"Santana, I'm sorry to bother you, but that state attorney's son is here again. He's insistent on meeting with you."

I continued to cut my piece of steak and brought the piece up to my mouth, taking my time to chew and swallow. After setting down my utensils, I slowly brought my eyes up to meet with Carlos' to give him a once-over. The look of fear on his face was priceless. The feeling of power and intimidation will never get old for me.

Once I settled back into my seat, I grabbed my napkin from my lap to dab the corners of my mouth. "Now, Carlos, did you have the sense to mention to the man that I'm in the middle of dinner? And not to mention the fact that he is interrupting time spent with my beautiful wife?" I could see the hint of a smile creep into the corners of Brittany's mouth as she brought her wine glass to her lips. I used all of my self-restraint not to soften at the sight; I needed everyone to continue to fear and respect me. I refocused my attention on the visibly nervous Carlos.

"Y-yes, I did, Santana. I'm really sorry, but he keeps insisting. He's already come by four nights last week and he's started to mention his father when we keep stalling."

I narrowed my glare at him and was about to go into a rant regarding his incompetence, but I felt Brittany's eyes on me. She put her wine glass down and leaned into me slightly. Her tone was barely a whisper so Carlos wouldn't be able to overhear. "Babe, just let him in. You can make it quick since we need to leave shortly so we aren't late for the opening of the show. I'll be here so you don't lose your temper. Business is business. I know you need to take care of him eventually."

I stared into her blue eyes. She was right - I knew it. I had been avoiding this meeting more because I had met him briefly before and his self-righteous arrogance got on my nerves. It was something to take my temper out on people within my ring, but to do that to someone connected to the law? That's where appearances mattered most.

I took a deep sigh and feigned indifference as I looked at Carlos to say, "Fine, send him in. Maybe next time you'll have more sense and come up with better excuses so I don't have to be bothered with such a nuisance."

Carlos barely made a noticeable nod before lowering his eyes and disappearing through the doors. I felt those eyes on me again and chanced a look at her disapproving eyes.

"I know you don't like when I'm unnecessarily rude, but he needs to know his place."

"I know that, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. He's only been here really getting involved in things for a few weeks. You need to cut him a break."

"Britt, he knows what he was getting into when he signed up for this. His father's been one of my closest capo's for as long as I've been boss. He's finally been given associate status and I can't just baby him because he's been here a few weeks. It's bad enough that I'm the first woman to head the Lopez family organization, but I'm gay on top of that. If I don't continue to scare people into showing respect, this will all crumble beneath me. I need them to all remember who's on top."

As soon as I said it, I saw the glint in her eye. Her lips quirked up and she let her eyes drop to my mouth. I saw that hungry look on her face as she took her time to hold my stare and lean into me.

"On top, huh?" She tilted her head and bit her bottom lip. My breath hitched as she took her time to bring her mouth closer to my face. Just before she was close enough to touch, she moved her head and I could feel her hot breath on my neck. "That's kind of funny coming from someone who spends a lot of time writhing beneath me while I'm on top, don't you think?"

I closed my eyes and clenched my legs because I would not be able to focus with visions like that flashing in my mind. I had half a mind to just give in and let her take me on the table right there and then, but I heard the door to the back room begin to open.

"Ms. Lopez! What a wonderful pleasure to finally get a chance to speak with you. I hope I wasn't interrupting?" There was that shit-eating grin again. I know I will only be able to take a few minutes of this without tearing him apart, so I try to mentally prepare myself so I can get it over with.

I take a deep breath and plaster on a fake smile before saying, "It's Mrs. Lopez, actually," I know he knows that, which is what makes me want to just take out my semi-automatic and take him out – purely on the grounds of not having to hear his condescending tone ever again – but I have some sense and continue with, "And we were actually just finishing up. The opening of the Nutcracker is tonight and I've promised my beautiful wife that I'd take her to the premiere."

"Oh, my apologies, Mrs. Lopez," he takes a step forward and turns his attention to Brittany. "My name is Sebastian Smythe, it's very nice to meet you, Mrs…?" He trails off at the end of his sentence and I can already tell that this is going to be the most self-restraining five minutes of my life. Brittany is quick to respond, though, and she saves me the hassle of having a state attorney's son's murder on my hands.

"Mrs. Lopez," She says my name with such pride and reverence that it makes me want to kiss her senseless. I take the chance of revealing my slight weakness and take her hand in mine to give it a brief squeeze. She looks into my eyes and returns my loving gaze before I take back my hand to continue cutting my meat. "I've been blessed with the title of 'Mrs. Lopez' for seven years now – almost eight, actually, in July. It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Smythe." She extends her hand for him to shake and gives him a dazzling smile. She's been in this business with me since the beginning and she knows exactly how to balance out my impatience with the right amount of charm.

"It's very nice to meet you, as well, Mrs. Lopez."

"Feel free to call me Brittany."

After taking a seat at the table, he looks at me for a hint of permission, and I answer his unspoken question with, "And feel free to continue to call me Mrs. Lopez. I don't think we're at the point where you can call me by my first name." I settled my gaze on him and lifted my eyebrow with a smirk as a silent challenge for him to dare and test me. He stands up straighter in his chair and doesn't back down from my stare. I can already tell that this man is going to be more trouble than I originally thought, and the idea alone is tiring.

"I wouldn't dream of it, Mrs. Lopez. Brittany, you must feel very lucky to be blessed with the Lopez title. We all know how certain circles consider it an honour to carry such a legendary family name." He turned his attention back to me with a challenging look of his own. I don't like the insinuation he's making; he's dancing on the line between subtleties and out-right accusations.

Brittany puts her hand on my knee and gives it a quick squeeze. She understands this just as well as I do. I need to wrap this up before things get out of hand. I give him one last look before turning to my wife.

"Honey, why don't you grab our coats from Carlos out front while I wrap up this little meeting with Mr. Smythe. We don't want to be late for the show." She takes a final sip of her wine before giving a slight nod.

"Of course. Again, it was very nice to meet you, Mr. Smythe. If you'll excuse me," She gets up from her table and grabs her purse from the corner of her chair. Her sparkling blue dress is hugging all of her curves. As she saunters to the door, I take the moment to appreciate the fact that she chose the dress with the backless scoop.

While lying in bed last month after we spent the whole night exploring our bodies with our hands and tongues, I began to trace invisible letters and shapes on her back. I whispered in her ear that sometimes the sight of her naked back alone made me wet.

She came home with that dress the next day.

Before I could lose myself in another sex-filled fantasy, I brought my attention back to the man in front of me. The sight of his smug expression was enough to kill any mood I've brought upon myself.

"She's very beautiful."

"I'm well aware of that, thank you." I brought my napkin onto the table and folded my hands in front of me. "Now, what is it that you exactly hoped to accomplish by interrupting a wonderful dinner with my wife?" I know my tone was beyond rude, but I was done with pleasantries. He came here for business and I am nothing but direct.

He chuckled at my bluntness. "Very to the point – I like that, Mrs. Lopez." I continued to look at him with distain and held my silence to encourage him to continue. "My father has been involving me more in his cases as a way of introducing me into the world of law. He always encourages me to be more familiar with the big business owners in town in case we ever have to be in court together. A way of building rapport, I suppose. So I thought I'd pay you a visit to extend my acquaintanceship." He flashed me a wide smile and it made me want to slap it off of his face.

"You know, it's actually kind of similar to how you continued on your father's legacy, isn't it Mrs. Lopez?" I felt my jaw clench but took a sip of wine to mask it. I didn't like how direct he was being. I briefly wished that Brittany was still there – if only to keep me calm enough to handle this professionally. By the time my glass was brought down to the table I had my mask of indifference back.

"Yes, I suppose that's right. Being around construction sites my whole life, it seemed the natural route for me to take over my father's business when he was too old to do it himself."

"I can understand that. But I'm sure that it couldn't have been easy, though," he pauses to look down and briefly adjust a cufflink before continuing, "to run a construction business – what with you being a woman and a lesbian. How has the rest of your-" he pauses again, "employees taken the change in management?"

I know I'm in trouble because I'm starting to see red. I have my hand reflexively on the underside of my chair, grazing the edge of my semi-automatic. It would be easy. The silencer is on and I have enough associates to take care of his body. No, I'd have to give the job to some captains because his life is too high-profile that the disposal couldn't be trusted with people so inexperienced. I inwardly sigh because the thought alone of his body being high-profile brings me back to the reality that I can't just get rid of him that easily.

I continue to hold his stare before responding, "It has been very successful, actually. And even if it wasn't, being around my father enough has taught me how to properly deal with people under me who are out of line."

I could play this game, too. By the slightest flash of intimidation in his eyes I know that he understood my underlying threat.

I take that as my chance to end this meeting before he tests the limits of my restraint. "As much as I loved this little introduction of ours," I make sure to balance the right amount of sarcasm and fake politeness to my tone, "I really do need to get going to our show."

As if on cue, Brittany comes through the doors with both of our coats in her arms. Sebastian stands from the table and extends his hand. "It was very nice to finally meet with you, Mrs. Lopez."

I shake his hand with a tight grip and plaster my smile very wide before saying, "Likewise. I'm sure I'll be seeing you around in the future. And if you're so interested in making acquaintances, I'm sure I could arrange a meeting with you and my employees," I turn around to put arms through the coat that Brittany's holding open for me. She's giving me a knowing smile and I can't help but flash a smug grin. When I turn back around, Sebastian is staring at me with an equally mixed expression of annoyance and fear. "If you make reason for it, I'm sure they'd be dying to get to know you personally."

He barely nods before putting on a fake smile of his own and turning his eyes to Brittany. "Brittany, it's been nice. Enjoy your show." At that, he turns around and heads out the doors.

I feel Brittany's hands around my waist from behind and I immediately relax into her. "I don't like that asshole. He was pushing all of my buttons and it took all of my will power not to put a bullet hole through his forehead."

"Well, I'm glad that you didn't. I don't want to be one of those mob wives with their spouse in jail. We'd be restricted to conjugal visits," the way her tone changes to disgust at the word conjugal makes me smile, "I don't think I can live with that. I need to be able to have you naked and in my bed whenever I wish."

I chuckle and wrap my arms over hers to bring her closer to me. "Don't worry, I luckily controlled my temper and as you can see: no bullet hole in his forehead."

"Yes, I did see that. I also saw how you handled him there at the end," I could feel the shift of her head to bring her lips close to my ears again. "That was actually kind of hot – seeing you in control like that. I love it when you are so powerful, especially over all of these men." I could feel her breath on my neck again and it was giving me goose bumps. "You know," She paused to bring her lips to my neck and slowly kiss her way up, grazing her teeth on my earlobe. I closed my eyes and released a slow shudder before she continued, "maybe tonight I'll finally give in and let you know how it feels to see me being the one withering underneath you."

I didn't even have a chance to respond because the moment she released her last word she was already detached from me and walking towards the door. She didn't even look back to see me rooted to the spot – mouth gaping and wearing a look of frustration.

Ten minutes ago I thought that a conversation with Mr. Smythe would be my biggest test of self-restraint to date.

With the amount of stickiness I already felt pooling between my legs, I already knew that my biggest test had only just begun.