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“So, got a hot date?”
Her head snapped up, eyes wide with surprise and…offense?
“Excuse me?”
“You said you had to leave. It’s Friday night…”
“Screw you. When’s the last time you saw me leave this office before eight p.m.?” She gestured to her small room, walls covered in mismatched sample cabinets and drawer pulls for the clients to see, and desk layered in papers.
“Just trying to make conversation. So why do you have to leave, then? It’s well before eight, as you say.”
“Dad called a family meeting. He’s got something he wants to talk to us about.”
Jealousy clenched briefly, even as he clenched his own fist in response. It was always this way. Family first. He’d started working for Valenti Brothers in high school as a general laborer. After his father had been deported, he’d been forced to become the man of the house far sooner than intended, working any and all hours to keep his mother and sisters safe and sound.
Over the last twelve years, he’d worked his way up, learning, apprenticing, proving his worth. He now led his own construction team, with Dom and Frankie leading the other two since Tony had officially retired last month. He’d always expected to work alongside the old man until Gabe had finished college and was ready to step in. But Gabe had chosen a different path, one that led him to the army and Iraq. One that hadn’t led him back home.
He could see the opportunities, his own potential to fill that role. He wanted it so bad he could taste it: the stability, the power over his destiny, the sense of finally belonging. But as long as business was decided over family dinners, he was stuck, always on the outside looking in. He needed to get his ass in gear and ask Dom the question he’d been choking on for months. As casually as he could, taking care to bury his frustrations deep, he asked, “Oh, yeah? Any idea what about?”
She raced a highlighter across the invoice and reached for her phone, already tackling his problem.
“None. And if you don’t get out of here, I’ll never finish so I can find out. Shoo! Hello? Yes, can I speak to Javier? Thank you.”
She continued entering numbers while she calmly reamed Javier a new one and wrangled a guarantee that the tiles would be delivered to the site by Saturday at ten a.m., no extra charge. He had no idea how she juggled it all, but better her than him. He backed out the door, wondering why that prim tone of voice turned him inside out.
* * *
Phone call done,payroll half entered, contracts still waiting, Sofia lowered her swirling head to her desk.What nerve that guy has!Calling her beautiful, asking if she had a date… She knew she wasn’t beautiful, not by a long shot, but she didn’t need to be teased about it at work. Once upon a time she’d dreamed she was a lovely princess in a beautiful castle just waiting for Prince Charming. But little girls’ dreams often fade in the face of cold, hard reality, and hers was no different. Now, she was an overweight, underappreciated servant approaching thirty, trapped in a mismatched dungeon, and no one was coming to save her.
She hated that in spite of Adrian’s insulting endearments and rude questions, the man still had the power to awaken the yearnings she kept carefully suppressed. There was no use getting turned on if there was no one to enjoy it with, so she tried to avoid it at all costs. But there was something about him…
His dark, chocolate brown hair, his peanut-butter-colored eyes, the perfect combination of sweet and nutty… She reached back into her drawer and pulled out the big guns, a double pack of Reese’s cups. She slowly chewed the sugary treat and pretended that it filled the aching hole in her chest.
She’d watched him during her shy teen years, afraid to approach the boy who was already a man. He’d intimidated the hell out of her with his confident, cocky air. When she’d come back to the company after a few years of experience in college, she’d been ready to pursue the strong tug of attraction, but every minor advance crumbled against the firm wall of physical distance and relentless teasing he kept between them. If he’d pushed her away when she’d been young and beautiful, she could only imagine he’d run screaming if she approached him now. She’d packed on weight in the months following the funeral, and her sedentary job and borderline depression were keeping it there. She’d let herself go, and now she could barely find herself in the reflection in the mirror. She didn’t have a chance in hell with a guy like him, so she did her best to keep her inappropriate longings well contained. Humor and sarcasm were her defensive weapons of choice.
She had to laugh or she’d cry. Adrian was a trusted employee and a minor jerk, no matter how attractive she found him. She could handle him and this pesky response he provoked. He probably had no idea that his words had wounded. Most men didn’t. It likely didn’t occur to him that words like “beautiful” or “gorgeous”couldhurt. He would never imagine that his casual conversation rang like a condemnation in her mind. He had no clue, and that was why he could never know that his broad shoulders and strong arms made inner Sofia weak in the knees.
He would never know because she’d die sitting behind this desk, all alone. She was well and truly stuck. The futility of her situation weighed on her heart. It wasn’t fair. This wasn’t how her life was supposed to go. The anger she tried hard to keep hidden from the rest of the family flared hot in her chest, lashing out at the one person who couldn’t defend himself.
Damn it, Gabe. Why did you have to go and change everything? I want the life we had planned. I wish you were here.
But wishing would not make it so.
She shut the chocolate drawer firmly on her feelings and grabbed her purse. Time to see what Dad was up to.
Chapter 2
“You’re late.”
“Bite me.”
Seth had opened the door to her childhood home, and pulled her into a one-armed hug. “Careful. I hear karma’s a real bitch.”
“I’m really not in the mood. It’s been a hell of a week.”
He pressed his glass of red wine into her hand.
“Well then, I’ll cheer you up. Zia Jo held dinner for you. The antipasti plates have been devoured, but really can you blame us? You’re late.”
