Chapter 173

• VALENTINA
• The elevator doors slid open on the twenty-third floor and the usual hum of the office hit me right away. Phones ringing. Keyboards clicking. People moving fast between cubicles. I stepped out, bag heavy on my shoulder, and walked straight to my desk. My head still felt full of yesterday’s argument. Gustavo’s eyes locked on mine. The way his voice dropped when he said he thought about me every night. The almost-touch of his fingers on my wrist. Every second of it kept playing, and every time it did my chest tightened. I hated how much I wanted to believe him. Hated how much I still wanted him.
• I dropped into my chair and opened the merger files. Numbers. Charts. Updates I needed to type. Safe work. I forced my eyes to stay on the screen.