Page 40 of The Billionaire Hercules Valentine and I: Serendipity

I have two options—cut and run by changing the subject or bravely charge onward. I close my eyes. “I, umm… I had sex with…”

“Orion?” She yells in my ear.

My eyes pop open wide. “Orion? No! Hercules.”

Again, she turns silent. This time, I won’t prompt her to speak. I’ll wait patiently until she says something.

“Wow. How the hell did that happen?” she finally asks.

I tell her about going to the restaurant with Eden and how drunk he was when we left together.

“He didn’t recognize me, though.”

“You know the Valentines are off-limits, right?”

My shoulders slump. “I know. Do you know why?”

“Yes, I do.”

Now I buck up. “Could you tell me? Because I don’t understand why my parents and Max freak out at the mention of their name.”

Again, silence.

“Treasure?”

“Well, I really don’t have a clear reason why our parents hit the roof at the mention of the Valentines, but I sort of pieced some things together. It has something to do with bad business between our grandfathers.”

“What kind of bad business?”

“I don’t know, but—”

Again, she takes a long pause.

“But?”

“Max has the grand plan, and I think it involves you.”

I slap myself on the chest. “Me?”

“Yes, but Paisley, are you involved with Hercules Valentine?”

The graveness of her question slams into me like a two-by-four to the head. “No,” I say sullenly. But oh, how I wish I could say yes. I miss everything about him already. The energy that flows from his pores. His scent. His voice. His touch. The taste of his mouth.

“Listen, I know how tempting the Valentine boys are, but just figure out how to keep your distance. You don’t know our family like I do.”

Frowning, I snap my head back. “Then please, enlighten me.”

Treasure’s exasperated sigh expands in my ear. “It’s just… they do things.”

I’m on the edge of my seat. “What things?”

“You don’t know them like I do.”

“Are they like mobsters or something?”

“Kind of but not necessarily.”

I throw up my hands in frustration. “Just tell me, Treasure!”