Valeria felt the brush of his lips on her cheek, and he broke away a second later.

“You'd better put it on my tab, troublemaker, because I'm likely to end up doing worse things to you than just kissing you.”

“Stop it!” Valeria got annoyed, pulling away from him, and Nick smiled as he shook his head. Yes, that would be a war of attrition alright, but he would not be the one to give up.

He reached the door and waved goodbye with a half-smile, and Valeria went back to all her papers. That night she had to stay late, and the two nights following that one were exactly the same.

The workload of two studios—one of them with no CEO and no chief designer—was enormous. Valeria raised her head again only when she smelled food.

“Richard?” She was a little surprised to see him enter accompanied by Layla.

“Doll, do you know what time it is?” her brother reprimanded he, as he put two bags in front of her.

Valeria looked at her watch. It was already past eight o'clock at night and she hadn't ev