VALERIAI slid into an empty chair at the café. I did not have long to wait. Two minutes later, I spotted Noah opening the door. He saw me, waved and came over. An hour ago, we had arranged to meet at this café during my lunch break which was taking place now. I asked the usual questions about his day while we waited for our order."I bet Dimitri wasn't too pleased that you hung out with me," said Noah, unknowingly echoing what had dominated my thoughts throughout yesterday.I could not stop the sour look that spread across my face even if I tried."Yes," I admitted. "He was pissed, alright, but not just because I was hanging out with you."Noah's brow arched in surprise. "Really? I would have thought that just the fact that we spent time together was enough to drive him off the edge.""Well... there's that," I allowed. "But then I also had to ditch my bodyguard so I could go off with you.""Bodyguard? Oh." His eyes lighted up in understanding. "That's why you were acting all weird ye

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

DIMITRIIn the cold, dark, dank room, Valeria's face seemed to float in front of me. Even when I closed my eyes, it was all I could see. I had a strong feeling that it was what was going to haunt my dreams now for some time to come.During the drive here, I had kept telling myself that she was okay. She was on the mend, at least. The doctor had assured me of that. She was fine, he had said, and our baby was fine too.But all the assurances in the world could not get rid of the image of her pale, bruised and bloodied face. Her nose was still swollen and as red as a tomato. She had a nasty cut above her eyebrows, lots of scrapes on her hands and legs. Not to mention..."A damned concussion," I muttered under my breath, ignoring a slight sound from the man on my right, which the sound of my voice of my voice had occasioned.The thought that Valeria had still been attacked despite my best efforts at keeping her safe drove me up the wall. She had suffered so damn much, and for what? Just b

VALERIA"I need to work. Please."Other than spearing a piece of meat with his fork a little harder than was necessary, Dimitri gave no other indication that he had heard me. I stopped eating at once. I was getting slightly desperate now. The thought of having another day like yesterday was intolerable. Amelia had kept me company most of the time, but even her presence had not be enough to relive me of boredom. I was used to being really active. Why on earth was that so hard for Dimitri to understand?"I'm fine now," I pursued. "My wounds have healed. I need to-""You don't need to do anything," said Dimitri, speaking for the first time since we started having dinner. "My answer about you working still remains no." As I opened my mouth, he added. "Nothing you can say will change my mind, so save your breath and eat."Grumbling, I picked up my fork and resumed eating. I kept shooting Dimitri dirty looks. If looks could kill, I was certain Dimitri would be pushing daisies by now. As it

VALERIAWe were rounding up the Rosy William project, and I was kept very busy putting in the final touches. Every morning when I got to work, I ticked off each day until the end of the project on the little calendar that had pride of place on my desk.Realizing I wasn't really making any significant progress in the report for the project which I was supposed to be typing, I sighed and pushed the sheaf of papers away from me. I walked over to my window and tried for what felt like the umpteenth time that day to immerse myself in the sight of parts of the city I could see spread out before me. The distraction did not work. Not one bit.Again, I found myself thinking of Dimitri and the kiss we had shared in his bedroom a week ago. Unconsciously, my hand went to my lips which had been a little bruised and swollen after the kiss. I closed my eyes. I shivered at the memory of him running his tongue across my upper lip over and over again until I had felt like swooning from the assault on m