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“I’m happy for the two of you. Sorry, I have a meeting to get to.” Nell slides by us.
Val straightens, removes her arm from mine, and says to a departing Nell, “We’ll have you over for dinner sometime.”
“Nice act.” I signal for her to go.
Val laughs, walking in front of me. We round the corner and I open my office door.
“Ash! How are you?” Val opens her arms and Ash stands, eyeing me from over Val’s shoulder.
It’s been nine months since Val’s been to my office. We used to do lunch. She’d come to my office to pick me up or bring me a surprise. Sometimes the surprise was that she was the lunch.
“Valentina,” Ash coos as if they’re long-lost friends. “How are you?”
“Good.” Val sits on the edge of her desk, and Ash sits back down. “Ryder went to Europe with Max and it’s driving me crazy. I already miss him, and it’s only been a couple of days.” She leans forward and touches Ash’s arm. “What about you? How’s little Molly?”
Ash grabs her cell phone and holds up a picture of her daughter, Molly.
Val takes the phone. “Not so little anymore. Where are her chubby cheeks?”
Ash leans back, and I stand in the doorway of my office. Ash and Val became quick friends. Mostly because my meetings ran late or I had to cancel last minute on Val. Basically whenever I put work ahead of Val.
“I know. They grow so fast. I think I might be ready for another.” Ash bites her lip and looks at me as if she needs my permission.
“Just give me a heads-up, okay?” I push off the door frame and stand up straight.
“We both know Dom can’t function without you.” Val and Ash laugh, their eyes shifting to me.
I signal for Val to join me in my office. “Let’s go.”
“What’s the rush?”
“I have to work.”
Val rolls her eyes, pushing up off Ash’s desk. “You shouldn’t work all the time. It isn’t healthy.”
Ash watches us for a second. “Are you two…?”
Figures. She might be the only assistant in New York who isn’t afraid of her boss. Not that I want her to be afraid of me, but I wouldn’t mind if she refrained from asking personal questions.
“We’re married,” Val says.
Ash’s mouth drops open, and she glances at Val’s left hand.
Val catches the shift. “Oh, no, it was a quickie wedding in Vegas.”
“Vegas?” Ash sits up straighter.
Val is next to me now, and all I smell is her. The scent turns me into a lion smelling its prey.
“Yep. We’re getting it annulled, but our mas—”
“She doesn’t need to know everything,” I grumble.
“She’s your assistant.” Val turns to me briefly before circling back to Ash. “Our mothers want us to give it an honest effort, so I’ve moved in with him.”
Ash’s forehead crinkles. “You both agreed to that?”
“It’s called Catholic-Italian mama guilt. It’s a real thing.” Val looks at me with an expression that says, “pipe in here.”
