Faking It with the Frenemy

And speak of the devil…

He walks in, whistling as he’s texting on his phone, his eyes crinkled with affection. That’s his “I’m in love” face, so it must be his ex-wife on the other side.

So. Weird.

I follow him into his office and shut the door. He sits down and looks at me. “Morning. Gorgeous day, eh?”

“Yes, it is.” Sunny and clear, just like every other day in L.A.

“Well, everything’s set. Ceinlys and I start our trip on Monday. Your itinerary’s perfect. Exactly what we wanted.”

“Excellent.” I smile, happy he’s pleased. Maybe it’s going to make what I’m about to say go over better. “Um, I need to talk to you about something.”

“Yeah?” His tone says he’s not that interested.

“It’s about the statue you wanted.”

Now I have his attention. “You got it already?” Without waiting for an answer, he smiles. “I knew it. Thanks, Kim. You’re honest to God the best. Gavin says his assistant is worth her weight in gold, but I say you’re worth your weight in diamond-studded platinum.” He winks. “You can tell her that.”

“Tell her yourself,” I say automatically, because Gavin’s assistant is Hilary, who also happens to be Salazar’s daughter-in-law.

“Probably be better coming from you.” He laughs. “So. When is it being delivered?”

“Uh, that’s the thing. I don’t actually have it yet.”

“You don’t?” He frowns.

“I need to figure some things out.” Like how I’m going to get Wyatt to hand over the statue once he gets it from Dane.

“Oh.” He purses his mouth. “Well, that’s not good.”

I manage a properly chagrined expression. “Yeah. It’s not. But like I said, I’m looking into getting it, but in case that doesn’t work out…you’ll need to pick something else.”

Salazar shakes his head. “No. It has to be that statue or nothing. I mean it.”

I clench my jaw, wondering how this man-child has managed to get through life to this point. How old are you, again?

“Look, Kim, don’t fail me now. This is really important. You know that, right? I don’t want to disappoint Ceinlys.”

“Who cares about her disappointment? She divorced you” is on the tip of my tongue, but I swallow it. The last time somebody pointed out that Ceinlys was Salazar’s ex-wife, things didn’t work out so well for the guy. Salazar might consider me a great assistant, but that doesn’t mean he would forgive me for reminding him of his current marital status. “No disappointing her. Got it. Let me see what I can do.”

“That’s my girl. Let me know when you have it.”

Chapter Ten

Wyatt

I arrive in the office for an afternoon meeting. The movers are done, except for Vi’s room, but she said she didn’t want anybody touching her things.

Melanie smiles. “Hey, Wyatt! How did the move go?”

“Pretty good, thanks.”

“Here. A housewarming gift.” She hands me a golden box of gourmet chocolate.

“Oh. Well, thanks. ’Preciate it.” I force a small grin and accept the gift, even though gold-wrapped chocolate brings up some bittersweet memories. The first box of chocolate I bought for a girl was like this one, and it dented my wallet pretty good. But when Kim smiled in return, I felt like I had everything I wanted in life.

When things ended with Kim, I bought another box—the exact same kind—for Geneva. I thought Geneva’s smile would make me feel the same way Kim’s did. But it didn’t. Wasn’t even close.