My Funny Valentina Read Free Page B

lucky. 
    N ot lucky at all. 
    Lars climbed down off his ladder to bravely approach the cause of their interrupted shoot with camera still clutched in his hand, though the clenching and unclenching of his bony fingers around the long lens revealed more than a hint of his trepidation.  ‘Now look, buddy, I don’t know what you’re doing here,’ Lars began in a placating tone, ‘or what your beef is exactly, but I’m not gonna leave just because you say to –’
    ‘ My name is Anastasio Karas – not ‘Buddy’,’ the terse correction was clipped out in a voice overly taut with tension providing an unnecessary warning to Val that the man who uttered it was also liable to snap loose and wreak havoc at any moment. 
    ‘ Well whatever your name is, you can’t just waltz in here to the studio...’
    ‘ Do you own this studio?’ Stash looked down a classic strong nose first seen in regal profile in fading frescos painted on walls of ancient Greek ruins, at the lanky man with thick black-framed glasses perched atop his fashionably shaved head, who came barely to his shoulder.  Determining the most efficient way to rid himself of this nuisance, as though Lars were an annoying insect to be brushed away, Valentina easily interpreted the look, or failing that, squashed flat beneath the soles of one of his pricey handmade leather shoes.
    ‘ No, I don’t own it.  I work here on a contract basis for Picture Perfect studios,’ Lars replied with bewilderment apparent in his voice, ‘they’re out of New York but I do most of the photo shoots here for them in Chicago.  Now what difference does it make anyway if I own –’
    Stash ignored him , pulling his phone from his jacket and pounding one button.  ‘Evelyn,’ his terse tone a moment later was directed into the cell phone he held to his ear, ‘find out who owns Picture Perfect studios in New York and tell them I want to buy it.  Immediately .’  He disconnected the call and slid the phone back into his front jacket pocket before his stabbing dark gaze pierced through Lars again.  ‘It appears I am now your boss.  Your first assignment under my tenure is to get the hell out of here.  And take them with you,’ he jerked his head towards Kandi and Mario.
    Lars ’s eyes bugged slightly.  He absently patting around on his head for his glasses, lowering them down to his nose to peer at Stash closer.  Finally seeming to understand what he was dealing with here. Valentina shook her head, eyes flickering shut.  She could have told him just as well and saved him some time.  She knew better than most what a determined Stash Karas was capable of. 
    ‘Kandi, Mario – let’s go and give them some privacy.  Sorry, doll,’ Lars said with a sheepish look at Valentina passing by her on his way out, ‘I can’t afford to lose my job in this economy.’  He paused at the studio door, forever earning Valentina’s friendship by issuing a veiled threat to Stash anyone with halfway decent eyesight knew he could never hope to back up, ‘but I’ll be right outside this door –  you call me, Val, if you need any help and I’ll come running!’ 
    ‘ She will not require assistance.  I have never harmed a woman in my life and I do not intend to start now.’  Stash uttered the quiet reassurance as the door closed behind Lars and a tiptoeing Kandi who sidled out with him, but Val felt only a modicum of relief.  
    True – you would never lift a finger towards me, but you sure as hell won the heavyweight title pulverizing my defenseless heart.
    The thought reverberated in her head as she watched Mario – in a suspiciously tight in front Speedo – sneaking one last lingering look at the awesome entirety of Stash.  ‘ Buona fortuna , cara ,’ he offered her good luck in Italian before bounding out the door in a last flash of black-and-white zebra striping. 
    Spurred into action by their departure, and feeling uncomfortably over exposed all at once in the