18. Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Victor
I can’t decide what to do about the sudden difference in the way I look at Gracie. Especially not when I also can’t get pictures of Lili out of my head. But what we experienced during our needle scene was real, and sleeping next to her that night left me wanting more. If I’m going to move forward, I have to determine how real the feelings are, and whether or not she is experiencing them too, so I force my way into taking her to dinner.
She’s sitting next to me in the passenger seat of my car smelling fucking delicious. How have I not noticed that before?
“Are you using a new perfume?” I ask as I flip my blinker on and change lanes. People who don’t use their blinkers to change lanes should lose their license if you ask me.
She looks at me with a strange expression and plays with the locket at her throat. “No, Sir.”
I reach over and squeeze her shoulder. “We’re not at the club, Grace. Call me Victor.”
She smiles at me as a hint of pink appears on her cheeks.
“Habit,” she murmurs.
“I like whatever you’re wearing. It smells nice. Fresh.”
Fresh? I want to smack myself silly. This is not how I usually talk to a woman.
Then again, I don’t make a lot of small talk with women. I would rather get straight to the point.
“Grace, are you attracted to me?”
Her frown deepens and so does the color in her cheeks. “I… yes? You know I am. I think you’re handsome. I always have. And I see the goodness in you that most people overlook because of your grumpy exterior. But you scare me too.”
“I should.”
Dammit, I silently curse myself.
“Why do you say that?”
I give her a half smile. “Not like I would hurt you on purpose. But I’ve done things. Extremely illegal and dangerous things. That’s always going to be hanging over my head.”
A little shudder runs through her, and I hate that. I don’t want her to fear me, despite what I said. But she’s always known who and what I am. I’ve never lied to her about that.
“That’s not the part that scares me.” She finally whispers.
I’m not sure how to respond to that, or if I really want to hear what part scares her, so I focus on the road.
After another minute of silence, she clears her throat and looks at me directly. “Victor, is this a date?”
I pull into a restaurant parking lot and shut the engine off. “Would it change things if I said yes?”
She lays her head back against the seat. “I still get the sense you’re having me take care of a woman you have… feelings for. It hardly seems right to go on a date with you.”
“Then we won’t call it a date. We’re two people enjoying a meal together, and that’s all.” I don’t bother denying my feelings for Lili. Mostly because I don’t know what they are. It also doesn’t matter what they are because it can’t go anywhere.
I get out of the car and open her door for her. “I love this place,” she says as we walk into the all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant.
“That’s why I picked it, butterfly. I’ve heard you talk about it before.”
It’s a little on the shabby side, but I like it too. Owen or Luke wouldn’t be caught dead in a place like this. The mental image of them sitting down at plastic-coated tables with laminated menus makes me smirk.
When we’re seated, we place our first orders and sit in uncomfortable silence.
“This is silly,” she finally mutters. “We’ve known each other for years. Having dinner together shouldn’t be weird.”
I laugh at her outburst. “You’re right. I’m the one making things weird. I apologize.”
“Can I ask you a question that might not be any of my business?” she asks.
I lean back and look her up and down, curious about what she might say. “Go ahead. I can’t promise I’ll answer, though.”
“How did you figure out who Lili was? I looked her up, and she’s not super in the public eye. It took some work to even find her social media pages.”
I frown. “Don’t be stalking her online, Mariposa. That’s dangerous right now.”
She folds her arms and scowls at me. “That’s not an answer.”
I drag a hand through my hair and pull the hair tie out, letting my hair hang free. “No, it’s not. I figured it out after I had… comforted her over her cheating husband. You saw the same bruises and scars I did. My protective instincts kicked in and I was going to find out who he was and kill him.”
The confession shocks her, but it’s only noticeable in the way her shoulders tense and one eyebrow lifts a little higher than the other. She doesn’t respond, so I continue. “I got up before her the next morning and went down to my office at the casino and pulled up her reservation. When I realized who she was, I was convinced she was a plant. I’m still not convinced that she isn’t, so don’t get too close to her, OK?”
“If she weren’t married to your enemy, I would like her. She’s easy to talk to,” Grace admits quietly.
I close my eyes and try to keep my face neutral. Maybe asking her to keep an eye on Lili was a bad idea. “She’s easy to talk to because she’s probably a skilled manipulator, Grace. Be careful.”
“I’m being careful. But I don’t think she’s trying to manipulate me. She’s as confused as I am about all of this. It’s clear she doesn’t like her husband much, though, so if you’re not a dick you can convince her to help you take him down.”
I lean forward and press a finger to her lips. A mistake on my part, because just touching her silky lips sends all the blood rushing to my dick. Still, I have to get my message across. “Don’t talk about that here, Grace. There are eyes and ears everywhere.”
She closes her eyes, and my hand moves to cup her cheek.
“Your lips are soft,” I say.
She nuzzles her cheek into my hand, and I’m tempted to drag her out of her and fuck her in the back seat of my car like a teenage boy. But if I fuck Grace, that’s not how I want our first time to be.
Our food arrives, and the moment is broken. We go back to making small-talk, and the conversation is less awkward this time. She talks about why she wants to be an obstetrics nurse, and I tell her about the first time I met Matteo because somehow, she’d never heard the story. I wanted to punch the bastard for how smug he was. But later I discovered it wasn’t smugness. It was just his defense mechanism.
The laughter Grace and I share tonight is what I’m surprised by the most, I don’t just sit around laughing with people. There’s too much to do in life to take the time for that.
When we’re done with our meal, I want to take her somewhere else, but I have no idea what to do, so I ask if there’s something she’s interested in.
She looks at her watch and gives me a sly smile. “I’ve never been to the mob museum.”
I look at her incredulously. “You want me to take you to the mob museum? A little too on the nose, don’t you think?”
She giggles, and it’s the most gorgeous fucking sound I’ve ever heard.
“That’s why I want you to take me.”
I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this, but I punch in the name of the museum on my phone and hand it to her. “Get the tickets while I drive.”
Grace takes my phone, and I observe out of the corner of my eye as she taps through the steps to buy two tickets to the Mob Museum. It’s a popular destination here in Las Vegas, but I’ve never been. I don’t see the point in a lot of these tourist activities. If I didn’t work in a casino, I would never be on the Strip.
“Victor, this is so out of character for you. Why are you being like this?” She hands me back my phone. I let my fingers linger on her hand before taking it and tucking it in the front pocket of my suit.
“I’m not sure, butterfly, but I’m trying to figure that out. Don’t worry about it too much. It’s like I said in my office the other night, we’re going to see where this takes us. We’ve been friends for a long time, and I don’t want to lose that. Talking with Luke about your car situation made me realize I haven’t taken good enough care of you these past few years. I’m sorry that I haven’t spent enough time with you as a friend. Since we’ve been in Las Vegas, we’ve spent so much time focused on work.”
She reaches out a tentative hand and brushes my shoulder with her fingers. “It’s okay, really. I came here to work for you. It only makes sense that our friendship took a backseat to that.”
I frown at her as we pull into the Mob Museum parking area. “That shouldn’t be how it is.” I buckle my seatbelt and come around to open her door before she can get out. Cupping her jaw in my hand, I stroke a thumb across her soft skin. “I’m sorry, butterfly. I’m going to do better from now on. Friendship is important, and if we discover that it leads to something more, even better.”
Gracie smiles and lets me help her out of the car. “This is a pretty good start to being more friendly.”
Inside the museum, we walk through the various exhibits. I love watching Gracie get excited about the littlest things. She soaks up the information and asks questions.
“How the heck am I supposed to know that?” I say incredulously when she asks me about a mob hit that happened here in Las Vegas nearly eighty years ago.
She doubles over in laughter. “You should see your face.”
“You’re making me regret not giving you a taste of my belt the other night, little girl.”
Her face turns bright red at my threat. I’ve always enjoyed punishing Gracie.
We wander through more of the exhibits, and I stop her when we come to one display. “Now this guy I can tell you a bit about.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Oh, tell me more.”
“He put a hit out on my grandfather. He wasn’t successful, and my grandfather was smart enough not to retaliate, at least not with violence. Instead, he helped the feds put him in jail.”
“Why did he want your grandfather dead? And why would it be in the Vegas Mob Museum?”
I pull her towards a darker corner so that another couple can step in front of the display that we were just occupying. “It’s a long story.”
Gracie scoots closer to me and, to my surprise, lays her head on my shoulder. It reminds me of lunchtime in high school. We usually ended up on the bleachers eating lunch together in the gym, and she would often end up in this position—head on my shoulder, talking about nothing or everything. “I’d love to hear that story sometime.”
I kiss the top of her head. “Next time, perhaps I’ll tell you.”
Gracie steps back. “Next time?”
“On our next adventure that seems like a date but isn’t a date.”
Gracie frowns, and I have the sneaking suspicion I’ve said the wrong thing.
“What’s wrong, butterfly?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know. Something about this just feels wrong. I’ve liked you for so long, and somehow, I’ve never been on a date with you until you dropped Lili on us. Are you just taking me out to keep from thinking about her?”
I’m not sure that I understand what she’s talking about or the insecurity she’s clearly feeling, but I want to help. “It’s not like that, Mariposa.”
“Then tell me what it is like.”
I sigh and drag a hand through my hair. I never put it back in the rubber band after dinner. “Gracie, I’m not sure what to say here. I just wanted to spend some time with you after the way we connected during our scene the other night.” There’s no way I can tell Grace that Lili’s presence may be the thing that has sparked the interest in her.
“Let’s finish the tour,” I suggest.
She looks at her watch and shakes her head. “It’s getting late. I think I’m just going to call an Uber.”
“Gracie, come on. Just let me give you a ride home.”
She’s already got her phone out and has the rideshare app open. “It’s fine. We live in opposite directions, and I want to go back to the club to get my own car anyway,” she says. “Just let me go. I need time to think.”
I’m not going to stand here and argue with her in the middle of the Mob Museum. So I nod. “Come on. I’ll wait with you until your car gets here.”
Ten minutes later, I watch in disappointment as Grace climbs into the back of an Uber to retrieve her car. There are so many things we didn’t get the chance to talk about tonight. Not the least of which is who her stalker might be. Something triggered a thought spiral in her head that sent her running. I’ve seen it happen before, but never with me. I don’t know what was going on inside her brain, but I aim to find out.