I saw red.
This asshole was schmoozing another woman when we said in our fucking contract that we were only seeing each other. Quickly looking around the table, Ro wasn't in sight. My first reaction was to say something, but then if I did, everyone would know about us, and we couldn’t have that.
“Florida!” Webber yelled a little too loudly.
“Make sure you eat before you go back to work,” Easton said, leaving me at the table.
“Damn, you look gorgeous,” Webber said, standing up, giving me a big hug.
He was gorgeous in his tux with his brown hair styled back in a shorter haircut.
“Thanks,” I said, embracing him. “You don’t look too bad yourself.”
“This is my best friend, Jude,” Webber said, and we shook hands.
“My name is Valencia, nice to meet you,” I said, feeling Hunter's gaze on me.
“It’s nice to meet you,” he said with a shy smile, looking oddly familiar. “Webber didn’t say you were beautiful.”
“He’s got blinders since we work together,” I laughed.
“Jude here is single,” Webber said with a big grin. “I hear Valencia is single too.”
“I don’t leave till Monday, maybe we can get a drink?” Jude was suave and I was tempted to take his offer just to spite Hunter.
“I don’t know, I’m working the next few days,” I said.
“Yeah, Valencia is our social media manager and she’s amazing at her job,” Hunter said, but I refused to look at him
“Oh, this is Valencia!” The woman looked excited. “Hunter, you didn’t say she was beautiful either.”
She smacked him on the shoulder. I was taken aback that Hunter had spoken to his date about me.
“Um… Hi,” I said, wanting to be mean and stake my claim, but no matter how much I wanted to do it, there was no way I could do it without revealing our relationship.
“Valencia, this is my mother, Tina,” he said, and it was like he had stolen my breath away while I noticed how he emphasized ‘mother’.
“Oh… hello, Tina, nice to meet you,” I said, feeling so fucking embarrassed and grateful I hadn’t done anything irrational.
She stood up to give me a hug. “He hasn’t stopped talking about you,” she whispered.
We pulled apart and she gave me a knowing smile. Jesus Christ, did she know about us? Did Hunter just tell her we had a BDSM contract? Oh, fuck my life, I couldn’t do this.
23
Hunter
Iknew the moment Valencia pursed her lips, she was mad. At first, I racked my brain to figure out what I had done wrong and then I realized she had mistaken my mother for a romantic date.
It wasn’t the first time someone had assumed my mother was my girlfriend or even my wife. We looked nothing alike and since my mother had me at fourteen, she wasn’t much older than I and she looked damn good for her age.
My suspicion was confirmed when my mother decided to play matchmaker and tell Valencia that I had been talking about her. She looked guilty, which explained why she had entertained the idea of having a drink with Webber’s friend, who I was pretty sure was in love with him.
As Valencia talked with my mother and the rest of the table, I noticed her stealing glances at me, but she didn’t talk to me. It was frustrating, but it also gave me the time to work out her punishment. She needed to trust me, and if we didn’t have that, then there was no point in being together.
The contract had just started, and it was going to end before we even had a chance to explore it. As she laughed at what Jude had said, I was ready to tell him to just kiss Webber and geta fucking room so he could leave her alone. After dinner, she excused herself. She walked around taking photos like she would do for a hockey game.
Was she working the event?