“Are you enjoying yourself?” Max asked smoothly, watching me like he already knew I wasn’t.
“Would you believe me if I said yes?”
He didn’t bother entertaining my sarcasm—he never really did. He always cut to the chase, which I could feel him about to get to.
“I’d like to introduce you to someone,” he said, motioning toward the man across from him. “This is Jonathan.”
Jonathan stood and reached his hand across the table for me to grab. He was attractive in a textbook way: freshly shaved beard and blond hair.
He wasn’t my type.
“Pleasure to meet you,” he said, his grip firm. He had the confidence of a man who’d never heard the word“no”in his life.
“Valentina.”
“I know,” he said.
My brows lifted slightly. “Oh, you’ve done your research.”
His lips curled. “It wasn’t hard.”
Marco shifted, his back brushing against my fingers.
Max continued, “Jonathan’s in law enforcement.”
“A cop?”
“FBI,” Jonathan corrected smoothly.
I clicked my tongue. “Ah. A Fed.” He was waiting for my reaction. “And are you crooked?”
He let out an uncomfortable laugh. “That’s quite the question.”
I shot him a smile and pressed, “It’s a yes or no.”
Jonathan glanced at Max then back at me. He wasn’t stupid—he knew better than to answer.
“Don’t worry,” I said lightly. “None of you ever know how to answer that one.”
Marco’s fingers tapped once against the table—the only sign he was listening.
Jonathan studied me. “Do you always ask the difficult questions?”
I smirked. “Do you always avoid answering them?”
Max sighed, cutting in before Jonathan could respond. “Valentina, be nice.”
I glanced at Max. “Speaking of nice, you think you could find me a ride home? This party is a bore.”
Max didn’t hesitate. No surprise there—he was probably eager to hand me off and make me someone else’s problem for the evening. He already had his phone out, thumb scrolling impatiently through his endless contacts list.
But then Marco stood abruptly, his chair scraping lightly against the marble. “I’ll take her.”
I blinked.
Well, that was unexpected. Suspiciously so.
Max arched a brow but didn’t argue. Of course he didn’t—he was probably thrilled to pawn me off to his overpriced lawyer for the evening. “All right, thanks.”
