through her body, finally resting between her thighs, and her pussy lightly contracted in response. She felt her nipples hardened and her throat becoming a little parched, despite just having small sips of wine. She finally understood the hype about Joey. He could make a girl feel like she’s the only person in the world in a crowd full of people. He was smooth but never made any pick-up lines.

She opened her eyes again and was met with intense hazel eyes, a chiseled jaw line, and tousled auburn hair she wanted to run her fingers through and pull when he pleasured her with his mouth and tongue.

His lips brushed against hers and they both shook their heads, trying to fight the impossible sexual heat between them. Joey wanted her. He wanted her bad. Feral. Wanton. Absolute. His hands wandered over her body, starting from her legs and moving up to her taut stomach and small waist. Joey’s hands made their way to her breasts and his cock was fighting against his slacks.

His lips took over the hallow of Zoe’s neck and her body was set aflame with desire. She fell back on the sofa and Joey fell on top of her. Joey continued to devour Zoe’s neck as their bodies moved in unison against each other. He felt the heat emitting between her thighs, beckoning his cock to jump out of his slacks. Her moans were music to his ears and he had never heard such sweet sounds, begging him to not stop.

“Joey, I…” Zoe breathed.

“I need to go,” Joey suddenly stood up. He grabbed his keys and put on his jacket.

Zoe shot up from the sofa and watched Joey gather his belongings. She was frustrated beyond belief. Was it too soon? Was it too late? Was this typical Joey D’Amato behavior and he just simply gave her a taste of not to trust him?

She was angry. Angry that she spent the night with him, no matter how platonic it was.

Angry that she let her sexual want for him cloud her better judgment. And she was
really
pissed off that she allowed him to make her wet beyond relief. “Um…okay…”

Joey walked over to Zoe and kissed her so hard, it took her breath away. His lips were demanding and hungry, kissing her as if he would never see her again. He slipped his tongue in her mouth and she welcomed it freely with hers. He grabbed her ass hard and pressed her against his body as Zoe felt the familiar dampness in her panties.

Just as furious he kissed her, Joey pulled away from her just as fast. His forehead met with hers as they both breathed hard through their nostrils. “I want to be able to give you everything you deserve but I can’t do it now. But I will soon,
regina.
I promise you that.”

“Regina?” Zoe questioned.

“It means
queen
,” he smiled. “I have to take a step back because of family right now but give me some time and I’ll make it right. I’ll make
this
right.”

“Take all the time you need,” Zoe’s voice was above a whisper, “but Joey, I can’t wait forever.”

“And I wouldn’t want you to.” He kissed her forehead. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Joey’s hands seemingly heated up many parts of Zoe’s body. She briefly closed her eyes and sighed, inhaling his musky scent and quickly fantasizing how he would feel underneath her as she mounted him. Had it really been that long since she’s had sex? It was that moment she remembered the key item she left back in L.A.: her vibrator.

“What’s going on in that head of yours?” He spoke quietly. “You got quiet all of a

sudden.”

“I was just thinking,” Zoe finally spoke.

“Oh?” Joey couldn’t stop running his hands through Zoe’s lustrous dark mane. “About

what?”

Zoe turned to Joey, with her lips upturned to a sensual smile. “The future.”

She watched Joey leave and followed him outside. Her anger and frustration soon morphed into the one feeling she had fought since she’d first laid eyes on him – love. “You know you made me wet, right?” She folded her arms as she leaned against the doorway.

Joey turned back towards her and gave a sexy smirk. “Good.”

Twelve

Zoe woke up to the familiar sounds of birds chirping and singing in her window, followed by the familiar sounds of horns honking and sirens blazing down the street. She rolled the sheets off her body and widely stretched. Ah, being in California, specifically Los Angeles, was where she belonged. Home sweet home.

For the time being. She knew full and well she wasn’t going to be in L.A. very much

longer.

Her weeklong assignment in New York was successful. Kay’s children were great and she gave a glowing report to Kieran, who gave Zoe a bonus. Zoe ended up finding her mojo again to work on her designs and mapped out an entire children’s line while she had free time. Her confidence shot up and knew it was only a matter of time before she was going to take the world by storm. She wasn’t going to chicken out nor was she going to delay anymore. It was going to be her time to shine.

All because of Joey.

They spent every night together during the week, with Joey taking her around New York and showing what it had to offer. He took her to see her very first Broadway play, and she got to meet the cast afterward. They went out for dinner and drinks at the Gramercy Tavern and had a private booth. She liked the restaurant; it was every bit fancy and high class as she thought it would be. She was more impressed with how Joey treated her once they were inside. He pulled out her chair and ordered for her, a gesture that shocked Zoe so much she hesitated. She was so used to fend for herself on her dates, she forgot there was that little thing called chivalry and it was very much alive.

They spent the evening conversing with each other, speaking on a wide variety of topics from sports to music to sharing childhood stories. She learned Joey was a bit of a troublemaker out of the brothers, though his intentions were always good and never got in much trouble with his mother. “That’s when I knew I was a good salesman,” Zoe recalled Joey’s words, “because I could talk my way out of anything.”

All of the brothers were encouraged to pursue college degrees or stable careers. As a result, each brother had at least a bachelor’s degree under his belt. Joey eventually pursued his Master’s in Business Administration and graduated at the top of his class. Everyone in the family could credit Joey’s shrewd business sense as the reason why Madre’s surpassed expectations while many businesses came and went. He just had a knack for what could work and what wouldn’t.