Page 85 of Nothing to You
His gaze bounced back and forth between her eyes.“Who says I’ll let you step in?”
“I don’t need your permission.”Her fingers slid into his hair.“I’ll be around, watching, always watching, and if she tries any of that shit, if any woman tries that shit, I’ll kick her ass.”He laughed.“It pays to have a best friend who didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in her mouth.I’ll look after you.”
“Okay,” he said, tucking her head down to kiss the top.“You do that, Rocky.”
He could tease like she was kidding, but she wasn’t.Throughout the relationship, the way the supermodel treated him took a toll.From the nuance of his voice at the time, she sensed it.Felt it.He was a guy who liked to act like everything rolled off, but he had feelings.Feelings she wouldn’t let any woman play with ever again.
TWENTY-SEVEN
ONE WEEK QUICKLY became two.It was amazing how time flew by when she needed as many seconds as she could get.No doubt LA was a beautiful city with plentiful sights to see.The rack of leaflets in the hotel lobby suggested that anyway.Given her mission, she didn’t see anything except the inside of her hotel and Crimson, LA.
Helena kept up and Mieux was a lifesaver.Johann and Myles stayed behind at Mosaic to continue the day-to-day running of Hope.
Roxie visited but she and Zairn were up to their eyeballs in press for theNothing to Hidedocumentary.As predicted, it was causing a storm of interest.Every time she checked her phone or turned on the TV, there was some new soundbite or clip making the rounds.
In a stroke of luck, Jane was wedding planning and had a bunch of useful recommendations, both who to chase and who to avoid.Just knowing who to pursue saved her so much time.
In the habit of visiting the club, it was just another trip there on the Saturday.Like any other day.But that was the day Huddle Hope would become real to the world.
Walking around just before the doors opened, the sparkling lights and the glittering champagne flutes changed everything about the moment.Planning was over.It was time for the main event.
In the kitchen, the to-do list seemed never-ending.“No,” she said, waving her pen at one of the servers she’d auditioned that week.Yep, in LA, even menial work required an audition.“Those are not the welcome platters.They come after.”
The kitchen staff was incredible.The chefs?Quick, efficient, and amazingly talented.The food?Better than she’d tasted anywhere else.Growing up hadn’t been caviar and canapés, but this was her life now.
“Switch that one with that one,” she said to another of the servers.“Move that over there.”
Redirecting trays, the half-empty ones had to be closer to the kitchen, not the pass.
“And the work is done,” his voice announced behind her just moments before his hand slid onto her waist to turn her around.“Looking hot, Radley.You wearing that just for me?”
The dress.The hair.The makeup.They happened around her while she scrambled with the last-minute necessities.Somehow, it had all come together.
“Not for you,” she said, trying to extricate herself from his hold.
It tightened.He wasn’t letting her get anywhere.“It’s time to come and enjoy the party.And I haven’t seen you for days.Did you forget?”
No, she hadn’t.Keeping busy filled the time usually spent being aggravated by him.
“Do you know how much I’ve got done since chasing you away?I could be running all of Mosaic if you weren’t standing in my way.”
“Go to it, baby.I’m happy to be a kept man filling my days with porn and prank cyberattacks.”
“I won’t rise to it.I’m busy.And you’re back to standing in my way.”
“I’m standing in your way now because it’s date time.”
“Your date is busy,” she said.“Working.”
They hadn’t discussed attending the event together or being each other’s date.Talk wasn’t necessary, it was just the plan.
“Stop working.”
“There’s alcohol,” she said.“Lots and lots of alcohol.If you get drunk enough, it won’t work anyway.You don’t want to disappoint me.”
His hands skimmed around to her lower back, pressing her against him.“It’ll work right now.”
“Right now, I’m busy.”
