What We Do in the Night (Day to Night #1) - Stylo Fantome Page 0,78

car. He pulled a long garment bag out of his backseat and held it out. She stared at it for a long second.

“What is this?” she asked. She felt emotionally drained from her walk with her grandmother, so she wasn't equipped to deal with him or his little games.

“Well, I destroyed your other nice dress, so I thought I'd replace it.”

Valentine was instantly suspicious.

“You haven't cared about any of my other clothes you've stretched out or ruined,” she pointed out, still refusing to take the bag.

“True, but that dress was nice, and I knew you were going to need another nice one, so I got one,” he explained.

“Why do I need anoth-”

“Take the fucking bag, Valentine, and say thank you.”

She yanked the bag out of his hand.

“Thank you.”

“We're having dinner tomorrow,” he informed her. She folded the garment bag over one arm, then crossed her arms again, trying to ward off the cold. She hadn't put her jacket back on before going outside with him.

“We are?” she asked.

“Yes. At eight o'clock,” Ari said. “The Hudson. I'll pick you up before hand.”

“Why are we going to dinner?” she asked, a little bewildered. They'd never gone anywhere in public together.

“Remember how I'm supposed to schmooze those big wigs?” he asked, and she nodded. “Well, I thought to myself, 'who do I know that's a good schmoozer who could help me?', and you know what, I couldn't think of anyone better than you. So I rescheduled the dinner for tomorrow. You're going to be my date.”

Valentine's jaw dropped for a moment, then she collected herself.

“No. No way!” she hissed.

“Why not?”

“Because!” she snapped. “I'm not ... you're not ... I don't know these people, I'm not part of your world! That's a job for a girlfriend, not a whore.”

“First of all – that's your word, not mine. I've never called you that,” he pointed out. “Second of all, I don't want some simpering, placating girlfriend type sitting there with me. I want someone who will throw them off guard and knock them on their asses. And afterwards, you can get them into Caché and really blow their minds.”

“Oh, so now I'm also giving them free perks to my club, too,” she grumbled. “I use the word 'whore' because that's how you're treating me.”

She was emotional from the walk with her grandma, so she was letting out her stress and her tension on him, she knew. It wasn't really fair. If she didn't want to do the stupid dinner, she knew she could just simply say “no”. Instead, though, she kept trying to pick a fight with him.

“Fine, Valentine,” he sighed. “Will you please wear this very expensive gift I just bought for you, and will you be my date at a very expensive dinner with me and some clients?”

“Try not to sound so enthused about it,” she snarled.

“Look, you can keep trying to fight with me all you want, but it's not going to work. It's taking a lot of effort not to laugh, to be honest.”

“You piece of -”

Ari dipped his head down and gave her a heavy kiss, stealing all the oxygen out of her lungs.

“Tomorrow,” he breathed when he pulled away. She stared up into his blue eyes, then finally nodded. “I'll be here at seven-thirty. Be ready.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

“Good girl.”

He pulled her in close and kissed her again. When he finally let her go, he took all his warmth and fire with him, leaving her in the freezing cold. Her teeth instantly started chattering.

“Sometimes it's hard,” she spoke in a low voice, struggling to keep the tears at bay. “I love her, but it's ... hard. I'm sorry I snapped at you.”

Ari smirked down at her, that infuriating look she was growing to love so much. Then he unwound the scarf from around his neck and draped it around hers.

“A living saint,” he sighed, knotting the material under her chin. “Saint Valentine, a martyr for love.”

“That's me.”

“And what will you sacrifice for me, hmmm?” he wondered out loud, his arms coiling around her waist.

Everything. You're going to take everything from me, and I'm going to let it happen because I need you, I need someone, to take care of me so badly. For just a little while.

He kissed her again, and this time Valentine gave everything she could back. She ran her hands up his chest and combed them through his hair and gripped the back of his neck. She lost herself to his touch and hoped that on some