AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I actually have to hand it to myself. This is way more fun that what I thought it was going to be.
“Such a keeper!” Sarah gives me a friendly shove in the shoulder and declares she has to go find her husband-to-be and give him some of what we’re having.
It’s probably the first time I’ve ever seen Valentina shocked.
She spins around to face me when Sarah’s out of earshot. I keep smiling down at her.
“Problem, darling?”
“Can you please knock it off just a touch with the sex talk in front of Toby?”
I grin. “What about in front of Sarah and your other friends?”
“Them too!” she declares.
I reach forward and brush a strand of hair from her face. “Now, now, that’s no way to speak to your belovedboyfriend, Valentina. People are watching.”
“I thought you weren’t even on board with that?” She puts one hand on her hip.
I pull her into my embrace before she can even stop me. “Let’s go talk away from prying eyes for a moment, shall we?”
I feel her shiver with my proximity, and I know it’s not because she’s cold.
It’s freaking hot in here as well as crowded, and it’s also starting to get very, very loud.
Raising my eyebrows at her friends, Maggie and Grace, as we sail past them, I declare we’ll be back in a moment. They also nod their approval, all smiles.
When we’re out in the hallway and away from the crowd, I let my hand drop from her waist.
“So, do you want to tell me what that was all about with Toby in there?” I amaze myself how I can turn from Mr. Prince Charming to Enzo Russo in two seconds flat.
She puts both hands on her hips now. “Whatever do you mean?”
“Don’t play coy with me. You weren’t kidding, were you? About hooking up with Toby if the opportunity presented itself. Is that why you wanted me to be your boyfriend, so you could get to him?”
“Of course not, how absurd,” she declares wildly.
I narrow my eyes. “I haven’t seen you do any mingling with these so-called highflyers who might need your decorating services.”
“Designing services,” she corrects. “And that’s because we’ve barely been at the party for five minutes. When you’ve quite finished telling everyone you’re about to fuck me senseless, I might have the chance to do some networking.”
“Networking,” I scoff, shaking my head. “You know as well as I do you wanted to make Toby jealous. Hey, I’m not opposed to that in the slightest. But do you really still have feelings for him?”
“I thought I did,” she says, surprising me with her honesty. “But not now that I’ve seen him, I’m not so sure, it brings everything up I thought I’d forgotten.”
“So, stop getting so defensive. I’m helping you, after all.”
“Helping me?”
“You know as well as I do, you wanted to push his buttons when you saw him,” I say with a shrug. “That was the whole agenda tonight.”
“And you went along with it.”
“I did when I saw the way he was looking at you.”
She bites her lip. “How was he looking at me?”
“You know fine well.”
