Page 147 of Fresh Canvas
I turned to go inside, but he stopped me.
“You know this is grounds for a custody rearrangement, right?”
My blood turned to ice as I swiveled back to his cocky smile.
He snapped his fingers as if only now remembering. “That’s right. I tried to warn you, remember? Any change to Anthony’s life gives me permission to re-file, or did you forget?” The gleam in his eye held me right where he wanted me. “Are you really selfish enough to risk that? Risk Anthony to be withthatguy?”
Ifinallyfound my voice.
I snapped my fingers in my own mock epiphany, my eyes growing huge. “You didn’t seem to care about Anthony for the first nine years of his life, or when you tore our family apart. Remember? When you chose Vanessa over us? Or didyouforget?”
His blue eyes widened a fraction before turning to steel. “I'm not messing around, Amantha. You know I have a top-notch legal team just waiting to go.”
I lifted my chin, squared my shoulders, and looked him dead in the eye. “I won custody once before. And I’d love to see you failsomiserably the second time around, so go right ahead.” Without another word, I turned, stepped inside, and closed the door in his stunned face.
Val immediately swept me against his chest.
“I’m so proud of you,” he murmured against my hair. “And don’t worry, Ryan has no chance at custody. Any judge will see that.”
“I’m not worried. Not anymore.” I nuzzled in closer, then pulled back to raise a teasing eyebrow. “Wait. Areyouthe one eavesdropping now?”
His unabashed eyes twinkled with humor. “Sure was.”
“Not you too! This house is gonna be a free-for-all of secrets, isn’t it?” I laughed.
“Once we’re married, yes.”
The thrum of anticipation sped my pulse, the way it always did when Val talked about our future. He was always so confident—like it was only a matter ofwhen, as opposed toif. I found the degree of cockiness in his smirk insanely sexy.
“Oh? And what else should I expect when we’re married?”
Val lifted me flush against him, pressing his forehead to mine. I slung my arms around his neck, twining my fingers into his dark curls. Every square inch of my body that touched his tingled with awareness. His delicious chocolate eyes held mine captive.
“A bigger bed,” he said huskily, the closeness of his breath warming my lips. “We’re going to need amuchbigger bed.”
I kicked my feet happily.
“Shut up, Russo.”
