AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Before I can say anything, the bartender deftly sets a coaster and a margarita glass in front of me.
“Why didn’t you just tell me you’d ordered something for me?” I ask Angelo.
He arches his brows. “Because I didn’t.”
The bartender waves down the length of the bar. “Your admirer asked me to give this to you.”
Admirer. Great. Just what I need, another man in my life.
“No, I can’t accept,” I start to say, right up until I see Victor standing at the other end of the bar, lifting his own glass in a silent toast.
I glare at him, then I turn to Angelo. “You knew he was going to be here,” I hiss. “Are you crazy? Pavone’s meeting us in under an hour.”
Angelo shrugs and pretends to look past me. “Princess, I can’t control the entire male population of Benton City. If you don’t want strangers sending you drinks… Okay, you can’t stop being so hot, I know that’s impossible.” He laughs and pats my shoulder. “Why don’t you tell the gentleman you’re already spoken for?”
Wonderful. Another one of their games. I grab the drink and walk over to Victor, fully intending to spill it all over his lap.
He smiles at me, and I hate that the rarity of his—seemingly—genuine smiles makes my stomach flutter all the more.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I ask him. “Do you want to get me killed?”
“I’m sorry, Miss. I saw a beautiful lady and thought I’d like to get to know her. The drink is yours, no strings attached. Although if you’d grant me some conversation…?” Victor leans in closer and whispers, “Every hour spent apart is torture, love.”
My heart skips a beat, and I can’t even fathom how warm the words make me despite how patently fake they must be. “It hasn’t even been that long. Only a few days,” I tell him, going for chastising but coming out somewhere more like teasing. Fuck. I don’t need to encourage him. “It’s too dangerous for you to be here. Get out.”
I consider the drink in my hands, trying to decide if I’d rather dump the contents of the margarita glass in his face or in his lap. Instead, I take a sip.
“If you’re worried about Pavone, he’s still at his meeting.” Victor takes a sip of his own drink. “I had a few questions about logistics that we didn’t get to go over last time… Although my main motivation was coming to see you, of course.”
“You could’ve just asked Angelo,” I point out. I drink more of the margarita, deciding it tastes too good to waste on Victor’s expensive suit. Though his face probably would be priceless… It would cause a scene, though, and that would be the last thing I needed.
“I don’t want to have sex with Angelo, love,” Victor answers flatly. “I wouldn’t have come here just to exchange information.”
“Well, I don’t want to have sex withyouhere,” I respond, although my heart pounds in my ears. “Especially not right before I meet with Pavone!”
Victor sets his drink on the bar counter and gets closer, leaving barely any space between us. “Are you sure? Because I wonder how you must feel, knowing you’ve been pulling one over on Pavone. He’s enjoying himself, thinking his bride-to-be is fully committed to acting her part, and you’ve still got the taste of another man’s cum on your lips.”
“There are other women who can give you a blowjob, you know,” I say tartly, even though his words do send a little shiver through me. Would Pavone taste it on my lips? Would he recognize it? Or would it be my little secret? He’s never noticed during any of his awful “inspections.”
Maybe my fight with Vanessa has me being a little too careless, but I want that feeling of power again. I want to sit across the table from Pavone knowing I’d made a fool of him without him even suspecting.
“Just remember, this doesn’t mean anything. I’m not coming back to you, when all of this is said and done,” I tell Victor.
“Which is why I need to enjoy my time with you while I can,” Victor answers. He lifts his hand, as if to touch me, but lowers it just before our skin can make contact. “I don’t expect anything from you, Lucia. You’ve made your stance clear. And you’re right, of course, that doing anything in public is far too dangerous. I wouldn’t want to be the cause of your demise.”
He pulls away from me, and the air where he once was is frigid against my skin.
“Enjoy the drink, Lucia.” After a pause, he adds, “Although if you want to continue the conversation, I believe there are a few private rooms in the lobby.”
“You’re an exhibitionist,” I accuse him, setting my own drink down. I feel a little dizzy, and despite the part of me that’s screaming about just how bad of an idea this is, how I really am falling into all those bad habits Vanessa accused me of, I want to keep talking to him. I glance over at Angelo, but his face is unreadable. I don’t know what he’s thinking or feeling, and I don’t know what I am either.
I watch Victor leave the bar. The clock over the door lets me know there are another twenty minutes before Pavone is going to show up.
“Hey, Angelo,” I say, and I can barely recognize my own voice. “I’m heading to the restroom.”
“Yeah, fine,” Angelo answers. “Don’t taketoolong.”
I’ll just touch up my make-up, I tell myself. I’m not actually planning to spend more time with Victor.
