Page 81 of Salvatore
Was he ever going to tell this woman no?
“Let me see what I can do.” At least that stopped her from pestering him for five minutes.
“I’ll go get dressed.” Hopping off the chair, no longer pouting, she gave him a kiss that had him pulling her down on his lap. “I thought you wanted me to leave.”
“I do. I’m trying to work, and you’re very distracting.” Sal ran his hand under her oversized grumpy cat T-shirt to cup her breast.
Valerie grinned at him unrepentantly. “You take life too seriously.”
When she started unbuttoning his shirt, he meant to stop her, but kisses always managed to destroy his good intentions. Pressing a button to electronically lock the door, he settled her more comfortable over his dick. “I take life seriously every time I make love to you, sweetheart.”
“Aw …” she cooed lovingly. “I love it when you talk sweet to me.”
He also loved the fact she didn’t wear a bra under her baggy shirts. Since she had started working on her new game, she didn’t come to his office to hang out as much as she used to do. At first, he enjoyed the break from her constant presence. That lasted a whole hour. After his shift, he would go to their apartment, and she would make up for her absence. Squealing with happiness, she would barrel into him before he could practically shut the door.
An hour later, they would order something from one of the restaurants in the casino, and then she would show him what she had worked on that day. They would spend the rest of the evening watching old movies in bed before making love again then going to sleep in each other’s arms.
His life had gone from spending most of his life alone to being loved unconditionally again.
Tilting Valerie’s chin up, he stared into her eyes. “I don’t think I could stand being alone again.”
“You won’t have to be,” she promised him. “You’re missing your mom today, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” he softly admitted. Hiding anything from Valerie was becoming nearly impossible. He had come to find out she was a much better hacker than himself.
“That’s why you don’t want to celebrate your birthday?” she asked, fiddling with a button on his shirt.
“She always made a big deal of my birthday.” Sal dryly swallowed the lump in his throat at a memory, “One time, she’d manage to rake enough cash so we could stay at a hotel that day. We checked in while they still had the complimentary breakfast. It was the only time we didn’t have to share a meal. We had eaten until we were full, and then went swimming in the pool till the sun went down. That was the only day we could pretend to be a normal family. For dinner, Mom had gone to Little Caesars for a five-dollar pizza, then we sat and watched TV until we fell asleep. In the morning, Mom had woken me up to eat again before we left. When we checked out of the hotel, we didn’t know when we’d have another meal, but it didn’t matter.
“Mom had her problems, but she taught me a very valuable lesson. You can survive anything, if you’re with someone you love.”
Valerie gave him a soft kiss on his cheek. “I’m sorry you’re missing your mom, baby.”
Before he could stop her, she had already shimmied out of his arms.
“I’m going to get dressed, and you’re going to find someone to fill your shift tonight,” she said defiantly before clapping her hands together. “Now, hurry up!”
Pressing the button, he let her leave. Talking about his mom had brought out a sense of melancholy he had trouble shakingoff. That was when he realized sitting in his office wasn’t helping to relieve the aching void of her being gone. He then called Lucca, asking him to send someone to replace him for the rest of his shift.
Less than thirty minutes later, Amo showed up. Expecting Amo to give him a hard time, Sal was shocked when Amo took his vacated chair without mouthing off.
“You’re not going to bust my chops because you had to come in?”
“I wasn’t doing anything anyway. Besides, it’s your birthday. Go enjoy your night off.”
Taking a long look at Amo, Sal realized the man who was sitting in the chair was no longer a kid. He couldn’t pinpoint when it had happened, but Sal could see a maturity in Amo, and he could no longer see an adolesecent trying to navigate his way into the adult world.
“Thanks, Amo,” he said before leaving his office and heading to his penthouse.
Valerie was coming down the steps right when he came in the door.
“You’re here!” As he walked toward her, Valerie launched herself into his arms. “I thought I was going to have go back to your office and drag you out of there.”
“Amo took over for me.” Giving her a quick kiss, he set her back down and looked her over appreciatively. Valerie had changed out of her comfortable pants and T-shirt to a pink, pleated plaid mini skirt, black tights, and boots, with a matching black blouse that had a pink frilly lace around the neckline that matched her skirt. “You look hot. You sure you want to go out.” Sal’s hand itched to pull that skirt up and play with what was underneath.
Darting away from him when he was about to put action behind the thought, she placed herself protectively behind achair. “You’ll have the rest of night when we come home for the birthday boy to get his gift.”
“I’ll be right back then.” Laughing, Sal went upstairs to freshen up. Taking off his suit jacket and tie, he unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt, before running a comb through his hair before he went back downstairs where Valerie was waiting impatiently by the door.
