Page 42 of Craving My Secret Billionaire Alpha

These feelings were getting a bit more difficult to ignore and I was struggling every day with them. After dinner, I had to meet up with my brothers, so I said goodnight to Ava and Valentina and left. In the car, I thought about how Valentina had become nicer to me but was still passive at the same time. She wasn’t as cold as she was when we initially met, but she was still not encouraging conversations about herself. Everything we spoke about was either about Ava or a general topic.

I got to the little bar where my brothers and I agreed to meet and they were already both seated. We shook hands before I sat down and ordered a drink. We spoke about work and then went onto personal life. Lucian announced to us that Brooklyn was pregnant and we congratulated him. I made a mental note to call her and congratulate her.

We also spoke about how we’ve all been plunged into family lives, which made me start imagining Valentina, Ava and I as a family. I imagined coming home from work and going to bed with Valentina by my side and Ava our daughter in her room, waking up from her little dreams and coming to snuggle with us.

“Are you still with us?” Logan asked and I sighed.

“Yes, yes, I am. I was just thinking about something.”

“Valentina, right?” Lucian asked.

“You still like her?” Logan asked and Lucian responded,

“He obviously still does. Look at his face.”

“I don’t know how to bring it up. We have settled into a very healthy pace with Ava and things are great right now. I don’t want to do or say anything that will upturn all the progress we’ve made.”

“Take things easy bro. Observe how things are and don’t be in a rush to express yourself.” Lucian advised. We finished our drinks and I said goodbye to them as I was exhausted.

The next day, I took Ava to a theme park where she had fun. Valentina couldn’t come with us because she was busy with a meeting. After the park, I took Ava to a restaurant for dinner and she ate Mac and Cheese to her fill.

By the time we got home, she was already fast asleep. Valentina opened the door and when she saw Ava fast asleep in my arms, she quietly closed it and we both tiptoed inside. I went inside Ava’s room to quietly put her down. When I put her in her bed, I took a stuffed doll and put it in her hand before leaving.

I was back in the sitting room and heading to the door to leave, Valentina was walking behind me. She opened the door and when I stepped outside, she asked, “Just how much sugar did Ava have today?”

We both laughed, “Not a lot actually. I knew you’d not be okay with her having a lot, so I just got her a pretzel and those rolled jam doughnut she likes. Then we went to dinner, where she had Mac and Cheese.”

She nodded, “That’s not a lot. I don’t want to give her much sugar. Otherwise, she becomes really hyper and starts running around. And when Ava runs around a lot, things break. You’ve seen this firsthand; it can get too much.” She said, referring to one Saturday Ava had a lot of sweets and ran around the house a lot until she broke two vases.

“It can.”

We stood there awkwardly for a few seconds and at the same time, we both opened our mouths to speak. This made us both laugh.

“You go first,” I said.

“Would you want to come back inside for some tea? The weather is a bit chilly and tea seems fitting.”

“I’m a coffee kind of a guy and it’s too late for coffee,” I said, feeling like a million bucks.

“I have decaf,” Valentina said, smiling as she stepped out of the doorway for me to come in.

Chapter23

Valentina

Leon was always around these days. He had been nothing but a good father to Ava. He even taught her that instead of spitting out her food when she was full, she should use her words and Ava has been practicing that ever since then.

It was only a matter of time until I could no longer conceal my attraction towards Leon. He was such a soft man even though he acted all tough on the outside, he was a softie when he was not in public and that showed really well in his interactions with Ava.

One evening, Leon called me when I was home trying to get a painting done. He told me that he wouldn’t be able to come over and tuck Ava into bed as that was now their favorite thing to do but he promised to take her out the next day to the park. The next day at noon, while I was at work, he called me to confirm that he now had Ava in the car and they were on their way to have fun. I could hear Ava’s excited voice in the background.

I sent hourly messages checking up on them and Leon kept sending me pictures. After work, I returned home and saw Vivian already at home which rarely happened.

“You’re home early Viv. What’s going on?” I asked as I took off my shoes.

“I barely got any sleep last night; I was busy with some work. It made me cranky and tired as hell at the office. Everyone was getting on my nerves so I decided to come home early and go to bed early.”

“Alright.”

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