Chapter 2 Nero's Surprise

Holding onto his tablet Nero watched as his father casually strolled through the door, holding another colorful cup from that little coffee shop he kept visiting. He snickered, walking around his desk and taking a seat on the couch instead, watching as his father approached him, raising an eyebrow at him in question. His father was a proud man, sensitive at times, but nevertheless proud. Getting made fun of by his only son was something his father frowned upon. At least he used to frown upon it, nowadays his father mellowed. Sometimes caring too much.

"What?"

"You do realize you're addicted to the coffee from that place-" He nodded to the cup his father was holding, "Right?" He trailed his eyes to his tablet and scanned through his emails, "Should I be jealous of the fact that my father prefers the coffee from some little coffee shop?" He asked jokingly, "The restaurant downstairs serves excellent coffee, only working with the best quality of beans."

"Have you tried it, Nero?" His father asked, raising the cup to his lips and taking a sip, "It's good. You can tell the woman puts a lot of effort into it. The right amount of milk and the beans, they're so rich in flavor-"

"I get it." Nero smiled, "That coffee is made with love, is that it?"

"Mocking your father?" Valerio scoffed, "Have I not taught you any manners?"

"Relax, dad, I was just joking around." Nero looked up from his tablet, "But you have visited that place for weeks now. Maybe I should pay it a visit too?"

"You should." Valerio rested back against the couch and stared ahead, his eyes taking in the portrait Nero had put up behind his desk, it was their family portrait and the sight of it made Valerio smile, "The girl who always makes my coffee is pregnant."

Nero frowned, not understanding why his father was telling him that, "Okay?"

Valerio sat up straight and faced his son, "There is something about her, she seems familiar to me. I just can't place her." He narrowed his eyes at his son, "You should visit that place and let me know why she looks so familiar to me. It's driving me insane not being able to place her."

Hearing his father sound so frustrated over it made him chuckle, "She cute?"

"That's beside the point, Nero." His father scolded him.

Nero held his hands up in defense and got to his feet, heading to his desk and taking a seat behind it, "I have some free time tomorrow morning. I'll drop by and observe the lovely, pregnant lady."

"Don't scare her off, " Valerio muttered.

"Dad. I've never scared a woman off before, I'm not planning to start now."

Valerio glared at him, "It's inappropriate that you're bragging about that in front of your father. Do you think I find it amusing seeing you jump from one woman's bed to another? You're thirty-two, Nero. You're not getting any younger. Isn't it time you start to behave a bit more seriously? At least date a woman longer than three months or so."

Nero didn't like hearing his father say that. A few months ago he played around with the thought of making things serious with one girl, but she ran off without notice. Changing her number, not leaving a trail. He didn't want to resort to unconventional methods to find her, so he left things as they were. He didn't forget about her though. It pissed him off whenever he thought about her. She proved to him women were unreliable creatures whose heart changed faster than lightning. Never again he'd make the mistake of letting anyone in. Women only betrayed him.

"Dad."

Valerio's eyes softened as he got to his feet, "You don't know why that girl ran off. You can't judge her for it, maybe something happened. Don't be so quick to write people off, Nero."

"She left without a word. Does she not care about me? Didn't she stop to think I'd be worried about her, that it would drive me insane not knowing where she is or how she is doing?"

"We have the means to find out, " Valerio suggested.

"I'm not wasting any money on that backstabbing bitch."

"Nero!"

"Dad."

His father knew he wasn't changing his mind about this subject. The pain was too fresh for him to move past his anger. He knew in the back of his mind that his father was right. She had been a rational girl, intelligent and funny. She wouldn't run off without a reason, especially like the way she did. But the betrayal he felt made it hard for him to let go his anger. He wasn't ready yet, with time he knew he'd see things differently. In the meantime he'd have all the fun he wanted, he wasn't attached to anyone. He could do whatever he wanted, with or without his father's approval.

"I have a meeting in fifteen minutes, " Nero announced.

"I see, you're kicking me out."

Nero smiled at his father who got to his feet and tossed his colorful cup in the bin, "Politely, of course."

Valerio nodded, "Of course." He then pointed at his son, "Don't forget about the coffee shop."

Nero brushed him off, "Yeah, Yeah, I'll pay your beloved coffee shop a visit tomorrow morning."

"Be kind to her."

Nero threw his head back and laughed, "I'll be kind to her." He promised.

Valerio headed to the door and glanced over his shoulder, "Just saying a woman can be dangerous when she is pissed. I don't want her to start serving me disgusting coffee."

Even when his dad pissed him off the man still managed to make him laugh, "Dad, I get it. I won't be rude to her, I promise!"

"Okay, text me the minute you leave that coffee shop."

"Dad, seriously! I have a meeting in a few minutes."

"Okay, okay, I'm already leaving."

Nero sighed when his dad did leave the office, giving him some time to catch his breath. He knew after his mother and little sister died in a car crash his father wasn't letting him out of his sight. Valerio was afraid something would happen to him, not wanting to lose another family member. He was always up in his space, trying to spend as much time together as possible. Nero tried to be reasonable about it, but sometimes it was suffocating him. He wouldn't tell his father that though. He knew the man went through a lot. Losing a wife and a daughter, the pain Valerio felt was probably ten times worse than the pain he felt. He'd let his father be in his space if that made his heart ache less.

***

Nero slipped into his joggers and let his eyes travel to the mocha skinned girl with loose curls. He had to admit that going after her was purely based on his attraction toward her. He saw her and knew he had to have her in his bed. Nothing more. She smiled sweetly at him as she slipped back into her dress and turned around.

"Could you zip me up, please?"

On bare feet, he walked over to her, placed a hand on her hip and zipped up her skin tight dress which showed off all her curves. That dress left nothing to the imagination and when he laid eyes on her he pictured what she'd look like without that dress on. Now he didn't have to imagine it, he knew and he definitely liked what he saw. He watched as she faced him and placed her hands on his chest. Letting a hand rest on her firm bum he leaned in and kissed her.

"Thanks." He told her as he pulled out of the sweet kiss, "I had a great time."

"Me too." She pulled away from him and walked past him to collect her heels and bag.

"I called a car over for you when you took a shower."

"Thanks." She straightened after slipping her heels on and flicked her hair back, "Let me know if you want to repeat that." Her chocolate colored eyes told him she was definitely up for that. He could tell she liked what she was seeing too.

No matter how much fun he had, he knew it wasn't right to repeat things. He rarely mixed business and pleasure, he cursed himself for not being able to stay away from her. Thankfully she didn't make a fuss when he told her she couldn't stay the night because he had an early morning. She understood since she ran her own business as well. An agency which planned events for businesses, it was up and coming. She was the type of girl who matched him well. Yet whenever he pondered about being serious with someone her face always popped up in his head. He didn't understand why he couldn't forget about her.

"Sure." He told her.

She smiled, "Night, Nero."

"Night, Audrey."

Once she left his hotel room he ran his fingers through his messy dark locks and let out a tired sigh. Cleaning the mess up he headed to the bathroom and took a shower, washing her off him. She helped him de-stress, but the feeling of messing up never faded. If his father found out about her he'd preach to him about morals. Never mixing business and pleasure because it caused problems, always. Seeing he took the business over from his father, Valerio never let an opportunity pass to teach him properly. He just had to make sure to distract his father so he wouldn't intrude, the best way to do that was to focus on the lady whom Valerio was so infatuated with.

***

Nero answered his phone as his driver took him to the little coffee shop his father adored. He actually needed coffee to start his day since he got no sleep whatsoever. To get his mind of Audrey and his father he buried himself in his work, going at it till four in the morning. He only got two and a half hour of sleep which made him behave like the Grinch. Coffee would put him in a better mood.

"Dad."

"You didn't come over for dinner yesterday."

"Dad, I told you I had a business dinner which ran late."

"The one with that party planner?"

Nero sighed, "Event planner. She is organizing our annual charity ball, so be nice."

"She is a lovely lady and I've read good things about her agency. A good choice you made there."

Nero narrowed his eyes, not liking where his father was going with this, "Dad, we're working together. Don't even go there."

"Didn't you go there, last night?"

Nero covered his eyes with his hand, inhaling deeply through his nose. His father had people spying on him, there was no denying that. How else did Valerio find out about him sleeping with Audrey? It was the one thing he didn't want his father to find out about. To his surprise though, Valerio didn't seem upset about the affair, or rather the slip-up.

"Whatever. Don't push it, dad, I mean it."

"Fine, at least you're not flat out saying no. You heading to the coffee shop right now?"

He smiled and dropped his hand, staring out the window, "Yeah, I'm curious to meet her. And I do need some coffee in my system right now."

"Okay, then I'll let you go. Don't forget about reporting back to me." Valerio reminded him.

"I won't, " Nero promised him.

"Talk to you later then."

Ending the call Nero rested his head back and closed his eyes, enjoying the few minutes of peace. It gave him time to rest his eyes. When he completed his task for his father he'd have a conversation with Valerio about boundaries. He knew his father had a need to keep him safe at all cost, but spying on him was pushing it. He'd make sure his father understood that it wasn't right to have people following his every move.

"We're here, sir." His driver announced, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Opening his eyes Nero reached for the handle and opened the door, "Thanks, I'll be back in ten."

"Okay, sir."

Climbing out of the SUV Nero closed the door and faced the little coffee shop his father was so obsessed with. It looked like the average kind of coffee shop from the outside. The colorful flowerpots did remind him of that cup Valerio always carried around in the morning. Straightening his jacket Nero headed to the coffee shop, hoping the coffee was as good as his father claimed it to be.