16. Ambrose

Chapter sixteen

Ambrose

D ragging Valerie away from the art that decorates the wall of the exhibit feels like a crime against humanity. The way she looks at each piece with no judgement, it's as if she's letting the art tell its story without interruption. She looks at them as though standing there all night and listening would prompt them to divulge all their gritty details, and she'll do so without any judgements.

As if the artist could have done no wrong.

As if every microscopic detail of the art is perfect, down to the way the artist signed the painting.

Valerie looks at art the way you look at someone you're hopelessly in love with, and for some split second, I find myself wishing she would look at me in the same way. I shake the borderline insane thought out of my head, and gently place my hand against the small of her back.

"Let's go get a drink," I say and guide her towards the bar.

"Ambrose, you made it," a voice booms as we reach the bar and we both nearly jump at the volume.

As if a moment alone with Valerie is forbidden, of course, Diego chooses now to make his presence known .

"Diego, good to see you. I'm sure you remember Valerie," I say looking down at the woman next to me, who has turned a similar shade of pink to the dress she has on, probably remembering the circumstances of the first night she met Diego.

"Of course." Diego smiles broadly. "I was so happy when I heard you'd be accompanying Ambrose. With your spark, I can tell that you'll give Ambrose a run for his money. I hope that this is a fruitful, long-term relationship for you both," his eyes linger on me as he says the last half of the sentence.

Valerie giggles awkwardly and I nod like an idiot, not even bothering to correct him on the fact that Valerie is simply my date for the evening because I couldn't actually find another date. I'd also like to entertain the idea that there is a possibility she'll consider us being together, even if it's for a second.

A man clears his throat from next to Diego, drawing all three of our attention to him.

"My apologies," Diego laughs nervously. "Ambrose, Valerie, this is Horatio. Horatio, this is Ambrose Vitale and his beautiful date, Valerie…" Diego looks over at Valerie waiting for her surname, but she's distractedly staring off at Horatio.

I gently tap my index finger against her spine and as if jolted by lightning, she snaps back into gear. "Farina," I answer for her.

He seems equally interested in Valerie, and I furrow my brows at the odd tension settling in the air. "Horatio is the vice president of a new French finance group on the market.

"French, huh? Horatio is quite a unique name, is your family French?" Valerie asks, and I'm surprised by her sudden interest in conversing, when a few minutes ago she was so zoned out she couldn't even remember her own surname.

"Italian actually, but I was born in France, I've lived there my entire life," he answers. "Can I buy you a drink?"

"Sure." She smiles .

"Three whiskeys, and a Negroni for the lady." He orders not even bothering to ask Valerie what she'd like to drink.

"Negroni Sbagliato," I raise my voice so that the bartender can hear me, he nods nervously before disappearing.

"Thank you," she quips in my direction as I move closer to her, placing my hand on her hip, drawing her into my side.

"I lived in Paris for the last six years, I recently moved back to Tevici," she smiles, and the two drift into a conversation about her time in Paris.

The way they speak and look at each other is as if they've known each other for years, but at the same time, Valerie seems clueless. Her eyes are bright as the topic of art arises, and Horatio begins gushing over his business dealings with some French artist whose name sounds like a sneeze.

"I would have never pegged you for the jealous type," Diego half whispers from beside me.

"I'm not jealous."

Maybe a little.

Diego simply smirks like an idiot and refocuses his attention on the conversation.

"Ladies and gentlemen, would you please join us in the centre for a performance by the one and only, Solex."

Valerie lets out a gasp, and her head begins dramatically snapping in every direction. "I wonder if Natalia is here," she says, before grabbing her drink and excusing herself, hurrying over to where Solex has begun singing.

"Apologies, Ambrose, I didn't mean to interrupt your time with your beautiful date. I actually came over intending to introduce myself and possibly secure a meeting with you and your brothers. I've heard such amazing things about Vitale Holdings."

"I understand she's quite captivating if you let her catch your attention. I'll have my assistant schedule something, maybe for next week sometime?"

"Perfect," Horatio smiles, and I shake his hand.

"Count me in as well. I'll come over to your table later to discuss some other things with you and Adriano as well," Diego says, and I nod .

We all go our separate ways, and I gravitate towards the crowd; pink has clouded my gaze this entire evening. From the stupid pocket square, I chose, immediately thinking of her, to the flowers that seem to be covering every square inch of the museum. But, my absolute favourite shade of pink comes into view when I spot her standing between Adriano and a female in a skin-tight mesh dress with flowers carefully covering all the essential areas.

The small tattoos I noticed on her back the first day when I barely recognized her now scream at me. They're scattered so beautifully across her skin, that it only seems fitting for her.

The air temperature increases drastically as I approach her, and as if she can sense it too, she looks over her shoulder and spots me with a warm smile tugging on her lips as she gestures for me to come over.

"Natalia, this is Ambrose," she says, gesturing to the girl next to her. "Ambrose, this is Natalia, Leo's sister and my best friend."

"Pleasure to meet you," I say, as I slip a possessive hand on Valerie's waist. I don't know why I do it, and I don't miss the way Natalia's eyes dart to my hand's position, or the way Valerie stiffens but doesn't move from under my touch.

"Wow, you really are the most intimidating brother," Natalia says, staring up at me wide-eyed.

Adriano scoffs next to us.

"Oh, I'm sorry princess, it isn't my fault you lit up light a firecracker when they mentioned my brother's name. It's kinda hard to take someone serious after they let out a fangirl scream," Natalia says towards him.

Both Valerie and I struggle to stifle a laugh, while Adriano scowls at the girl who feigns indifference under the heat of it.

I can feel Valerie briefly lean into my touch, everyone's eyes are ahead on the performance, and I lean down till I'm level with her ear. Goosebumps race across her skin and I smirk knowing even if she wants to hide her reactions to me, her body clearly can't.

"I owe you a thanks. "

"For what?" She turns slightly in my direction.

"Your little art discussion might have won us a new investor."

Her face breaks into a smile and she turns searching my face for some sort of dishonesty. "That's amazing, I'm glad I could help."

Solex wraps up their short set and applause rings through the exhibit.

"C'mon Val, let's go say hi." Natalia grabs Valerie's hand and drags her towards her brother.

Adriano pouts from his spot where his date is looking bored out of her mind, nose deep into her social media feed, which no doubt is seeing every inch of this date.

"You're pouting like a little girl."

His pout turns to a scowl. "You know how much I love them. Even you love them." I can't hold back the laugh that travels up.

"Go introduce yourself, I'm sure he knows who you are as well," I say and Adriano's wide eyes stare back at me.

"I know you've been acting weird lately, but have you completely lost your fucking mind?"

"I have not been acting weird."

He shoots me a look that screams yeah right.

"Would someone that's acting weird have secured us a meeting with a new client?" I stare ahead at where Valerie and Natalia are beaming as they discuss something with Leo.

Truth be told, it is taking everything in me not to fangirl alongside Adriano, but after hearing what happened with him, I figure holding in the excitement might be for the best.

Adriano is staring at me with wide eyes when my attention shifts back to him. "You got a date and a possible investor? You're on a roll, brother.

"Speaking of dates, where is yours?" I ask, looking around for the girl that was behind him.

"Probably trying to get up close and personal with a random A-lister," he shrugs, not even stressing about the fact that she's missing from his side.

"Does Antonio know?"

I don't answer, instead my eyes travel over to her again. She truly is captivating, even in a room full of art. "No."

"Are you going to tell him?"

I look over at my brother, trying to get a read on his feelings towards the situation but that's when I realise he's doing the same thing.

"No, it's one date," I shrug, and he nods.

No words, he just nods and stares ahead.

"So, tell me more about how you screamed like a fangirl."