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Chapter 18

Sonny answered the door and the two men smiled as the little boys ran into the playroom. "Can you tell Elizabeth that I will be home all day? I thought it might make her feel better if I was here this first time." Leticia was also in the house.

"You're not going to the warehouse?" Jason had been considering playing hooky and staying with Elizabeth today. She'd had a rough morning and he just wanted to be close. If Sonny was working from home he would have to go in. He followed his partner into his office closing the door behind him.

"I figured you'd be off since Liz is kid free so I'd just work from here. Max is at the warehouse. So is Hank." They had good men working for them there was no need for either one of them to be at the warehouse all the time. In fact Sonny was thinking that there was no reason for either one of them to be at the warehouse at all. Now that he was using the office behind the restaurant Jason could move full time to the office behind the coffee shop. "They will call if something comes up. Neither one of us is more than thirty minutes away, unless you plan on taking Liz out of the city."

"I was planning on working from the warehouse." Jason told his partner.

Sonny smiled at the younger man. "Let me give you some advice. When you have the chance to be with your lady without the kids underfoot you take it. That's why play dates were invented." He said chuckling. "On the days that Cameron is here you take advantage of uninterrupted adult time. We'll also do a few sleepovers in case you want to have a night out. Between the three sets of adults this should work out well." Sonny watched as Jason's ears turned pink. They could talk about killing people no problem, bring up sex and Jason blushed like a school girl.

"Well she did have a bit of a rough morning." Jason filled Sonny in on what they had learned.

"Jesus, that was too close." The Corinthos Morgan operation did not deal in drugs. Nor did they let anyone else within their territory deal drugs. "We could take him out now."

"If I was positive he wasn't working with Sam and Ric I would. Right now there are too many unanswered questions. If we take out Lucky they might change their plans." Jason hated it but as of this moment Lucky was possibly a way to bring down the other two.

"I agree with you. If you change your mind." Sonny told his friend.

"I'll let you know. I need to get back home." Jason walked out of the office. He went in and spent a few minutes with the boys before going to his truck.

When Diane walked into penthouse two to check in with her client she felt like she had walked into an art gallery. There were paintings spread out across the room. Elizabeth, Johnny and Francis were standing in front of a large canvas done in deep purples, light blues and smoky greys. It immediately captivated the lawyer. "That is stunning. I didn't know you collected art." Diane commented coming closer to see the painting better.

"I don't." Elizabeth told the older woman.

"Are these over so that you can pick which ones you like?" Diane saw another canvas that she wanted to investigate. This one was full of fire with yellows, oranges and reds. "Because if you don't want this one." Pointing to the first one. "I will take it. That would look fantastic in my office."

"You can have it if you would like." For all the work Diane was doing Elizabeth would happily give her the painting.

"Do you know who the artist is?" Diane would love to know if they had more pieces.

"You're looking at her." Johnny told the lawyer knowing that Liz was entirely too passive when it came to promoting herself.

Diane looked at Elizabeth. "You painted these?"

"Yes." Elizabeth always felt self-conscious when discussing her art.

"All of them." There had to be ten canvases around the room.

"Yes." Elizabeth repeated trying not to fidget.

"How is it I've never heard of you having a showing?" The various canvases showed an extremely talented artist. Diane knew and appreciated good art. This was very good art.

"I've never done an opening." Elizabeth admitted, she wanted to but had never felt confident enough to do so.

"We need to change that." Diane slowly walked around the room looking at the pieces of art. She stopped at The Wind. "This is stunning. You could get several thousand for this one alone. The sense of movement is astounding."

"That one isn't for sale. I painted that one for Jason." Elizabeth was looking forward to seeing it over his fireplace.

There was a story there and over martinis one day Diane would get it. "Okay, here's what we are going to do. I will take these three." The two she had spotted earlier as well as a landscape of a statue of a girl in an overgrown field. It was hauntingly beautiful as it depicted the area by moonlight. "I am going to have them appraised and I will write you a check." What she didn't mention was that the appraiser also owned the most successful gallery in the city. Clarence was going to flip. "Do you have more?"

"She has a lot more." Francis knew that there were at least thirty more paintings at the studio.

"You don't have to write me a check. I owe you money for all the work you've done." Elizabeth immediately protested.

Diane looked at Johnny and Francis who both were shaking their heads. "Trust me these paintings are worth a lot more than I'm charging you. If it would make you feel better I will deduct my fee from the overall total." Diane would mention to Clarence that Elizabeth was going to need an agent. You didn't give art this good away.

"Alright." Elizabeth agreed knowing that she would be the one writing the check.

"Now, I actually came here for a reason. Here are copies of the restraining orders. Ric's was served yesterday. Lucky's is pending because no one can find him." Diane suspected that Jason knew where the man was but the less she knew the better.

"Thank you." Elizabeth knew that Ric had already violated the protective order.

"Great, how are you doing?" The lawyer asked.

"Better, not as sore." Elizabeth answered honestly.

"Good, when you go to see the doctor next make sure I get a copy of the visit." Diane reminded her client.

"I will." Elizabeth promised the redhead.

"Now, I need to take my art and head over to the office. As always it's been a pleasure." Diane grabbed the smallest of the canvases, she'd come back up.

"Why don't I help you?" Francis offered carrying the other two.

"Why Mr. Corelli, that is very gallant of you." Diane said giving him a flirty smile.

Once everything was stored in the back of her car Diane smiled at Francis. "Would you be interested in joining me for a drink some evening?"

"That depends." Francis said giving her the once over. She was in green and looked very nice.

"On?" Diane asked still smiling.

"Whether or not you are done with Giambetti. I don't play games and I don't share." Francis was a pretty simple and straightforward guy. He was too old to be involved in a love triangle. Most of the guys thought he and Johnny were here temporarily but that wasn't the case. At least not for him, OB was still deciding.

"Max and I are done. He decided that Sonny had a say in our relationship." Diane told the big blonde. The fact that Max had broken up with her because his boss said so told her everything she needed to know about her ex. She didn't want a boy looking for his pseudo-dad's approval, she wanted a man.

"Sonny doesn't tell me what to do in my personal life. Jason either, just so we are clear." Francis heard what he wanted. Max was holding out hope, she was not. That was all he needed to hear. "When are you free?"

"Tomorrow evening." Diane was looking forward to spending time with Francis.

"I will pick you up at six thirty. We can go for drinks and dinner after if you are interested." He was interested. It'd had been a long time since he'd been this interested.

"I will see you then." Diane got in her car when Francis opened the door.

There was a knock on the door and when she opened it Jason was on the other side. "I told you that you don't have to knock." She said reaching out and pulling him into the penthouse. "Did you forget something?" He had said he was going to work after dropping off Cam.

"Yeah this." Leaning down he kissed her, letting his tongue duel with hers for dominance until she submitted.

"Okay, then." She said breathless when he pulled back.

Walking her backwards to the couch, he sat down pulling her onto his lap. "Sonny wanted you to know he'll be home all day. Leticia is also there."

"That's fine." Elizabeth put her head on his shoulder. "So you're just passing along a message."

"No. I have the day off Max. Will call if he needs me." The big guard had better say someone was dead if he did. "Sonny told me that when Cam was on a play date I should take advantage of the child free time."

"Have I mentioned how much I like this new Sonny?" She said letting her fingers walk up Jason's chest.

"Woman, get your mind out of the gutter. Is that all I am to you? Orgasms." Jason gave her a cross look but inside he was happy.

"Do one thing and do it well." She said laughing. Was it her fault he was really good in bed? No it was not.

He laughed out loud he couldn't help it. She was becoming bolder and it was so sexy. Honestly he planned on them spending time in bed, but not right now. "I want to take you out."

"On the bike?" It was a nice day. She'd never been on his bike during the day.

"No, not on the bike. You're still recovering." Jason pointed out.

"It's been a week Jason. Most of the bruises are gone." Elizabeth really wanted a bike ride.

"Who came to see you today?" Her friends were still stopping by to check on her.

"Epiphany." Elizabeth knew her bike ride was slipping through her fingers.

"What did she say?" Jason asked even though he knew.

"Not to overdue while I'm recovering. Jason I'm fine really." Elizabeth loved how protective he was of her.

"No bike riding until you get the cast off." He wasn't going to budge on that one.

"Fine, we'll take the truck. What do you want to do?" Elizabeth was sitting up looking into his blue eyes.

"How about a picnic?" He'd surprised her. "It will be our first official date." He knew of a nice private spot where they could have lunch and then they could have each other.

"Okay. I haven't been on a picnic in forever." Elizabeth was excited about spending the day out with her guy. "I'll make us sandwiches."

"I'll order us a basket." He wanted to spoil her. With her still on his lap he called the gourmet shop and told them what he wanted.

"Did that before?" Elizabeth was jealous thinking that he did this all the time. It's not like he was a monk before last week.

"Sonny told me who to call." He couldn't help but grin over the fact that she was jealous. "The basket will be ready in an hour. Whatever shall we do with ourselves?"

"I can think of a few things." She told him kissing his neck.

"Me too." Standing up he threw her over his shoulder fireman style and carried her upstairs.

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