At the end of the day, the only reason I was still here—still in New York, still in this damn office after midnight—was becauseshewas here.
Valentina.
I didn’t know what the hell I was doing with her, but I knew what it felt like when she wasn’t around. And I didn’t want to feel that again. So no, I wasn’t quitting. I wasn’t going anywhere.
“Someone has to keep an eye on you.”
“Is that your way of saying you’d miss me?”
She said it with a smirk, like she was daring me to bite but still hoping I wouldn’t. Like she was used to people turning questions like that into a joke. Or worse, nothing at all.
“I’d miss the noise,” I admitted.
She raised an eyebrow but didn’t respond, so I continued.
“The constant commentary. The trail of destruction. The way you somehow manage to rearrange an entire apartment just by walking into it.”
She leaned forward. “You don’t like me, my things, or my mirrors?”
“All of the above.”
She narrowed her eyes, but the corner of her mouth twitched. “Bold talk for someone who keeps letting me back in.”
“Not my best decision.”
“You say that a lot for someone who hasn’t kicked me out yet.”
“Give it time.”
“I have nothing but time.”
“At least make yourself useful.” I pushed a contract toward her. “Summarize that in a way an idiot could understand.”
She grinned, cracking open the lid of her food before pulling the paper toward her. “So ... in a wayyoucan understand?”
I shot her a look, but she just winked.
For a while, we worked in silence, save for the occasional rustle of papers, the low scrape of chopsticks against takeout containers, and the distant sounds of sirens bleeding in from the street below. It was strange. Almost ... normal.
Then she sighed, setting her paper down. “I don’t know how you do this all day.”
I smirked. “Didn’t peg you for someone with a short attention span.”
“Depends on the task. Some things hold my attention just fine.”
“Like?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she hummed.
“I would.”
“Maybe if you asked nicely, I’d show you.”
“I don’t need to ask nicely to get what I want.”
“Clearly,” she said, rolling her eyes, but her attention didn’t stay on me. It fell to the document in my hand, and I didn’t miss the way her brow twitched like she was debating whether or not to ask.
I knew she’d seen the name at the top.
