Victoria chuckles and blushes at her words.
I watch their exchange in amusement, leaning against the wall and smiling.
“Anyway, we just left a fancy French restaurant and didn’t touch our plates. Thought maybe you would want the leftovers,” Victoria offers before handing over the bag filled with boxes of untouched food over to the woman.
Sue nods her head emphatically and says, “Any food is welcome here. Thank you so much, Victoria.” She puts the boxes down and then makes a shooing motion with her hands. “Now you two get out of here and enjoy your pizza. I’ll see you in a few days, Victoria.”
“Okay. See you, Sue.”
We leave the soup kitchen, and I search the streets for cameras, paparazzi, any reason as to why we stopped in here tonight. I’ve followed Victoria to this place before, not knowing why a mafia princess would give two shits about the homeless other than the opportunity for a publicity stunt and to secure her spot in the tabloids to keep herself relevant.
But the way she saved our meals and interacted with Sue in there tells me she’s genuinely concerned and actually wants to help out the less fortunate. And that is the complete opposite of the woman I had her pictured as in my mind.
“You volunteer here often?” I ask as we continue on down the street towards the pizza joint.
“Yep. I have a lot of extra time on my hands, so I figured I should put it to good use. Sue came to the coffee shop one day asking to put up flyers for volunteers. So, I thought…why not?” A smile graces her lips as she says, “I’ve really enjoyed my time there. The people who come in have nothing, and they are so grateful for every little thing. I try to donate as much time and money as I can to help them out, because they really need it so, so much.”
I stop in my tracks and stare after Victoria. The woman I thought was one-sided, shallow and a princess by all meaning of the word…is slowly turning into something more.
When she notices I’m no longer behind her, Victoria stops and turns to me. Her dark hair falls off her shoulder and blows softly in the wind, knocking the air right out of my fucking lungs.
Fuck, she’s gorgeous. Beautiful without even trying.
“You coming?” she asks with a breathtaking smile.
I simply nod, not trusting my voice to sound unaffected, before I follow behind her, confused now more than ever.
Just when I think I have her all figured out, she throws me for one hell of a loop.
I thought using Victoria as part of my revenge would be easy.
But now I know I’ve never been more wrong about anything in my entire life.
CHAPTER 11
VICTORIA
DINO’S SMELLS DIVINE, like cheese and garlic and grease, and my stomach rumbles from all three aromas combined.
Damon selects a booth in the back of the small pizza place and orders a thin crust with extra cheese and pepperoni. He grabs a six pack of beer from the fridge and sets it on the table between us.
Popping open two bottles, he passes me one, and we clink our bottles together before taking a swig.
Our waitress brings our pizza, and my mouth waters at the sight of it. It’s perfectly cooked and browned on the edges just the way I like.
Damon is the first to bring a slice up to his mouth. And when he takes a bite, a look of pure bliss is on his face. “Tastes just like I remember,” he remarks after he’s done chewing.
His comment takes me by surprise. Considering Damon said he knows the owner, I just assumed he ate here often.
Soft Italian music plays in the background while we pig out on pizza and cheap beer.
Nowthisis my kind of first date. That stuffy, French restaurant is fine for people who like that sort of thing, but this is the kind of date I always imagined I’d go on with a guy I really liked…a guy who reallygotme.
I like to think Damon is that kind of guy, except I know hardly anything about him. I don’t even know what he does for a living. “So, Damon, what is it that you do…you know, when you’re not attending charity galas and bidding on dates, that is?” I ask with a grin.
“I’m a data analyst for some large companies. Basically, I stare at numbers all day and try to figure out what the discrepancies are.”
“That sounds…boring,” I blurt out.
