"Now that you have stopped breastfeeding will you be coming back to work?" Dante asked.
"Part-time," Peri smiled. "I guess we need to discuss it as a family with Josh. The commute is certainly easier from the penthouse but I think Josh would like the House to be our main home, and I think I agree. I'm not sure I want to have to make the babies travel between their homes twice a week, but I don't want to be so far from them either." She voiced her conflicted feelings about returning to work.
"The representatives from the other families want to deal with you personally, not your team," Dante told her. "Once you'd had the babies they went off to continue their research with their families. Most of the information comes in the form of emails and phone calls, now. You could come in one day a week and do the rest from home to start with, if you wanted." He gave her the best option, because even though he wanted her back at the auction house with him, he had already handed over much of the running of the business to his trusted advisors and managers and knew he would not be there every day himself.
"Maybe the team could come out to stay with us for a few days, to formulate a plan of action," her mind began ticking over in regards to changes she would need to make and how she might go about it, in light of what Dante had said.
"Come back to me," Dante murmured, reaching out to tweak her nipple, holding it pressed between his fingers. "It was a simple question requiring a simple answer. There is no need to start planning anything," he saw her refocus on him, and her eyes grow wide as the discomfort in her nipple turned to pain. "You're right, this is a discussion for all of us, as a family." He released the pressure of his fingers and stroked his hand over it gently moving it down to cup her breast and rub the nipple with his thumb.
"I'm sorry," she said breathlessly.
"You will be," he murmured and dropped his hand to hers pulling it onto his lap. "You have no idea what knowing that you are finally mine does to me every minute of every day." He guided her hand over the loose shorts he wore to his erection.
"Again?" she teased. "I thought we took care of that when we came on board."
"Always," he said huskily feeling her fingers curl around his cock through the soft fabric of his shorts. He hadn't bothered with underwear knowing he wouldn't need it here with her. He lowered the other shoulder of her dress, that she had hitched up more than once during their conversation and watched the soft globes of flesh sway before his eyes.
Peri smiled and caressed his cock stroking it as best she could through the soft material. She kept eye contact with him and was surprised when he pushed her hand against his groin and whispered, "Don't move."
It was only then that she realised the silent steward stood behind her with hot plates and food on a tray. He placed them carefully on the table and from his wide satchel like belt he pulled a fresh bottle of wine and opened it. Dante went through the act of tasting it as Peri remained with her back to the man and her hand curled around Dante's cock. Though she doubted he cared to look and was not shocked by their behaviour from the earlier conversation with the Captain, she still blushed deeply, as he poured the wine into fresh glasses and silently left them to their meal.
Throughout the meal, they spoke of the family expectation that women would stay home and be the perfect mothers and while they were all taught similar traditions of duty and honour they were also taught that their place was behind or under their man supporting him rather than being side by side with him. Even Mama who had more power than most women never flaunted the fact that she was anything other than a wife and mother.
Dante confided that he had once walked in on his parents in the middle of a bondage session. "It was the first time I realised that the Donati Princesses could be just as submissive as the Kept. That I could have a wife who would have all the beauty, poise, and grace of a lady and still be a wanton slut in the bedroom," he chuckled shaking his head. "It took me a long time and Lio's counselling to get over the initial shock and come to that conclusion, though."
"Was Cherise submissive?" Peri asked in a whisper wanting to know but not sure if mentioning the woman who broke his heart would spoil the atmosphere of the evening.
"She was willing to try most things, but it didn't come to her naturally," Dante admitted. "I thought she submitted because she loved me, but she loved the money and prestige of the Donati's, not me. In the end, she said she would have done anything, slept with anyone, endured whatever I wanted, but she would never sign a prenup or agree to be put on what she called the budget of a pauper for a year before we could marry. Papa had read her well and shown me what I could not see myself. She'd fallen pregnant to trap me. It was not breaking up with her that broke my heart, but the loss of the baby that could have been."
"He never mentioned money or a prenup to me," she admitted thinking about it. "I guess he needed to know that his power and influence over his family would extend to me. That my love for Josh would mean that I would obey the family laws and traditions even if I didn't like or agree with them." She mused considering the encounter.
"So no prenup then," Dante turned a confused look on her. He had assumed she had been through the same ordeal as Cherise and didn't care about the money.
"Josh never asked what occurred, and I never offered the information, because I didn't know how he would react. He was so happy to have his father's blessing, anything that came before that, didn't seem to matter," She said softly.
"I need to know," Dante said in a strange tone. "I won't force the information onto Josh, but I need to know."
"He talked to me a lot about the family, particularly the Kept and their necessary role. I think he was gauging whether we were in love or lust. He was testing me on a few things, not just the sex side of things, but I imagine it was obvious that it was a big part of our relationship, that I was submissive to Josh. So to test me and whether that obedience to Josh extended beyond him to the family and into the trial I would have to endure," she swallowed and looked up at him before going on. "He had me kneel at his feet and worship his cock. I gave him a blowjob. He was as aggressive as Josh during it, but I did it without balking, because I love Josh that much. I consented to the original trial that both Joseph and Antonia were going to oversee, because I loved Josh that much. I boarded the plane that took me to the Battaglia instead because I love Josh that much." She knew this was not what he wanted to hear, but she said it anyway as if that justified everything she had done, to become part of this family.
"I am glad you loved him that much and I hope in time you can love me with the same passion and commitment," Dante said measuring his words. He felt the bite of jealousy which hadn't plagued him for months but he didn't resent his brother, how could he? He had barely known Peri at the time, and if they hadn't shared such a great love, he wouldn't be here with her now. He found himself wanting to know more about their relationship, the how and the why she had submitted to Josh in the first place. She was an intelligent woman and while not a great beauty in the eyes of mainstream society, to him and obviously Josh, she was beautiful and infinitely desirable. She didn't seem the type to submit easily he thought.
"I do love you that much, silly," she laughed lightly. "Do you think I would let just anyone into what I have with Josh, so completely, if I didn't feel the same way?" She took in his stunned expression. "I would have accepted you as the Oracle and welcomed you warmly when the table asked that I love you as a second husband, so to speak. But we had history and a gentle love born of true friendship and family, long before they asked. I knew then that if Josh allowed it, I could love you as a woman loves a husband. I would never have acted on my feelings if he had any reservations because, " she smiled as Dante cut her off.
"Because you love him that much," he finished for her.
"I do," she admitted. "I love you now too and I would have that same interview with Joseph for you and submit to the same trial if that was what was asked of me by the table, but it wasn't. The challenge for me has been how to show you that I love you that much. That I love you as I love Josh but for all our history we had it at arm's length, and our present includes Josh. We didn't have that time of growing together into our relationship. We have in some ways, but our courtship, if you could call it that, has been so different. I feel like we have loved each other for much longer than the reality of our relationship."
