My eyes shot over to the door when it opened. I relaxed when I realized that it was only David. His eyes darted around the room and then locked on mine. Amusement flashed through his eyes as he walked over to me.
“Why are you hiding here?”
“I’m not hiding,” I told him as I turned back to the computer. “I’m doing research.”
“About what exactly?”
Letting out a sigh, I leaned forward and turned the computer screen for him to see. David leaned forward. The smile slowly slipped from his face.
“Fuck,” he muttered. “I forgot about it.”
“Yeah, so did I until I heard Val talking to Mel over the phone.”
“What did she say?”
I turned the screen back and leaned back in the chair. My head dropped back and my eyes locked on a spot against the ceiling. What didn’t she say? I shook my head and finally looked at him.
“She wants to celebrate it. She said that in the human world it’s an important tradition,” I told him.
David ran a hand down his face and stood. He walked over to the window, stared out at it for a few seconds, and then turned away.
“She never talked about celebrating human holidays—except for Christmas. Why would she suddenly want to celebrate—”
“I don’t know!” interrupted him. “All I know is that she’s expecting us to organize something special.”
“Shit!”
I was surprised when he hurried over to me and pushed the chair away. David crouched and reached for the keyboard. With his fingers hovering over it, he looked at me and raised an eyebrow.
Rolling my eyes, I pulled my drawer open and handed him the piece of paper.
“I called Mel and asked her about it. She said it is called Valentine’s day.” I watched as he typed it in. “It’s all about having a special date and making her feel special. We have to ask her to be our. . .Valentine or some shit.”
“What are you searching then?”
“For special date ideas,” I muttered. “It needs to be special, David. It can’t be something ordinary.”
He scoffed and sat back. My eyes dropped to his hands when he placed them on my thighs. He dropped to his knees and moved closer.
“Why don’t we use the playroom?” he asked.
I shook my head. After the fire, our playroom had to be rebuilt—new toys, furniture and everything. Things just weren’t the same. None of us had been inside even after it had been completed.
“Why not?” He smirked at me. “It’ll be fun. We haven’t played in a while and besides, we’re trying for—”
The door suddenly opened, making us scramble to our feet. David switched the computer off and I grabbed the paper and pushed it into my pants pocket. Valeria stepped into the room just as we straightened.
Her eyes darted between the two of us. “What are you guys doing?”
“N-nothing,” I stuttered. “Just talking about pack-stuff.”
“Do you need anything?” David asked her.
Valeria shook her head and lowered her eyes. She shrugged and turned but paused to look at us over her shoulder. “I forgot what I wanted to do. I’ll see you later.”
She walked out of the room but was back before we could move. Valeria leaned around the door and frowned at us.
“You’re going to be home for dinner right?”
“Of course, doll,” David said.
“Good.”
With a little wave, she was gone with the door closing softly behind her.
David turned to me with his lips slowly curling up into a smile. He gripped my arms and pulled me towards him. I blinked when he pressed a kiss against my cheek and hurried towards the door.
“I have an idea. Just keep Val away from the house until I tell you to bring her over.”
The door slammed shut behind him, leaving me baffled. I just hoped to God he didn’t do something stupid or did something that would piss Valeria off—like what happened the last time he planned something special.
I winced. Shit, I better go make sure he doesn’t ruin it.
***
“I knew you were going to do something crazy.”
David glared at me from across the room. “It’s not crazy. Val likes flowers.”
“She likes them, she doesn’t love them.” I ran a hand through my hair as I turned in a circle so I could take in the whole room. “Jesus, David, it’s too many flowers!”
David had ordered Val flowers, but since he knew nothing about the type of flowers she liked, he ended up ordering a huge variety of flowers. And by that, I meant that he had order so damn much that the whole room was decorated in flowers. Every fucking surface was covered.
“She’ll like it won’t she?” he questioned as he stopped next to me and glanced around. “Shit it is too much isn’t it?”
Was he fucking serious? I just told him that like ten times and he realizes it now?
I picked up a flower and raised it to my head, and sniffed. A few seconds later I was sneezing up a storm. Dropping the flowers, I hurried towards the door with David right on my heels.
The moment we were outside, I spun around and gripped his collar.
“Fix this,” I growled. “Before Val sees it.”
“See what?”
I tensed and slowly turned to face our mater. David cleared his throat but made a show of fixing his shirt. I nudge in the elbows made his head snap up. His lips curled back into a sneer that faded into a smile when his eyes darted to Val.
“Nothing, doll.” He gripped her hips and pulled her against him. “We were just talking about. . .stuff. You have nothing to worry about.”
Valeria stood on tiptoes and pressed her lips against his cheek before moving out of his arms and forcing her way in between us. “Good. I have enough to worry about as it is.”
“W-wait,” he called before she could open the door.
His eyes shot over to mine in panic. I shrugged and leaned back against the wall with my arms crossed over my chest. I wasn’t going to help him out of this one. He wouldn’t listen to me so he was going to have to figure things out on his own.
“What?” Val turned to him with her hand still curled around the door handle. “Is this important because I have things to do? The women are waiting for me downstairs.”
“I. . .uh. . .Have I told you lately how much I love you?” Colour flooded his cheeks.
Valeria blinked at him, smiled, and then shook her head. “I love you too, and I’m sure whatever you did wasn’t so bad. We’ll fix it.”
He smiled but it dropped the moment she opened the door and entered the room.
“Oh my god,” Valeria gasped.