Sixty-Three

VALERIA

"Well, well you look really pissed about something," Noah said as I swept past him into the house without saying a word. "Who annoyed you now? Was it our dear Vance? I can put him out of action for you, you know. Just say the word." He looked out the door, but probably didn't see Vance who was already likely to be waiting in the car by now.

Noah's teasing did what he had expected it to. It made me smile a little.

"Don't be silly. Vance is almost twice your size. He'll crush you in half a second.'

Noah waggled his brows and chuckled. "Give me a little credit, Val. So, on a more serious note, what's going on?"

"It's Dimitri," I complained.

"Ah. I should have guessed." He poured drinks from a bottle on the center table and handed me one. "What has he done this time?"

"It's more like what hasn't he done? As soon as I got to work this morning, he called me into his office. Honestly, the way he scolded me for coming over to your place, you would have thought I was his child. He prac