Page 7 of A Valentino Princess
“Yeah, I ain’t movin',” I tell her. “My job is to protect you. I can’t do that if we’re not in the same room.”
“Fine. You stay. You go.” She points to me and then to her brother.
“You sick?” Neo asks, tilting his head sideways to eye Helena from head to toe.
“No,” she says.
“You look flushed?” He holds the back of his hand up to her forehead.
I smirk. She’s not sick. She’s turned on. I can see her nipples pebbled through her blouse, the way her chest rises and falls, how her eyes flick to me and then back to my boss.
“Neo, I swear to god, some of us have to work for a living. Get out of my café and let me work.” She shoves his hand away from her face.
“You have a trust fund with eight zeros attached to it, Helena. You’re hardly working for a living.” Neo laughs before making his way towards the kitchen.
“You, come here.” Helena points at me again. And of course, I follow her.Who the fuck wouldn’t?“Here, you haven’t eaten all day. Find something on the menu you want,” she tells me.
“I’m good.” I hand the menu back to her, and a light sweat breaks out along my spine at the thought of her or anyone finding out the one thing I’ve managed to keep secret for most of my life.
“No, you’re not. You need to eat. Besides, you’ll need the energy later.” She grins and shoves the menu into my chest.
I look around the café. To scope out what other people are eating. “I’ll have pasta,” I tell her.
Helena snatches the menu from my grip, opening it before she taps against a page. “We have five types of sauces. Which one?”
“Carbonara,” I tell her without looking at the menu. I don’t need to look to know she serves that here. Any self-respecting Italian would.
“Great. See? That wasn’t so hard, now was it?” she says before spinning on her heels and heading in the opposite direction.
Yeah, well, maybe it was a little harder than you think, princess.I’ve managed to go my whole life without anyone finding out. I don’t intend to change that now.
Three hours after I ate what has to be the best carbonara I’ve ever had—don’t tell my ma—a guy walks into the café. And I notice the difference in Helena immediately. Her back stiffens, her shoulders pull back, and her face hardens.
Is this the asshole Neo has been looking for?
“What are you doing here?” Helena asks the guy. I stand on the other side of the counter, ready to jump the fucker at any second.
“My brother’s missing. Thought you might know where he is,” he says.
“Why would I know where he is?” she fires back. “I haven’t seen him in over a month.”
“Have you heard from him?” the guy presses.
“Is there a problem here?” I ask, making my presence known.
“Marco, this is Kye’s brother, Alan,” Helena explains, and I’m ready to tie the asshole to a chair and do whatever it takes to pry some intel from his teeth. “I haven’t heard from Kye.” She sighs.
It’s a lie. Her ex has been sending her messages. Threats.
I need to let Neo know that the dipshit’s brother is here. The thing is, I use voice to text, and I can’t do that with the fucker standing right next to me. And there’s no way I’m leaving Helena’s side.
Then again, I can always have someone follow him. Though I don’t think the guy actually knows where his brother is. Why would he be in here looking for him if he did?
“Okay, well, if you hear from him, tell him to call me. It’s important,” Alan says, eyeing me cautiously before exiting the café.
“You okay?” I ask Helena.
“Yeah. I’m fine,” she says quietly.
