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“You’re an idiot,” she murmured under her breath, chastising herself for her behavior. She’d gotten far too carried away during that dance with Matt, fantasizing about things she had no business longing for.
Karma was having a lot of fun at her expense. She’d wished for Davis to be less of a nice guy, hoping for him to reveal some level of bad boy during their dance.
Well, she’d gotten a bad boy.
Only it was the wrong one.
The Russo and Moretti animosity had started decades earlier, generations of Russo men all finding ways to hurt her family, either through affairs or financial ruin. And Matt had added his own sins to those of his father and grandfather.
He and her cousin Tony had been rivals their senior year, competing in sports and clubs. When Tony won the class president election, as well as the position of quarterback on the football team, Matt had retaliated, in true Russo fashion, by having sex with Tony’s girlfriend, his first love. Then, he’d taken it one step further by ensuring Tony caught them in the act.
That story had been retold so many times it was practically family legend. Yet, Liza couldn’t reconcile that younger Matt with the man she knew today, no matter how many times she tried.
The face Matt projected to the world was cold, impassive, aloof, yet her instincts told her that was nothing more than a mask. She couldn’t shake the sense there was a much different man buried deep beneath the layers of…God…she wasn’t sure what. Anger? Arrogance? Sadness?
Her feelings, her suspicions, about him were driving her as insane as the man himself. She should be able to resist him, but she couldn’t. Maybe it was because every time she looked at him, she saw something no one else seemed able to recognize.
Matt seemed broken.
Wounded.
And every instinct she possessed told her to step closer, to look deeper. But doing so felt too much like baring her throat to the beast.
Liza sighed. It was nearly one a.m. Time to put all thoughts of Matt to bed. Preferably forever.
“Liza,” Charles said, dropping down into the chair next to hers. “There’s no need for you to remain any longer. Go home. I’ll hang around and lock up the store,” he added with a wink.
“Oh, but I feel like I should—”
“There’s nothing else you need to do. The party is as good as over. You did a wonderful job. I can see you’re exhausted, and I’m perfectly capable of entertaining these last few stragglers. There will always be a handful who never want to say die.”
She felt like she should argue, but she didn’t have it in her. “Thanks, Charles. I appreciate it.”
He rose and she followed suit, resisting the urge to wince as she did so. Her shoes were killing her, so much so she was considering ripping them off the second she hit the elevator.
Charles gave her a fatherly hug. “I’m so proud of what you accomplished here tonight, Liza.”
“What we accomplished,” she corrected.
“I’ll stop by your office Monday morning, and we can see where we landed on contributions.”
She crossed her fingers, then reached for her clutch. “Good night.”
She slowly dragged her weary body out of the ballroom, and she had just reached the end of the long hallway that led to the hotel’s front foyer when she heard a familiar voice raised in anger, and then a loud slap.
“How dare you end things this way!” Patricia yelled.
Liza caught only a brief glimpse of Matt and Patricia facing off in the foyer of the hotel before she quickly took one huge step to the right, hiding behind a large pillar so she was out of sight of the couple.
She glanced back down the hall and considered returning to the ballroom, but dammit…her feet hurt too much.
Unfortunately, there was no way to pass Matt and Patricia without them seeing her.
She had enough energy to get to the elevator and up to her room and that was it. She had zero desire to have yet another confrontation with Patricia or another…whatever the fuck had been going on between her and Matt.
“Keep your voice down, Patricia. I have no interest in drawing a crowd,” Matt said, so low Liza barely heard him.
“I will not keep my voice down. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to expect my date to treat me with courtesy. To pay attention to me. I didn’t enjoy watching you staring at her all night.”
