Page 104 of Valentino

“Because I’m hungry.” I smile.

His eyes hold mine for a beat. “Okay. Let’s go out to dinner.”

The restaurant tonight is my favorite, not his.

He picks up the wooden spoon and stirs the pasta; he has a taste; his eyebrows flick up in approval. “Hmm.” He licks his lips. “This is delicious.”

“I’m going to learn how to make this.” I spoon some onto my plate. “That’s my new goal.”

He smiles as he listens.

“I’ll make it for you.” I sip my wine and smile as I imagine proudly serving it up for him.

“Do you make a habit of cooking dinner for your enemies?” he asks as he keeps serving.

“Always.” I take the spoon from him. “Fastest way to kill them.”

Amusement flashes across his face. “I’ll have to remember that.”

“Happy to cook for any enemy you want to eradicate,” I tell him.

He holds his wineglass to mine and we clink. “Good to know.”

We begin to eat, but there’s an elephant in the room and I have to address it.

“This is very civilized.” I smile awkwardly.

“It is.”

I shrug. “After the way our day started, I mean….”

He looks up and waits for me to finish,

“I shouldn’t have said anything,” I say softly.

“About what?”

“Just….” My voice trails off. “I regret saying….”

“That you liked me?”

“That you were like him.”

He goes back to eating.

“And you’re right,” I add. “I don’t know you anymore, I mean I do know you but not as well as I would like to.”

His eyes hold mine for an extended beat before he goes back to eating his dinner.

“I think….” I hold my knife and fork in my hands as I try to articulate my thoughts, this is all coming out wrong. “I think we should just start again, Val.”

“Start again?”

“Pretend that we just met.”

He frowns as he listens.

“And we wouldn’t know anything about each other’s pasts and we would just…meet.”