Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 171979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 573(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 573(@300wpm)
“Wasn’t that your brother?” she asked, concerned for Matthias’ face, afraid his nose might have been broken in the action.
Unconcerned, his voice came out in a displeased snarl, “Why are you asking him to model for your game?”
Valerie had to hide her smile; she didn’t want him to find out she liked the jealous streak in him. There wasn’t a thing Sal had to worry about after finding out everything she had learned about him tonight. She had no plans of letting a diamond slip through her fingers. A natural diamond could only be created under immense pressure, and they were about as rare as a blue moon.
She tried to lure him upstairs. Truthfully, her mind had been made up upon seeing his computer setup, anyway, but finding out that he was The Great Salvatore was definitely the icing on the cake.
Now, it was time to eat it.
“Every video game developer uses models. It’s not as big of a deal as you think it is. Besides”—she gave him an appreciative look—“I think I want to make you one of the lead characters in my next one.”
He brought her face closer to his for a kiss, all jealousy suddenly wiped away and replaced with need. “That so?”
“Mmhmm,” Valerie cooed, staring into his blackish-blue orbs. They held so much depth, more depth than she had ever thought possible. They not only matched her hair, but his soul, and in that moment, she knew they were meant as a pair.
As if he sensed the difference in her thoughts, Sal went to pull back. “Did Maria tell you anything?”
Blinking, Valerie had no idea what to say. Did she lie or tell the truth? Then, if she did, how much of it did she tell him she knew of his story?
“She did.”
Sal understood the unspoken words. Valerie couldn’t help but look at him differently, to see him as he was completely, besides just being The Great Salvatore. Instinctively, Sal knew that look all too well.
“How much did she tell you about me?”
“Enough,” Valerie finally admitted. There was no lying to the man who held all the secrets.
“I see.” Sal moved away from her in that instant, and she hated the look he held in his eyes. Even when she tried to explain that Maria had only done so as a sister, that look of sadness never changed. He just stood there, staring out through the floor-to-ceiling windows and up to the almost full moon.
She only wished she could read his thoughts.
“I know you might be hurt, but I am glad she told me. You keep everything so hidden and locked away so tightly that it’s hard to even see you, Sal.”
“That’s how I’ve always liked to keep it,” he admitted, finally speaking in a soft tone. “Because I don’t like it when people look at me the way you are now.”
“How do you think I’m looking at you?” she questioned and got her answer quickly.
“In pity.”
“You think I’m looking at you in pity?” Valerie said confusedly. If that was the case, he needed to look at her again.
Turning his face from the moon, he made sure his eyes met hers. It wasn’t often Valerie turned serious, because life was too short and way too serious for her liking, but when she did, she meant every word.
“This is me looking at a man I think I could actually fall in love with. A man I think could break my heart. A man who could hurt me and toss me aside like he did with the other women before me. I’m not looking at you ’cause I feel sorry for you, Sal. I’m looking at you because, for the first time since I got thrown out by my father, another man is gaining the power to be able to do that very same thing to me again.”
Those words struck Sal right in his heart.
Valerie possessed a vulnerability he had never had. When you looked at her, you could see her for all she was. There was nothing about her that was hidden and locked away like she had said about him. Hiding who he was, was his way of shielding himself from the rest of the world, which was ironic considering the rest of the world could never be hidden from him. How could he possibly be upset that, for the first time in his life, a woman he was interested in had to see him for all that he was worth? It was something he had been fearful of his whole life—to be vulnerable with a woman and let her in on all his secrets. But what was he supposed to do? Keep them hidden forever? Or finally let someone have a peek at him out from behind the computer screen?
“I got lucky my father wanted nothing to do with me.” He started letting down his firewalls as he spoke, knowing it was all Valerie was asking. He had already made his decision in wanting her, so it was time to admit Maria might have done him a favor tonight. It was left up to him if he wanted to lose her or let her in. “I got the best end of the deal out of all my siblings. Dominic, Angel, Matthias, Katarina, and Cassius had it much worse than I ever did, even when I was living on the street. I simply didn’t really know Lucifer, only that he was a person to fear and stay away from. My brothers and sister were the ones who had to deal with him, and while I have hate in my heart for Lucifer for other things he has done, I don’t have hate in my heart for him as my father. ’Cause he wasn’t one to me. He’s still alive to this day, rotting away, but I refuse to see him, to give him the satisfaction to think I thought he was my father ’cause he wasn’t.”