Chapter 21
twenty-one
AMANTHA
The muscles in my left eye began to twitch.
The boardroom screen was too bright, the material too dull to keep my focus.
Blythe’s presentation for Lance Stirling’s upcoming exhibition was like a fly buzzing over a theater screen.
Blythe stood at the head of the table, her frizzy blonde hair practically vibrating.
She wriggled out of her pinstriped orange blazer as she talked, as if she couldn’t think with it on.
“Stirling’s sculptures and mixed-media art are going to make an epic display. We’ve gotta start with…” Blythe’s voice grew muffled as I tried to ignore the temptation sitting across the conference table.
My flustered gaze caught Val’s again. Sparks danced at me among flecks of liquid metal, though his face remained impassive. I silently cursed. Russo was the embodiment of temptation.
Focus. He’s just another employee.
Only, I knew how he tasted.
He’s just grumpy Val Russo.
Whose paint-splattered smile I couldn’t stop thinking about.
My co-worker.
Who had smacked my butt in the pool yesterday.
I stifled my giggle, rolling my lips hard against each other. Rigid as a statue, I zeroed back in on Blythe’s voice, feigning an occasional nod. My eyes began to burn from lack of blinking.
“Okay guys. That’s enough of my yappin’. You get the gist,” Blythe said.
I scrambled to grab my things as Kate’s voice caught my attention.
“Val, I didn’t know you painted.”
Val looked bewildered until Kate gestured to his hands. A few of his cuticles still had Death by Paintball’s cement-like paint glued on. The yellow and blue paint pods had united to create a puke-colored green.
“Oh. That. Uh, yeah. Occasionally.” Val coughed, swept up his papers, and fled.
Kate giggled. “Who knew?”
I let out the breath I’d been holding and trailed behind her, straightening my black pencil skirt as I walked. “I had no idea.”
An arthritic snail would have gone faster than that morning. I had been tasked with writing a bio for Stirling as well as short descriptions of each sculpture the museum had purchased. The words my keyboard lamely clacked out sounded uninspired and vague.
I closed my eyes with a frustrated sigh.
Behind my eyelids, the summer breeze ruffled Val’s curls through the open car windows. A brilliant pink sunset blazed behind us as I dozed in and out, Val’s warm hand around mine as he drove my car back to the city last night.
I forced my eyes open.
The clock on my computer screen hadn’t budged. I slumped forward on my desk.
Kate approached me with a stack of pictorials still warm from the printer. She dropped them with a thud on my desk, making me jump.
“Spill it.” Kate’s angular eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“What?”
“You’re acting like a teenager. Spill. It.”
“I’m just tired,” I lied.
“So that’s how you wanna play it?” She shook her long sheet of black hair and folded her arms over her vibrant red blouse, scattered with bright orange poppies. “You—” She frowned. “Wait. What is that on your neck?”
My stomach lurched as Kate peeled a forgotten puke-green paint chip from the skin right below my ponytail. Clapping a hand to the back of my neck, I cursed.
I was going to leave a one-star review for Death By Paintball as soon as possible. My skin nearly felt like it had been bleeding after I scrubbed all the paint off in the shower last night.
Or so I had thought.
“That’s so weird, it’s the same color…” Kate trailed off, shaking her head as if she was being silly. “I mean, why would you be painting with...”
The blood drained from her face as I felt mine flush hotter than a thousand suns. Eyes widening in abject horror, Kate flapped her mouth like a dying fish.
“It’s not what you think.” I flew from my seat as Kate’s hair whipped to Val’s office and back.
“You and—”
I clamped my hand firmly over Kate’s mouth as I swept the office for witnesses.
“Russo?” Her whisper escaped through my fingers. “Why in the world were you painting with Val? And why is his paint on your neck?!”
“We’re leaving.” Firmly grasping my friend’s shoulders, I steered her out of the curation wing and onto The Spiral. I didn’t dare stop until Kate’s escalating questions were masked by the clamor of the cafeteria.
Practically shoving her into our usual booth, I said, “It’s not what you think.”
“Is he blackmailing you? Are you in danger? Blink twice if you’re in danger.”
I held my eyes big and unblinking.
“Well then what is going on?” Kate slapped the tabletop in frustration. “Why would you two be spending time together outside of work? You don’t even like the guy.”
I swept a lock of hair behind my ear, the heat in my cheeks scalding.
“No,” she whispered. Horror morphed to seething anger in a millisecond. “Amantha, are you serious? You are way too good for that prick! I literally know of an ex-con that would be better for you than Val Russo.”
“Oh, jeez.” I chuckled. “Kate, I know how crazy it sounds, and it still doesn’t make complete sense to me either. Things… I don’t know. Changed?”
“Changed how?!”
I tried to find the words to explain the relationship I still didn’t fully understand myself.
“Val’s more complicated than we thought. Or maybe complex is a better word. At the gala—” I stopped short, fiddling with the hem of my pale blue blazer. Telling Kate about the forged painting could only implicate her. Guilt twisted my insides as I opened my mouth and lied. “He asked me out.”
Kate scooped her jaw off the floor. “And you said yes?”
“I did. He said he wanted to... explain why he’d been so rude.”
“What in the world could he have said to get you drooling over him two days later?”
I bit my lip. “Some things aren’t mine to tell, but once I understood, none of it mattered anymore.”
“Two days, Amantha! Two! And why didn’t you tell me any of this?” It was only because I knew Kate so well that I saw a sense of hurt under her fierceness. I reached out, settling my hand on her slender arm.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Kate. To be honest, it all happened so fast. Or slow? I’m not really sure.” I released a thin stream of breath from the corner of my mouth. “I just didn’t want to tell anyone until I knew how I really felt.”
Kate nodded. “See? Now that makes sense… But how do you really feel?”
Val’s handsome face and beautiful soul filled my heart.
“Kate, I’m kind of crazy about him. Val is sweet, thoughtful, and caring. You probably won’t understand any of this, but he’s the kind of man I want in my life.”
“You’re right. I completely don’t understand.” Kate took my hand. “But I don’t need to. If you’re happy, then I’m… Well, I’ll get over it. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll shank him if he hurts you. But I trust you.”
I hugged her with a light laugh. “Thanks, Kate. Both for the violent offer and your trust. We should get back before anyone comes looking.”
“Anything for you, of course. And don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. I’m planning on burying it deep into my subconscious anyways.”
We went our separate ways as I completed a few tasks before returning to my desk. I deflated at the sight of Val’s darkened office before my phone buzzed. Heat pooled in my cheeks at Val’s text.
VAL: Meet me in Rick’s closet. Five minutes.
Kate shot me a quizzical look before hitching a seductive eyebrow. “Is that him?”
I coughed an embarrassed laugh, nodding. Kate was right. I was acting like a teenager. “He’s asking me to meet him. Will you cover for me?”
“I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about, but of course I’ll cover for you.”
I snorted at the lie, squeezing Kate’s shoulder as I passed. After nonchalantly strolling the Vanderbilt hall, I slipped into the cracked door of the closet. Blackness engulfed me, as did a strong pair of arms from behind.
I grinned as Val’s cologne filled my senses, his curls tickling my jaw as he buried his face into my neck and kissed it.
“Well, hello to you too,” I murmured, then found his lips with mine.
After a few heated, delicious minutes, Val held my shoulders as he stepped away. I heard him searching for the light switch a few seconds before the bulb turned on. A surprised laugh escaped me at the sight of his disheveled hair.
“Oh, Val. Your hair is screwed.”
He grinned sheepishly, trying to comb it back into place. “Worth it.”
“Is that the only reason you asked me here? To make out?”
“No, of course not. That was only my first reason. I happen to have three.”
I laughed again, straightening the hem of my pale blue blazer over my skirt. “By all means, continue.”
“Second, you told Kate about us?” His eyebrows rose, though he didn’t sound angry.
“How did you know that? I literally just told her and—”
“Then she promptly marched into my office and let me have it,” Val finished.
I paled. “She didn’t.”
“Thank goodness Blythe and Kendra didn’t seem to notice anything.”
I stifled a giggle. “Oh my gosh. What did she say?”
Val ran his finger down the length of my cheek, the whisper of his touch sending tremors through my body. “That she has a contact in her phone that will kill me if I hurt you, no questions asked.”
“Straight to murder, huh?”
“I told her she has nothing to worry about, though I’m still surprised you told her so soon.”
“I didn’t tell Kate, she found out.”
“How?”
I grabbed his hand, holding up the evidence. “The stupid green paint. I missed some on my neck and she put two-and-two together.” I turned my back to him, running my hands over the spot. “That crap is like cement. I swear—”
My breath caught as Val’s lips replaced my hand on my neck, his arms wrapping around my middle. I slowly reached up to toy with Val’s curls, but he stopped me.
“Not the hair," he mumbled against my neck.
I laughed and shouldered him back a few steps. “Time’s up. What’s your third point?”