“If you haven’t hooked up with your husband here, I have to express sorrow on your behalf. I’d like to believe once I’m married, I’ll still be attracted to my mate.” I twirled Zoe’s hair around my finger. “What do you think, Magic?”
Zoe just stared at me. Lila had no such issue.
“I think you know nothing about my relationship with my husband, and I wish I could say the same about yours with my cousin. As it is, I already know far too much about you, Ian Kagan.”
With effort, I kept my posture relaxed. But inside, I went quiet and still.
“Oh, yeah, don’t worry about her and Nick. She was banging him like a drum before her divorce was even signed. Why I can’t understand why she’s acting as if she’s a born-again virgin.” Zoe sat up and tossed the throw over my twig and berries before bending to pull on her clothes, as easy as could be.
I couldn’t claim to mind the view, but I would’ve thought she might be a little embarrassed. She wasn’t and I loved her all the more for it.
I loved her so fucking much.
“What Nick and I do is not your concern. As it’s not my concern what you do with Kagan—unless it’s on company property. I’d like to hope you’d employ more sense, but I certainly can’t make you see reason.”
“Right, I should employ more sense, but you never needed to? Got it.”
“You’re not comparing him to Nick?”
“It’s the rockstar thing, isn’t it? That’s your main problem with him. Just makes no sense, considering where you lay your head at night.” Zoe pulled on her bra and her shirt, then pushed her hands through her messy hair and glared at her cousin. “Unless you’ve forgotten what it’s like to be young and in—”
She broke off, and I swallowed.
Did she mean…
Fuck.
“I’ve forgotten nothing. I just don’t want to see you get hurt, Zoe. That’s all.”
Lila’s cool tone had me turning over on one hip, not much caring if the throw fell. “I’m amazed you haven’t tossed my brother into this conversation yet. Surely I’m not half the man he is, either.”
“If you think flashing me your penis is going to change my opinion of you? Not hardly. Half the people who’ve paid for a ticket to your concerts have gotten a similar peep show. And FYI? You want to be very careful.”
That warning hit its mark. When it came to Zoe, I had to be so fucking careful.
Without looking back at me, Zoe snatched my pants and tossed them at my lap. Then she tugged on those infernal boy shorts.
“You don’t have to respect my relationship. I’d hope that you would, since you claim to love me. But you do have to respect my choices. You don’t get to look down at me for doing what you’ve done yourself.”
“It’s not the same, and you can’t possibly equate the two. Do you know him, Zoe? I don’t mean what he’s like naked. I mean him. Do you know about his past? He has one. Maybe you should ask him sometime.”
Rather than launching into a question-and-answer session with me, Zoe went toe-to-toe with her cousin. She wore only her underwear and a shirt, for fuck’s sake, and she might as well have been wearing Prada like Lila. She was in complete control of herself.
She was magnificent.
“You didn’t know everything about Nick when you started sleeping with him, so don’t pretend you did. And if you had? It was only because you’d been his boss for years. So don’t go down the road with me about professional commitments, either. I’m doing my job. The rest is separate. Ripper will get the photos and art I’ve been contracted to do.”
“And some extras too, if you’d like to look at the raw materials.” I nodded at Zoe’s SLR, sitting so innocuously on the side table.
Zoe flipped me the bird behind her back, and I swallowed a chuckle.
“I’ve always respected you, and I always will. But if you think I won’t worry about you now that you’re grown up and living in LA, you’re wrong. I’ll always risk your wrath if it means keeping you safe. And rest assured—I don’t fall for pretty facades. Ever.” Lila spared the briefest glance for me. “I’ll expect to see this studio empty when I check in half an hour.”
She didn’t waste time on goodbyes. The quiet slap of the door behind her was as good as it got.
I couldn’t say I minded her exit.
“She’s right, you know.”