What We Do in the Night (Day to Night #1) - Stylo Fantome Page 0,96

looking at you.”

She paused for a moment, not able to shift directions in her brain that quickly. It took her a second to pull up the memory of their dinner date Evans; the earlier part of the evening had been somewhat overshadowed by the later part in her brain.

“What?” she asked, confused.

“He kept looking at you during dinner. Staring. I know he hit on you afterwards – I wanted to break his fucking teeth,” Ari growled, his arms going tight around her, making it hard to breathe.

“Nothing happened.”

“I don't care. The fact that he wanted something to pissed me off, and the fact that something could happen ... I don't like it. You belong to me now.”

Scary words, yet they filled her with so much hope and peace, she let her eyes drift shut again. To belong to someone, what an amazing feeling. Someone to take care of her and make decisions for her and solve her problems for her. What a novelty.

But at least she still had enough of back bone to say, “I don't belong to anybody, Ari.”

“Until this ... this thing between us runs its course, you do. I'm going to pay DelVecchio for the rest of the month. Don't argue with me – you need the money and I have it. Next month, we'll readdress the issue. Find a more permanent solution. There's that apartment for sale downstairs, maybe I'll put you there.”

Ridiculous. Abso-fucking-lutely ridiculous. He wanted her to be his full time kept woman, is that was he was saying?

His hands started rubbing again, but moving far and wide, smoothing over her hips and butt, moving up the sides of her breasts.

Or maybe, just maybe, he was saying something else. Maybe he wanted to like the real Valentine. Maybe he wanted to slowly pull her into his world, make her a part of his life. Maybe there could be a place for her there.

Maybe she just needed to be patient.

“We'll see,” she breathed, panting lightly as he dipped low and kissed along the side of her face. “Let's just ... wait till the end of the month and see.”

“Whatever you want,” he sighed, cupping her face in his hands. “As long as you stay.”

“I'll stay, Ari. I'll stay.”

Her backpack hit the floor with a thud, then he peeled her jacket off her. He undid the button and fly on her jeans, but then stopped undressing her. He reached around and pulled her phone out of her back pocket.

“And I want this,” he said, waving it in front of her face.

“My phone?” she was confused. He shook his head.

“No. I'm not just some guy you hook up with at night, Valentine. Not just some 'client'. I want this number,” he insisted.

Her heart swelled and she unlocked the phone and he texted his phone from it. Then he was undressing her again and carrying her to bed. Laying her out in the bright sunlight that spilled through the windows, then undressing himself before stretching out on top of her.

And when they had sex, she realized it was the first time they'd done so in the sunshine.

18

Ari was fucked.

In lots of different ways, of course.

Physically – Valentine had always been a wild cat in the sack, but breaking through a couple emotional barriers had been like opening a flood gate. She was even more uninhibited during the days than she was during the night. He was going to have to buy some more toys for them to experiment with. He'd originally assumed that the more he had of her, the more he'd work her out of his system, but the opposite was proving to be true. The more time they spent together, the more he wanted to spend time together.

Emotionally – he did not want to be attached to this woman. Hence the need for money to act as a buffer. A barrier. It was just a job he was paying for, a service. Yet when Valentine had cried and explained how hard it was being those two versions of herself, it had taken a lot of effort to keep his heart frozen. The night he'd taken the ecstasy had already started a thaw, and if Ari was honest with himself, a bit more of it had melted at her words. He was scared she'd manage to slip through the cracks in the ice. He didn't want another obligation, a girlfriend demanding things of him, and she wouldn't fit in with his world. His father certainly wouldn't approve.