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Cecilia
“Is that gnocchi?”
Bonnie nods and uncovers the plate of golden dumplings. “Tonight’s dinner is gnocchi with ragu.”
“I’ve been eating like a queen since I moved in here. This smells amazing.”
She smiles, dropping them one by one into the boiling pot. “It’s a passion of mine.”
“Oh, and we can tell.”
She looks over her shoulder. “We?”
“Yes. Well, I know Victor thinks the same thing.”
Bonnie’s pleased flush is clear on her cheeks, even when she turns back to the stove. I pull out a chair and have a seat at the kitchen table.
Today had been filled with headaches. I’ve been interviewing web creators for my start-up, and so far I didn’t feel comfortable with a single one. They had to take my requirements and translate them into a functioning website for both the assistants I’d hire and the clients we’d have. Before this, I’d never realized how much work went into interviews.
The front door opens and familiar footsteps echo through the hallway. The route they take has changed in the past week, since the night he picked me up from the club.
The night we’d nearly kissed.
He doesn’t head straight to his office. He heads toward the kitchen instead.
I smooth my hair back behind my ear and look over at Bonnie, but she has her back turned. Victor walks into the kitchen. He’s taken off his suit jacket, and he’s rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, inch by inch. “Hello,” he says.
“Hi,” I say. “Did you have a good day?”
He nods. “Brad didn’t screw up quite as bad today.”
A month ago, I would have thought he was serious. Perhaps he would have been, too. But the blue eyes that meet mine hold dry humor.
“Surprising,” I say. “He didn’t breathe in the wrong direction?”
“No. He didn’t scald my coffee either.”
“He’s learning.”
“He had a good tutor.”
A pleased flush creeps up my cheeks. His thick, dark blond hair is mussed from where he’s run his hand through it.
“You had to make big decisions today?”
He raises an eyebrow. “You heard?”
“I guessed.”
“One of my business partners is negotiating with a media conglomerate about a takeover. It would be one of Acture’s biggest purchases.”
“Oh. That’s really exciting.”
He nods, but he’s frowning. “Yes. Carter is eager to run point on this one, but we’ll have to negotiate as a group. The media corporation doesn’t want to sell.”
“Family business?”
He waves a hand. “The major shareholders are all from one large, extended family. They’re letting sentimentality cloud their judgment.”
