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Loath as he was to agree with his parents right now, he and Melinda fit. They had similar aspirations. Even the ways they spent their precious little free time meshed. Melinda enjoyed opera and visiting museums. Victoria’s idea of a fun night was hitting up a noisy club, partying until dawn, and waking up just in time to go to work.
She did work hard, as proven by her successful business. No one could dispute her intelligence and insatiable curiosity. He disagreed with her more often than he agreed, but no one made him laugh more. He’d happily drown in her honey-colored eyes and never think to ask for a life preserver.
He remembered the way she’d come apart beneath his hands, so hot and wet and beautiful in her release. If he was honest with himself, he’d been thinking about that day more often than not.
And that was exactly why they shouldn’t date, for real or otherwise.
Melinda was safe. Victoria was so very not. She wanted fun, at any cost. Just like his damn father. His real one, not the man who’d given him his name when he was a kid. Raymond Santangelo was a great guy, his recent directives regarding Cory’s love life aside. Hardworking, steadfast. Not the type to get wasted and forget his responsibilities like Tommy James.
Dillon still bore Tommy’s last name. Why, Cory had no idea. Tommy hadn’t been a father to them, much as Victoria’s mother hadn’t been around for her. They had that in common. The difference being that Raymond had come into their lives a couple years after Tommy had walked out on Cory’s mom for the last time when he’d been eight, and Cory had been told he could stop worrying quite so much about taking care of his mom and little brother.
Though he never really had. As much as he hated admitting it, he’d expected Raymond to choose wine, women, and song over his family someday just like Tommy had. So Cory had stayed vigilant, ever ready to step back into the role of man of the house.
Even now that his parents were retiring, he still hadn’t stopped taking that role seriously. He never wanted to cause his mom even an instant of grief, which was part of why he’d come up with this inane fake girlfriend plan in the first place.
Without the photos that had pushed him into making a move, he might’ve balked at going so far as faking a relationship. But he could trust Victoria to keep up her end of the bargain. This arrangement could be beneficial to her, too, as far as business contacts were concerned. That mutual benefit had swayed him, as had the fact that he wouldn’t risk losing control of Value Hardware for any reason. Not after he’d sacrificed so much of his life to make it a success.
He’d come up with the crazy idea that Victoria could help him, nicely forgetting that she often inspired thoughts he had no business thinking. But it was too late. Victoria had thrown down the gauntlet with his mother. He’d tried to do the responsible thing and hold her at arm’s length.
Now she’d see what she’d unleashed.
He set aside the binoculars and yanked out his phone. No calls. No texts. Maybe she’d decided to break her sexless streak. Ten months. Ha. Though he didn’t use slang as a rule, he’d been tempted to whatever the hell out of her for that one.
“Add in six more months, sweetheart,” he muttered. “Then we’ll talk.”
He called and waited through three rings before someone answered who most certainly wasn’t Victoria, unless she’d been smoking a lot of Camels.
“Yo. Vicky’s phone.”
A freaking guy had answered her cell, just as he’d feared. Not feared. Suspected. Fear would indicate a level of trepidation at the possible outcomes. He was…indifferent.
“Who the hell are you?” Cory stalked back to the railing as if he could see into Victoria’s house on the opposite side of town. “Where is Victoria?”
“Dude, she’s out with the dog. She’ll be back.”
The news that Victoria and her faceless he-man weren’t currently screwing like bunnies calmed him somewhat, but what she was doing infuriated him all over again. “Why is Victoria out with your dog when she’s late to see me? Dude?”
He heard a commotion in the background followed by a thud. “Vicks, come get your phone. The dude keeps calling you Victoria.”
Her sigh gusted over the line amid the sounds of a scuffle. “Yeah?”
“Yeah? That’s how you respond to me after you’ve kept me waiting six hours?” Cory blew out a breath. “Who is that guy?”
She laughed, and he knew, just knew, she was laughing at him. “That was Bryan, you dolt. My brother. He’s home for an…uh, unscheduled visit.”
Relief shot through Cory with such speed he actually sagged against the railing. Thank God she wasn’t there to witness his humiliation. “I saw his game against the Ravens. Incredible.” He paused. “Well, until that sack in the fourth quarter. How’s he doing now, by the way?”
“Fine. He’s just fine.” Her terse reply surprised him. “I’ll pass him your regards.”
“Thanks. And, uh, tell him I’m sorry for—”
“For being you?” she asked wryly.
Miraculously, a smile slid across his face. Amazing what just the sound of her voice could do to him sometimes. “Something like that.”
“Will do.” She sighed again. “Give me a few and I’ll get there, okay?”
He was tempted to tell her to forget it. Meeting after midnight when both their…tempers were aroused was a recipe for disaster. Once she learned exactly how serious he’d been about pushing her limits, she’d want no part of him.
