Page 57 of His Obsession
“Mr.Brighton,” I answer, giving Val a knowing smirk.
She points her fork at me. “I was starting to like you tonight.”
Nico leans forward, delighted. “What happened with Brighton?”
Val groans and drops her face into one hand. “He had three cocktails before cocktail hour was over and started practicing his speech to a ficus.”
Gia makes a strangled noise. “I’m sorry, a ficus?”
“It was near the podium,” Val says. “I think he thought it was an assistant.”
Matteo sets his wine down. “Was the ficus a good listener?”
“Better than most assistants I’ve met,” Val says. “But not better than mine, obviously.”
Nico laughs, and Val smiles in a way I haven’t seen much lately. It makes her look younger. Less guarded. Like this is how she must have been before Adrian got his hands on her life and fucked everything good up for her.
I keep that thought to myself. I have enough sense not to ruin the first good dinner we’ve had.
The meal stretches longer than I expected. Gia tells another event story, this one involving a socialite, a broken heel, and a dog that was not supposed to be inside the venue. Nico tells everyone about Val deciding she wanted to be a business owner at eight and charging the neighborhood kids a dollar to watch her perform in the backyard.
“It was an exclusive performance,” Val says.
“You sang three songs fromThe Little Mermaidand then demanded applause.”
“I had range.”
“You had a hairbrush microphone.”
Gia looks delighted. “I would’ve paid the dollar.”
“You see?” Val gestures at Gia. “A woman of taste.”
“You refused refunds when it started raining,” Nico adds.
Val shrugs. “That was clearly stated in my terms and conditions.”
I laugh before I can stop myself. She looks at me then, and I get the full force of her smile. It does something inconvenient to my concentration. Matteo catches me watching her and gives me a look over his wineglass.
“Don’t start,” I tell him in Italian.
Val narrows her eyes at us. “Are you talking about me?”
“No,” Matteo answers immediately.
“Yes,” I say at the same time.
She looks between us. “Well, that was smooth.”
“Nico told me honesty was important to you,” I say.
Nico snorts. “Don’t drag me into this.”
“As if you don’t always insert yourself anyway,” Gia says to him.
Nico turns toward her. “What does that mean?”
“You love being in everyone else’s business,” she responds with narrowed eyes.
