“Oh.” She nods. “Yeah, that.”
“So, no Jayme,” I say, pointing to myself. “But Carson and Taya need to be in the video. He’s thanking you, you say no problem.”
Toni interrupts, tutting. “People are gonna think they’re together if you do that.”
Taya snorts so hard that her Liquid Cocaine comes out of her nose. “No, they ain’t. Look at us, nobody would think that.”
I look from Carson to Taya, both beautiful, smart, wealthy people. Stranger things have happened. I’m glad they didn’t.
“Okay, what if I stand behind Carson with my hand on his shoulder but my face off-screen. He can glance up lovingly—”
“Done.” Carson agrees easily with that part, making me smile.
“Done.” Taya agrees.
“Done.” Toni agrees too.
But they’re not only agreeing to my hand modeling in the video. They’re done with it all.
“Wait, I wasn’t finished,” I argue, still working out the camera angles and verbiage to ensure it answers the questions but doesn’t reveal too much.
“We got this,” Carson promises. “I’m like a pro at this now.”
I look at him, wryly amused. “Do I need to remind you of why we met?”
“Maybe. But we can do that later when Toni can’t see.” He licks his lips and gives me a sexy smirk, but then his eyes flick to the side in a quick look of annoyance. “And Taya isn’t listening outside the door.”
“Good luck with that,” she quips, still rubbing her nose a bit after the reverse drink. Yeah, Carson’s going to have to learn that side-eye doesn’t work with Taya, and she likely took the door comment as a fresh challenge. She’ll be hanging out by every door we walk through like a bouncer now, probably singing Let’s Get It On to serenade us.
A few minutes later, Carson’s phone is set up on a tripod and Taya’s ring light is angled toward their faces on the couch. I’m standing behind them like we planned.
“Hey, people! Got a little update for you. I helped my man, Carson, find his true love or some shit.” Taya tilts her head to Carson like she didn’t do anything more than tell him the time.
Carson smiles stiffly, not a natural in front of the camera in the slightest, which is somehow what makes him extra sexy on the screen. “Yeah, uh . . . Taya helped me. And I’d like to say thank you.”
He goes quiet, and Taya smacks him before I can press my hand on his shoulder. “Tell ’em you two are in love and shit.”
“Oh.” Carson lifts his hand, taking mine and pressing a kiss to my knuckles. That was unscripted, but when his eyes lift to meet mine with his lips still against my hand, I forget what we talked about. “We’re in love.”
Taya smiles at us happily and then turns back to the camera and leans forward, her finger pointing at the lens. “Now don’t go thinking I’m in the business of helping out assholes online. This was a one-time deal for a friend, so don’t be tagging me in your ‘help me get a prom date’ business. Mmkay?”
She flops back to the couch, looking at her nails haughtily. “And that’s a wrap, bitches.”
I run around the couch to press the red button on the screen. “Okay, let me do some editing and then we’ll post it. Hopefully, it’ll stop the snowball from rolling.”
“You do that,” Taya tells me. “I gotta get gone now that this situation is straightened out. I bailed on studio time when you needed me, and I think I can go back and trust that you’re in good hands.” She dips her chin, glaring at Carson.
“Absolutely,” he answers. “Very good. And thank you, Taya.” He wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me to his side, and squeezes my ass with one of those aforementioned hands.
“Thank you again, Taya,” I tell her, lost for words. What she did for me is beyond friendship. She’s my sister. I worm my way from Carson’s grasp and hug Taya tightly.
“You know I got you.” She pats my ass, too, and Carson growls jealously behind me. To me, she whispers, “He’s so easy to rile up. Gonna be fun.”
“Don’t be too mean,” I warn her. “I need you both on my team.”
At that, they both laugh. “Bitch, we are Team Jayme. You call the plays and we go to twerk,” Taya replies before dropping to a squat and popping her ass a couple of times.
“Uhm, I’m not sure about . . . that,” Carson says slowly. “Think I might start another scandal if I did that.”
“I’ll teach you sometime,” Taya threatens.
After Taya leaves, it feels weird to be here, like this is a special place for Carson and me, a protective bubble away from the real world. But I want to get back to the real world, with us side by side.